As the main cash crop of the province is rice, the most important natural resources in Chiang Rai are its water and soil. More people in Chiang Rai Province earn their living through agriculture than any other occupation or business; some offer garden crops for sale at roadside stands.

Special regional fruits include lynchee, pineapple and strawberries. There is also mango, mangosteen, orange, banana, rose apple, man-gaeo and papaya production. Fruit prices vary substantially according to season, but a good variety is always available, much of it cheaply.

Vibrant cash crops include Arabica coffee, tea, mangos and potatoes. Along with its many small mountains and rivers, Chiang Rai has much flat land suitable for farming, and produces rice, beans, corn, jute, barkley, potatoes, onions, garlic, green leafy vegetables, asparagus, mushrooms, coffee, tobacco and fruit, especially lynchee, longan, pineapple, strawberry, cantaloupes and watermelon. The 5 or 6 month long rainy season promotes rapid plant growth and ensures a good water supply.

Although people produce much pollution, here mostly through their motor vehicles, the air is cleaned by the abundant vegetation and ample rainfall, and is often cool. Average elevation is 560 meters, 78% of the terrain is mountainous.