A plant cultivated by humans for food, fiber, fuel, or other useful products.
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A crop is a plant or plant product cultivated by humans for food, fibre, fuel, medicine, or other uses. Crops are grouped into categories including cereals (wheat, rice, maize), pulses (beans, lentils, chickpeas), oilseeds (soybean, sunflower, canola), fibre crops (cotton, flax, hemp), root and tuber crops (potato, cassava, sweet potato), vegetables, fruits, and forage crops. Domestication of crops began around 10,000 years ago in multiple regions, and today roughly 7,000 plant species have been cultivated for human use, though just a handful provide most calories. Crops are grown in systems ranging from subsistence plots to industrial monocultures, and their management involves planting, irrigation, fertilisation, pest control, and harvest. Crop production is influenced by climate, soil, water availability, and market demand, and is threatened by pests, diseases, drought, and climate change. Crop diversity and seed saving are important for resilience, and genebanks such as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault preserve genetic resources for future breeding.
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