Arable land in Europe is becoming increasingly expensive (2024)

FAQs

How much of Europe's land is arable good for farming? ›

Arable land (% of land area) in European Union was reported at 24.69 % in 2020, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.

The loss of arable land has been caused by a number of factors, many or most of which are tied to human development. The primary causes are deforestation, overexploitation for fuelwood, overgrazing, agricultural activities and industrialization.

Arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. According to Future Directions International, "Land is absolutely essential to agriculture and therefore the relationship between levels of arable land and food security merits serious consideration.

With the increasing population, the demand for food is projected to become double, in the years to come. Supplying food to this growing population has become a threat. On the other hand, due to industrialization and urbanization, the arable land in the major agricultural countries is declining.

What are the benefits? Improved profits – most arable farms have field margins that are better managed for the environment, especially if agri-environment funding can be used. Boosts crop pollination and pest control – by providing pollen and nectar sources for pollinators and habitat for crop pest predators.

Whilst arable agriculture itself is not a major source of air pollution, emission of greenhouse gasses (NO2 and CO2) and to a lesser extent pesticides, does occur.

Arable lands have limited capability to produce agricultural products and the limits to crop production are determined through climate and soil conditions as well as the management practices applied.

Arable land is vulnerable to land degradation and some types of un-arable land can be enriched to create useful land. Climate change and biodiversity loss, are driving pressure on arable land.

What are the advantages of arable? ›

Arable farming develops crop rotation system, which helps in controlling specific weeds, pests and diseases which are linked with specific crops and provides environmental benefits like upgrading the soil structure by sowing pasture and raising the levels of soil nitrogen by growing legume crops.

Earth is a pretty big place, but it's not as big as our appetite. That's the conclusion of a new study by researchers in Canada, who calculated that if the entire world population tried to eat what the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) actually recommends, we wouldn't have enough farms to feed everybody.

These practices include: crop rotation, reduced tillage, mulching, cover cropping and cross-slope farming. farmers to increase soil organic matter content, soil structure and rooting depth. This is accomplished by growing secondary crops which enhance soil health.

Urban sprawl has absorbed agricultural land for commercial, residential, and industrial development. While urban development converted mostly cropland, low-density residential development took an equal toll on cropland and pastures.

A national group called Farms Under Threat in a 2022 study estimated an average of 2,000 acres of farmland are lost each day. You read that right, each day. In the year 2021 alone, the US lost 1.3 million acres of farmland.

In geography, arable land (from Latin arare, to plough) is a form of agricultural land use, meaning land that can be used for growing crops.

Arable land is any land that people are capable of plowing and using for crops. This includes land upon which temporary crops are growing, pastures, meadows that are mowed, gardens, land that is for sale, and land that is fallow.

Arable fields often depend on high levels of inputs (e.g. fertilisers and pesticides) and are less diverse than other farmland habitats. But when managed less intensively and with arable margins, conservation headlands or beetlebanks, they may sustain small mammals, birds, insects and rare plants like the cornflower.

In this Step, we'll look at the common processes that have conventionally been involved in growing arable crops – from seed to harvest. There are downsides to many of these practices, such as loss of biodiversity, pollution and soil compaction.

Climate change could expand farmland globally by almost a third but would also bring significant environmental threats, including a risk of increased emissions from soils.

What are the negative effects of arable farming? ›

Negative Impacts of Arable Farming on Environment

Water pollution: The use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides can lead to the contamination of surface and groundwater with chemicals. This can have negative impacts on the health of aquatic ecosystems and the overall quality of water resources.

Synopsis. Since 1949, China lost one fifth of its arable land to urbanisation and industrialisation and currently only about 10 to 15 per cent of the land is left good for agriculture (compared to 50 percent in India).

Answer and Explanation: Commercial arable farming is characterized by four factors: size, crops grown, methods employed, and end-purpose for the production.

Arable farming refers to the growing of crops, which are harvested from the ground to be sold. Pastoral farming refers to the rearing of animals, either for meat, or for animal by-products (dairy, eggs and wool).

Encouraging the use of farm inputs

Schemes that encourage the use of farm inputs such as fertilizer, new crop and livestock varieties, integrated pest control measures and mechanization tend to increase production sharply.

Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow.

But how will we feed the world? The world produces enough food to provide every man, woman and child with more than 2,300 kilocalories per day, which is more than sufficient.

Today, the world produces 150% more food on only 13% more land compared with 1960, thanks to many innovations in food production made over the years. We produce enough food to feed 1.5x the global population. That's enough to feed 10 billion yet we are at just over 7 billion currently.

The continued growth of urban development and what the organization calls low-density residential development are eating away at some of the most productive farmland in the world.

Is the US losing farmers? ›

The number of U.S. farms continues to decline slowly

After peaking at 6.8 million farms in 1935, the number of U.S. farms fell sharply until the early 1970s. Rapidly falling farm numbers during the earlier period reflected growing productivity in agriculture and increased nonfarm employment opportunities.

Greenland is the largest country with no arable land, while the smallest nation—the small city-state of Vatican City—has none as well.

Expanding agriculture has been the biggest driver of the destruction of the world's wildlands. This expansion of agricultural land has now come to an end. After millennia, we have passed the peak, and in recent years global agricultural land use has declined.

When soil loses its fertility and becomes barren, the process is known as desertification. It is happening all over the world and it is important to recognize this trend is occurring in Canada as well. Desertification speeds climate change and climate change speeds desertification.

Agriculture and food data service

Agricultural land plays an important role in land use patterns across the EU. Grassland and cropland together make up 39 % of Europe's land cover (EEA, 2017a). The agricultural sector is a major user of natural resources and has a complex relationship with the environment (OECD, 2017).

EU farms used 157 million hectares of land for agricultural production in 2020, 38 % of the total land area of the EU.

Land cover

Agricultural land (including natural grassland) accounts for almost half of the European territory (48%).

In order to achieve this, the EU has subsidised the agricultural sector since 1962 to compensate for falling incomes, a depleted workforce and an influx of goods from foreign markets. Ed Miliband is on the money when he says that the CAP accounts for 40% of European budget.

"The EU is largely self-sufficient for food, with a massive agri-food surplus, and the EU single market can once again be expected to prove its ability to absorb shocks," the commission saidin a statement .

Why is Europe able to produce an abundance of food? ›

Climate and Agriculture

This mild climate allows Europe to produce a variety of agricultural products. Strong westerly winds bring mild maritime air from the Atlantic during the winters and summers. These strong winds prevent cold Arctic air from penetrating the interior of the continent most of the time.

The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. The country with the highest value in the region is Denmark, with a value of 59.80. The country with the lowest value in the region is Montenegro, with a value of 0.68.

The diversity of landscape and climatic conditions significantly affect the spatial patterns of agricultural production in the EU. Arable land dominates in the majority of countries, exceeding 70% in Cyprus, Hungary, Denmark and Slovakia.

Spreading out across the fertile lands around Braila Island in southeastern Romania, Agricost is 60 kilometres long, 11 kilometres wide, and is divided into 29 sub-farms.

Agricultural production is a major use of land, accounting for roughly 52 percent of the U.S. land base. (See data on Major Land Uses.)

The price of one hectare of permanent grassland in 2021 ranged from a low of €1 423 on average in Bulgaria to €41 930 on average in Luxembourg, and was as much as €59 065 on average in the Netherlands in 2020. This was also the case in most regions of the EU.

More surface area is devoted to agriculture in France than any other nation in Western Europe (48.2 million acres or 35.5% of the total area). France is the second-largest exporter of goods to the United States and the largest agricultural producer in Europe.

In 2021, the area of organic agricultural land in Europe is largest in France at over 2.77 million hectares, followed by Spain and Italy with approximately 2.6 and 2.2 million hectares, respectively. In the United Kingdom (UK) there were approximately 489.2 thousand hectares of organic agricultural land.