Farming’s land grab

One thousand years ago, when Sweyn Forkbeard was King of England, less than four per cent of the world’s ice-free and non-barren, habitable land was used for farming. it’s now 50 per cent!

Only 29 per cent of the world’s surface is land but much of it (nearly 30 per cent) is made up of glaciers and barren land, such as deserts and rocks The remainder is considered to be habitable and is divided between forests (37 per cent), shrubs and grasslands (11 per cent), with freshwater taking one per cent and one per cent (surprisingly) claimed by cities, roads and the human infrastructure Almost everything else is used for agriculture – the majority (77 per cent) for animal farming Well, you ’ ve got to feed people! Not very successfully it appears

This huge number of animals produces only 18 per cent of the world’s calories and 37 per cent of its protein it follows that plants provide 82 per cent of our calories and 63 per cent of our protein. “So where do you get your protein ?”

Data source: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation