The Thumb feeds America its beans

If you’ve ever eaten navy bean soup — including the famous version served daily in the U.S. Senate dining room — odds are good the beans grew within an hour of Caro. Michigan ranks at the top of the nation in dry-bean production, leading the country in black beans and small red beans and ranking among the leaders in navy beans, and the Thumb is the engine: Tuscola, Huron, and Sanilac counties grow the bulk of the state’s crop on the flat, tile-drained farmland the glaciers left behind.

It’s a quietly big deal. Elevators in the small towns clean and ship beans around the world, bean fields turn the September countryside gold, and the harvest is a season unto itself. Sugarbeets, beans, corn, and wheat rotate through the same dark fields, which is why Thumb farmland is some of the most productive — and most tightly held — in Michigan. Around here, “bean counter” is an honest profession.