Agriculture in Argentina: Crops, Output and Inputs

Argentina grew a record 64.0 million tonnes of corn in the 2025/26 season, 31% more than a year earlier, and 27.9 million tonnes of wheat, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, October 2026. Soybeans were 49.3 million tonnes. This guide covers agriculture in Argentina in three parts: what the country grows, what it spends on inputs, and where the farm sector earns its money.

Each number below comes from a named source with its date. Crop output resets every season, so the page shows the last three marketing years side by side. It also has a chart of fertilizer use against other farming countries, a wheat and corn price chart, and a calculator for fertilizer cost per hectare.

Which crops does Argentina grow?

Soybeans, corn and wheat make up the bulk of Argentine grain output. Sunflower seed is the fourth large field crop. In the 2025/26 marketing year USDA puts sunflower seed at 7.6 million tonnes, corn at 64.0, soybeans at 49.3 and wheat at 27.9 (USDA, October 2026). The figures are in million tonnes of grain.

USDA marketing years do not match the calendar. Wheat is harvested from late in the year, so 2025/26 wheat was cut in late 2025. Corn planted from September 2025 to February 2026 was harvested into September 2026, later than usual because of heavy rain, according to the same USDA circular.

The table shows the three most important grains. “Projected” means USDA’s October 2026 forecast for the crop now being planted or sown.

Source: USDA FAS, World Agricultural Production circular, October 2026. Mt means million tonnes. The 2025/26 figures are preliminary.

Crop by crop: what the numbers show

The table above hides how different the crops are. Here is each one, using the USDA tables for area, yield and output (USDA FAS, World Agricultural Production, October 2026). Hectares are harvested area, not planted area.

Wheat

Argentine wheat was harvested from 6.79 million hectares in 2025/26, at 4.11 tonnes per hectare, giving 27.89 million tonnes. A year earlier the same crop gave 18.51 million tonnes from 6.34 million hectares at 2.92 tonnes per hectare. Area moved by 7%. Yield moved by 41%. In these two seasons yield moved far more than area.

For comparison, the United States produced 54.1 million tonnes of wheat in 2025/26 at 3.58 tonnes per hectare, Canada 40.6 million at 3.82 and Australia 36.0 million at 2.90 (same USDA table). Argentina’s 2025/26 wheat yield was above all three, but only after a drought-hit season the year before. Its two-year average is 3.5 tonnes per hectare.

Corn

Corn set a record in 2025/26. Output was 49.0 million tonnes in 2024/25 and 64.0 million in 2025/26, from 6.83 and then 8.20 million hectares. Yield rose from 7.18 to 7.80 tonnes per hectare. USDA explains that farmers planted more early corn (planted before 1 December) in the last two seasons, around 3.0 million hectares against about 2.5 million in an average year, because early corn largely missed a leafhopper outbreak in 2023.

That leafhopper (chicharrita) outbreak is a useful reminder that one pest can change planting dates for a whole country. For 2026/27 USDA projects 55.0 million tonnes, from 7.9 million hectares at 6.96 tonnes per hectare. It is a projection and will change with each monthly USDA update.

Soybeans

Soybeans are the steadiest of the three. Output was 51.1 million tonnes in 2024/25 and 49.3 million in 2025/26, on 17.46 and 16.20 million hectares. Yield was close to 3 tonnes per hectare in both years (2.93 and 3.04). USDA projects 50.0 million tonnes for 2026/27 from 17.1 million hectares. Brazil, for scale, is projected at 186.0 million tonnes and the United States at 124.2 million.

Soybean area fell 7% in 2025/26 while corn area rose 20%, but the soybean total stayed within 4% of the previous year because yield rose.

Sunflower and the smaller crops

Sunflower seed is the fourth big field crop. USDA lists 7.61 million tonnes for 2025/26 from 3.19 million hectares, up from 5.59 million tonnes from 2.40 million hectares in 2024/25, and 8.00 million tonnes projected for 2026/27. Argentina is a major sunflower producer: its 2025/26 output is about 14% of the 55.35 million tonnes USDA gives for the world (our calculation from the USDA table).

Barley (5.57 million tonnes), sorghum (2.40) and peanuts (1.30) are smaller. Peanuts are notable because the Ministry of Agriculture ranks Argentina first in the world for peanut exports in 2025 (Ministry of Agriculture, foreign trade report, June 2026). Barley and sorghum figures are for 2025/26 from the same USDA circular.

Chart

Yield per hectare, two seasons

Tonnes per harvested hectare

Argentina against the United States and Brazil

For readers in North America, the useful comparison is with the US and with Brazil, Argentina’s neighbor and rival in the world corn and soybean trade. The table uses USDA’s 2025/26 preliminary figures.

Source: USDA FAS, World Agricultural Production, October 2026, tables 4 and 11. Mha is million hectares; Mt is million tonnes.

Two things stand out. Argentine corn yield is 33% below the US yield but above Brazil’s. And Argentine soybean yield is 15% below the US. Part of the gap is climate and soil, and part is inputs, which the fertilizer section shows are applied at a lower rate per hectare. We do not claim that fertilizer alone explains the gap.

By our calculation from the same tables, Argentina’s 2025/26 share of world production was about 11.5% for soybeans (49.3 of 429.2 million tonnes), 4.8% for corn and 3.3% for wheat. Farm products matter more for trade than for output: the June 2026 trade report puts agro-industrial products at 79% of Argentine export volume.

How much do Argentine harvests swing from year to year?

A lot. Wheat output rose from 18.5 to 27.9 million tonnes in one year, a gain of about half, while soybeans dipped slightly. Corn rose by 31%. USDA’s own text links the corn jump to a favorable season: area was a record 8.2 million hectares and yield was 7.80 tonnes per hectare, 9% above 2024/25.

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Argentina’s three big grains by marketing year

Million tonnes; 2026/27 is USDA’s projection

Yield tells the story better than area for wheat. Wheat yield went from 2.92 to 4.11 tonnes per hectare between the two seasons, while area rose from 6.34 to 6.79 million hectares. USDA projects the next wheat crop at 21.5 million tonnes, which would be 23% below 2025/26 but still above 2024/25.

For a grower, the lesson is to plan on a range, not a single year. A farm budget that uses the 2025/26 yields would overstate a normal season, and one based on 2024/25 would understate it.

How much land does Argentine farming use?

The World Bank reports 46.8 million hectares of arable land in Argentina for 2024, up from 42.1 million in 2018 (World Bank, arable land series). That is arable land only. Pasture for cattle is counted separately under agricultural land, which the World Bank puts at 29.5% of the land area in 2024 (see the agricultural land indicator), out of a total of about 2.74 million square kilometres.

Earlier versions of this page quoted a higher land-share figure. The current World Bank series gives 29.5% for 2024, so use that number if you compare countries, and check the series date because land-use estimates are revised.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing added 5.8% of GDP in 2024 (World Bank, value added indicator). That looks small, but farm products are a much larger share of what the country sells abroad, as the next section shows.

How important are farm exports?

Agro-industrial products were 59.3% of the value and 79.1% of the volume of everything Argentina exported in 2025, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s foreign trade report of June 2026. Those exports were worth US$51.6 billion FOB, 9.2% more than in 2024. The report lists Argentina first for soybean oil and peanuts, second for soybean by-products such as meal and third for corn in its 2025 export ranking.

In the first seven months of 2025 the ministry listed soy, corn, beef, wheat and sunflower as the top five export complexes by value (Argentine government release). For January to April 2026 the same ministry puts corn at 31.2% of agro-industrial export volume, soybeans at 24.4% and wheat at 24.3%. The three crops together are nearly four-fifths (79.9%) of agro-industrial export volume in that period.

Export prices matter as much as volume. In the USDA’s October 2026 grain circular, International Grains Council quotes for wheat put Argentine wheat at US$252 per tonne FOB, below Australia at US$315 and Canada at US$314. USDA calls Argentina a competitively priced supplier shipping more to Asia. For corn, the Argentine up-river quote was US$219 per tonne on 6 October 2026, against US$231 for Brazil and US$239 for the US Gulf (IGC via USDA).

How much fertilizer does Argentina use?

Argentina applies far less fertilizer per hectare of arable land than the other farming countries shown here. The World Bank gives 47.0 kilograms per hectare of arable land for 2024, against 127.8 in the United States, 136.7 in Canada, 151.2 in Australia and 397.1 in Brazil (World Bank, fertilizer consumption indicator). The measure is nutrient weight per hectare of arable land, so it depends on how much land is counted as arable.

Chart

Fertilizer use per hectare of arable land

Kilograms of nutrients per hectare, 2024

In total, Argentine farmers used 4.9 million tonnes of fertilizer in 2024, up 7% and the third-highest on record, according to the Rosario Board of Trade citing Fertilizar, the industry association (see the Rosario exchange report). The record is 2021. A later Rosario report says 2025 could rank among the highest years too, with imports of 3.4 million tonnes from January to October 2025, up 19% (see Rosario Board of Trade, December 2025).

Imports matter. About 67% of fertilizer use is supplied from abroad on a five-year average, and corn and wheat take about 70% of consumption, the same report says. Urea and MAP made up roughly 56% of imported volume and 61% of value in 2024. Import spending for January to October 2025 was US$1.93 billion, 38% above the same months of 2024.

Prices of urea and MAP rose 17% and 22% in average import cost over the 2024 level in that period, so the ratio of fertilizer cost to grain price decides how much farmers apply. That is why the calculator below uses your own prices.

Fertilizer cost calculator

Use the calculator to see what a nitrogen rate costs per hectare and how many tonnes of grain pay for it. All values are examples, not benchmarks. Replace them with today’s dealer quote and your own yield. Follow the product label and local rules when you apply fertilizer, and ask a local agronomist about rates.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

What can go wrong: weather, pests and supply chains

The numbers above show a country that depends on rain. Wheat yield changed by 41% in a year, and USDA notes below-normal rainfall in January and early February 2026 that put part of the late-planted corn at risk before rain returned in February. Early corn had mostly passed its critical yield stage by then, which is one reason planting date matters.

Pests and disease add to the risk. The 2023 leafhopper outbreak changed planting decisions for two seasons, according to USDA. Kansas State University Extension adds that recent leafhopper outbreaks in Argentina caused corn stunt losses of up to 12% of the corn crop, an estimated 500 pounds of grain per acre. A grower who scouts early, plants in a spread of windows and keeps records of each field can respond faster than one who plants everything on one date. Follow the product label and local rules for any crop protection product, and ask an adviser before you change a program.

Supply chains are a risk too. The Rosario Board of Trade notes that Profertil, which makes about half of the urea used in Argentina at its Bahía Blanca plant, was stopped twice in 2025: briefly in March, when floods in Bahía Blanca interrupted gas supply, and for a planned shutdown from 16 October that involved an investment of US$90 million. Imports cover the gap, which is one reason the import share of fertilizer use can climb above its 67% five-year average (see the Rosario report).

Planted area versus harvested area

Two figures for the same crop can both be right. In December 2025 the Rosario Board of Trade expected the 2025/26 corn plantings to grow by about 17% to 9.7 million hectares (Rosario Board of Trade, December 2025). USDA’s October 2026 table shows 8.20 million hectares harvested for the same season, a record in USDA’s words. The first is a planting forecast, made while the crop was in the ground. The second is the area USDA counts as harvested for grain. The gap can come from corn not harvested for grain and from forecast changes.

This is why a headline that says “Argentina planted X hectares” and another that says “Argentina harvested Y” rarely match. When you build a budget, pick one source and one definition and stay with it through the season.

When are the crops planted and harvested?

The seasons run opposite to the northern hemisphere. USDA says Argentine corn is planted from September to February and harvested from the end of March to the end of August in a normal year. In 2026 the harvest ran late because of excessive rain and finished near the end of September, overlapping with planting of the 2026/27 corn.

Wheat is harvested around November and December, so the wheat crop that USDA counts as 2025/26 was cut in the last weeks of 2025. USDA writes that Argentina will have plentiful wheat supplies after its November harvest. Planting dates vary by region and by variety, so treat these as national outlines.

This calendar matters for buyers and competing exporters. A late Argentine corn harvest delays shipments, and a large wheat crop in December adds supply just as northern hemisphere stocks are being counted.

How to read an Argentine crop report

Crop numbers from different sources often look inconsistent. Often, they measure different things. Check four points before you quote a figure.

• Marketing year or calendar year. USDA uses a marketing year such as 2025/26. Local exchanges often use the crop campaign, which can start in a different month.
• Preliminary or projected. USDA marks the latest finished year as preliminary and the coming year as projected. Both change monthly.
• Planted or harvested area. Harvested area is smaller than planted area when crops fail or are grazed.
• Who produced the number. USDA, the Buenos Aires and Rosario grain exchanges and the Ministry of Agriculture each run their own surveys and publish different totals.

This page uses USDA for crop output because it publishes the same tables for every country, which makes comparisons fair. It uses the Argentine ministry and the Rosario exchange for trade and fertilizer, because they hold the local data.

Do Argentine farmers use no-till?

Yes, widely. Aapresid, the Argentine no-till farmers association, reports that no-till covered 91% of the cropped area in 2016/17, using data from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (see the Aapresid adoption report). The association notes that no official body measures it, so these are association estimates, and the series ends in 2016/17.

A review of Pampas field experiments by Alvarez and Steinbach (2009) found that no-till soils had higher aggregate stability, 70% higher on average than plowed soils, and water infiltration that on average doubled. The same review found small rises in soil bulk density, averaging 4%, and no sign that roots were limited. It also found that wheat and corn yields were 10-14% lower under no-till than under plow tillage when no nitrogen was applied, and that the difference generally disappeared when fertilizer was applied. Better infiltration matters where rainfall swings decide the wheat harvest.

The review is from 2009 and covers experiments, not every farm. Results differ by soil. Check your own soils before you rely on it.

▶ Six plain steps to start precision farming, from field maps to satellite monitoring. · 4:18

How can satellites help Argentine growers?

Large Pampas farms are flat and open, so satellite images show whole fields at once. Vegetation index maps show where crops are stressed weeks before it is obvious from the road. Satellites show that vegetation has changed. They do not tell you the cause, so a field visit is still needed.

Farmonaut Satellite + AI Farm Monitoring System gives growers vegetation maps for their own fields through the web app and apps. The videos below explain how crop health maps work and why radar helps when clouds block normal imagery.

▶ How satellite NDVI maps show crop stress across a large farm before it is visible on the ground. · 4:09

Why Argentine crops matter to farmers in the US, Canada and Australia

Argentina competes with North American and Australian exporters in wheat and corn. In the USDA’s October 2026 grain circular, the International Grains Council quotes show Argentine wheat at US$252 per tonne FOB, against US$339 for US hard red winter at the Gulf, US$314 for Canadian spring wheat at Vancouver and US$315 for Australian wheat (USDA FAS, Grain: World Markets and Trade, October 2026). USDA says US wheat export bids fell on weak export sales, with US prices high compared with other major exporters.

FOB prices are not directly comparable. Each quote is for a different grade and loading port, listed in the circular’s notes: Argentina 12.0% protein up river, Australia average APW, the US hard red winter at the Gulf, Canada CWRS 13.5% at Vancouver. Russian Black Sea quotes are nominal because of shipping limits. Use the chart as a rough gauge of where each exporter prices, not as a ranking of quality.

For corn, the gap is smaller. The same circular lists Argentine up-river corn at US$219 per tonne on 6 October 2026, Brazilian Paranaguá at US$231 and US Gulf at US$239. Argentine corn was up 8% from the same date in 2025, Brazilian up 11%.

A big Argentine crop can show up as export competition in northern hemisphere markets within weeks. If you sell wheat or corn, the Argentine harvest estimate each month is worth a look next to your own local forecast.

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Wheat export price quotes, FOB

US$ per tonne, October 2026; different grades and ports

How we checked the numbers

Every figure in this guide was read from the source page or document on the date of this update. Crop output and yields come from the USDA tables cited above, trade values from the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, fertilizer from the Rosario Board of Trade and the World Bank, and no-till from Aapresid. Shares of world output and the yield gaps with the US are our own arithmetic from those tables, and are marked as such.

Older versions of this page quoted private market-research estimates for pesticide, fumigant and total farm-market size. Those reports are paid products and their figures cannot be checked against public data, so this version uses official and industry-association sources instead. For input costs, ask your supplier and check labels, because pesticide rules differ by product and country.

Fertilizer, pesticide and financial decisions depend on your own farm. Check the product label, follow local rules, and get advice from a qualified agronomist or financial adviser before you act on any number here.

Where to get current Argentine crop numbers

For monthly crop estimates, read the USDA World Agricultural Production circular and WASDE. For weekly planting and harvest progress, the Buenos Aires and Rosario grain exchanges publish reports. Fertilizar and the Ministry of Agriculture publish input and trade data. Check the date on every figure, because crop estimates change each month.

Related pages on our site: biotech in agriculture, farm carbon footprint, crop loans and insurance, fleet management, product traceability, large-farm management, satellite and weather API docs, satellite API, mobile app, Android app and iOS app.

▶ Why only radar satellites can see crops through clouds. · 2:37

FAQ

What are the main crops in Argentina?

Soybeans, corn, wheat and sunflower seed. USDA puts 2025/26 output at 49.3, 64.0, 27.9 and 7.6 million tonnes (USDA FAS, October 2026).

How much of Argentina’s exports come from farming?

Agro-industrial products were 59.3% of export value and 79.1% of volume in 2025, worth US$51.6 billion FOB (Ministry of Agriculture, June 2026).

How much wheat will Argentina harvest next?

USDA projects 21.5 million tonnes for 2026/27, down from 27.9 million in 2025/26 (October 2026). The harvest starts late in the year, so the estimate will change.

How much fertilizer does Argentina use?

4.9 million tonnes in 2024, according to Fertilizar via the Rosario Board of Trade. On a per-hectare basis the World Bank gives 47.0 kg per hectare of arable land in 2024.

Is no-till common in Argentina?

Aapresid reports no-till on 91% of cropped area in 2016/17. No official body measures it, and newer national estimates are not published in the source reviewed.