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Ranked: The World’s Most Harvested Crops
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Key Takeaways
- Nearly 2 billion metric tons of sugar cane were harvested in 2024, making it the world’s most harvested crop.
- Third-place finisher rice is the staple food for over half the world’s population.
- Many of the world’s largest crops are used as much for animal feed and biofuels as for direct human consumption.
Nearly 2 billion metric tons of sugar cane are harvested globally each year, making it the most-produced crop on Earth by a wide margin.
This visualization highlights the scale of global crop production in 2024, showing how staple foods and key commercial crops compare. The data for this visualization is sourced from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
While some top crops are dietary staples, others support large industries such as biofuels, sweeteners, and packaged foods.
The Main Crops Grown Each Year
Sugar cane stands as the dominant crop grown globally at 1.94 billion metric tons, far surpassing all other crops.
Maize follows at 1.22 billion tons, while rice and wheat—two of the world’s most essential food staples—come in at 820 million and 798 million tons, respectively.
| Rank | Crop | Metric tons produced in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sugar cane | 1,939,782,021 |
| 2 | Maize (corn) | 1,218,205,574 |
| 3 | Rice | 820,223,277 |
| 4 | Wheat | 798,481,711 |
| 5 | Oil palm fruit | 418,696,914 |
| 6 | Soya beans | 397,671,688 |
| 7 | Potatoes | 390,428,972 |
| 8 | Cassava, fresh | 341,905,934 |
| 9 | Sugar beet | 293,624,598 |
| 10 | Tomatoes | 188,498,383 |
| 11 | Barley | 141,996,861 |
| 12 | Bananas | 139,413,684 |
| 13 | Onions and shallots, dry | 108,260,011 |
| 14 | Watermelons | 104,959,426 |
| 15 | Apples | 97,880,076 |
Brazil is notably the top producer of both sugar cane and soybeans, while Eurasian giants like China, India, and Russia are the main wheat growers worldwide.
Lots of the crops in question have regional production hubs; soybeans, for example, tend to be produced in China, the U.S., and South American countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
Our Sweet Sugar Craze
More sugar cane is harvested in Brazil each year than in the next three largest annual producers. Sugar cane is not only processed into the table sugar you buy at the supermarkets, but also refined into biofuel, molasses, and other sweeteners.
Meanwhile, over 294 million tons of sugar beet were grown in 2024, accounting for roughly 20% of global sugar output. Sugar beet is grown specifically for sugar extraction and refined sugar.
The Corn Industry
Corn, also known internationally as maize, is the runner-up for global agricultural production, with the United States as the top grower worldwide. Most corn today, especially in the U.S., is harvested for use in animal feed or the production of biofuels such as ethanol. The U.S. has maintained large corn subsidies for over half a century.
The Corn Belt is a geographic region of the U.S. dominated by the corn industry, and is centered around the Midwestern state of Iowa. Today Iowa grows three times more corn than all of Mexico, the country where corn was first harvested in pre-Columbian times.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Big Four American Crops Compared to Entire Countries on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.