The Global Field

Which crops are the most important in the world?

The world’s 1.6 billion hectares of arable land is home to an incredible diverse range of crops, of which most of us know only a few. Our ‘Weltacker’ shows to scale how many hectares of arable land on earth are cultivated with which crops. Just under half of our Global Field is taken up with just four plant species: wheat, maize, rice and soybeans. Fruit and vegetables take up less than five percent each of our ‘Weltacker’.

With the exception of rice, only a small proportion of the yield of the world’s main monoculture crops is processed directly as food. The majority is fed to animals or converted into biofuels and industrial raw materials. For example, less than half of the grain harvest is used directly as food. Over one third is fed to animals.