Apples East, West, and In Between

Apples are grown across the United States and grown in nearly every state.

That said, only a handful have significant-scale commercial production, growing and selling apples for both domestic and international consumption.

If we start on the West Coast, California, Idaho, Oregon, and British Columbia all have major apple-growing areas, but the top producer in the storied West, as well as the United States as a whole, is Washington. Between 10 and 12 billion apples are harvested each year in the Evergreen State.

Just like in the West, there’s a dominant player in the Midwest: Michigan. Apples are grown in commercial quantities throughout the region in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and other Midwestern states, but Michigan ranks as the third largest producer in the nation, boasting more than 11.3 million apple trees on 35,500 acres at 825 family-run farms.

Heading east is another apple producing stronghold: New York, the U.S.’s second largest producer, where hundreds of varieties are grown and shipped near and far. The region is also home to two other major contributors to U.S. supply, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

This is an excerpt from the most recent Produce Blueprints quarterly journal. Click here to read the full article.