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Food is by far the most important farm product. But farms also provide many other kinds of products, from natural fibers to ornamental flowers and trees. Some far products are used only to feed livestock. These forage crops include alfalfa, clover, and many grasses, such as bluestem, grama, and timothy. Forage crops are extremely important because they make commercial livestock production possible.

Farmers produce almost all the world’s food, including some fish and game. Most food products come from crops. The rest come from animals, especially cattle, hogs, and other livestock.

The world’s farmers grow about 85 major food crops. They can be divided into eight groups. The main group is cereal grains. Grain is grown on half the world’s cropland and supplies much of the nourishment in the human diet. The chief grains are barley, corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat. Various root crops make up the second most important group of food crops. Like cereal grain, root crops are grown throughout the world and are a basic food for many people. The leading root crops are potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a tropical plant called cassava.

The six remaining groups of major crops are: (1) pulses, which consist mainly of dry beans and dry peas; (2) fruits and vegetables other than root crops and pulses; (3) oil-bearing crops, such as soybeans and coconuts; (4) sugar-bearing crops, especially sugar cane and sugar beets; (5) nuts; (6) cocoa beans, coffee, and tea. Some oil crops, especially soybeans, are used to make flour and meal as well as oil.

Cattle, chickens, goats, hogs, sheep and other livestock are the main animals raised for food. Livestock are raised in every country and supply nearly all the world’s meat, eggs, and milk. Farmers also raise a few kinds of animals other than livestock for food. For example, many farmers keep bees for honey. Farmers on fish farms raise freshwater food fish, such as catfish and trout, and saltwater shellfish, such as mussels and oysters.