Breadbasket
High productivity agricultural region
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Through Soil
Breadbaskets have become important within the global food system by concentrating global food-production in a small number of countries and, in countries such as India, in small geographic regions. As climate change increases weather variability around the world, the likelihood of multiple breadbaskets failing at a time increases dramatically. The 2022 food crises has been in part facilitated by a series of failures in key breadbasket regions, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has created significant potential disruption of the respective breadbasket regions that are important for global wheat and oil seed production.
History
Classical antiquity
Sicily and the province of Africa were considered the breadbaskets of the Roman Republic. Later, in the imperial era, Hispania (and specifically, Baetica) was considered the "breadbasket of Rome." Strabo mentions that "Turdetania is wonderfully fertile, it has all kinds of fruits and very abundant", and that together with province of Egypt, they are the most productive territories in the known world. Crimea was the source of a large amount of grain supplied to the Greek city-states, especially Athens.
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Africa
In South Africa, the Free State province is often considered the country's breadbasket due to its wheat, sunflower, and maize fields. The Overberg region in the Western Cape is also known as the breadbasket of South Africa due to its large wheat fields, as well as fruit growing.
Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, was known as the breadbasket of Africa until 2000, exporting wheat, tobacco, and maize to the wider world, especially to other African nations. However today, Zimbabwe, is a net importer of foodstuffs from the Western World.
Morocco
Since subsistence agriculture was the dominant economic system in most of Morocco's history, it's difficult to speak of a breadbasket region. All regions produced their own wheat and barley to feed themselves and their livestock. With the European commercial penetration in the second half of the 19th century, Morocco started to export wheat to Europe despite the objection of the ulama (religious establishment). The Chaouia and Doukkala plains became the most important suppliers of wheat for export. This is logical given their proximity to the coast. The ports of Casablanca and Feddala, today's Mohammedia, serviced the Chaouia Plain while the port of Mazagan serviced Doukkala.
After Morocco's independence, agriculture in Doukkala became geared toward irrigation so less area has been devoted to wheat, whereas Chaouia maintained its status as a major wheat-producing region thanks to its dark soil called tirs and relatively abundant rainfall (avg. 400 mm/year).
Asia
Europe
The Americas
North America
In Canada, a major grain-growing area is called the Canadian Prairies which include Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Sometimes the province of Saskatchewan, also known for producing a huge supplement of potash, is further singled out from within this region as the main breadbasket of Canada.
In Mexico, the state of Sinaloa has earned the nickname "breadbasket of Mexico" due to its large agricultural production, with approximately 6 million tons of corn annually, but also beans, wheat, sesame, potatoes, and chickpeas. It also stands out in horticulture and aquaculture.
In the United States, an important region is the Corn Belt, where maize, wheat and soybeans are major crops, which generally extends from the Great Lakes south through Missouri. Further to the west in both the United States and Canada, east of the Rocky Mountains, is the Wheat Belt, where the climate is too severe for maize or soybeans. The Palouse region of Eastern Washington state is often referred to as the Breadbasket of the Pacific Northwest, due to its high production of cereal wheat and lentils.
During the Civil War, the Shenandoah Valley was known as the Breadbasket of the Confederacy. Additionally, the San Joaquin Valley in California has also been called the breadbasket of the world. The San Joaquin Valley produces the majority of the 12.8% of the United States' agricultural production (as measured by dollar value) that comes from California. Grapes—table, raisin, and, to a lesser extent, wine—are perhaps the valley's highest-profile product, but equally (if not more) important are cotton, nuts (especially almonds and pistachios), citrus, and vegetables. 70% of the world's and 100% of the U.S. supply of almonds comes from the valley. Oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. According to the 2002 Census of Agriculture's ranking of market value of agricultural products sold, nine of the nation's top 10, and 12 of the top 20, producing counties are in California.
South America
Brazil is the second biggest grain exporter in the world, with 19% of the international market share, and the fourth grain producer country (rice, barley, soybeans, corn and wheat) behind the United States, China and India. Brazil is also the top global exporter of soybeans, cotton, sugarcane, orange juice, coffee, poultry, beef, maize, and the second biggest exporter of pork. The country also has a significant presence as producer and exporter of rice, wheat, eggs, cocoa, beans, nuts, and diverse fruits and vegetables.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Argentina was known as the breadbasket of the world, due to the importance that agriculture had, and still has, in the country. Argentina's cereal cultivation is found in the Pampas region, which encompasses the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba and La Pampa. Within this region, many cities, such as Pergamino, Venado Tuerto and Rosario, are one of the most fertile areas in the continent. Some of the plantations include soybeans, maize, wheat, barley, sunflower and peanut, among others.
In the 19th century, access to the Californian and Australian markets made wheat export a very lucrative activity, leading to the Chilean wheat cycle. In the mid-19th century, those countries experienced large gold rushes, which created a large demand for wheat. Chile was at the time the "only wheat producer of some importance in the Pacific".
Oceania
Australia
The Murray-Darling Basin of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria is seen as Australia's breadbasket, being the source of 40% of the nation's agricultural income, a third of the wheat harvest, 95 percent of the rice crop and other products such as fruit, wine and cotton.
In Western Australia, the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West regions are known as a breadbasket. The Eyre Peninsula and Barossa Valley of South Australia are also known as a breadbasket.
New Zealand
When New Zealand became a British colony, the fertile lands produced food that would be shipped back to UK, causing New Zealand to become colloquially known (occasionally along with Australia) as Britain's breadbasket, subsequently leading to the Dunedin being the first ship to complete a truly successful transport of refrigerated meat. She was refitted with a refrigeration machine with which she took the first load of frozen meat from New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The Canterbury Plains of the South Island and the Waikato Plains of the North Island are currently considered New Zealand's breadbasket.