Which Crops Are Safe to Plant Again on Same Land in Single Year

The focus of this entry is land utilize for agronomics. Merely nosotros are also studying other uses of country, including land required for human settlement.

Agriculture is a major utilise of land. Half of the globe's habitable land is used for agronomics. The extensive state use has a major impact on the earth's environment equally it reduces wilderness and threatens biodiversity.

Reducing the consumption of resources-intensive products and increasing the productivity of land makes it possible to produce nutrient with much smaller inputs and reducing the impact on the environment.

All our charts on Land Use

Half of the world'southward habitable state is used for agriculture

For much of human history, most of the globe's land was wilderness: forests, grasslands and shrubbery dominated its landscapes. Over the last few centuries, this has changed dramatically: wild habitats have been squeezed out by turning it into agricultural land.

If nosotros rewind chiliad years, it is estimated that only iv million foursquare kilometers – less than 4% of the world's ice-free and non-barren land area was used for farming.

In the visualization we see the breakup of global state area today. 10% of the world is covered by glaciers, and a further nineteen% is arid land – deserts, dry out salt flats, beaches, sand dunes, and exposed rocks.¹ This leaves what we call 'habitable land'. Half of all habitable country is used for agriculture.²

This leaves but 37% for forests; xi% equally shrubs and grasslands; 1% as freshwater coverage; and the remaining 1% – a much smaller share than many suspect – is built-up urban area which includes cities, towns, villages, roads and other human infrastructure.

There is too a highly unequal distribution of land use betwixt livestock and crops for human consumption. If we combine pastures used for grazing with land used to grow crops for animal feed, livestock accounts for 77% of global farming country. While livestock takes up about of the earth's agricultural land it just produces 18% of the earth's calories and 37% of total poly peptide.ⁱⁱⁱ

The expansion of agriculture has been i of humanity'south largest impacts on the surroundings. Information technology has transformed habitats and is one of the greatest pressures for biodiversity: of the 28,000 species evaluated to be threatened with extinction on the IUCN Carmine List, agriculture is listed as a threat for 24,000 of them.⁴ Simply we also know that nosotros can reduce these impacts – both through dietary changes, by substituting some meat with plant-based alternatives and through engineering advances. Crop yields take increased significantly in recent decades, meaning we have spared a lot of land from agricultural production: globally, to produce the same corporeality of crops as in 1961, nosotros need only 30% of the farmland.

With solutions from both consumers and producers, we have an important opportunity to restore some of this farmland dorsum to forests and natural habitats.

How the globe's land is used: total area sizes by type of use & comprehend

Visualising land use areas on a global map is perhaps the most relatable mode to understand the calibration of unlike land uses across the world. In the visualization here we show the graphic displayed above – on the breakdown of global land use & cover – by scale on a global map.

Here, country use groupings are aggregated to show the total surface area allocated for each. Note that these are not used to represent the distribution of each: this effigy does not mean the Us is wholly used for livestock, or that Europe comprises only of barren land. It is used to indicate the global areal extent of each country utilise only.

Nosotros come across that:

global land allocated to livestock – either in the grade of grazing country or cropland used for animal feed is equivalent to the area of the Americas (Due north, Central and South America combined);
cropland (minus land used for the product of animal feed) is equivalent to the area of Eastern asia-Pacific, extending as far due south as Thailand;
forested expanse is equal to Africa (minus Libya), the Middle Due east and South Asia;
global freshwater (inland h2o bodies) approximates to the area of Mongolia
total build-upwards land (villages, towns, cities & infrastructure) would fit into an area the size of Libya;
shrub country is equivalent to an area the size of East asia-Pacific, from Malaysia southwards;
arid land is equivalent to the size of Europe;
glaciers (permanent ice & snow) approximates to an area of Antarctica & Greenland combined.

How has global state utilize changed over the long-term?

The visualisation shows human land use over the long-term (since x,000 BC), and details the change in full state used for cropland, grazing land and built-up/urban area in hectares. This can also be viewed by select countries and all regions using the "alter country/region" pick.

Agricultural land apply over the long-run

Total agronomical country use
Cropland utilize
Grazing country utilise

Full agricultural state use

This visualisation shows total state used for agriculture (which is a combination of cropland and grazing land) over the long-term, measured in hectares. In the following sections you can find disaggregated data for cropland and grazing land modify over fourth dimension.

Cropland use

This visualisation shows total cropland (which does not include land for grazing) over the long-term, measured in hectares.

Grazing land use

This visualisation shows full grazing land over the long-term, measured in hectares.

How much land do countries employ for agriculture?

Arable agriculture (cropland)
Pastureland (permanent meadows and pasture)

We use roughly half of global habitable state for agriculture. But how much of total country area is utilised for agriculture across the world? In the map here we run across the share of total (both habitable and non-habitable) state expanse used for agronomics.

There is large variability in the share of state a given country uses for agriculture. Allocation ranges from less than ten percent, particularly across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Scandinavian region to close to 80 per centum across well-nigh regions (including the UK, Uruguay, South Africa, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia). It'southward important to annotation that this metric includes both land used for arable (cropland) production and pasture state for livestock grazing; this means that agronomics can consume a large share of state area, fifty-fifty in barren and semi-barren regions where extensive abundant farming is non possible. We will explore this difference in cropland and pastureland in the following section.

If we view the map in "chart" style, we run across how the resource allotment of land to agriculture has changed over time across the global regions. The share of land used for agriculture has been slowly increasing across most of the globe'south regions over the past few decades. However, country apply across Europe and Central Asia- particularly within the European Wedlock (European union) zone- and North America has been declining.

Abundant agriculture (cropland)

In that location are 2 main uses of agricultural state: arable farming (which is state dedicated to growing crops), and pastureland (which includes meadows and pastures used for livestock rearing). In the nautical chart here nosotros come across a global map of land used for arable agriculture (every bit a share of total land surface area).

For most countries, every bit we volition evidence in the department below, land use for livestock grazing is ascendant relative to arable farming. For almost countries, land dedicated to cropland is typically beneath 20 pct, with many countries dedicating less than x percent. There are some notable exceptions, nonetheless; countries in South asia and Europe allocate a big share of country expanse to arable farming. Bharat, Bangladesh, Ukraine and Denmark all dedicated more than one-half of total country area to cropland in 2015.

Pastureland (permanent meadows and pasture)

For almost countries, the majority of agricultural state is used for livestock rearing in the class of pastureland. In the map here we encounter the share of permanent meadows and pasture as a percentage of total country area.

Every bit a contrast to abundant farming, state utilize for livestock in Europe and South asia, in particular, is typically less than 20 percent. Even so, about continental regions accept countries where pastureland reaches shut to half of total land area. In some countries (particularly in Key Asia, including Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan) this can reach up to 70 percent. Livestock farming can take place across a range of diverse climatic and environmental regions (for example, ranging from cattle rearing in temperate regions to sheep farming in hilly and semi-arid terrain); meaning that this type of agriculture is potentially less geographically-constrained than abundant farming.

Cropland apply per person

Cropland per person over the long-term

The visualisation here shows the change in the average cropland utilize per person over the long-term (since 10,000 BC), measured in hectares per person.

Cropland use per person in the most-term

Global population has more than than doubled over the last l years. To meet the demands of a quickly growing population on a planet with finite country resources, reducing our per capita land footprint is essential.

In the chart here we accept plotted trends of the boilerplate arable land use per person beyond the globe's regions. Overall nosotros see that the abundant state utilize per capita has declined across all regions since 1961. Per capita state utilize is highest in North America– more than double the state utilise of whatever other region. Land use in Asia– both in South and East asia is lowest (five-vi times less than in North America). Rates of reduction in Southern asia have been the most dramatic; per capita land apply in 2014 was roughly one-third of its value in 1961.

Agricultural state employ per person

Agricultural state per person over the long-term

The visualisation shows the change in the average agricultural land apply (which is the sum of cropland and grazing area) per person over the long-term (since x,000 BC), measured in hectares per person.

Agronomical land per person over the near-term

If we extend our land coverage in a higher place from arable land utilize to full agricultural land (which is the sum of arable, permanent crops and pastures and meadows), we still come across overall declines in land per person simply with dissimilar rates and patterns of reduction. Overall, nosotros see that agricultural land per person is college than that of arable land. At the global level, per capita agronomical land use is now less than one-half its value in 1961.

Africa in particular has seen dramatic reductions in agricultural land per person – now less than 1-third of per capita country l years ago. The Americas (Northward and South) and Africa take notably higher per capita agricultural land use relative to Europe and Asia.

State utilize by crop

In the nautical chart here we meet the global area of land apply in agriculture by major crop types, from 1961 to 2014. Overall, we see that the majority of our arable land is used for cereal production; this has grown from around 650 to 720 million hectares (an expanse roughly twice the size of Germany) over this period. The total land expanse used for coarse grains has remained approximately abiding over this 50 year period, and is the second largest user of abundant land.

The about dramatic increase in land allocation is in the production of oilcrops. Total country area used for oilcrop product has increased almost 3-fold since 1961– an surface area just brusk of the size of Mexico. All other crop types accept upward less than 100 million hectares of global area.

The amount of land required to produce nutrient has wide variations depending on the product–this is particularly true when differentiating crops and animal products. In the chart here we have plotted the average country required (sometimes termed the "land footprint") to produce 1 gram of protein across a range of nutrient types.

At the bottom of the calibration, we come across that cereal crops typically have a pocket-size country impact per unit of protein (although such poly peptide is oft lacking in some essential amino acids). At the upper terminate of the spectrum we find meat products, with the land required for beefiness or mutton up to 100 times larger than cereals. However, it's of import to notation the differences in state required across the meat products: poultry and pork take a country footprint eight-ten times lower than that of beef. This means individuals can make notable reductions in the environmental impact of their diets simply by substituting lower-impact meat products for beef or mutton.

Arable land needed per unit of crop product

This visualization shows the alphabetize of the arable land expanse needed to produce an equivalent aggregate of crop production, relative to the land area needed in 1961 i.eastward. values in 1961 are equal to one.0. For case, globally in 2014, the index value was 0.3; this means only xxx% of the arable land expanse was needed to produce the same quantity of crops relative to 1961. 70% less land was needed.

This data tin be viewed for other countries and regions by selecting ' Add state ' on the chart.

The crop production index (Pivot) is the sum of crop commodities produced (later deductions of quantities used as seed and feed). It is weighted by the commodity prices. The FAO explains the construction of the PIN in item here.

The idea for this nautical chart is taken from Ausubel, Wernick, and Waggoner (2013).⁵

The authors write: 'A combination of agricultural technologies raised yields, keeping downward pressure on the extent of cropland, sparing land for nature.
Countering the global rising of population and affluence by parents and workers, consumers and farmers restrained the expansion of arable country by changing tastes and lifting yields. The noticeable shrinkage in the extent of cropland every bit a function of the Crop Production index since 1990 provides encouragement that farmers will continue sparing land.'

Land use categories

The post-obit discussions on global land use (specially in relation to agriculture) cover a number of definitions and combined categories. Information technology is therefore useful to sympathise the differences between country apply terminology; for example, the definition of "arable land" versus "agricultural state".

To provide some clarity on the definitions used here (and the common terminology within the literature) we take visualised these state apply categories and groupings in the chart shown hither. Also shown are the definitions of each. The groupings and definitions shown below are based on the UN Food and Agricultural Arrangement (FAO) and should therefore be consequent with most international information sources.

Definitions of agricultural land use

The Land Area of the Earth is 13,003 meg ha. iv,889 million ha are classified every bit 'agronomical surface area' by the FAO (this is 37.six% of the Land Area).

The agronomical expanse use is divided into 3 categories: arable land (28% of the global agricultural surface area), permanent crops (3%) and permanent meadows and pastures (69%) which business relationship for the largest share of the world's agricultural area.^six

What practise these words mean?

The agricultural surface area is the sum of arable land, permanent crops, permanent meadows and pastures.

The FAO definition for arable land is land nether temporary agricultural crops (multiple-cropped areas are counted only one time), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and country temporarily fallow (less than v years). The abased land resulting from shifting cultivation is non included in this category. Data for "Arable land" are not meant to point the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.'^seven

The same source defines permanent crops equally follows: 'Permanent crops are divided into temporary and permanent crops. Permanent crops are sown or planted in one case, and and so occupy the state for some years and need non exist replanted after each annual harvest, such as cocoa, java and rubber. This category includes flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees and vines, but excludes trees grown for wood or timber. And again from the same source the definition for permanent meadows and pastures is 'land used permanently (five years or more) to abound herbaceous provender crops, either cultivated or growing wild (wild prairie or grazing country).'

The FAO definition for fallow land is 'the cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons. The maximum idle menstruum is usually less than five years.'

Data Sources

FAO Statistical Database (FAOstat)

Data: Many indicators relating to food production, yields and land utilize – the full list is hither.
Geographical coverage: Global – past country and world region.
Time span: Since 1961.
Bachelor at: Available for download hither.

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Source: https://ourworldindata.org/land-use