25 Carrot Facts

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3 Minute Read
Posted by Karyn Moyer

Tags: Ag Fun and Facts



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  1. Carrots were first grown as medicine for an assortment of ailments.
  2. Carrots can be traced back about 5,000 years. Since many mistook the vegetable for parsnips, it is unclear they first appeared.
  3. The orange vegetable can also be white, yellow, red, and purple.
  4. Mel Blanc, the voice of cartoon character Bugs Bunny, did not like carrots.
  5. Carrots are put into two categories, domestic and wild.
  6. Long Orange, Early Short Horns, and Scarlet Nantes are all types of the vegetable.
  7. Baby carrots are not a type of carrot. They started with Mike Yurosek, a California farmer who did not want to keep throwing out blemished carrots. He started cutting and peeling the vegetables to make them appear perfect.
  8. They can be left in the ground all winter.
  9. They are 88% water.
  10. Carrots are richest source of beta-carotene. The human body turns beta-carotene into vitamin A.
  11. The vegetable is great for eyesight and you skin, it also boosts the immune system.
  12. Cooked carrots are better for you than raw. Cooking the vegetable releases more beta-carotene. The raw vegetable only gives you 3% beta-carotene, but cooked you get up to 40%.
  13. This root vegetable does have seeds, which are harvested from the tiny white flowers that grow above ground.
  14. China, Uzbekistan, Russia, United States are the top 4 countries that produce the vegetable.
  15. It’s estimated that the U.S. produces about 1.3 million tons of carrots and turnips a year.
  16. Nearly 94% of American carrot production is grown in California, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Florida, Colorado and Wisconsin.
  17. California produces over 85% of all carrots grown in the United States.
  18. Carrots are the second most popular vegetable in the world, after potatoes.
  19. 6 million tons are produced annually.
  20. Carrot seeds are so small that about 2,000 seeds can fit in a teaspoon.
  21. The average person will consume 10,866 carrots in a lifetime.
  22. The root vegetable was the first vegetable to be commercially canned.
  23. The roots reach ideal color when the air temperature is between 60ºF to 70ºF.
  24. In 2015, 71,550 acres of fresh market carrots were harvested, with a total yield of approximately 2.4 billion pounds.
  25. In 2015, the average fresh carrot yield per acre was approximately 34,000lbs.
Did you know carrots were once used as medicine? Read about this and other carrot facts here!
Karyn Moyer

Karyn Moyer

Karyn Moyer is the Senior Marketing Manager at AgHires, with over 13 years of marketing experience, over 9 of which she has spent in the agriculture marketing industry. Growing up in a small farming town, Karyn has a deep appreciation for the importance of agriculture and its role in our communities. Since joining AgHires in 2017, Karyn has used her wealth of experience and knowledge to help job seekers and clients achieve their goals. She has a passion for learning and discovering new ways to support the industry.