Modern Farmer posted a story this week about a new tea farm, the first one to be planted in Mississippi, although there are currently several in Hawaii, a few in the Pacific Northwest and one in South Carolina.
Even though tea has traditionally been grown in tropical areas with warm and humid climates, the tea plant is turning out to be more hardy to a variety of climates than originally thought. So farmers are trying out the specialty crop in a number of new places, including Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The first crop in Mississippi should be harvested soon. If successful, it may represent a new crop to add to the mix for farmers across the Southeast, particularly if the climate becomes more warm and humid in the future.