Data or statistical facts on the situation and perspectives of agri-food systems and the impact of policies
3,500 years old are the first documented potato crops in South America, a tuber that in the 17th century saved Europe from famine, becoming one of the main contributions of the New World to global food security (Velásquez, A., 2025).
8,000 years old are the earliest evidences of avocado use in Mesoamerica, with archaeological evidence of its food and ritual importance in pre-Incan cultures from approximately 1500 B.C. in South America (Velásquez, A., 2025).
190 thousand million metric tons annually reach the volume of international corn trade, a cereal that evolved from teosinte thanks to domestication by the Aztecs and other indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America (Velásquez, A., 2025).
7,000 germplasm accessions of Andean potato are preserved at the International Potato Center, with an estimated 4,000+ Andean varieties being edible, constituting an important treasure of world agrobiodiversity (Velásquez, A., 2025).
Between 7000 and 8000 years B.C. date the records of the origin of avocado in Mexico and Central America, being one of the crops with the greatest archaeological documentation in the American continent (Velásquez, A., 2025).