Which state grows the most safflower?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states grow the most safflower (a spiny plant whose seeds are pressed into cooking oil)? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… Florida — a flower needs sunshine, right? 🌸
Answer
The real order is…
California grows about 4.35× as much as #2 Montana!
📚 Background Meet a crop you've probably never heard of: safflower, a spiny plant with orange-yellow flowers. Its seeds are pressed into a light cooking oil (and fill birdseed too). It loves dry heat, so California grows more than half of America's safflower, with other dry western states behind. (USDA NASS Quick Stats) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🌺『The flower hiding in your cooking oil』→ I bet… Florida — a flower needs sunshine, right? 🌸
Compare
Safflower grown (pounds, 2024)
Most: California (77,000,000 lb); least shown here: South Dakota (6,375,000 lb).
Note: measured in pounds of seed harvested. Only states that publish a value are shown. Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
A flower that turns into cooking oil!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 California is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 6)
| Rank | State | Value | Share of U.S. total |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | 77,000,000 lb | 58.1% |
| #2 | Montana | 17,710,000 lb | 13.4% |
| #3 | Idaho | 12,920,000 lb | 9.8% |
| #4 | Colorado | 9,900,000 lb | 7.5% |
| #5 | Utah | 8,580,000 lb | 6.5% |
| #6 | South Dakota | 6,375,000 lb | 4.8% |
| 🇺🇸 USA (total) | 132,485,000 lb | 100% |
Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2024)
Sources
Data as of: 2024
USDA NASS Quick Stats: SAFFLOWER - PRODUCTION, MEASURED IN LB, 2024, by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-18) — Published estimates only. States with unpublished (suppressed) values are omitted.
↳ In Quick Stats, pick SAFFLOWER / PRODUCTION in LB, year 2024, and compare states.