Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmgc11a0674l&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #GC11A-0674
Physics
0402 Agricultural Systems, 0434 Data Sets, 1622 Earth System Modeling (1225), 1632 Land Cover Change
Scientific paper
Agricultural lands are one of the most expansive land cover types on Earth, extending across approximately 12 percent of the planet's land surface. The management of these lands has changed dramatically since the Green Revolution of the 1960s. Nitrogen fertilizer inputs are almost 7 times greater, and irrigated lands have nearly doubled. Yet, the number of undernourished people is still increasing, and may continue to as the world's population is expected to grow by 2.5 billion people over the next three decades. In addition, there is a shift toward diets heavy in grain-fed meats taking place, as well as an increase in the demand of grains for fuel. While an altered distribution of crops may help remedy some of our food shortages, humanity will need to produce more if it is to meet its demands for crops. Obtaining more crops could entail both an expansion of agricultural lands as well as a change in the way many lands are currently managed - scenarios that would have implications for ecosystem goods and services at large given agriculture's already prominent place on the planet's landscape. Here, we explore society's ability to increase yields on existing croplands by way of altered management. We begin by quantifying the current influence that management practices such as chemical fertilizer use and irrigation have on global crop yield patterns relative to biophysical factors such as climate. In particular, we test the traditional assumption that more intensively managed lands have higher yields. We utilize new global, gridded maps of cropland cover and yields, as well as new maps showing climatically determined crop yield potentials. With this, we hope to contribute to a discussion of how we might, as a civilization, continue to shape our planet's land cover in pursuit of food, feed, and fuel.
Foley Jonathan A.
Johnston Malcolm
Licker Rachel
Ramankutty Navin
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