Brenda Khan
The amount of land required to feed a person depends on their diet. A meat-based diet requires more farmland than a plant-based one. The current global diet is estimated to use 4.13 billion hectares of land, with 80% used as pastureland and croplands to produce meat and dairy. If the world shifted to a plant-based diet, agricultural land use would reduce from 4.1 billion hectares to 1 billion hectares, a 75% decrease. This would free up billions of hectares for biodiversity and ecosystem restoration.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Current global land use for agriculture | 4.13 billion hectares |
| Percentage of habitable land used for agriculture | 50% |
| Percentage of agricultural land used for meat and dairy production | 80% |
| Land use for a vegan diet | 75% less than omnivorous diets |
| Land use for vegetarian diets | 0.13 to 0.14 hectares per person per year |
| Land use for baseline diet (current American diet) | 1.08 hectares per person per year |
| Land use for reduced fats and sweeteners diet | 1.03 hectares per person per year |
| Land use for meat-based meals | 3.5 acres per person |
| Land use for plant-based meals | 0.15 acres per person |
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What You'll Learn
Plant-based diets require less cropland
The current global diet, which is largely meat-based, uses 4.13 billion hectares of land, which is about half of all habitable land on Earth. This is because meat requires grazing land, which cannot be used to grow crops. If the world shifted to a plant-based diet, the amount of land needed for food production would be reduced by 75%, from 4.1 billion hectares to 1 billion hectares. This is because plant-based diets require less cropland than meat-based diets.
Research has shown that the amount of land required decreases as the proportion of food derived from animals decreases. For example, the baseline diet, which is what Americans eat today, requires 1.08 hectares per person per year, while the three vegetarian diets that were studied require only 0.13 to 0.14 hectares per person per year. This is because meat-based meals require more farmland than plant-based ones. A meat and milk-based diet may require up to 3.5 acres to provide one Standard Nutrition Unit, while a rice and beans diet can provide six to seven Standard Nutrition Units per acre.
Shifting to a plant-based diet could reduce global land use, free up land to restore depleted ecosystems, and successfully feed the world population. This is because animals lose a lot of energy and total protein when converting this to meat and dairy products. In addition, much of the cereals and soy fed to farmed animals are converted into energy needed by the animals to live and reach a target weight, rather than being used for human consumption.
However, it is important to consider protein quality and the provision of micronutrients when shifting to a plant-based diet. While some plant-based products contain high-quality protein, such as legumes (beans, peas, tofu, and other soy products), cereals do not. Nevertheless, a complete protein profile can be achieved when mixing cereals with legumes in one's diet.
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Meat-based meals require more farmland
The current global diet, which includes a significant amount of meat, uses 4.13 billion hectares of land, which is about half of all the world's habitable land. This is a huge amount of land, equivalent to the combined area of North America and Brazil. Of this land, approximately 80% is used as pastureland and croplands to produce meat and dairy.
The amount of land needed to feed people ranges from diet to diet. The conventional American diet, which contains the largest quantities of meat, requires the most land at 1.08 hectares per person per year. In contrast, the three vegetarian diets that were studied required 0.13 to 0.14 hectares per person per year. A vegan diet, which contains no animal products, uses 75% less land than omnivorous diets.
Shifting to a plant-based diet could reduce the amount of land needed to feed people, successfully feed the world's population, and free up land to restore depleted ecosystems. This is because animals lose a lot of energy and total protein when converting feed to meat and dairy products.
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A vegan diet uses 75% less land than omnivorous diets
Research shows that if everyone shifted to a plant-based diet, global land use for agriculture would reduce by 75%. This reduction would be possible due to less land being needed for grazing and growing crops. Specifically, this would mean a reduction in global agricultural land use from 4.1 billion hectares to 1 billion hectares.
The current global diet uses 4.13 billion hectares of land, which is around half of all the world's habitable land. Of this, around 80% is used as pastureland and cropland to produce meat and dairy. This is because it takes 50 to 100 times as much land to produce a kilocalorie of beef or lamb compared to plant-based alternatives. As a result, agriculture is the biggest driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss.
By adopting a vegan diet, billions of hectares of agricultural land could be freed up to restore ecosystems, encourage biodiversity, and improve carbon storage capacity. This would allow natural vegetation, forests, and ecosystems to return, and would also have a positive impact on our oceans.
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A vegetarian diet requires 0.13 to 0.14 hectares per person per year
A vegetarian diet requires significantly less land than a meat-based one. Research has shown that the land requirements decreased steadily as the proportion of food derived from animals declined, with the three vegetarian diets requiring 0.13 to 0.14 hectares per person per year. In contrast, the baseline diet, which represents what Americans are eating today, required the most land at 1.08 hectares per person per year.
This difference in land requirements is due to the fact that meat-based meals require more farmland than plant-based ones. Livestock are fed from two sources: lands on which the animals graze and land on which feeding crops, such as soy and cereals, are grown. This means that a large amount of land is needed to produce meat. On the other hand, plant-based diets require less cropland, with the vegan diet using 75% less land than omnivorous diets.
The impact of shifting towards a more plant-based diet would be a reduction in the amount of agricultural land needed globally. It is estimated that if everyone in the world adopted a plant-based diet, the world population could be fed using only 25% of the land that we use today. This would result in billions of hectares being freed up for natural vegetation, forests, and ecosystems to return.
Additionally, it is important to consider the quality of protein and the provision of micronutrients when comparing different diets. While some plant-based products, such as legumes (beans, peas, tofu, and other soy products), contain high-quality protein, cereals, on their own, do not. However, a complete protein profile can be achieved when mixing cereals with legumes in a diet.
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Agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation
Beef is the leading driver of deforestation, and the demand for meat across the world will continue to grow in the coming decades. The growth of agricultural land in Africa accounted for around 17.5% of tropical deforestation. This may be an underestimate because much of Africa's deforestation has been driven by subsistence agricultural activities, which are not always fully captured in national statistics. In South America and Southeast Asia, commodity crops such as soybeans, palm oil, corn, and cotton have become the dominant driver of forest loss. These crops are typically grown on an industrial scale and traded internationally.
Meat-based meals require more farmland than plant-based ones. Research suggests that if everyone shifted to a plant-based diet, we would reduce global land use for agriculture by 75%. This large reduction in agricultural land use would be possible due to a reduction in land used for grazing and a smaller need for land to grow crops. The land area used for animal feed is much larger than that used for human food crops.
Reducing meat consumption is an effective way to reduce deforestation. A shift toward a plant-based diet could reduce the amount of land needed to feed people and increase the number of people who can be fed from our agricultural resources.
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Frequently asked questions
On a meat-based diet, one person requires 1.08 hectares of land per year.
On a vegetarian diet, one person requires 0.13 to 0.14 hectares of land per year.
Switching from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian diet could save around 0.94 hectares of land per person per year.
Switching from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian diet could lead to a significant reduction in agricultural land use, with billions of hectares of land potentially being freed up for natural vegetation, ecosystems, and biodiversity recovery.
