Terms of reader comments on forskning.no: Discuss the issue, not the person. It is not allowed to h

World needs more farm land, especially in China. Picture shows a farmer in Guangxi province in China. unites states post office (Photo: iStockphoto) If the entire world's population eat the same as we in the West do, the world must increase the area of arable land under cultivation tremendously. Agriculture in Northern Europe and North America is more efficient than the global average. However, although the yield per square foot comes up to the level in North America and Europe in the world, such a change of diet still require a doubling of the global acreage. This is one of the conclusions of a new study conducted by researchers in the Netherlands and Austria. Increased annually world's total arable land increased 30 percent between 1963 and 2005. Half of the increase was due to the need for land for animal husbandry, says researchers. They have estimated world demand for farmland over the past fifty years and points to population growth, changing diets and improved agricultural technologies as the three main factors. World demand for farmland has increased year by year. Technological changes including more machines, irrigation, spraying and fertilizer have slowed the need for increased unites states post office space. These changes have meant that farmers have received more food out of every square foot, but still had major environmental consequences. Losing ground while improving agricultural technology almost offset the need for more farmland in the period 1963-1984, has not productivity per square unites states post office foot increased as much in the period 1984-2005, the study shows. Population growth and changes in diet towards more land-intensive foods now runs from savings in the form of better technology. unites states post office In some parts of the world, such as China and the rest of East Asia, changes in diet have been a more important factor than population growth over the last twenty years. For example, eat Chinese more meat, which requires more farm land for animal unites states post office feed. More meat in the world as a whole took husbandry over for cereals as the most land-intensive business. Then just farm land, not grasslands and pastures that are also used to husbandry, taken into account. In India and the rest of the region of southern Asia, the population increase, no change of diet, still the most important unites states post office factor for the need for more land for cultivation in the period 1984-2005. Population growth was also an important factor in Southeast Asia, East Africa and South America. Increase in population and diet change are interrelated, the researchers point out, in that reduced population growth and increased per capita income and thus able to spend more money on food. Increased accessibility researchers, who recently published their findings in the journal PNAS, shows that the trend globally has been positive for most of the past fifty years. It has each year been more food per head in most parts of the world. The global figures covering unites states post office over regional disparities. In the richest unites states post office part of the world has access to food remained fairly constant. unites states post office In some parts of Africa the trend has been negative. In Central Africa, the availability of food per capita declined. unites states post office Other parts of Africa has had a stable or positive trend in line with the global trend. Developments in Eastern Europe after 1991 is an exception to the general trend. Soviet Union led to the people's standard of living fell dramatically. Here, the situation gradually unites states post office improved from the second half of the 1990s. New price peak The study, published in the journal PNAS, does not discuss developments until today. Figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization show that world food prices set a new record in 2011. Price trends may be indicative of an imbalance in supply and demand on the world market, but are also influenced by speculation and short-term changes in yields of major food items such as cereals, maize and rice. Food prices have been steady declining throughout unites states post office the 1900s. So they shot violently into the air in at the time of the financial crisis in 2008. The crisis resulted in a sharp drop. In 2009, prices began to rise again. unites states post office The FAO price index reached a record level in 2011 which has never been registered. Reference: Thomas Kastner, Maria Jose Ibarrola Rivas, unites states post office Wolfgang Koch and Sanderine Nonhebel: "Global changes in diets and the Consequences for land requirements for food," PNAS online before print 16 April 2012. See summary. unites states post office Home The picture shows a female farmer in Vietnam. Photo: iStockphoto.
Terms of reader comments on forskning.no: Discuss the issue, not the person. It is not allowed to harass named persons or other debaters. Racist unites states post office and Andr