Talk:Crop

various things

This is marked as a high importance article for 4 projects and as a level 4 article (i.e. within Wiki's most important 10,000 articles) and yet is only rated a class-C article. Could we consider this state of affairs as Wikipedia's editors collectively voted against its high importance? It's not that the topic is unimportant, but it overlaps on the on hand with agriculture (also arboriculture, floriculture, horticulture, sylviculture), and on the other hand with cereal and all the topics in the See Also section. It could be seen more as an interstitial article summarising and linking the various topics, with main article links.

Does a crop have to be cultivated? Or does it just have to be regularly harvested. I referred to wiktionary for clarification, but that muddied the water rather than clearing it, as references to crops of wild plants could fall under sense 3 there, which is clearly outside the scope of this article. "wild crop" as a search term mostly brings up mentions of wild relatives of crop species, but this USDA page documents the concept, and lists 6 example groups of wild crops. In addition to blueberries I've found mention of cloudberries, bilberries and lingonberries as wild crops (in Finland), and in Britain I'd suggest blackberries and sloes play a similar role. Lyme grass was harvested from the wild in Iceland, and used to produce bread. Rubber was harvested from the wild in the Amazon. Wild vs cultivated crop is orthogonal to the other divisions, but I think the article should have a wild crop section. (We're also missing a wild crop main article.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lavateraguy (talk • contribs) 09:37, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

I forgot to mention that forest gardening blurs the line between wild and cultivated crops. Lavateraguy (talk) 12:05, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Should timber crops be included? They would fall under industrial crops. (Trees are grown in plantations for timber and wood pulp.) Also biomass groups, grown for energy production, which include Miscanthus and fast growing trees. Lavateraguy (talk) 09:37, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

The article describes crops as plants/plant products. The above linked page on wild crops also mentions fungi and algae as crops. I also recalled have read about wool as a crop, and on resort to Google Scholar I find that at least historically there was reference to lamb crops as well as wool crops, and even milk crops. (And a single reference to a bacon crop.) Google ngrams supports the hypothesis that use of crop for animal products is mostly historical. What scope should we use in the article, and should historical usage for animal products be mentioned? Lavateraguy (talk) 11:58, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

On first reading the article it struck me that the balance between crops and cropping practices (which would go better with agriculture) was wrong, but on a reread it's perhaps not so much that there is too much on cropping practice, but rather that there is too little on the rest of the article.

I'd also suggest that the See Also list be trimmed by moving most of its contents into the body of the article. Lavateraguy (talk) 12:12, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

In English, the word crop is often used in ways that blur the distinction between the product and the process. This article offers a good opportunity to clarify that distinction—defining a crop as the product, and linking out to the various processes by which crops are cultivated, such as agriculture, arboriculture, floriculture, horticulture, sylviculture, and others.

A crop is a plant product that is deliberately grown or collected, primarily for food or as a cash commodity. While almost any plant can be considered a crop in the right context, I think we should focus the article on more traditional examples from around the world (organized by cultivation type) to give readers a representative sense of what the term typically encompasses.

Although Wikipedia favors prose, I suspect this article might benefit from a series of short, well-introduced lists—each framed by a brief explanation of the type or purpose of the crops included. This could also help reduce the size of the 'See also' section by integrating relevant links within the body of the article.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 17:54, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Wiktionary has 17 senses for crop as a noun. The first two correspond to this article, while three others are linked at crop (disambiguation). None of the others strike me as worthy of an article, though, for example, if the tin-mining sense was covered at tin mining the disambiguation article could link to it.

The process is cropping which is disambiguated to crop farming which redirects to agriculture. But usage there seems to be equally ambiguous - applying to both growing and harvesting, as well as having transitive and intransitive senses. (I wonder if that is a sufficiently broad target - would it cover kelp farming? This reminds me that aquaculture also falls within the penumbra of this article, and leads me to discover that the terms pearl crop, lobster crop and salmon crop are in use.)

I agree with downplaying the process in this article, which was the intent of my penultimate paragraph above. There remains the distinction between the source plant (animal, fungus, alga) and the product. Should the article focus on one sense, the other, or both, and if on one sense where is the other represented in Wikipedia. Lavateraguy (talk) 19:20, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

categorisation of crops/article structure

Crops can be categorised on multiple axes

• wild versus cultivated
• annual versus perennial
• single versus repeat versus continuous cropping
• subsistence versus cash
• use of product
• source of product (plant, fungus, alga, animal)
• source of product (tree, bush, grass, legume, ...)
• source of product (root, leaf, fruit)

This makes organising the article difficult. My provisional proposal is to make use of product as the primary division, and cover the other categorisations in subsequent sections. Lavateraguy (talk) 12:26, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Let's not expand this article into too much detail. I think we should leave this article as a top-level summary style article which wikilinks to the more detailed articles.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 20:51, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

citations needed?

The lede is spattered with citation needed templates. I have two questions. Are these the sort of statements that require citations? and can citations be deferred to the body of the article below. Lavateraguy (talk) 12:48, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

If the content is cited in the body, it can be included in the lede without citation. Typically citations are found in the body, not the lede, per MOS:LEAD. If a sentence wikilinks an article, like 'Floricultural crops include bedding plants, houseplants, flowering garden and pot plants, cut cultivated greens, and cut flowers' and the linked article shows the content to be correct, and is well-referenced, supporting references aren't typically necessary in both articles.Dialectric (talk) 15:56, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Section 'Globally important crops'

The source list for the little chart is from 2015, however there is a column for 2020—unsourced. Also, the use of the historical columns is awkward and not particularly interesting for a basic article on the topic of 'crops'.

I thought about using List of most valuable crops and livestock products, but that is also out of date, sourcing only an FAO database from 2016.

I suggest we find a source for the top few crops, maybe up to 10, use that for a prose sentence, and remove the small chart and its two earlier years of information. Alternatively to prose, a small chart similar to List of most valuable crops and livestock products listing value, tonnes, and country (if we can possibly find a source for all that together). We must make the year of the data source prominent in the body and not simply rely on the date in the citation.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 20:50, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

The 2nd image could be replaced.

The photo of the dried crop should be replaced with a more descriptive crop photo such as a pile of potatoes. Any thoughts?? - Wil540 art (talk) 03:21, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

Agreed. I didn't like the first image montage, either. I replaced both with a multiple image of 6 sample crops.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 07:47, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

300 species

"Of the estimated 50,000 edible plant species, only about 300 have been domesticated as crop plants. Furthermore, 90 percent of cropland is made up of just fifteen plant species, with rice, wheat, soybeans, cotton, and maize being the top five."

A technicality - that isn't a list of species: 2 species of rice, 4 of wheat, and 4 of cotton are domesticated, though in each case a single species - Asian rice, bread wheat, and upland cotton - predominates. But it can't be a priori guaranteed that specifying these in the list maintains the 90%.

The broader issue is that I don't think that the numbers refer to crops as a whole. Since cotton is mentioned it's not strictly food crops, but it may be arable crops. (It may include areas under perennial crops such as grape vines, cacao, tea, coffee, etc., but doesn't include pasture - how does rye grass compare in acreage with the big 5? - or forestry plantations.) Amenity trees, and some shrubs etc in cultivations in gardens, fall outside the definition of a crop, but I suspect that if you started adding up the species grown for the cut flower market, or the bulb trade, or the bedding plant trade, or as culinary or medicinal herbs, or in forestry, the 300 number would look conservative.

These sentences might be better placed later in the article. Lavateraguy (talk) 21:19, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

I moved the sentences to the 'Global production' section, next to the other similar sentence. By adding the date of the reports, they perhaps don't conflict as much as they did before my edit. See also Wikipedia:Conflicting sources.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 22:14, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

The 300 is a subset of even a larger subset (edible) of plants. It is not talking about all plants grown as crops. Horticultural species would far outnumber that and would be in the tens of thousands, but they would be classified, perhaps, as specialty crops. I think the source is limiting itself to field crops. Hardyplants (talk) 08:40, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Outline of agriculture

Is this appropriate for the See Also section? Lavateraguy (talk) 14:41, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that is a relevant link. Wil540 art (talk) 15:54, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Paragraph removal

I have removed this paragraph:

Crop production involves the use of land, seeds, propagating materials, water, energy, fertilizer, machinery, etc., which yield usable products.[8] They are produced from annual, biennial, or perennial sources.[9] Nursery crops are produced in smaller or enclosed areas, and maybe grown in ground or in containers.[10] Field-grown crops are cultivated on a large scale, and typical involve annual crops.[11]

This paragraph does not add encyclopedic value. The first sentence is redundant, since the article already explains crop production. The second sentence is trivial (all plants are annual, biennial, or perennial). The third sentence introduces “nursery crops,” but the linked article is about the ornamental plant industry, which is not the same concept as a plant nursery in agriculture. The final sentence about “field crops” is misleading, because many field crops (e.g. tobacco, rice, coffee, tea) are raised in nursery plots before transplanting, and the cited source itself admits the definition is inconsistent and only applies to that chapter.

Taken together, the paragraph is redundant, confusing, and potentially misleading, so I have removed it.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 17:16, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Here is what I was aiming for:

Crop production

Crop production is the process of cultivating plants for food, fiber, fuel, and other useful products. It involves a coordinated use of land, seeds, propagating materials, water, energy, fertilizers, machinery, labor, and management practices that together result in usable agricultural outputs. The efficiency and success of crop production depend on environmental conditions, soil health, crop genetics, and the methods used to manage pests, diseases, and nutrient availability.

Crops may be produced from annual, biennial, or perennial species, each with unique biological and management requirements.

• Annual crops (e.g., wheat, maize, vegetables) complete their life cycle within a single growing season and must be replanted each year.
• Biennial crops (e.g., carrots, onions, beets) require two growing seasons, typically forming vegetative structures in the first growing season and harvesting in the second.
• Perennial crops (e.g., fruit trees, nuts, forage grasses) persist for multiple years and yield several harvests without being replanted.

Nursery crops

Nursery crops are cultivated in controlled or semi-controlled environments such as greenhouses, shade houses, or enclosed outdoor areas. These plants may be grown in ground or in containers, depending on the species and production system. Nursery production focuses on seedlings, ornamentals, landscape plants, fruit-tree saplings, and other young plants used for propagation or transplanting. Controlled conditions allow precise management of water, nutrients, and pests, improving plant survival and quality.

Field-grown crops

Field-grown crops are produced on large tracts of land under natural environmental conditions. This category typically includes annual crops such as grains, oilseeds, fiber crops, and many vegetables, which are planted and harvested on a seasonal schedule. Field production systems may be conventional, organic, rainfed, or irrigated, and they often require large-scale mechanization and careful management of soil fertility, weeds, and climate-related risks.

If its usefi=ul I can fill in more refs.

Hardyplants (talk) 03:30, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure this article benefits from adding that much detail, since it starts to resemble "how‑to" content (see WP:NOTHOWTO). As I mentioned above, Let's not expand this article into too much detail. I think we should leave this article as a top-level summary style article which wikilinks to the more detailed articles. If you would like to expand the scope, you are welcome to open a broader discussion to establish consensus about how much detail this article should include.

Also, some of the information you proposed isn't quite accurate. For example, carrots, onions, and beets are biologically biennials (they take two years to flower and set seed), but in agriculture they are grown as annuals (seed to harvest in one growing season). Virtually all food crops are grown and harvested within a single season, even if the plant is biologically biennial. The exception is perennials, and the article already mentions annuals and perennials with links to their respective pages, so I don't think introducing biennials adds much value here.

Nursery crops are relatively minor compared to worldwide crop production, so highlighting them alone seems a little WP:UNDUE. And the "field crop" paragraph reads more like a how‑to guide, which is better left to the specific crop articles listed under the table's "Category" column.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 05:47, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Nursery crops run close to 300 billion dollars a year, and most homes have products produced from the trade. So I do not think it's minor; maybe the title of the article should be 'Agricultural Crops' instead, and narrow the focus. Hardyplants (talk) 06:51, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

More detailed articles to make and link to might be: Agricultural Crop Production, Forestry Crop Production, Horticultural Crop Production, etc. Hardyplants (talk)

Hardyplants (talk) 06:56, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

The above text is a rough draft and the biennials part is incomplete but to make it complete, it might have to much detail for some. It should read something like:

"Biennial crops (e.g., carrots, onions, beets) typically form vegetative structures in the first growing season, which are harvested in the same season, while biennial crops grown for seed production require two growing seasons."

Seed production is also an important subset of crops.". Hardyplants (talk) 07:18, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I think that better examples of biennial crops would be winter cereals (and winter oilseed rape). Among Allium crops garlic is grown as a biennial. Lavateraguy (talk) 13:07, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

In principle one could also have monocarpic crops. I believe that bananas are an example. Lavateraguy (talk) 13:14, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

@Lavateraguy: The examples given are inaccurate. Planting methods such as Overwintering § Plants do not change a plant's biological category. (1) Winter cereals and oilseed crops are annual crops that overwinter, not true biennials; they complete their life cycle in less than a year, even though they are sown in autumn and harvested the following summer. (2) Garlic is botanically a perennial plant, but in cultivation it is almost always grown as an annual; it does not require two years to complete its cycle, and is not biennial. Overwintering a crop into a different calendar year does not make it a biennial or a two‑year growing cycle.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 18:33, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

The point is to show that not all crops are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall, but that there is a diversity of growing methods. Hardyplants (talk) 22:32, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Correct, Bananas are different than most crops, they typically are grown for 12 to 15 months before harvesting, and being monocarpic, there is only one harvest and the crop has to be replanted. In the case of monocarpic perennial crops like Agava, For tequila, mezcal, syrup, or fiber - the whole agave plant (the “piña”) is harvested only once, near the end of its life. Hardyplants (talk) 22:44, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I’ve already explained why this type of content isn’t appropriate for the article. Repeating the same proposal without addressing prior concerns isn’t constructive. Wikipedia’s policies on WP:UNDUE, WP:TRIVIA, and WP:NOTHOWTO make clear that articles should focus on encyclopedic coverage rather than instructional detail or excessive examples. Please review those guidelines and explain how your proposed additions would comply with them before pressing further.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 23:51, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

You are misusing or misunderstanding those policies. Undue - "Neutrality requires that mainspace articles and pages fairly represent all significant viewpoints." Nursery crops are significant. Trivia - has to do with topics that are tangential to the subject. NOTHOWTO - is text that reads like an instruction manual, which none of the above text does.Hardyplants (talk) 02:25, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

WP:UNDUE is not limited to WP:FRINGE viewpoints, but also covers the broader English meaning of "undue weight". It applies when minor aspects of a subject are given disproportionate weight in an article. WP:BALASP makes this explicit. As WP:UNDUE notes: "Undue weight can be given in several ways, including but not limited to the depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, juxtaposition of statements, and use of imagery."   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 06:52, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

A few lines is NOT undew weight, not mentioning a major sector of a topic violates covering a subject from all major points of view. Hardyplants (talk) Hardyplants (talk) Hardyplants (talk) 07:00, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

@Hardyplants:

(I couldn't figure out where in your indenting that I should put this comment, so I'm putting it here at the end.) Those articles sound like a great idea. I look forward to your new articles. Reminder: carrots, onions, beets are grown as annuals.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 18:47, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

References

Kcal paragraph

Can anyone reproduce the data source cited in the paragraph beginning and ending "The importance of a crop varies greatly depending on the region. Globally, the following crops contribute most to human food supply ... respectively"? It is cited to a database, not any actual text or chart. It appears to have been created in 2017, but potentially the data was from 2013. Either date is old enough that the article content should be updated. However, I cannot seem to make the database produce anything similar to kcal data.

If we cannot update it or reproduce it, I think we should remove the paragraph or replace it with a current and static (non-database) source.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 01:09, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Fixed. I found a 2025 report with this sort of data and replaced the paragraph.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 06:25, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

Pipes versus redirects

horticultural science, forestry science and fruticulture are redirects. The recent batch of edits introduced pipes to the redirect targets, which in all 3 cases are on the wrong side of the science/practice dichotomy. On the principle that the dichotomy is useful, and that the target articles might be split in the future, I am of the opinion that the links should be to the redirects rather than to the targets. Lavateraguy (talk) 12:59, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

@Lavateraguy: You are welcome to put back some that were recently changed. I reverted some. The relevant policy is Wikipedia:Redirect § Do not "fix" links to redirects that are not broken.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 18:02, 16 November 2025 (UTC)