This research finds the highest pressure on global cropland expansion is concentrated in tropical regions. Paradoxically, the study claims that conservation policies stopping expansion into forests and wetlands could substantially decrease emissions from land-use change but might have contrary effects on biodiversity. 

This article projects the land use change and greenhouse gas emissions associated with a circular food system and protein transition. The authors suggest land use and greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by adopting circular principles without reducing current levels of protein intake and that fully plant-based diets result in nutrient inadequacies. The authors also argue that agricultural land can potentially be spared by feeding farmed animals with low-cost biomass such as by-products, food waste and crop residues. They suggest freed up land can be used for non-agricultural purposes such as afforestation, leading to carbon sequestration.

This paper examines the threat to current wilderness from climate-driven agricultural expansion. Through modelling future crop suitability, the authors establish that 2.7 million km2 of wilderness, particularly at high-latitude, will become newly suitable for agriculture within the next 40 years.

This report is based on the findings of the UK Geospatial Commission’s National Land Data Programme (NLDP). It explores how innovative data science (such as geospatial modelling, combining disparate data sets, and AI) can lead to better land-use management in the UK.

This study suggests that from 2020 to the end of the century the number of farms globally will approximately halve from the current 616 million in 2020 to around 272 million in 2100, based on current observed trends that are tied to rural population, GDP and agricultural area. The study predicts that a turning point will be reached where farm consolidation outpaces farm creation, causing the average farm size to double.

This Research Brief from the Centre for Food Policy, aimed primarily at policymakers, lists 45 actions that have a direct pathway to impact across five environmental sustainability dimensions (greenhouse gas emissions, chemical pollution, freshwater resources, biodiversity and soil health). It groups the actions into five domains: land use in agriculture; the environmental impacts of agriculture; wild fishery and aquaculture sustainability; food loss and waste; and dietary change.

A consensus statement on a shared vision of the future for the food system has been published by WWF-UK and co-signed by representatives of several UK organisations, including Pasture for Life, the Soil Association, the Eating Better Alliance and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. The statement says that the food system should make space for nature both on farms and in wider landscapes; that farmers should be supported in reducing their use of pesticides and synthetic fertilisers; that regenerative soil management should become the norm; and that technology can play a role in sustainable food production. The statement also criticises intensive livestock production and the marketing of unhealthy ultra-processed foods. It does not call for a reduction in animal product consumption.

This report from The Royal Society sets out a “multifunctional” approach to land use (with a focus on the UK) - i.e. an approach that considers how land can produce not only goods with a market value (such as food) but also a wide range of products and services that for the most part do not have a market value (e.g. biodiversity provision, carbon sequestration and flood alleviation).

This paper maps the global potential for producing 34 varieties of seaweed and uses five scenarios to model the impacts of expanding the use of seaweed for human food (10% of diets), animal feed (10% of intake), transport fuels (50%), all three of the previous uses, or supplementing ruminant feed (0.5% of feed) to reduce enteric methane production and increase feed conversion efficiency.