Agriculture is the main source of ammonia (NH₃) emissions which result in air pollution and degrade human health. However, the global pattern of NH₃ emissions still remains uncertain, and very few studies report the crop- and animal-specific NH₃ emissions both regionally and globally. Here, we developed an improved long-term (1961–2018) agricultural NH₃ emissions inventory considering the detailed information of crop- and animal-specific sources at 0.5^o grids. Global agricultural NH₃ emissions were estimated as 39.2 Tg N yr^-1 averaged over 1961–2018, driven by livestock production (58.4%) and cropland (41.6%). Cattle, rice, maize and wheat together explain about 53.4% of total agricultural NH₃ emissions. Agricultural NH₃ emissions increased by 225% from 18.5 Tg N in 1961–60.1 Tg N in 2018 with the increase rate of 2.1% yr^-1 (for cropland 3.8% yr^-1 and for livestock 1.3% yr^-1). Regarding regions, China, India, Brail, Pakistan, United States and European Union accounted for over half of total agricultural NH₃ emissions. The hotspots of agricultural NH₃ emissions have shifted from the United States and European Union in the 1960s to China and India in recent years. Our findings benefit the understanding of agricultural NH₃ dynamics by crops and animals and provide an important reference for the formulation of NH₃ pollution prevention and control policy.