It would be a poor show if New Jersey didn’t make the top tier of fruit- and vegetable-producing states, what with its Garden State moniker. State Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher used Monday, which was also National Agriculture Day, to draw attention to New Jersey’s high status in that realm — and to call for a celebration of that prominence and the attendant economic benefits. An accompanying statement from the Department of Agriculture noted that “New Jersey ranks in the top 10 in the U.S. in production of asparagus, blueberries, bell peppers, cranberries, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes, peaches, cucumbers, squash, and sweet corn, as well as agritourism, floriculture sales, seafood catch, and seafood landings.”

New Jersey ranks third for production of cranberries, peaches and tomatoes — no surprises there — but third also for production of spinach and bell peppers. The state ranks lower, but still in the top 10 states, for asparagus, blueberries, cucumbers, squash and sweet corn.

And who would have expected that the vegetable for which it ranks first in output among the states is eggplant? New Jersey growers harvest 23.7 million pounds of the purple and other-hued nightshade on 760 acres, with an annual production value of $7.2 million. For context, New Jersey growers of bell peppers harvest close to 130 million pounds on 4,000 acres, for an annual production value of $48.7 million. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, New Jersey has nearly 10,000 farms on approximately 750,000 acres.