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The Top 5 Spinach Producing Countries
| Country | Spinach Production metric tonnes |
% of World Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 21,067,800 t | 90.6% |
| 2 | United States of America | 336,200 t | 1.4% |
| 3 | Japan | 258,427 t | 1.1% |
| 4 | Turkey | 220,274 t | 0.9% |
| 5 | Indonesia | 131,248 t | 0.5% |
Special Report
- Spinach is a native plant of Persia (modern day Iran) and was grown there over 2,000 years ago. It was introduced to China in the 7th century. It was most probably brought to Europe in about the 12th century and to North America in 1806. Reflecting it's origin, spinach is still widely known in China as "the Persian Green" even today. Spinach has long been known to have health promoting properties. It is Rich in vitamin A, calcium, phosphorous, iron, folate and potassium as well as a number of the B vitamins and important phytochemicals. Spinach extracts are being used by doctors and scientists as functional foods to provide chemo and central nervous system protection as well as anticancer and anti-aging functions.
- According to the 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture (2009), the number of spinach farms in the United States has increased by 93 between 2002 and 2007. The number of harvested acres, however, decreased from 49,859 to 44,071 over the same period of time. In 2007, processing spinach was harvested from 14,226 acres of U.S. farmland and fresh spinach was harvested from 28,846 acres. California and Arizona were the leading producers of spinach, followed by Texas and New Jersey.
- Per person consumption of spinach in the United States reached a record 2.8 pounds per person in 2007. The following year, spinach consumption averaged 2.4 pounds. Per person consumption of fresh spinach declined from 2 pounds per person in 2007 to 1.6 pounds per person. Frozen spinach has remained steady, totalling 0.8 pounds in 2008.
- In the 1930's U.S. spinach growers credited Popeye with a 33% increase in domestic spinach consumption - a welcome boost to an industry during the depression era.
- California accounted for 70 percent of fresh spinach in 2008, and California and Arizona combined accounted for 85 percent. California's fresh spinach crop was valued at $121.6 million that year.
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Crops, Top 5 Most
Sources: FAOSTAT data, 2016 (last updated by Top 5 of Anything: June, 2016).
List Notes: Production is in metric tonnes for the year 2013 (latest year for which statistics are available as of June, 2016). This top 5 list may include official, semi-official or estimated data gathered on spinach production by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Sources: FAOSTAT data, 2016 (last updated by Top 5 of Anything: June, 2016).
List Notes: Production is in metric tonnes for the year 2013 (latest year for which statistics are available as of June, 2016). This top 5 list may include official, semi-official or estimated data gathered on spinach production by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
