Food and Agriculture Statistics

Our global food system is enormously complex. To transform it, we first have to understand it, and we hope this ever-evolving list of facts and figures can help. We've tried to divide it into sections to make it more digestible (pun intended.)

Food Production - Global

• 37.4% of global land area is devoted to agriculture, totaling over 48.6 million square kilometers.[1]
• The world produced about 25% more food in 2016 than in 2005.[1]

Food Production - US

• Approximately 222 million acres (about 9% of total area) of the United States is devoted to irrigated agriculture.[2]

Fertilizers and Chemical Treatments

• Worldwide, we apply over 140 kg of fertilizer per hectare of agricultural land per year.[1]

Lawns and Gardens

• Lawn space totals about 128,000 square kilometers in the United States, or just over 1% of the total area of the country, but that still makes it the single largest irrigated crop in the country.[3]

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Sources

1 - World Bank data: Land Use
2 - US Department of Agriculture Quick Stats
3 - NASA Earth Observatory