Corn (maize), a native of tropical America and now a staple in countries around the world, is the most widely cultivated crop throughout the continent. Argentina became a major exporter of corn during the 20th century. Beans, including several species of the genus Phaseolus, are widely cultivated by small-scale methods and form an important food item in most countries. Cassava and sweet potato also are indigenous to the New World and have become the basic foodstuffs of much of tropical Africa and parts of Asia. The potato, which originated in the high Andes, became a dietary staple of many European nations. Several other plants were domesticated in South American environments, such as quinoa and canahua, both small grains used as cereals, and tuberoses such as ullucu and oca. Squashes and pumpkins are pre-Columbian crops that have spread throughout the world, as is the tomato, indigenous to South America’s west coast. Cashews, cultivated in most tropical countries, and Brazil nuts, harvested from trees in the Amazon basin, are widely regarded as delicacies, but both the cashew fruit and the nuts also are local favourites. Cacao, native to the Amazon region and the source of cocoa, was prized by indigenous peoples and is still cultivated in many parts of South America, particularly in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Avocados also originated in the same region. Pineapples, probably indigenous to southern Brazil and the Paraná River basin, were cultivated throughout tropical South America and the West Indies prior to the arrival of Columbus. Papaya and guava are also from tropical America.

Europeans introduced a number of plants to the continent. Sugarcane has been cultivated in the humid tropics of South America since early colonial times, especially in northern Brazil, where it became the mainstay of the economy. In similar environments bananas have long been an important local food item, and since the early 1970s Ecuador has become one of the largest banana exporters in the world. Mangoes, oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are grown widely throughout tropical and subtropical environments in South America. While their origin is much disputed, coconuts are common in most tropical coastal areas in the region. Among the cereals, rice, which was introduced from Asia, has become a dietary staple in several countries. It is grown extensively in the irrigated desert oases of the Peruvian coast and in savanna and rain forest climatic areas of Brazil and Colombia. Wheat, along with other cereals, was introduced by the Spanish by the 1550s throughout Andean South America, where it is still grown. However, it is most successfully produced on the Pampas of Argentina and the littoral of southwestern Uruguay, where it was introduced after the mid-1800s. Soybeans were introduced in the 1950s in the Argentine Pampas and in the 1960s in southern Brazil, where they have been widely cultivated since the 1980s as Brazil has become one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of the commodity. By the turn of the 21st century, Paraguay had also become one of Latin America’s top exporters of soybeans. Grapes, apples, pears, and peaches are important exports for Argentina and Chile, whereas Brazil has been increasing its exports of cantaloupes and honeydew melons to Europe and North America.

Specialized cash crops

Coffee was imported from the Old World in the 1800s and grown in the highlands of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. It is exported in great quantities from the main producing areas of Colombia’s Cordillera Central, the source of some of the world’s highest-quality coffees, and from several Brazilian states, including Paraná and Minas Gerais. The most notable native beverage, yerba maté, is brewed from the leaves of a plant indigenous to the upper Paraná basin. It is still gathered in its wild state in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as grown on plantations in the latter two countries. Tobacco is cultivated in many countries but is produced commercially mainly in Brazil and Colombia. The two commercially most important native South American spices—allspice and red, or chili, pepper—are exported from Brazil.

South America also has a great variety of oil-producing plants, such as the babassú palm, native to Brazil, whose nuts are used for making soap. Vegetable waxes are produced mainly from the waxy secretions found on the leaves of the carnauba palm of Brazil. Vegetable ivory is taken from the hard seeds of the tagua palm, found in much of northern South America but particularly in lowland Ecuador.

Cotton, which has been used for cloth since prehistoric times, is grown in large quantities in northeastern Brazil, coastal Peru, and in the Chaco province of Argentina. Kapok and plants producing stem or leaf fibres, such as sisal, are extensively grown. The iraca, a plant with the appearance of a stemless palm, is cultivated in southern Colombia and northern Ecuador. Its fibres, extracted from young leaves, are woven into Panama hats.

Several plants furnish latex, from which rubber is extracted. Pará rubber (seringa) and related species native to the Amazon basin were known by Indian groups and formed the basis for the Brazilian “rubber boom” of the late 1800s. Balata yields a nonelastic rubber used in golf balls and baseballs. Chicle, a latex gum extracted from the sapodilla tree, is used in the preparation of chewing gum. Artificial rubber has greatly reduced the demand for many natural latexes.