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From Nielsen Homescan

St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) is the Roman Catholic feast honoring Ireland‘s patron saint, St. Patrick. The holiday is also an international celebration of Irish history and heritage. But you don’t have to be Catholic or Irish to celebrate – as they say, everyone’s Irish on St. Patty’s Day! So go put on your favorite piece of green clothing and take a look at some of these fun facts from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service:

• 40.7 billion and 2.5 billion: U.S. beef and cabbage production, respectively, in pounds, in 2008. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish.
• 6.5 billion pounds: The amount of beef Texas produced in 2008. Incidentally, the corned beef celebrants dine on may very well have originated in Texas. The largest producers of cabbage are New York, which produced 584 million pounds, and California, which produced 528 million pounds.
• $35 million: Value of potted florist chrysanthemum sales at wholesale in 2008 for operations with $100,000 or more sales. Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

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