New York farmers want to get retailers and consumers into a New York State of mind.

With farming taking place all across The Empire State, growers and distributors are doing everything they can to make merchants and their shoppers acutely aware what New York produces on an annual basis and how produce from around the state, ranging from Long Island to the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes region and western New York, is unique, tasty and of the best quality.

The taste-test may be the state’s best promotional effort. Growers in the state, as with many other states, just want consumers to try their products, convinced that once they give it a shot they will keep coming back for more and more.

“There is just so much being offered from the state right now and what they are producing is quite impressive,” said Kurt Zuhlke, the president of Easton, Pa.-based Kurt Zuhlke & Associates, a leading packaging company. “While the New York market is seasonal, when it hits the market it really makes a huge impact with retailers and consumers. The state just has a great reputation for what it produces.”

The state’s agricultural officials have long fought an uphill battle to get consumers, especially those from other regions of the country, to understand that New York is much more farmland than major cities. In fact, while many think of New York as a place for big buildings, international business and lots of people living very close to each other, the Empire State also has lots of farmers.

According to the USDA, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Farm Credit East, there are more than 30,000 farms in the state, with more than 6.5 million acres in production. The average farm size is 212 acres and about 98 percent of the farms in the state are family owned.

The state may be best known for its apple crop, the second largest in the nation behind Washington state with nearly 30 million bushels harvested annually on about 55,000 acres of land throughout the state.

Thanks to a solid working relationship with Cornell University and the involvement of such organizations like the New York Apple Association, apple growers in the state are among the most aggressive in the nation in producing new varieties, which create greater consumer interest, sales and, ultimately, profits.

But there is much more to New York than just its vibrant apple category.

The state is also second in the nation in producing snap peas and cabbage and third in the nation in producing grapes. New York is fifth in the nation in harvesting cherries, green peas and squash.

“That is what makes the state so interesting,” said Zuhlke. “Different parts of the state offer different types of produce and all of them are doing everything they can to make a statement. Retailers in the state, like Wegman’s, Shop-Rite and Tops, have done an excellent job of promoting locally-grown produce too. Overall, from farmers to retailers, it is just a great place to work with the produce industry.”

New York also produces other fruits and vegetables, including plums, cherries, pears, blueberries and figs. Less known is the fact that the state also produces such items as corn, soybeans and wheat.

Also key to produce in the state is the Hunts Point Produce Market in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The market spans more than one million square feet and is home to more than 30 produce merchants making sure that the estimated 22 million people in the New York metropolitan area have easy access to produce.