Sustainable Agricultural Production

Agricultural land use and food production

On the global scale, we may have passed the peak of agricultural land use, the total of arable land that is used to grow crops, and pasture used to raise livestock. As you can see in the global-peak-agricultural-land graph, various sources agree that globally, not more land is converted to agricultural land.

The statistics shown in the Global-decoupling-land-and-food graph, shows that we are witnessing a decoupling of food production and land use. Although agricultural land has declined, the world is continuing to grow more food, which is true both for crops and livestock. This means that it is possible to grow more food without taking it away from the environment. However, the issue is much more complex than that. It plays a role in where food is produced, of which type, and for whom. For example, pasturelands have shifted from arid and temperate to tropical regions, which are much richer in biodiversity and carbon. It is also important to note that agricultural land has peaked, but mainly due to shifts in livestock production. Global cropland is still expanding. In addition, how much land is used for agriculture around the world is not uniform.

Sustainable intensification

Sustainable intensification is one of the latest additions to the plethora of approaches, which yields the promise to reconcile increased food production with environmental protection. The concept was brought forward for the first time by Jules Pretty (1997) and centers around techniques that increase yields to cater to the growing population and that provide environmental benefits. Biological techniques include increasing agricultural system diversity through intercropping, agroforestry, or crop-livestock integration, zero tillage farming to reduce soil erosion, precision agriculture for efficient water and nutrient management, integrated pest management, or the use of drought-resistant crops. These can be coupled with intensification techniques such as the use of cover crops, increased crop density, terracing, increased fertilizer efficiency, composting, the use of green manure, or the use of natural enemies to pests.

However, both the terms “sustainability” and “intensification” are not clear-cut and highly context-specific. Practices that are sustainable in an ecological way may not be sustainable in an economic one and what is appropriate in one location may not apply in the same way elsewhere. Another criterion is scale. Are we looking at one or more locations, a landscape, a region, or the globe?

Sustainable intensification of agriculture is a promising concept, but also a contested one where the concept is easier conceived than applied. Location-specific information can help uncover interlinkages, synergies, and trade-off effects.

• Conventional intensification: Business-as-usual scenario with high inputs and high yields
• Sustainable intensification: Resource-saving increase in productivity.