What Crops Are Grown in Mexico: Tonnes by Crop and State

What crops are grown in Mexico? Leaving out green fodder, sugarcane leads by weight with about 55.6 million tonnes in 2023, followed by maize at 27.5 million tonnes, according to Mexico’s farm statistics office SIAP. Oranges, sorghum, tomatoes, wheat, limes, chiles and bananas follow. By value of the harvest, maize is first. Avocados and berries rank among Mexico’s top agricultural exports, and tomatoes are a major export to the United States.

This guide ranks the crops by tonnes and by farm-gate value, shows which states grow them, and explains the risks from water and trade rules. It includes a margin calculator you can fill in with your own numbers.

What crops are grown in Mexico, ranked by tonnes

The table below uses SIAP production figures for 2023 as updated in May 2024. It shows the leading grains, vegetables and fruit plus a few key crops. Banana, agave, mango, potato and onion weigh more than coffee or beans and are in the later table. It leaves out green fodder, such as alfalfa (39 million tonnes) and fodder maize (15 million tonnes). Sugarcane is far ahead of every other crop, so the chart after the table leaves it out to keep the other bars readable.

These are tonnes of harvested product, not of the final food. Coffee is weighed as cherry, before hulling and drying. Maize is split into white maize, grown for tortillas, and yellow maize, grown mainly for feed. In SIAP’s 2023 outlook, white maize was expected at 24.2 million tonnes and yellow maize at 3.4 million tonnes (SIAP, Expectativas Agroalimentarias 2023).

Avocado is missing from the chart because the two public sources give different tonnages for 2023. SIAP’s May 2024 table shows 2.97 million tonnes, while the USDA report cited below uses 2.65 million tonnes from SIAP. We cover avocados in their own section.

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Leading crops by tonnes, without sugarcane

Million tonnes harvested in 2023, selected crops; sugarcane (55.6 million) left out for scale

Mexico’s main crops by farm-gate value

Weight does not show what a crop earns. Sugarcane is heavy and cheap. Beans and chiles are light and worth more per kilo. The table divides SIAP’s value of production by its tonnes for the 2022 crop year, the latest year with both figures in the SIAP report we opened. It covers the crops listed in that report’s table only: avocado, lime, mango and orange (14.5 billion pesos) are not shown, and avocado is worth more than sugarcane. The pesos-per-kilo column is our own division, so it is an average across all farms and all grades.

Avocado, lime and mango show 2022 tonnes only (2,540,700, 3,101,100 and 2,176,000 tonnes in SIAP’s May 2024 update). The SIAP reports we used give no 2022 value for fruit, so a price per kilo is left out rather than guessed.

Maize is first by value, with 145 billion pesos in 2022, more than three times the value of sugarcane (44 billion pesos). The tonnes in this table come from the 2023 edition and differ slightly from the May 2024 update used above (for example dry beans 1.0 against 0.97 million tonnes). SIAP marks the 2022 figures as preliminary. Prices change every season, so use them to compare crops, not to plan a budget.

Where each crop is grown: leading states

Each crop has its own centre. SIAP’s state tables list the states with the highest value for each crop. The figures below are SIAP’s 2023 expectations, so they are forecasts made during the season and not final counts (SIAP, 2023).

Check two points before you assume. Sinaloa, not Chiapas, is the top white-maize state in this report, and durum wheat is a Sonora story far more than a Baja California one. Chiapas still matters for banana and for coffee, but SIAP’s white-maize table does not list it among the leaders (it appears only in the yellow-maize table, at 137,000 tonnes).

Maize and beans: the staple crops

Maize anchors Mexican farming. A study of 18,439 geo-referenced seed collections reports that traditional maize landraces are grown on more than half of the country’s cropland (PMC, Mapping the Diversity of Maize Races in Mexico). In the traditional milpa system, farmers plant maize together with beans and squash. FAO’s heritage page on the Xochimilco chinampas notes that this system moved from milpa maize and native vegetables toward a wider mix of crops over the centuries (FAO GIAHS).

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Harvests moved in different directions

Million tonnes, selected crops, 2022 and 2023

Dry beans are less steady. SIAP lists 0.97 million tonnes in 2022 and 0.72 million in 2023 (SIAP, May 2024 update). Zacatecas is the leading state in SIAP’s 2023 outlook.

FAO’s country brief, dated 23 March 2026, says white-maize output was below average in 2024 and 2025. It puts cereal imports for the 2025/26 marketing year at 31.8 million tonnes, about 20% above the five-year average, driven by yellow maize for feed (FAO GIEWS, 2026). Mexico grows a great deal of maize and still buys more.

Avocados, berries and tomatoes: the export crops

Avocado is the best-known export. The USDA’s April 2024 report says Mexico produced 2.65 million tonnes in 2023, with about 257,600 productive hectares, and calls Mexico the world’s top producer. Exports were 1.4 million tonnes worth US$3.03 billion, and the United States took about 80% of the volume (USDA FAS, Avocado Annual, 2024). In value, avocados ranked fourth among Mexican agricultural exports in 2023, after beer, tequila and berries.

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Where Mexico’s avocados are grown

Share of national avocado production by state

Three states grow 90% of the crop: Michoacán 73%, Jalisco 12% and the State of Mexico 5%. The same report says growers in the Jalisco valley region have swapped corn, wheat and pasture for orchards.

Berries are the third export by value in that ranking. SIAP’s May 2024 update lists strawberries at 534,000 tonnes and blackberries at 238,000 tonnes in 2023, plus raspberries at 190,000 tonnes.

Tomatoes face a trade change. On 14 July 2025 the US Department of Commerce ended the 2019 tomato suspension agreement and set antidumping duties of 17.09% on most tomato imports from Mexico (US Department of Commerce, 2025). In June 2026 the US International Trade Commission rejected a Mexican request to revoke the order, so the duty of about 17% stays in force (FreshFruitPortal, 30 June 2026). Sinaloa is the largest tomato state in SIAP’s table.

Fruit, vegetables and agave: the crops beyond grain

Many searchers ask “what do they grow in Mexico” and expect tacos: chiles, tomatoes, limes and avocados. These crops matter, but each is much smaller than maize or sugarcane by weight. SIAP’s May 2024 update gives these 2023 harvests, in million tonnes.

Agave, the plant behind tequila and mezcal, is a large crop: 2.58 million tonnes in 2023, more than the potato harvest. Banana, mango and pineapple grow in the humid south and the Pacific coast. Cool, high valleys grow apples, potatoes and vegetables such as broccoli, with 0.66 million tonnes in 2023. Asparagus reached 0.35 million tonnes. Cacao is a small crop at 29,000 tonnes, but it has deep roots in the south-east.

Because fruit and vegetable crops are sold fresh, quality counts as much as weight. Growers watch rain, frost and heat during flowering, and buyers set rules for size, residues and packing. Check the label of every crop-protection product and the rules of your buyer before you spray.

Wheat, sorghum and sugarcane: north and Gulf coast

Wheat is a winter crop under irrigation in the north-west. The FAO brief says satellite images showed below-average crop conditions in the main north-western producing areas in early 2026, because low rain cut the water in reservoirs (FAO GIEWS, March 2026). The same brief says the 2026 main sorghum crop, with Tamaulipas as the key producing state, accounts for about 55% of annual sorghum production.

Sugarcane is grown in the humid south and Gulf states. Veracruz alone had about 20.7 million tonnes in SIAP’s 2023 expectation. The crop is heavy, low in value per kilo, and tied to the sugar mills nearby.

How big is farming in Mexico’s economy?

Agriculture, forestry and fishing added 3.9% of GDP in 2025 (World Bank). Its share of jobs has been falling: 13.3% in 2021 and 11.4% in 2025, on the ILO’s modelled estimate (World Bank, employment in agriculture). Farm exports have grown. Mexico’s agriculture ministry reports agri-food exports of US$51.9 billion in 2023, up from US$34.8 billion in 2018, and a trade surplus of US$7.6 billion (SADER, Sixth Report, 2024). That figure covers all food products, including meat, beer and tequila, and not only crops.

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Mexico’s agri-food exports

US$ billion per year, all agri-food products (not only crops)

Water and climate: the main risks for Mexican farms

Farming uses about 76% of Mexico’s freshwater withdrawals (World Bank, 2022 data). In SIAP’s state tables, Sonora leads durum wheat, Sinaloa leads tomato, white maize and green chile, and Chihuahua leads yellow maize. FAO links the north-west wheat crop to irrigation water, so reservoir levels matter. FAO’s 2026 brief links weaker wheat conditions to low reservoirs.

Plan for these risks:

• Dry years can cut harvests. FAO calls the 2025 wheat and minor-maize planting drought-affected, and SIAP shows dry beans falling from 0.97 to 0.72 million tonnes between 2022 and 2023.
• Low reservoirs reduce winter wheat in the north-west, as FAO’s 2026 brief reports.
• Trade rules, such as the US tomato duty, change what growers earn from the same harvest.
• Orchards that replace maize or pasture, such as avocado in Jalisco, need steady water and carry their own pest and permit rules.

▶ Why cloudy weather blinds ordinary satellite images and how radar sees through clouds. · 2:37

Tracking crop health from space

Large fields in Sinaloa, Sonora or the Bajío are hard to walk. Satellites such as Sentinel-2 photograph the same field every few days, and the images show where plants are greener or weaker. A map of plant greenness cannot name the cause. It tells you where to look first. In the wet south, clouds block optical images for weeks, and radar satellites see through them. Farmonaut Satellite + AI Farm Monitoring System is one tool that turns these images into field maps.

▶ How satellite NDVI maps show crop stress across a large farm before you can see it. · 4:09

Crop margin calculator

Use the calculator after this heading to test one crop on your own land. Type your area, yield, price and cost per hectare. Prices change by season, so enter today’s price from your buyer or market.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

How to choose a crop in Mexico

1. Start with water. Count the irrigation water you can rely on in a dry year, not an average one.
2. Check the buyer first. Export crops such as avocado, berries and tomato need packing houses, plant-health rules and, for tomato, US duty rules.
3. Compare value per kilo and cost per hectare, as in the table above, not tonnes alone.
4. Look at your state’s record. A crop that leads in Sinaloa may not suit Chiapas.
5. Spread risk with a second crop or a rotation, such as maize followed by beans.

Pesticide, fertilizer and water rules differ by state and by buyer. Follow the product label and local rules, and ask a local agronomist or SENASICA before you change crops.

How we checked the numbers

Crop tonnes, values and states come from SIAP, Mexico’s agri-food statistics office, in two publications: Expectativas Agroalimentarias 2023 and the May 2024 update. Where the two give different figures for the same year, we say so. Avocado figures come from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Cereal, import and weather facts come from FAO’s GIEWS country brief of 23 March 2026. Economy figures come from the World Bank and from Mexico’s agriculture ministry. The pesos-per-kilo column is our own division of SIAP value by SIAP tonnes. We did not use area or yield figures that lacked a named source.

Related pages on our site: farm management app, satellite data API, weather API documentation, carbon footprint tracking, crop loan and insurance verification, fleet management, product traceability and the mobile app.

FAQ

What are the main crops grown in Mexico?

By tonnes in 2023: sugarcane (55.6 million), maize (27.5 million), oranges, sorghum, tomatoes, wheat, limes and green chiles (SIAP). By value of the harvest in 2022, maize was first at 145 billion pesos. Of the crops in SIAP’s value table, sugarcane, tomato, green chile and wheat followed, but avocado is not in that table and is worth more than sugarcane.

What does Mexico export most from its farms?

Mexico’s agri-food exports were US$51.9 billion in 2023 (SADER). The USDA ranked beer, tequila, berries and avocados as the top four agricultural exports by value in 2023. Tomatoes are also a major export to the United States.

Which Mexican state grows the most avocados?

Michoacán, with about 73% of national output, then Jalisco at 12% and the State of Mexico at 5% (USDA FAS, 2024).

Is wheat grown in Mexico?

Yes. SIAP lists 3.5 million tonnes in 2023, and Sonora grows most of the durum wheat. Mexico also buys wheat from abroad, and winter crops depend on reservoir water.

Does Mexico grow enough maize?

Mexico grows mostly white maize for tortillas and buys yellow maize for feed. FAO put 2025/26 cereal imports at 31.8 million tonnes, about 20% above the five-year average.

Where does coffee grow in Mexico?

SIAP counts about 1.06 million tonnes of coffee cherry for 2023. State breakdowns for coffee were not in the SIAP tables we used, so check SIAP’s state data for your area.