By Craig Hanson, Elise Mazur, Fred Stolle, Crystal Davis and Tim Searchinger
According to a landmark new study, 102 million hectares (Mha) (252 million acres) of land — an area the size of Egypt — have been converted to crops since the start of the 21st century. To put this into perspective, while it took more than 8,000 years for humanity to convert 1.1 billion hectares (2.8 billion acres) of nature into cropland by the year 2000, it took a mere 20 more years to expand this area by another 10%.

These findings come from the first-ever high-resolution maps of global cropland extent and change during the 21st century, recently published in Nature Food ( CHECK OUT THE SECOND LINK) by researchers from the University of Maryland and now available via the Land & Carbon Lab. The researchers defined “cropland” as land used for annual and perennial herbaceous crops for human consumption, animal feed, forage (including hay) and biofuel. The definition excludes pastures and rangelands, shifting cultivation and tree crops such as fruit orchards, coffee, cocoa, oil palm and rubber.

These satellite-based findings are troubling news for climate and biodiversity, since much of the expansion comes at the expense of forests and other natural ecosystems. Of course, food crops are critical for feeding a growing global population. But to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C and curtail the 6th great species extinction, increases in food production needs to be decoupled from ecosystem conversion.

Here are five important takeaways from these new maps:
1. Most Cropland Expansion Occurred in Africa and South America

While the Global North created vast areas of cropland in the past, Africa and South America are now undergoing a similar rapid expansion. At 53 Mha (130 million acres), a 34% increase, Africa experienced the largest area of net cropland expansion during the past 20 years. The study suggests that permanent cropland expansion, not simply small-scale shifting agriculture, plays a major role in ecosystem conversion in Africa. South America followed with 34 Mha (84 million acres) of net cropland expansion.
2. Global Cropland Expansion is Accelerating
3. Gross Cropland Area Expansion is Twice as Much as Net Expansion
4. Nearly Half of New Cropland Replaced Natural Ecosystems
5. Total Agricultural Area Expansion is Even Larger

A Strategy for Addressing the Global Land Squeeze In short, “Produce, Protect, Reduce and Restore.” ( follow the 3rd link)
Over the past 10,000 years, the human quest for food has been the largest driver of land use change, negatively affecting stored carbon and biodiversity through conversion of natural ecosystems into production areas. By one estimate, “worldwide agriculture has already cleared or converted 70% of grassland, 50% of savanna, 45% of the temperate deciduous forest and 27% of tropical forests.” Additionally, approximately 50% of the world’s wetlands have been drained for agriculture. In other words, people have converted much of nature to meet their growing needs for food. Croplands and pasture occupy roughly half of all vegetated land today. Between 1962 and 2010, almost 500 million hectares (1.2 billion acres) of forests and woody savannas (an area two-thirds the size of Australia) were cleared globally for agriculture.


READ further from the sources above