Our Perspective

What’s Next for Agriculture and the Earth?

By Michael Doane, Sustainable Agriculture Policy Lead

Posted about 1 year ago

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Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be debuting a new blog here at ImproveAgriculture.com that's dedicated to answering the following questions: Is today's agriculture best characterized as a vicious cycle of development at the expense of the environment and human dignity? Or is it a virtuous cycle wherein productivity actually enables conservation and improved lives? The celebration of Earth Day seems like an appropriate occasion to introduce these questions.

After all, agriculture is our single largest interaction with our physical environment.  According to the FAOSTAT land use database, over the past 10,000 years, as a society, we've recruited more than 1.5 billion hectares (~3.7 billion acres) into agricultural crop cultivation.  At least another 3.3 billion hectares (~9 billion acres) are grazed by livestock.  Therefore, 38% of what we do with all land is agriculture. 

WWF, a leading conservation NGO, suggests up to 50% of all habitable land is in agriculture.  My guess is this statistic just assumes one can't very well live on, or farm the frozen tundra and sheer cliffs.  WWF also goes on the say that agricultural expansion is the largest driver of habitat loss and biodiversity around the world.  Not a very nice thing to say about agriculture on Earth Day, huh?

Well, what should be done about it?  Feel free to share your thoughts.  I plan to do the same.