Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America

South America: Cereals, primary — Area harvested was 53.87 million ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
53.87 million ha
Change on year
up 0.0%
Rank
15th
of 29 groups
All-time high
53.87 million ha
in 2024
All-time low
25.80 million ha
in 1962
Years of data
64
1961–2024

Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America, 1961–2024

020.0M40.0M60.0M196119922024

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in ha.

Analysis

In 2024, cereals, primary — area harvested in South America stood at 53.87 million ha. That is the highest value across all 64 years on record.

The figure is up 27.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, cereals, primary — area harvested in South America peaked at 53.87 million ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 25.80 million ha, in 1962.

South America ranks 15th of 29 groups on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.

Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America, year by year

Annual values for Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America, 1961 to 2024.
Year ha Change
1961 26.86 million ha
1962 25.80 million ha -4.0%
1963 29.42 million ha +14.0%
1964 31.29 million ha +6.3%
1965 30.19 million ha -3.5%
1966 30.61 million ha +1.4%
1967 32.53 million ha +6.3%
1968 33.58 million ha +3.2%
1969 33.56 million ha -0.1%
1970 33.84 million ha +0.9%
1971 35.87 million ha +6.0%
1972 34.61 million ha -3.5%
1973 33.86 million ha -2.2%
1974 35.30 million ha +4.3%
1975 37.09 million ha +5.1%
1976 40.62 million ha +9.5%
1977 37.84 million ha -6.8%
1978 37.08 million ha -2.0%
1979 37.89 million ha +2.2%
1980 36.66 million ha -3.2%
1981 38.09 million ha +3.9%
1982 41.70 million ha +9.5%
1983 36.97 million ha -11.3%
1984 37.59 million ha +1.7%
1985 37.08 million ha -1.4%
1986 38.98 million ha +5.1%
1987 39.90 million ha +2.4%
1988 38.85 million ha -2.6%
1989 37.33 million ha -3.9%
1990 33.42 million ha -10.5%
1991 34.22 million ha +2.4%
1992 35.26 million ha +3.0%
1993 33.60 million ha -4.7%
1994 35.49 million ha +5.6%
1995 34.94 million ha -1.6%
1996 35.17 million ha +0.6%
1997 35.26 million ha +0.3%
1998 32.18 million ha -8.7%
1999 34.13 million ha +6.1%
2000 35.26 million ha +3.3%
2001 36.22 million ha +2.7%
2002 34.42 million ha -5.0%
2003 36.39 million ha +5.7%
2004 37.30 million ha +2.5%
2005 35.68 million ha -4.3%
2006 35.11 million ha -1.6%
2007 37.11 million ha +5.7%
2008 38.26 million ha +3.1%
2009 35.58 million ha -7.0%
2010 36.18 million ha +1.7%
2011 38.60 million ha +6.7%
2012 38.23 million ha -1.0%
2013 41.10 million ha +7.5%
2014 42.38 million ha +3.1%
2015 40.26 million ha -5.0%
2016 41.50 million ha +3.1%
2017 44.97 million ha +8.4%
2018 44.77 million ha -0.5%
2019 46.59 million ha +4.1%
2020 48.26 million ha +3.6%
2021 50.33 million ha +4.3%
2022 53.31 million ha +5.9%
2023 53.86 million ha +1.0%
2024 53.87 million ha +0.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 30.43 million ha 25.80 million ha 33.58 million ha 9
1970s 36.40 million ha 33.84 million ha 40.62 million ha 10
1980s 38.32 million ha 36.66 million ha 41.70 million ha 10
1990s 34.37 million ha 32.18 million ha 35.49 million ha 10
2000s 36.13 million ha 34.42 million ha 38.26 million ha 10
2010s 41.46 million ha 36.18 million ha 46.59 million ha 10
2020s 51.93 million ha 48.26 million ha 53.87 million ha 5

Countries ranked near South America

  1. 12 Canada 15.83 million ha compare
  2. 13 Pakistan 15.45 million ha compare
  3. 14 Indonesia 12.59 million ha compare
  4. 15 Thailand 12.53 million ha compare
  5. 16 Bangladesh 12.27 million ha compare
  6. 17 Ethiopia 12.07 million ha compare
  7. 18 Sudan 11.59 million ha compare

See the full ranking of 226 places →

More agriculture & rural data for South America

All data for South America →

Frequently asked questions

What is cereals, primary — area harvested in South America?
Cereals, primary — area harvested in South America was 53.87 million ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest cereals, primary — area harvested recorded in South America?
The highest recorded value was 53.87 million ha in 2024.
What is the lowest cereals, primary — area harvested recorded in South America?
The lowest recorded value was 25.80 million ha in 1962.
How does South America rank for cereals, primary — area harvested?
South America ranks 15th out of 29 groups with data for 2024.
Is cereals, primary — area harvested rising or falling in South America?
Over the last ten years it is up 27.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this South America data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Cereals, primary — Area harvested. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 64 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 25 August 2026, from https://agriculture.statizoid.com/stat/cereals-primary-area-harvested/south-america/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://agriculture.statizoid.com/stat/cereals-primary-area-harvested/south-america/">Cereals, primary — Area harvested in South America</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Cereals, primary — Area harvested
Unit
ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
226 places, 12,898 data points, 1961–2024
Last refreshed

Crop and livestock statistics are recorded for 278 products, covering the following categories: 1) CROPS PRIMARY: Cereals, Citrus Fruit, Fibre Crops, Fruit, Oil Crops, Oil Crops and Cakes in Oil Equivalent, Pulses, Roots and Tubers, Sugar Crops, Treenuts and Vegetables. Data are expressed in terms of area harvested, production quantity and yield. Cereals: Area and production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed or silage or used for grazing are therefore excluded. 2) CROPS PROCESSED: Beer of barley; Cotton lint; Cottonseed; Margarine, short; Molasses; Oil, coconut (copra); Oil, cottonseed; Oil, groundnut; Oil, linseed; Oil, maize; Oil, olive, virgin; Oil, palm; Oil, palm kernel; Oil, rapeseed; Oil, safflower; Oil, sesame; Oil, soybean; Oil, sunflower; Palm kernels; Sugar Raw Centrifugal; Wine. 3) LIVE ANIMALS: Animals live n.e.s.; Asses; Beehives; Buffaloes; Camelids, other; Camels; Cattle; Chickens; Ducks; Geese and guinea fowls; Goats; Horses; Mules; Pigeons, other birds; Pigs; Rabbits and hares; Rodents, other; Sheep; Turkeys. 4) LIVESTOCK PRIMARY: Beeswax; Eggs (various types); Hides buffalo, fresh; Hides, cattle, fresh; Honey, natural; Meat (ass, bird nes, buffalo, camel, cattle, chicken, duck, game, goat, goose and guinea fowl, horse, mule, Meat nes, meat other camelids, Meat other rodents, pig, rabbit, sheep, turkey); Milk (buffalo, camel, cow, goat, sheep); Offals, nes; Silk-worm cocoons, reelable; Skins (goat, sheep); Snails, not sea; Wool, greasy. 5) LIVESTOCK PROCESSED: Butter (of milk from sheep, goat, buffalo, cow); Cheese (of milk from goat, buffalo, sheep, cow milk); Cheese of skimmed cow milk; Cream fresh; Ghee (cow and buffalo milk); Lard; Milk (dry buttermilk, skimmed condensed, skimmed cow, skimmed dried, skimmed evaporated, whole condensed, whole dried, whole evaporated); Silk raw; Tallow; Whey (condensed and dry); Yoghurt.