Agriculture

The World’s Most Valuable Cash Crop

Published

5 years ago

November 10, 2014

Jeff Desjardins

The World's Most Valuable Cash Crop

The Most Valuable Cash Crop

What is the world’s most valuable cash crop?

As with most things, it can be complicated and more nuanced to answer. However, ultimately it boils down to a few key factors: total amount planted, the rate of yield, and the revenue per unit sold. It also depends on whether we are looking at the absolute value, or the most value per acre.

The most planted crops throughout the world are wheat and maize (corn). Rice and soybeans are other key staples. However, these are all relatively low yielding and do not make enough revenue per tonne of product produced.

The highest yielding crops are sugar cane, sugar beet, and tomatoes. Sugar cane accounts for about 80% of the world’s sugar production, while sugar beet the remaining 20%.

Not surprisingly, the most lucrative cash crops from a value per acre perspective are illegal in many parts of the world. With a higher risk to grow these, there is a higher reward for the farmers. Cannabis has a value of $47.7 million per square kilometre, while coca weighs in at $37.7 million and opium poppies $6 million per sq. km.

The most lucrative legal crops include tomatoes ($1.4 million per sq. km) and grapes ($625,000 per sq. km). Interestingly, tobacco comes in the middle of the pack with a value of $277,000 per sq. km. Rapeseed (also known as canola) comes in at $60,000 per sq. km.

From an absolute value perspective, the world’s most valuable cash crop is cannabis as well. It is followed by rice, maize, and then wheat.

Original graphic from: Information is Beautiful

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Agriculture

The Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity in Each State

Which agricultural commodity is the most important to each state’s economy? This infographic breaks it all down, based on data from the USDA.

Published

3 months ago

April 11, 2019

Jeff Desjardins

The Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity in Each State

The United States has an incredible amount of geographic diversity.

From the fertile farmland of the Great Plains to the volcanic islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, each state has been dealt a unique geographical hand.

Each geographical setting can be the source of economic opportunities, such as tourism or the development of natural resources. It also partially dictates what kind of agricultural choices are available for farmers and local economies.

A Higher Level Look

Today’s infographic comes to us from HowMuch.net, and it color codes each state based on the most valuable agricultural commodity it produces, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At a big picture level, how does the country break down?

Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity	Number of States
Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	16
Poultry and eggs	9
Cattle and calves	7
Milk from cows	7
Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod	4
Fruit, tree nuts, and berries	3
Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes	2
Aquaculture	1
Other crops and hay	1

Broadly speaking, the category of “Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas” is the most valuable agricultural commodity in 16 states, while aquaculture was the most important in only one state, which is Alaska.

It’s interesting that there are niches that end up deriving massive amounts of value in only a few states. For example, the category of “Fruit, tree nuts, and berries” is the biggest in just three states, but California makes $17.6 billion from it every year – more than the size of the entire agricultural sector of some states.

State by State Data

Finally, here’s a look at the data for each state in a sortable table:

Rank	State	Agricultural Commodity	Value
#1	California	Fruit, tree nuts, and berries	$17,638,972,000
#2	Iowa	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$17,146,679,000
#3	Illinois	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$13,589,230,000
#4	Texas	Cattle and calves	$13,013,127,000
#5	Minnesota	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$12,304,415,000
#6	Nebraska	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$10,698,861,000
#7	Kansas	Cattle and calves	$10,153,087,000
#8	North Dakota	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$8,813,348,000
#9	Indiana	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$7,217,854,000
#10	Ohio	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$5,834,600,000
#11	South Dakota	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$5,809,792,000
#12	Wisconsin	Milk from cows	$4,952,039,000
#13	North Carolina	Poultry and eggs	$4,837,026,000
#14	Georgia	Poultry and eggs	$4,773,837,000
#15	Colorado	Cattle and calves	$4,321,308,000
#16	Arkansas	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$4,214,355,000
#17	Missouri	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$3,922,873,000
#18	Alabama	Poultry and eggs	$3,624,852,000
#19	Michigan	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$3,613,250,000
#20	Oklahoma	Cattle and calves	$3,402,919,000
#21	Washington	Fruit, tree nuts, and berries	$2,931,370,000
#22	Mississippi	Poultry and eggs	$2,744,048,000
#23	New York	Milk from cows	$2,417,398,000
#24	Idaho	Milk from cows	$2,333,364,000
#25	Pennsylvania	Milk from cows	$1,966,892,000
#26	Florida	Fruit, tree nuts, and berries	$1,847,805,000
#27	Louisiana	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$1,832,208,000
#28	Montana	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$1,787,162,000
#29	Kentucky	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$1,656,983,000
#30	South Carolina	Poultry and eggs	$1,476,817,000
#31	Tennessee	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$1,301,303,000
#32	New Mexico	Milk from cows	$1,251,065,000
#33	Virginia	Poultry and eggs	$1,161,564,000
#34	Wyoming	Cattle and calves	$1,101,195,000
#35	Maryland	Poultry and eggs	$922,999,000
#36	Oregon	Cattle and calves	$894,485,000
#37	Delaware	Poultry and eggs	$811,301,000
#38	Arizona	Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes	$764,062,000
#39	Vermont	Milk from cows	$504,884,000
#40	New Jersey	Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod	$405,247,000
#41	West Virginia	Poultry and eggs	$401,439,000
#42	Utah	Cattle and calves	$364,214,000
#43	Nevada	Other crops and hay	$280,554,000
#44	Connecticut	Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod	$252,923,000
#45	Maine	Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes	$207,254,000
#46	Hawaii	Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas	$152,930,000
#47	Massachusetts	Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod	$144,188,000
#48	New Hampshire	Milk from cows	$54,798,000
#49	Rhode Island	Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod	$32,831,000
#50	Alaska	Aquaculture	$29,774,000

As the legal cannabis industry continues to take off, it’ll be interesting to see if the USDA incorporates that crop into its rankings in future years.

Agriculture

Balancing the Environmental Costs of Cannabis

Legal cannabis cultivation emits as much CO2 as 92,660 cars annually. Growing cannabis sustainably can reduce this massive environmental footprint.

Published

7 months ago

December 20, 2018

Iman Ghosh

Balancing the Environmental Costs of Cannabis

Economic development comes with a massive environmental cost.

Since 1980, heavy industrial activity has caused the doubling of CO2 emissions. As scientists warn of the lasting negative impacts this will have on the planet, nearly every industry is committing to sustainable practices to try to counteract this effect.

Today’s infographic comes from The Green Organic Dutchman, and it demonstrates that while the business of cannabis isn’t always eco-friendly, there are several tried-and-tested ways to reduce its massive footprint.

A HEFTY PRICE TO PAY

Energy is the second-highest cost driver in cannabis cultivation after labor.

There are two main culprits – lighting and HVAC systems (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). Combined, they make up a whopping 89% of energy use in cannabis cultivation operations.

Last year, legal cannabis cultivation was responsible for consuming 1.1 million MWh of electricity, and producing 472,000 tons of CO2 emissions. That’s enough to power 92,500 homes, and produce the same emissions as 92,660 cars per year. As legal cannabis production scales, this will only escalate.

Much of this data can be attributed to how the plant is grown.

Growing method	Power consumption (kWh/g)	Carbon intensity (lbs CO2e/g)
Indoor	1.27	1.24
Greenhouse	0.94	0.72
Outdoor	0.07	0.05

Indoor cultivation is roughly 18 times more energy-intensive than outdoor cultivation, and produces 25 times the carbon emissions. On the other hand, outdoor production produces lower overall yield per square foot. Since it’s difficult to control the environment, impurities can also end up in the final product.

That’s why many companies opt for a hybrid approach instead – balancing the benefits of precise control, with the use of natural light to lower production costs.

A GAME PLAN FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Many licensed producers are adopting a suite of strategies to relieve this environmental footprint.

Renewable energy
Diversifying the energy sources for cannabis cultivation can reduce carbon emissions. Solar and wind are top choices among cultivators.
LED lighting
LED light bulbs are more than 60% more efficient than other types. They also produce barely any heat, lowering ventilation requirements.
Water efficiency
A single cannabis plant can use up to 23 liters of water per day. Water can be recycled and re-used through innovative techniques such as reverse osmosis.
Packaging
The plastic packaging often associated with cannabis products is a considerable contributor of waste. There are several alternatives, such as paper, glass, and tin. Each of these have their own benefits and drawbacks, depending on what they are used for.

Maximizing energy-efficiency has a domino effect not only on the planet, but on reduced operating costs. These savings can then be passed on to the buyer, which could prove to be a strong competitive advantage as the cannabis industry matures.

Stay tuned for part 6 of this series, where we’ll delve into the scientific evidence for medical cannabis compounds.