Richard Waite: Re-upping this excellent article by WRI colleagues on increasing competition for crops—not only to feed people directly but also to feed animals and cars (biofuels). Did you know that since the 1960s, the share of global cropland used for domestic food consumption has declined from ~50% to 37%? 🧪

Re-upping this excellent article by WRI colleagues on increasing competition for crops—not only to feed people directly but also to feed animals and cars (biofuels). Did you know that since the 1960s, the share of global cropland used for domestic food consumption has declined from ~50% to 37%? 🧪

The World Is Growing More Crops — but Not for Foodwww.wri.org More than 750 million people faced hunger in 2021, yet new analysis shows that more and more of the crops the world harvests are being used for things other than directly feeding people.

The share of cropland used to grow food for direct consumption by people is declining: 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Food crop yields are not keeping up with yields for non-food crops. Click the link to the article www.wri.org/insights/cro... to see how yields for direct food crops, feed crops, industrial-use (e.g., biofuel) crops have changed between 1964-2013. 🧪

How crops are used also varies by region. In high-income countries, yields are high but many crops are used for non-food uses. In low-income countries, more cropland feeds people directly, but yields are low. This creates risks for both food security & agricultural expansion into natural ecosystems.

Read more at the article linked above or the journal article it is based on here: www.nature.com/articles/s43... /ends

Crop harvests for direct food use insufficient to meet the UN’s food security goal - Nature Foodwww.nature.com Elimination of hunger will require shifts in crop usage by 2030. Calories will need to be obtained from crops currently harvested for purposes other than direct food consumption. Sub-Saharan Africa, h...

Really important work. Would love to see more granular % shares of the competitors to feeding people (feeding animals, biofuels for cars, SAFs for aviation, biomass for electricity, etc.). Also, is anyone modeling the potential new threats, e.g., biomass for carbon dioxide removal?

Did you check out the journal article? Might be some of that in article or supplementary info. bsky.app/profile/wait...

Read more at the article linked above or the journal article it is based on here: www.nature.com/articles/s43... /ends

Crop harvests for direct food use insufficient to meet the UN’s food security goal - Nature Foodwww.nature.com Elimination of hunger will require shifts in crop usage by 2030. Calories will need to be obtained from crops currently harvested for purposes other than direct food consumption. Sub-Saharan Africa, h...

And yes, there are other land competition threats such as biomass for CO2 removal (e.g., land-based carbon offsets esp. if done as "land grabs" in low-income countries), ecosystem restoration if not done carefully, timber demand growth, and infrastructure/built environment expansion. See e.g.:

How to Manage the Global Land Squeeze? Produce, Protect, Reduce, Restorewww.wri.org By 2050, an area of land twice the size of India will be converted to agriculture. A four-pillared approach can ensure the world meets growing demand for food and fuel without destroying the environme...

Thank you. Yes, I read the article. It doesn't dig into sub-categories. I'll check out the authors' sources.

Cool. Yeah I wasn't sure if those details were in there or not.

I knew that crops are grown to feed animals that we eat, but the the extent of it for beef and dairy is a little unsettling.

When I moved to Casa Grande AZ the level of agriculture was very surprising. I went on a cotton farming tour. Exactly zero food crops for humans except for frequent Dairy Farms. I did see a flower farm. They also grow a species of sorghum for feed, name escapes me ATM.

Almost forgot the PRIMO HAY. The most expensive hay for sale. I really want to go to California and document some farming there since it is number 1.

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