Top 10 Most Produced Crops

Zea Mays, also known as corn is the most produced crop in the world, with 1.09 billion tons produced in 2019. Iowa produced 2.58 billion bushels of corn in 2019, and also producing 27% of the ethanol in the US. When corn grows the stamen is located at the top of the cornstalk, where pollen grains are released. The brown silky strings around the corn is the remains of a ripened ovary.

In the North China Plain, producing almost 765 million tonnes of our food is Triticum, also know as wheat. The plant uses the wind like others to sexually reproduce. We don't eat wheat like other food, but just like the other plants the ripened ovary is the fruit we use to supply us with produce. Along side similar items in this list, the plants will use their long stalk to transport nutrients from the ground up to supply use the with food we eat today.

White rice, Oryza Sativa, supplies around 480 million tonnes of food each year, and China supplies 210 million metric tons. This angiosperm can reproduce sexually, but has recently been altered to reproduce asexually to produce more crops. The outcome produces more ripened ovaries, similar to corn, which is the grain that we eat when cooked.

Potatoes, Solanum tuberosum, come in at number four producing close to 390 million tonnes in 2017. Of that 390 million tonnes, China produces 100 million tonnes. Potatoes are like most other plants and receive their nutrients from the roots, but during the cooking process most of them are lost. The extensive temperatures and constant motion break down the nutrients supplied.

Number 5 is soybeans, glycine max, supplying us with 358 million tonnes of food. The United States produces a third of this, most of this being produced in Illinois. Soy beans are a great source of nutrition, providing us with oil, milk, protein, flour, and animal feed.

In the province of Xinjiang, China Solanum lycopersicum, or what we know as tomatoes are primarily produced here. China supplies about 54% of the 180 million tonnes of tomatoes in the world. The vegetable can be found anywhere from grocery stores, to home improvement stores. The tomato seeds inside of the plant are ready for fertilization after they have been eaten, and distributed across the region.

1/2 of the Brazil's sugar cane, Saccharum officinarum, comes out of the State of São Paulo. 30 million tonnes of the worlds sugar cane come from Brazil, and supplies for 1/6th of the worlds sugar cane. All 180 million tonnes of sugar reproduces asexually, and is similar to aspen trees. When there is one there is quite a few more, and each one is similar to the next.

Hordeum vulgare, or what is known as barley holds the eighth spot for most production. Russia supplies close to 20 million metric tonnes of the 156 million tonnes of barley in the world. Barley is quite similar to wheat, but has the ability to self pollinate, or use the pollen grains to fertilize the ovary of other barley plants.

Quite different than other crops, but palm oil, Elaeis guineensis, had about 74 million tonnes of produce in 2019. Palm oil is used in a lot of products including food, shampoo, cleaning products, and also fuel. The anther releases pollen grains which are obtained by the stigma. The seed produced by the fertilized ovary takes around four years to grow into a tree.

Grown in the same region as potatoes is onions, Allium cepa. Close to 100 million tonnes of onions were produced in 2019, and China was the leading produce by supplying nearly 24 million tonnes. Onions continue to grow when left in the ground, which is a form of asexual reproduction.

Citations

“Corn Facts.” , www.iowacorn.org/media-page/corn-facts#:~:text=In 2019, Iowa farmers produced,Department of Agricultural Statistics Service.

“First Clonal Rice Seeds Are an Agricultural Dream Come True.” Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), 11 Feb. 2020, innovativegenomics.org/news/first-clonal-rice-seeds/.

Shahbandeh, M. “Sugar Production Worldwide 2018/2019.” , 3 June 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/249679/total-production-of-sugar-worldwide/#:~:text=In 2018/2019, approximately 179.66,were produced in total worldwide.&text=Sugar, used as a sweetener,sugar cane and sugar beet.

Shahbandeh, M. “World Barley Production, 2018/2019.” , 6 Nov. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/271973/world-barley-production-since-2008/#:~:text=The global production volume of,metric tons in 2018/2019.&text=Barley is a type of,cereal, soup, and beer.

Shahbandeh, M. “World Vegetable Production by Type 2019.” , 12 Jan. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/264065/global-production-of-vegetables-by-type/.

Shahbandeh, M. “Global Production Volume Palm Oil, 2012-2021.” , 27 Jan. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/613471/palm-oil-production-volume-worldwide/#:~:text=The global production of palm,exporters of palm oil worldwide.&text=Palm oil grows mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“World.” , www.potatopro.com/world/potato-statistics.

“World Soybean Production: SOPA.” , www.sopa.org/statistics/world-soybean-production/.