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

Fertilizer Canada responds to U.S. tariff threat

The U.S. can’t increase its fertilizer production overnight, Fertilizer Canada says

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Welcomes Three Directors to Board

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) is pleased to announce the results of its Board of Directors election, following the close of voting on November 28. The election brings one new Director to the board while retaining two Directors for another term. Joining the SPG Board is Dan Flynn of Lucky Lake. SPG welcomes back Robyn Henry of Hodgeville and Stuart Lawrence of Rosetown, who were both re-elected. The newly elected Directors will officially join SPG’s Board in January 2026, following the organization’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). “On behalf of the Board, I would like to congratulate Dan, Robyn, and Stuart,” says SPG Chair Winston van Staveren. “Each elected member brings valuable experience, expertise, and diverse perspectives that represent a wide range of growing regions across the province. I also want to thank all the candidates who put their names forward. The increased level of engagement and strong slate of candidates this year was positive to see.” Van Staveren also ack

Pulse Market Insight #287

Big Crops But No Surprises From StatsCan The long-awaited 2025 yield and production estimates from StatsCan were released this week but were a bit anticlimactic; anyone looking for a surprise in the numbers would have been disappointed. Yes, crops were certainly larger this year but that was already expected. During harvest, reports of very large yields kept coming in, well above StatsCan’s August and September numbers. As a result, this month’s higher yield estimates from StatsCan were anticipated. In fact, it would have been a shock if the yield numbers hadn’t changed. These latest estimates from StatsCan were based on a large farmer survey conducted in November and confirmed the positive harvest results. In fact, they may have understated the actual yields, as they sometimes do. The StatsCan numbers show the total 2025 pulse crop at 8.22 mln tonnes, a jump of more than 2 million tonnes from last year and the largest production since 2016/17. There were differences for each of the

Alberta Grains and Western Crop Innovations Launch Three-Year Agreement to Strengthen Barley Breeding in Alberta

Alberta Grains (AG) and Western Crop Innovations (WCI) have signed a new three-year Breeding and Technician Chair agreement to advance feed barley breeding in Alberta. Announced at the Alberta Grains Regional Meeting in Lacombe, the partnership represents a $600,000 investment from Alberta Grains, delivered at $200,000 per year, to fund a breeder and senior technician dedicated to high-impact barley research and variety development. Strengthening the Future of Public Plant Breeding in Canada Cereal breeding in Canada has long relied on public funding, but the landscape is rapidly shifting. With the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) moving forward on Seed Regulatory Modernization and farmers urging Prime Minister Carney’s government to recognize agriculture’s economic importance, the need for sustainable public plant breeding has become a national discussion. At the same time, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) faces budget reductions and plans to exit variety development i

Maizex Seeds Invests in the Future of Seed Corn Production in Canada

Maizex Seeds, the seed division of Sollio Agriculture, announces the groundbreaking of a major $8.8 million investment in a new seed corn processing and packaging plant at their Blenheim, Ontario, facility. Maizex Seeds is a national company producing and selling corn and soybean seeds to farmers from coast to coast in Canada under the Maizex brand. The company also sells forage seeds and cereal varieties to farmers in eastern Canada and recently introduced several canola hybrids.

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service