Stats Can: Corn for grain: the world’s top cereal crop

Stats Can: Corn: Canada's third most valuable crop

By Marie-Andrée Hamel and Erik Dorff 2014-03-18

Corn for grain: the world’s top cereal crop

When it comes to cereal crop production around the world, corn is king. This may come as a surprise to many. Anyone who has ever seen the endless seas of golden wheat on the Canadian Prairies might think that this lynchpin of Canadian agriculture is the number one cereal crop.

The same might be thought of rice and the landscape of paddies stretching as far as the eye can see across Asia. But instead, the most produced cereal crop worldwide is actually corn (also known as maize), a cereal native to the Americas. It outstrips both rice and wheat in terms of global production (Table 1).

Table 1
World and Canadian production of major grains and oilseeds, 2011
Table summary
This table displays the results of World and Canadian production of major grains and oilseeds. The information is grouped by Commodity (appearing as row headers), World, Canada, Share of total and World position, calculated using Metric tonnes, Percent and Rank units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Commodity	World	Canada	Share of total	World position
Commodity	metric tonnes		percent	rank
Maize	885,289,935	10,688,700	1.2	11
Rice, paddy	722,559,584	...	...	...
Wheat	701,395,334	25,261,400	3.6	7
Soybeans	262,037,569	4,246,300	1.6	7
Barley	133,049,075	7,755,700	5.8	7
Canola	62,546,641	14,164,500	22.6	1
Sorghum	58,583,460	...	...	...
Millet	27,226,548	...	...	...
Oats	22,676,189	2,997,100	13.2	2
Rye	13,162,017	194,700	1.5	10
... not applicable Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Maize or corn for grain^Note1 is the number one cereal crop worldwide with 885.3 million tonnes produced in 2011 according to the FAO^Note2. The top producer was the United States with 313.9 million tonnes or 35.5% of global production. The U.S. was followed by China which produced 192.8 million tonnes (21.8% of world production). Canada placed 11th in world production of corn with 10.7 million tonnes of grain corn produced in 2011 (Table 2).

Table 2
Top grain corn producing nations, 2011
Table summary
This table displays the results of Top grain corn producing nations. The information is grouped by Rank (appearing as row headers), Country, Production and Share of world production, calculated using Metric tonnes and Percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Rank	Country	Production	Share of world production
Rank	Country	metric tonnes	percent
	World	885,289,935	100.0
1	United States of America	313,948,610	35.5
2	China, mainland	192,781,000	21.8
3	Brazil	55,660,415	6.3
4	Argentina	23,799,830	2.7
5	Ukraine	22,837,900	2.6
6	India	21,760,000	2.5
7	Mexico	17,635,417	2.0
8	Indonesia	17,629,033	2.0
9	France	15,913,300	1.8
10	Romania	11,717,591	1.3
11	Canada	10,688,700	1.2
12	South Africa	10,360,000	1.2
13	Italy	9,752,592	1.1
14	Nigeria	9,180,270	1.0
15	Hungary	7,992,000	0.9
16	Philippines	6,971,221	0.8
17	Russian Federation	6,962,440	0.8
18	Egypt	6,876,473	0.8
19	Serbia	6,479,564	0.7
20	Ethiopia	6,069,413	0.7
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, data accessed February 13, 2014.

In Canada, over 32,300 farms reported planting 1.63 million hectares of corn (corn for grain, corn for silage and sweet corn) according to the 2011 Census of Agriculture. The value of farm cash receipts for grain corn alone reached $2.08 billion in 2011, ranking it as the third most valuable crop in Canada, after canola and wheat.^Note3

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Comfort over courage: The cost of playing it safe in agriculture

There is a quiet crisis in Canadian agriculture. It doesn’t make headlines or trigger emergency meetings, but it is real. Across too much of our industry, initiative has been replaced with hesitation, courage with caution, and leadership with maintenance. We have grown timid, content to manage the past instead of creating the future. We’ve seen this before in Canada. We led the world with Nortel, a company born from Canadian innovation, and watched it collapse under the weight of indecision and caution. We had a second chance with BlackBerry, a global icon that redefined communication, yet we hesitated again. Twice, we mistook comfort for success, and twice we lost the leadership we had earned. Agriculture now stands at a similar crossroads. We have built a world-class system admired for its science, efficiency, and resilience. But if we keep managing yesterday instead of building tomorrow, we will repeat the same national mistake: protecting what we have until it is gone. If we are

New Wheat Crop Report Includes Assessment of Eastern Canada Wheat for First Time

Cereals Canada has released its annual New Wheat Crop Report, the first time the assessment has included wheat from eastern Canada. Compiled for global and domestic customers of Canadian wheat, the report includes information on milling performance, flour/semolina quality, and end-product functionality for Canada’s 2025 wheat crop. Cereals Canada generated the data for the 2025 New Wheat Crop Report through its Harvest Assessment Program, which has traditionally only included wheat from Western Canada. This year, through a partnership with Grain Farmers of Ontario, the organization also assessed eastern wheat classes. According to a Cereals Canada release, favourable weather throughout the eastern Canada winter wheat growing season resulted in “strong yields and good quality.” “This was a milestone year for Cereals Canada,” said Elaine Sopiwnyk, vice president of technical services. “Having the opportunity to analyze wheat from across the country broadened the expertise of o

IGC Raises World Grains Production Estimate Again

The International Grains Council’s estimate of 2025-26 total world grains production is continuing to move higher. The inter-governmental agency’s monthly Grain Market Report on Thursday pegged total global grains output (wheat and coarse grains) at a new record of 2.43 billion tonnes, up 5 million from the October projection and 5% above the previous year’s 2.325 billion. Harvests have so far been “better than expected,” the IGC said, noting that its 2025-26 production estimate has been revised higher in consecutive months since August. This year’s expected larger global harvest will more than compensate for the tightest opening stocks in 10 years, the IGC said, boosting the overall 2025-26 grain supply by 3%, to an all-time high of roughly 3.02 billion. On the demand side, increases for food, feed and industrial uses are projected to push total 2025-26 consumption to a record 2.4 billion tonnes, a 2% increase on the year. At an estimated 619 million tonnes, total global grains

Ont. farmer raises money for employees affected by Hurricane Melissa

An Ontario farmer raised more than $15,000 for his Jamaican migrant workers

CFIA suspends certain livestock shipments from the U.S.

Horses in Arizona tested positive for vesicular stomatitis

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service