What is the World’s Biggest Cash Crop?
Community Challenge Makeover Monday 2021 Week 11:
My redesign (Tableau File Here):
Original Visualization:
Reading time: 1 min 20 secs
Key Findings
The short answer: sugar cane is the world's largest cash crop by production volume, while other crops like wheat, maize, and rice compete for the top spots by value depending on the year and region measured.
The data from FAOSTAT, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's statistics database, covers crop production across countries and years, making it possible to explore which crops dominate globally, regionally, and over time. The answer shifts depending on whether you measure by total tonnes produced, total export value, or farmgate value, which is why this question rarely has a simple single answer.
The visualization below lets you define the top crops by year and region interactively, so you can explore the data and find the answer most relevant to your question.
Data source: FAOSTAT. Original challenge viz by Information Is Beautiful.
Discussion
Makeover Monday 2021 Week 11 challenge is to create a viz to answer the question: "What is The World's Biggest Cash Crop?". The data source is from FOASTAT; the original challenge viz is from Information Is Beautiful. Also, not all the data used to create their viz is provided. The second challenge is to create a complete viz in 20 mins to prep for certification testing.
Goals
Find a different angle to present the data from how Information Is Beautiful showed the data, which is hard to top.
Complete the challenge in less than 20 minutes as a way to prep for future tableau certification.
“If the farmer is rich, then so is the nation.”
Project Discussion
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges for this week's Makeover Monday is how to find a better way to present the data. Information is Beautiful is known for their fantastic analysis and presentation of data. Also, not all the data used to create their viz is provided. The second challenge is to create a complete viz in 20 mins to prep for certification testing.
Design Discussion
Since not all the data is available to reproduce the original viz, and it would be hard to top the work of Information is Beautiful, I choose to create a viz that allows the end-user to explore the assigned dataset and ask their questions. I added the end-user ability to dynamically define the top N crops they would like to see by year and region.
Final Thoughts
Twenty minutes to explore/understand the data and create a final viz is much shorter than I knew. I need to get better at pacing myself. I spent more time exploring different ideas and concepts and did not keep an eye on the timer. I completed a final vis, but I did not get to explore all the design ideas I had. I need to practice becoming more focused. Though the viz is not an award winner, I delivered on a viz in 20 minutes that allowed the viewer to explore the data on their own. I will take that as a win.
I am always impressed by the work of Information is Beautiful. One of my long-range goals is to create work at that level. I will get there one viz at a time.
What do you think? Let me know - Contact Me
Links & Additional Information
Challenge Information
Original Article: Information Is Beautiful
Data Source: FAOSTAT
Challenge Link: Makeover Monday 2021 wk 11
Looking for datasets or tools to use in your own challenge submissions or additional community challenges? Visit the Resources page for a curated list of data viz tools, free datasets, and community challenges.
The Resources page has many tools, datasets, and frameworks to support your own sustainability analysis. Specific resources on the Sustainability section of the Resources page include the UN SDG data portal, Climate Watch, Our World in Data, and more.
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