Super Bowl or Agriculture Bowl?

Whether you like football or not, one cannot ignore the big game that will occur this Sunday. It does not matter whether you favor the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles, or maybe, even the final score. What matters is the fellowship with friends and family and all the good food that will be shared during Super Bowl LIX. That's why it is an important event for agriculture. From the footballs to foods consumed — they all add to the agriculture economy. First, consider the football. Wilson's in Ada reports they prepare about 200 footballs for the Super Bowl. Typically, one cattle hide can make about 20 footballs, so 10 bovines gave their all for the big game. Thus, a simple thing as a football helps our local economy since they are made next door in Ada, and the leather was provided by cattle producers. However, the football is only a small economic contributor compared to the food that will be consumed during the Super Bowl weekend. The website Restaurantware.com provides plenty of food statistics for the Super Bowl. Takeout is the norm. It is the second most popular day for takeout orders after Thanksgiving. It is estimated that 48 million will order takeout for the big game or about 1 out 7 individuals. Pizza, chicken wings, and chips with dips are the most popular orders. Why would takeout be important for agriculture? Consider pizza. It accounts for 60% of the takeout orders. A standard pizza is a bonanza for agriculture. The tomato sauce requires about 8–10 medium sized tomatoes and 8–10 ounces or about 1 cup of cheese. It is estimated about 12.5 million pizzas are ordered during the Super Bowl, which would require 125 million tomatoes and 7.8 million pounds of cheese. The tomatoes and cheese may have a connection with an Ohio farm. Besides the paste, don't forget the dough. It takes about 2 cups of wheat flour or about 8.5 ounces to make the dough for one large pizza depending on the desired crust. One bushel of wheat makes about 42 pounds of wheat flour. Thus, 1.25 million pizzas would require 23,000 bushels of wheat for the Super Bowl. The tomatoes and cheese possibly could have come from Ohio. The wheat flour would not have come from Ohio since pizza dough uses hard wheat (grown in the Great Plains), whereas Ohio grows soft wheat. Of course, don't forget the toppings of chicken, pork, beef, pepperoni, mushrooms and whatever your heart (stomach) desires, which many could have easily been provided by Ohio industries. But what about those chicken wings? It is estimated that 1.25 billion wings are consumed, which equals 162.5 million pounds of chicken. The Super Bowl weekend consumption is responsible for 7% of the chicken wing sales for the year. Even though Ohio is known for egg layer operations, the state does have a significant broiler chicken industry, so one could be easily eating Buckeye wings. Other meats beside chicken wings are also consumed. It is estimated that 14 billion hamburgers are made during the big game and don't forget the other grilled foods — hot dogs, bratwursts, ribs, and of course, gotta have bacon. Ohio is a large pork producing state, which northwestern Ohio is major contributor. Ohio is also one of the largest beef producing states east of the Mississippi River. These meats beg firing up the grill. It is estimated that 10% of Americans will use a grill during the game, second largest number on any given day (July 4th ranks first). The chips and pretzels may have originated from Ohio. About 11 million pounds of potato chips (that's roughly 45 million pounds of spuds), 8 million pounds of tortilla chips, and 4 million pounds of pretzels are purchased — great for the potato, corn, and wheat industries. Ohio still has a few potato growers, but most are produced in the northwestern U.S. Corn for tortilla chips was probably not grown in Ohio since most of the food grade corn is grown in Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. However, pretzels are made from soft wheat flour, which Ohio is one of the top producing states in the country, and most of Ohio's wheat is grown in the northwestern counties. For chips, you got to have dips. One of the favorite dips is guacamole, which requires avocados. It is estimated that 139 million avocados are consumed mainly for dip during Super Bowl weekend (enough to fill a football field 50 feet high end zone to end zone). Avocados are imported, mostly from Mexico. However, the sour cream, cream cheese, and other cheese dips may have come from Ohio's dairy industry. Beverages will also be consumed — about 325.5 million gallons of beer, which is great for the hops and malting (barley) industries. There are hop yards in Ohio but primarily for craft beers, and barley can be grown, but most of it is produced in other states since Ohio does not have a malting processor. However, Ohio does have corn processors that may be providing ingredients for the soda industry. Don't forget what happens the day after the game. It has had been estimated that antacids sales increase 20% the Monday after the Super Bowl. (On a side note, the calcium and magnesium carbonates commonly used as ingredients in antacids are also used in agriculture lime to lower soil pH). In addition to the gut ache or because of it, labor shortages may occur the Monday following the Super Bowl. Based on the recent UKG survey, 22.6 million U.S. employees plan to miss work on that day. Let's hope it's not the farmers. Regardless, enjoy this great American tradition, and I have to say it, as a boy from Missouri watching Len Dawson (who was born in Alliance, Ohio) win Super Bowl IV for Kansas City, go Chiefs! Ed Lentz is agriculture and natural resources educator with Ohio State University Extension Office — Hancock County.