Posted in South Dakota Nature June 27, 2017 by

Most People Don’t Know About These Magical Sunflower Fields Hiding In South Dakota

Kansas is known as The Sunflower State, so it stands to reason that it would have the most sunflower fields, right? Wrong! While most people outside South Dakota have no idea that we have tons of gorgeous sunflower fields, our state is actually one of the top producers of sunflowers in the entire U.S.

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Drive along I-90 in July and August, and you'll find the landscape covered in happy yellow flowers.
Daren Jessip/flickr
Most Americans have no idea that South Dakota is hiding such a beautiful secret - the sunflower fields really are stunning.
Tom Kelly/flickr
In 2015, South Dakota was the largest producer of sunflowers in the state. Just over 1.2 billion pounds of sunflowers were grown that year. 2015 was the third year in a row that South Dakota took the top spot for sunflower production.
insipidlife/flickr
Last year, our state produced 1.6 billion pounds of sunflowers, but came in second, behind North Dakota (1.13 billion).
Roderick Eime/Flickr
And how about Kansas, The Sunflower State? They only produced around 82.5 million pounds of sunflowers - putting them 5th in the nation for sunflower production.
Sure enough...in South Dakota, the sunflower fields stretch as far as the eye can see.
jcsullivan24/flickr
Photographers flock from all over the area to capture these beautiful fields.
Daren Jessip/flickr
Do these bright yellow flowers make you as happy as they make me? I love their vibrant colors!

Did you know that South Dakota produced so many sunflowers?

Sunflowers aren’t the only gorgeous flowers in South Dakota! Take this wildflower hike to see some beautiful color.