Soil Drainage
Land Availability
Annual Precipitation
Average Temperature
Elevation
Five factors were used to create these suitability maps: mean annual precipita-
tion and temperature, slope, land availability and soil drainage. These factors
were included in this analysis as their characteristics are all pertinent to the
growth and harvest of tea. Each factor was individually scored based on its suita-
bility pertaining to tea growth, i.e. warmer temperatures received higher ranks
than lower temperatures as they are more favorable for growing tea. Tempera-
ture, rainfall, slope and soil drainage were all weighted equally, outputting scores
from 4-20. However, if land was not suitable due to improper environment, such
as developed areas or public land, the land was given a score of 0.
To create the 2050 suitability map, the same data and methods were imple-
mented, except for temperature and precipitation values. These values were ob-
tained from the A1B climate model from the International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) that predicts climate change based on equal fossil fuel and renewa-
ble energy dependence.
Methodology
Over the past several decades, tea consumption in
the United States has greatly increased. In 1990, less
than two billion dollars was spent on wholesale tea;
almost a quarter of a century later, this number has
jumped to over ten billion. Despite this drastic
growth in the market, very little tea is produced in
this country. Although there are some smaller grow-
ers sprinkled throughout the states, there is only one
large scale commercial tea operation in the United
States. This farm is the Charleston Tea Plantation in
South Carolina and is able to boast that it is
"America's only tea garden." However, this may not
be an accurate statement in several years; The Great
Mississippi Tea Company in Brookhaven, Mississippi
hopes to expand their relatively new commercial op-
eration to 150 acres by 2020.
The purpose of this study is to find other regions
in Mississippi that would be suitable for the develop-
ment of largescale tea farms, in the hopes that the
state can make a new name in American tea.
Introduction
2015
2050
Cartographer: Taylor Smyrnos
Course: Introduction to GIS, GIS 101
Date: December 18, 2015
Data Sources: PRSIM Climate Group 30 Year Nor-
mal; Mississippi Geospatial Clearing House; ESRI;
The Nature Conservancy
Projection: Transverse Mercator
Finding America’s Next Tea Farm
A Suitability Analysis of Mississippi’s Tea Growing Potential
References
Conclusions
As one would expect, the best regions for optimal
tea growth are in the southern part of the state,
where rainfall and temperature are highest. This
map supports the locational suitability of the rela-
tively new Great Mississippi Tea Company opera-
tion. However, not all counties in this region are
prime areas, despite the beneficial climate factors for
tea growth. Many of these regions include devel-
oped areas and land, which are publically owned and
therefore would not be suitable locations to place a
tea farm.
Interestingly, when current conditions are com-
pared to those of 2050 (predicted), there is little pat-
tern continuation; more suitable spots don’t tend to
get increasingly suitable and the same holds for less
suitable spots. Instead the whole state begins to even
out in its tea growing potential. This is mostly due
to the fact that average annual temperature is ex-
pected to increase, whereas average annual rain fall is
expected to decrease on accounts of the A1B climate
model. Further research would be helpful to deter-
mine if one of these factors plays a bigger role in the
viability of tea growth.
Brookhaven
The Great American
Tea Company