If you’re wondering which countries feed the most people, take a look at this list of 8 countries that produce the most grain in the world. Although countries on this list below produce high quantities of all types of grain, there’s still close to 800 million people living with less food required to lead healthy lives according to UN World Food Programme’s Hunger Statistics. That’s 1 in 9 people on the planet. Still, things would have been much worse if it weren’t for world’s largest grain producers. Similar can be said for the countries that produce the most fish in the world. These countries too do their fair share of global hunger relieving. Sadly, it’s still far from enough.
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Before we begin, let’s first define grain. When mentioning grain, most people first think of wheat. While wheat certainly qualifies as a type of grain, it’s far from only one. Small, hard, dry seeds can be divided into cereals and legumes – with us being mostly interested in former. Cereals themselves are further divided into warm and cool-season cereals, but they all belong to the grass (Poaceae) family. Warm-season cereals include the likes of maize (corn) and millet, while cool-season cereals are generally more widespread and include grains such as already mentioned wheat, barley, rice, rye, oats, etc. Of course, we can’t simply forget all legumes. Soybeans, for instance, play an important role in global grain production and consumption diagrams.
In order to compile our list of 8 countries that produce the most grain in the world, we have decided to gather the data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division or simply FAOSTAT. Furthermore, we have decided to include a few types of grain as one or two wouldn’t give us a clear picture. The most common types of grain are those produced the most. By looking at grain production curves, we have singled out the following types of grain that are being produced in large quantities: wheat, maize, rice, soybeans and barley. We have gathered the data for all five mentioned grain types and calculated totals for each country producing these commodities. We know that most countries don’t produce all types of mentioned grain, but we only thought it would fair to include the grain types with largest production outputs. For instance, you’ll be hard-pressed to find rice on European or North American fields or barley in Asia, but they will effectively cancel each other out anyway. All data has been gathered for the year 2013 which is the last available year for these five types of grains, and all values are showcased in metric tonnes. Let’s take a look at countries that produce the most grain in the world now.
8. Canada
Total Production: 67,319,400 metric tonnes
Canada produces all considered types of grain, excluding Rice of course. The Great White North mostly produces wheat – 37,529,600 metric tonnes. The second most produced Canadian grain type is maize, which comes to 14,193,800 metric tonnes, then barley at 10,237,100 metric tonnes and finally soybeans with 5,358,900 metric tonnes.
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7. Russia
Total Production: 81,685,645 metric tonnes
The Russian Federation has somewhat larger production output than Canada, but follows a similar pattern. Most of the Russian grain production falls on wheat with 52,090,796 metric tonnes. Barley comes second with 15,388,704 metric tonnes and maize is third with 11,634,943 metric tonnes. Finally, Russians produce 1,636,259 metric tonnes of soybeans and even 934,943 metric tonnes of rice.
6. Indonesia
Total Production: 89,791,565 metric tonnes
Indonesia makes this list of 8 countries that produce the most grain in the world thanks to high rice production output. Indonesia produces 71,279,712 metric tonnes of this commodity and additional 18,511,853 metric tonnes of maize to complete the picture. Production of wheat, barley and soybeans in Indonesia is possible only in controlled conditions because of the climate.
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5. Argentina
Total Production: 96,882,360 metric tonnes
Argentinian grain production mostly consists of soybeans and maize, which amount to 49,306,200 metric tonnes and 32,119,211 metric tonnes respectively. Next in line is wheat with the total yearly production of 9,188,339 metric tonnes. Barley and rice sit at the bottom with the production of 4,705,160 metric tonnes and 1,563,450 metric tonnes respectively.
4. Brazil
Total Production: 179,849,353 metric tonnes
Brazil is the second biggest soybean producer in the world with production of 81,724,477 metric tonnes a year. Maize follows close by with 80,273,172 metric tonnes, then comes rice with 11,782,549 metric tonnes and wheat with 5,738,473 metric tonnes. Finally, the largest South American country produces 330,682 metric tonnes of barley.
3. India
Total Production: 289,698,000 metric tonnes
One of the largest countries in the world and the second largest country by population simply has to produce an abundance of food. India is world’s second biggest rice producer with 159,200,000 metric tonnes a year. They are also the second largest wheat producers with 93,510,000 metric tonnes. Maize production comes to 23,290,000 metric tonnes; soybeans come to 11,948,000 metric tonnes and India produces 1,750,000 metric tonnes of barley as well.
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2. The United States
Total Production: 516,351,276 metric tonnes
The United States are by far the biggest maize producer in the world with yearly production coming to 353,699,441 metric tonnes. They are also world’s leading producer of soybeans with 91,389,350 metric tonnes. Finally, the United States produce solid 57,966,656 metric tonnes of wheat, 8,613,094 metric tonnes of rice and 4,682,735 metric tonnes of barley.
1. China
Total Production: 557,677,392 metric tonnes
Although it was a photo finish, China takes number one spot among these 8 countries that produce the most grain in the world. China is the world’s biggest rice and wheat producer with 203,612,192 metric tonnes and 121,926,400 metric tonnes respectively. China also has a high maize production output, which amounts to 218,489,000 metric tonnes. Finally, Chinese produce 11,950,500 metric tonnes of soybeans and 1,699,300 metric tonnes of barley.
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