From the food to the turf and maybe even the pizza guy's tip, this year's Super Bowl was brought to you by farmers

Photo by Successful Farming

Super Sunday can be likened to the American version of the Garden of Eden: All the good things agriculture has to offer. Before the game, Heather Barnes and Lisa Foust Prater of Successful Farming
reported that from the chicken wings to veggie trays to all the meats, cheeses and chips, "A whopping 79% will be spent on food and beverages, all of which come from farms. Americans eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except for Thanksgiving."

Don't forget the barley for the beer. "The National Restaurant Association says 51.7 million cases of beer are sold every year during Super Bowl weekend. One bushel of barley, grown mostly by farmers across the Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest, will make 565 12-ounce beers," Barnes and Prater write. "Whether it’s the stadium, the field, the ball, or the food, one thing is clear: no farms, no Super Bowl."

And it goes beyond food. "Leather is also used to make the ball. Even though it's often called a pigskin, footballs are actually made of cowhide," Barnes and Prater write. "Wilson [Sporting Goods] is the official supplier of footballs for the NFL: 120 of its footballs will be used in Sunday's game. One cowhide will make 10 footballs. Not just any cowhide is used; it comes from cattle grown in Iowa, Kansas, or Nebraska."

Bet you didn't think of this: Barnes and Prater ask, "Did you know 75% of that dollar bill you just used to tip the pizza delivery guy is made of cotton?" Thank you, American farmers. We like money. What about all that turf? "The turf in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, is a hybrid drought-tolerant Bermuda grass, grown on a turf farm and trucked the 25 miles to the stadium," they report. "The grass is housed in a single tray, which is 40 inches deep, 234 feet wide, and 403 feet long. The entire tray is rolled outside when the grass needs sunlight or the stadium is being used for other events."