Producers gain their energy from solar radiation in a process called photosynthesis. The cells of green plants contain specialized organelles called chloroplasts. These chloroplasts contain pigments that gather sunlight, the most important of which is the green pigment called chlorophyll.

In the chloroplasts of plant cells, the energy from sunlight is converted into chemical energy.  The energy from solar radiation is bound into chemical compounds such as sugars. The ingredients required by plants to create sugar are water and carbon dioxide. As they convert these ingredients into sugars, the plants also release oxygen into the atmosphere.

Plants use the sugars produced during photosynthesis as their source of energy. Plants store some of the excess sugar into their roots in the form of starch. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, and the carbon contained by it is bound into the plant's cell tissue.