More than two thirds of the products consumed by the world's population are provided by the leading branch of agriculture - crop production. This is the fundamental foundation of world agricultural production.
Consider its structure and talk about the achievements and development prospects of this world economy.
Horticulture
The plant world is diverse, so this industry covers many areas. The main ones are production:
β’ grains;
β’ potatoes and tuber;
β’ industrial crops;
β’ vegetables and melons;
β’ fruit and grapes;
β’ feed.
Consider the features of each of these areas.
Grain production
Grain cultivation occupies a major share of world agricultural production. Crop production of the world cannot be imagined without this main segment.
On average, cereal crops occupy more than half of the world arable land, and in some countries almost all cultivated areas. It is these cultures that create the basis for the nutrition of the population of each country, as well as a significant proportion of the feed ration in animal husbandry.
Grain also acts as a raw material for many industries. World grain production reached 2 billion tons per year, and 1.6 billion tons of the total volume is occupied by wheat, rice and corn. Let's talk about the main cultures of this group.
Wheat
The leader in the global volume of wheat cultivation . A native of the Arabian steppes, she has been known for six thousand years, and in the modern world has become an unshakable foundation for such an industry as crop production. This cannot be overestimated. Thanks to the efforts of breeders, zoned wheat varieties are grown today all over the world. Huge arable land is located in the Northern Hemisphere, slightly smaller in the Southern Hemisphere. The universally recognized world wheat growing areas are the American plains, connecting in the north with the Canadian steppes, the arable lands of Argentina, Russia, China and many other states and continents. The largest suppliers of wheat today are the United States, Australia, Canada.
Rice
Rice, which is the main product of a huge part of the earth's population, mainly from Asian countries, is in second place in terms of crop volumes.
Rice is an excellent basis for the production of flour, starch, alcohol, the waste of these industries complement the feed ration of livestock. Historians claim that people began to grow rice in the central and southern regions of China in the first millennium BC. e. The cultivation of this crop is a special technology of crop production, and perhaps it is exclusively in a hot and humid climate. That is why the main areas of intensive
rice cultivation are concentrated in the states of the south and southeast of Asia, giving up to 90% of the world crop. The undisputed leader in the collection of rice is China. Major manufacturers are Thailand, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Japan.
Corn
The use of corn is very diverse. In livestock production in the USA and Western European countries, it is used as the main feed crop. In Africa, Asia, Latin America and southern European countries, it is a food crop. Corn is a plant of Mexican origin, from where it spread throughout the world. Its cultivation is concentrated today in areas with a comfortable warm, temperate or subtropical climate. The main areas of corn production are sown areas of America, scattered southward from the Great Lakes. It is exported by the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.
Tuber and potato growing
The most widespread tuber crop is potato - a native of South American lands, cultivated today in all temperate zones. The leaders in potato production are Russia, the USA, Poland, China, and India.
An important role is played by sugar beets and cane, cultivated in the states of the tropical and subtropical zones, such as China and Cuba. For some developing countries (Dominican Republic), such crop production is the basis of public policy. Developed countries produce no more than a tenth of the world's sugar cane.
Things are different with the production of sugar beets. The region of its cultivation is moderate latitudes: the middle strip of Europe (EU countries and Ukraine, as well as the USA and Canada). Asian manufacturers - Turkey, China, Iran.
Oilseeds
Today, vegetable oils produced from oilseeds account for two-thirds of the world's total fat intake. Oil crops include peanuts, sesame seeds, rapeseed, sunflower and many others. Intensive growth in the production and consumption of products from these plants is currently associated with the replacement in the diet of animal fats with vegetable fats in economically developed countries and the comparative availability of these products in developing ones.
The leading positions in the production of soy products are held by the USA, the collection of peanuts - India, the collection of cotton and rapeseed - China.
Developing countries, growing an impressive part of the crops in this industry, today significantly reduce the export of oilseeds due to the creation and rapid development of their own oil and fat industry. And they no longer sell raw materials, but manufactured products of their own production.
Crops with tonic properties and valued precisely for them (tea, coffee, cocoa) grow in very limited territories - in tropical and subtropical zones. Their cultivation is concentrated in the southern countries of the Asian continent, where the tropical climate makes it possible to develop crop production. This is Malaysia, India and others.
Vegetable growing
Along with cereals, fruit and vegetable crops dominate the economy of many states. The impressive size of the land occupied by their cultivation practically competes with grain crops. With the growing global trend in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, their production and import volumes are growing today.
The established trend of a significant share of oilseeds, sugar-containing, fruit and tonic crops from developing countries on the world market remains unchanged.
Non-food crop production
Of non-food crops, fibrous crops and rubber play a significant role. The main fiber-containing plant is cotton, the recognized leadership in production of which is shared among the countries of Asia, a slightly smaller volume - the states of the American and African continents.
Other, equally valuable fiber crops - flax and jute - occupy much smaller territories. More than three quarters of the global flax production is in Russia and Belarus; jute is grown in Bangladesh. Traditional producers of natural rubber are the countries of the southeast of the Asian continent (Indonesia, Thailand). The developing Asian countries are characterized by the cultivation of crops containing alkaloids - tobacco, opium poppy, Indian hemp. Such are the current global areas of crop production and product sales.
Features of crop production in Russia
Despite the fact that Russia is a country with a very severe, temperate climate for the most part, its agricultural sectors have never lagged behind the world leaders in the production of sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables, grains and oilseeds.
Agricultural production covers almost all sectors of crop production, with the exception of the cultivation of exotic plants such as cocoa, coffee, rubber plants.
Domestic sowing lands are concentrated in temperate continental latitudes - in the Central regions of the Volga region, in the Urals and in Western Siberia, as well as in the southern regions of the Caucasus. The technology of plant growing in Russia is very extensive and covers the production of both food and technical and feed crops. Moreover, practically all the sowing lands of all climatic zones covering the country are involved in this process.
Cereal cultivation in Russia
Like crop production in the world, this industry in Russia is inconceivable without the production of grain, the bulk of which is wheat. Vast areas of arable land, favorable climatic conditions, geographically adapted varieties and cultivation traditions have made wheat not only the basis for flour, cereals and subsequent processing in bakery production, but also the dominant economic component of domestic agriculture. Today, Russia is among the world's top three suppliers of wheat. The natural conditions of Russia make it possible to grow both winter and spring wheat. The yield of winter crops significantly exceeds spring crops, but this is due to the conditions and geography of growth. Since winter varieties are more vulnerable and thermophilic, they are grown, as a rule, in the western regions of the country, where the climate is milder.
An important and inferior to wheat in terms of production, however, very little, the culture is barley. It occupies almost a quarter of the total grain harvest. Being a raw material for the beer industry and an excellent forage base, barley also has a number of advantages - it is surprisingly frost-resistant, has a short growing season, which allows it to be harvested almost without loss.
Grain production in Russia is not limited to growing wheat and barley, since crop production is an industry (state support programs also confirm this), covering many areas. The cultivated rye, oats, corn, buckwheat and rice are significantly inferior to wheat in sowing volumes, but nevertheless the sown area and, consequently, the yields of these crops are gradually increasing.
Growing root crops and industrial crops in Russia
But domestic crop production is not only grain crops. An impressive area is occupied by planting potatoes, traditionally included in our diet. But it should be noted that the industrial cultivation of potatoes is still small, since the Russians harvest the largest crops in household plots.
Another technically valuable, multi-purpose crop grown mainly in the Central Black Earth region is sugar beet. It is cultivated to produce sugar, and waste and processed products serve as an excellent supplement in livestock farms.
One cannot but recall sunflower, the seeds of which are the raw material for almost all vegetable oil produced and consumed in Russia.
Important, but not too urgent, due to the natural characteristics of the country, areas are vegetable growing and growing melons. Beets, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrots and others are traditionally grown. In the Orenburg region and the Volga lower reaches, melons and gourds are successfully grown. Crop production is not just a solution to the food issue, but also ensuring the country's security, as evidenced by the practice of state support for agricultural producers.