FLORIDA TRIVIA & STATISTICS
FARMS & FARMERS
Florida: approximate land area of 34,313,428 acres.
Farmland is 9,231,570 acres or 26.9% of total land.
Organic agriculture accounts for about 11,493 acres.
Number of Farms: 47,463
Principle Farm Operators: Men: 37,034 Women: 10,429
(2013 - USDA Economic Research Service: www.ers.usda.gov )
[2007-2008 latest available data]
POPULATION & HUNGER
Florida has a total population of: 19,057,542
Urban population: 17,845,632 Rural population: 1,211,910
Food insecure households*: 15.4%
Households with very low food security*: 6.3%
*Food insecurity - Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.
Very low food security - At times during the year, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
(2013 - USDA Economic Research Service: www.ers.usda.gov )
(Population & Food Security data: 2011)
Clearwater, Florida has more lightning strikes than any other U.S. city.
The official State Flower of Florida is the Orange Blossom (designated in 1909): the official State Fruit is the Orange (2005) and the official State Beverage is Orange Juice.
Florida has almost 100 million citrus trees under cultivation. (2000)
The process for making frozen concentrated orange juice was developed at the Florida Department of Citrus in 1945. The Department gave the patent to the U.S. government, hoping to advance the frozen food industry throughout the country.
About 90 percent of the Florida orange crop is used to make orange juice.
In 2006 Florida adopted Key Lime pie as the official state pie.
• Florida led the nation in watermelon production in 2009 with 818 million pounds.
• Florida led the U.S. in watermelon production in 2006 with 835 million pounds.
The official state tree of Florida is the Sabal Palmetto Palm (Sabal palmetto) designated in 1953.
The alligator was designated the official state reptile of Florida in 1987.
Florida designated the Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus) as its official state Freshwater Fish in 1975.
The top 3 orange juice producers in the world are Brazil, Florida and Mexico. (1999)
Special food trivia for Florida voters: Another name for the lima bean is 'chad bean'.
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