Global Crops Database

Welcome to the Global Crops Database; a database with thousands of names of agricultural crops. The database includes scientific names, synonyms, and common names in several languages.

The global crops database contains 5839 names for 515 agricultural crops.

Each crop in the database is assigned to one or more different crop categories. Main categories are cereals, fruits and vegetables, but many other categories are used to give additional information about the crop (spices, herbs, fodder crops, fiber crops, etc.).

Using the database

The Global Crops Database can now be explored via this website. There are several ways to find a crop in the database:

Search	Enter a search text to find a name or part of a name.
Botanical classification	See a list of Orders, Families, Subfamilies or Genera to find a crop.
Crop Categories	See a list of crops that belong in a certain category.

Or click on a character below for a alphabetical list of names.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

About the database

The word “agriculture” originates from the Latin word agricultūra, which is a combination of ager (the field) and cultūra (cultivation). So actually, agriculture is “cultivation of the field”, or “tillage of the field”. Agriculture started more than 10,000 years ago, probably in the fertile regions of Mesopotamia.

Early agriculture was limited to a few cereals and pulses for human consumption. The earliest crops included emmer, einkorn, wheat, barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax. Gradually more and more plants were domesticated. Apart from cereals, vegetables and fruits, many other useful plants were discovered; some are grown to be used in the human diet (spices, herbs), others for fibers, to produce drinks (coffee, tea, beer, wine, etc.), or for many other uses. Modern agriculture also includes many crops grown for industrial purposes, for example to produce rubber or to extract oils or chemicals that can be used in numerous products (medicines, glues, dyes, perfumes, etc.). And then there are of course plants that are grown as ornamentals, for cut flowers, or for other reasons.

All these hundreds of crop species are known by thousands of different names. Even in one language, a plant can have several common names. In English, the Plum (Scientific name: Prunus domestica) is sometimes called Prune, or Common plum or European plum. Tangerines (Citrus reticulata) are known as Mandarine, Clementine, Mandarin, or Mandarin orange.

The Global Crops Database is a collection of all these names of agricultural crops. Most records in the database refer to a single crop species. However, in some cases a record refers to a subspecies or variety, and in some cases to a group of species (a genus).

For “agricultural crop” the following definition is used: “a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, fiber, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose”. The term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, but it can also include species of fungi or species of algae.

Plant species in the Global Crops Database are in all cases recorded with their scientific name (or binomial name) consisting of the genus name and the specific name. In some cases the name includes the subspecies or the name of a variety. For each record the database includes the botanical classification in Orders and Families, and in some cases Subfamilies. Each species has at least on common name in English, but for most species the database has a list of common names in English, Spanish, Dutch, French, German and Italian (English, Español, Nederlands, Français, Deutsch, Italiano).

The Global Crops Database is a work in progress; new records and new crop names are added regularly. For the moment, emphasis is on food crops (especially cereals, vegetables and fruits), but gradually other crops are being included.

A feature under development in the database is to group the agricultural plants in a number of crop categories.

You can help improving the global crops database

Please report any error by sending an email
Missing crops? Please send any names of crops that you didn't find in the database
Missing names? Please send any additional names for the agricultural crops in the database.
Missing categories? Please send a message to indicate the proper categories for individual crops.
Missing pictures? You can send pictures to complete the database.
Please suggest other categories that could be included in the database.
Translate crop names in other languages.

Did you know that?

According to the website of Salvard Global Seed Vault, more than 7,000 plant species have historically been used in human diets. In modern agriculture less than 150 species are being used for food production.
Major world crops include Sugarcane, Maize, Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Sugar beet, Soybean, Oil palm, Barley, Tomato and Cotton.

Quotes and Proverbs about agriculture

Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
(You need to work to get results.)
Fast food may appear to be cheap food and, in the literal sense it often is, but that is because huge social and environmental costs are being excluded from the calculations.
(Prince Charles)
A patent on seeds is a patent on freedom. If you have to pay for patented seeds, it's like being forced to buy your own freedom.
(Ka Memong Patayan)

Definitions

The Global Crops Database is:

Global = worldwide, universal, covering the whole world
Crop = a plant that is grown in large quantities, especially as food
Database = an organized set of data that is stored in a computer and can be looked at and used in various ways