I'm having trouble finding info about these two topics.  Anybody know the answers?

1) How big is the largest indoor fig operation in the United States, and who is it?  'Largest' can mean biggest number of trees, most tonnage of fruit, most varieties, or most covered acres.  The largest I've come across is our own member here, moshepherdess, who as of late 2008 had one 30'x100' high tunnel filled with figs and another such tunnel about 25% filled with figs.  [extra credit for naming the largest in the world; would it be somewhere in Israel?]

2) How about the largest 'wide variety' outdoor operations in the U.S.?  I think Jon, Harvey, FMD, and Snaglpus have the largest private collections that I know of.  UC Davis has a very big collection; is it the largest 'wide variety' fig orchard in the U.S.?  And how big is the biggest monocrop or 'few varieties' orchard?  I'm pretty sure I've seen mention of big industrial outdoor fig operations that have many thousands of acres.  Is that accurate, and if so, just how big are they?

Given my unsuccessful googling on these topics, I'm hoping some of you happen to already know the answers to these questions.

Thanks!

All the production farms are in California.
Don't know the largest officially,
do know of one fig orchard that is around 100 acres.
Average size orchard is about 30 acres.
Largest in the world is probably in Turkey.

Indoor-  I think this is the wrong terminology on several fronts,
and thus would produce an incorrect answer.
Indoor would imply year round climate protection/control.

High tunnel is really a season extender, and not indoors  IMO,
as during the summer months, a high tunnel anywhere in the country,
would get too hot and roast the trees.   These tunnels, green houses, etc
are opened and even ventilated as well during this time period.
That would be more like growing under a covered car port with a clear roof,
not really  "indoors"  IMO.

Besides high tunnels, I have figs planted in the ground in 16' x 100' hoop houses.
They are covered with  white plastic for the winter, which is removed in the spring,
then the hoop house is covered in bird netting.
Would this be indoors ?

How would that be different that having a green house filled with figs,
and having the glass roof open all summer to vent the heat ?
We would automatically consider a greenhouse fig tree to be indoors,
but its treated no differently with respect to cover and protection,
then my hoop house situation,  which many would say, including myself  is  not indoors.

A tissue culture laboratory would have the biggest number of trees actually indoors.

One more question  :-)

Which is bigger ?

A.  High tunnel 30 x 96'  with 60 trees producing fruit planted in the ground.

B.  High tunnel  30 x 96'   with 5,000 trees in containers.

16,000 grams of fig fruit in 2 years in a high tunnel in New Jersey, 2011-2012, 44 x 14 foot -- Maurice Sheets at Woodland Produce, Fairton, NJ: 
http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=FNE11-727&y=2012&t=1

First clue, whenever you see a harvest expressed in grams,
its most likely a government inspired or sponsored project that failed.

16,000 grams = 571 ounces

571 ounces = 35 pounds

35 pounds of figs are worth   $50 to at most $300

The wear and tear on the plastic for the high tunnel
was more money than the value of the harvest.

Even without capitol costs included,
just water, fertilizer, plastic, labor
probably puts their productions costs around $35-40 per pound.

There's a guy in St Louis who has figs in a greenhouse but I don't have any more info than that.

Is this what you meant Bob ?

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/figs-and-the-solar-geothermal-greenhouse-3072396

hungryjack - I bet you're right about the biggest covered producers being in Japan or China.  There's a thread or two floating around here that show a Japanese family's small operation (maybe 3-6k sqft under plastic?), but such methods are not uncommon over there, so I suspect that there are some much larger ones.  And I could certainly imagine some large covered operations in China subsidized by their government.

rcantor - I think the St. Louis guy is Ivan Stoilov ( http://www.theledger.com/article/20080910/NEWS/809100358 ), whose wife (?) is F4F member moshepherdess, but I'm not 100% certain.

Here's a funny excerpt from another article about Stoilov ( http://www.saucemagazine.com/blog/?p=12421 ):

I think in China you might find the largest single covered fig orchard,
land is plentiful there in agricultural areas,
but Japan will probably have more total acres under cover than China,
just in smaller sized orchards, land is tight and large tracts of land are rare.
Almost all fruits and veggies grown in Japan are done under row covers,
hoop houses, or individual fruits/veggie being protected on the plant.
If its not perfect in appearance it sells for price that does not cover expenses.

There are very few situations where the expense of growing figs
covered is warranted by the market.  They are not very productive
on a sq ft basis  compared to many other crops grown covered.
Same could be said for most tree fruits.
It works with some berry crops to bring them in early or late to
garner the higher prices to offset the expenses.

I grow some figs in hoop houses in NJ,
I'm using already established houses that currently have no other use.
It helps with winter protection and bird protection when I use the netting.
I get the plastic for free, the netting is used fishing nets I get for free,
and the hoop houses have no cost as they are already installed.
If I had to pay for half of those supplies, it wouldn't be worth it,
even with selling the figs for extremely high prices to high end restaurants.
Labor is also a big factor with fig production for fresh market.