The production chain with natural products has three major parts to consider. The
fi rst is agricultural, followed by, for example, extraction to get a concentrated
raw extract, and in pharmaceutical applications (not with cosmetics and nutraceuticals) a fi nal purifi cation step is necessary in order to get an ultrapure product.
All the steps combined contribute to the overall yield and determine the fi nal
economics.
To highlight the importance of including the complete production chain, we
can consider growing a crop of plants containing oleanoic acid. This is found in
several plants (almond hulls, privet, rosemary, thyme, clove, lavender, olive, hawthorn, periwinkle etc.) with a content less than 1% in dry mass. Higher values
were observed only with a different kind of sage. The value varies with location
and local climate (e.g., Germany versus Greece), types of soil (sandy, thus irrigation needed), distance between the growing rows and cultivar. With the latter,
higher content is with plants from scions obtained through vegetative reproduction ( Salvia offi cinalis ) compared with those from sowing ( S. lavendulifolia ).
However, planting with scions is very labor - intensive, which has quite an impact
in respect to labor costs, and sowing is then the alternative. Optimal conditions
for sage are with warm and wind - protected sites, with a light soil containing
compost and water. Dry periods are no major problem and the plants should
grow in rows (distance 25 – 50 cm) as depicted in Figure 1.7 [15] . Usually, the
useful life is four to fi ve years and for soil recovery a four - year interval is recommended. If the plants are used to gain pharmaceutical extracts, all cultivation steps
(sowing, manuring etc.) must be documented and with pest management any
pesticide (date, dosage etc.) must be registered. With sage the use of herbicides is
forbidden and two cuts per year are recommended. After air classifi cation the
leaves are dried and according to the Deutsches Arzneibuch only 2% impurities are

The major agricultural products can be broadly categorised into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Further we can divide it into primary food crops, secondary food crops and cash crops. Primary food crops includes cereals (grains), vegetables, fruits, oils, meats and spices. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax.
Following is the list of agricultural products in the United States as ranked by cash receipts.

One note: One of the items on the top agriculture product list was labeled as “miscellaneous crops.” It was not specified which agricultural items were included, so for the number 10 spot on the list, we’ve added another top agri product, cotton.

Here is an overview of the 10 agriculture products that are considered major ag products in the US. They are listed in the order of how they are ranked on the USDA ERS cash receipts commodity ranking:

Cattle
Corn
Soybeans
Dairy products, milk
Broilers (poultry)
Hogs
Chicken Eggs
Wheat
Hay
Cotton