Land Use Facts
The destruction of ecosystems by animal agriculture
As of 2020, the global death toll for farmed land animals exceeded 80 billion annually.
The animal agriculture industry harms and kills a staggering number of animals.
As of 2020, the global death toll for farmed land animals exceeded 80 billion annually. Sadly, that staggering number is dwarfed by the number of aquatic animals killed, whose numbers are in the trillions and too great to be accurately estimated.
There is little information regarding the trillions of wild animals lost because these numbers are also too great to be accurately estimated.
Below is a selection of data and facts from several peer reviewed sources:
- The most visible mark that humanity has left on the planet is the transformation of wild habitats into farmland.
- Almost half (44%) of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture.1 In total, it is an area of 48 million square kilometres (km2). That’s around five times the size of the United States.
- Croplands make up one-third of agricultural land, and grazing land makes up the remaining two-thirds.
- However, only half of the world’s croplands are used to grow crops that are consumed by humans directly. We use a lot of land to grow crops for biofuels and other industrial products, and an even bigger share is used to feed livestock.
- If we combine global grazing land with the amount of cropland used for animal feed, livestock accounts for 80% of agricultural land use. The vast majority of the world’s agricultural land is used to raise livestock for meat and dairy.
- Crops for humans account for 16%.
- Despite the vast amount of land used for livestock animals, they contribute quite a small share of the global calorie and protein supply. Meat, dairy, and farmed fish provide just 17% of the world’s calories, and 38% of its protein.
We can also see the simple breakdown of how the world’s land land is used in the chart below. As you can see, the area of land used for livestock — including grazing land and croplands for animal feed — is as large as the entire Americas.
Seventy percent of the Earth’s plants and animals dwell in forests, and deforestation affects them directly. Once their habitat is lost, they are on their way to extinction.
According to recent estimates, the world is losing 137 species of plants, animals and insects every day to deforestation. A horrifying 50,000 species become extinct each year.
When we cut down forests, more than just animals die. Forests are home to a wide range of plants and animals, and when we destroy them, we also destroy many different microorganisms.
The world can use much less land for farming
The long-run historical trend of expanding farmland does not have to continue. There are ways that we can cut agricultural land use — by a lot.
By shifting towards more plant-based diets, we would save large amounts of land through reductions in grazing land, and croplands for animal feed.
This would be a huge win if we want to preserve the world’s biodiversity. Food production is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss across the world. This was true for most of our history and is still true today.
