Saffron (trade) by far the world's most important producer: in 2005 it grossed some of dry threads, or 93.7 percent of the year's global total mass; much of the Iranian crop was bound for export. Northeasterly Khorasan Province, which in 2004 was divided in three, grows 95 percent of Iranian saffron: the hinterlands of Birjand, Ghayen, Ferdows in South Khorasan Province, along with areas abutting Gonabad and Torbat-e Heydarieh in Razavi Khorasan Province, are its key cropping areas. During 2004, Iran was not a member of the World Trade Organization. and still until November 2009, Iran was again not a member of
History of saffron its cultivation in the village of Foxton during the 16th and 17th centuries, "usually by people holding a small amount of land"; an acre planted in saffron could yield a crop worth a kingly 6, making it "a very profitable crop, provided that plenty of unpaid labor was available; unpaid labor was one of the basic features of farming then and for another two centuries." In France, saffron production became very important in the 17th and 18th centuries, reaching a few tons. By then, saffron farming had spread throughout the entire Kingdom. Saffron was especially grown in Albigeois, Angoumois, Gascony,