Where our food crops come from
Explore the geographic origins of our food crops – where they were initially domesticated and evolved over time – and discover how important these “primary regions of diversity” are to our current diets and agricultural production areas. Read more about the study →
Explore the links between where food crops come from – their native origins and traditional regions of diversity – and where they are now eaten worldwide.
Explore the links between where food crops come from – their native origins and traditional regions of diversity – and where they are now produced worldwide.
Primary regions of diversity of selected major agricultural crops worldwide. Note that some crops possess more than one primary region of diversity (e.g., wheat is listed in Central Asia, West Asia, and the South and East Mediterranean). Note also that due to eco-geographic variation within countries, some countries belong to more than one region (e.g., Colombia is assigned both to Andean and to tropical South American regions). For further information on the primary regions of diversity of all 151 crop commodities assessed in this study, and the countries pertaining to each region, see the explanatory material at the bottom of this page.
by Colin K. Khoury, Harold A. Achicanoy, Carlos Navarro-Racines, Steven Sotelo, and Andy Jarvis at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Version 1.0 (May 2016). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
