Since the 19th century, the Argentine pampas have developed from the meat locker and woolshed of the world to one of its main granaries, growing corn, wheat, oats, sorghum, and soybeans, among other crops. The country’s agriculture has diversified, though, to include vegetables such as potatoes, onions, carrots, squash, beans, and tomatoes, and to fruit crops like apples, pears, and grapes—the latter of which help make Argentina the world’s fifth-largest wine producer.
Other commercial crops include subtropical cultigens such as sugar cane, olives, tea, yerba mate, and tobacco, mostly in provinces to the north and west of the capital. Agriculture accounts for roughly 10.5 percent of GDP but nearly 60 percent of exports by value, nearly US$41 billion per year, because of high commodity prices.