Global Crop Production Increases Threefold Over The Past 50 Years
http://www.thegwpf.org/global-crop-production-increases-threefold-50-years/
Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture made up 5 billion tons of CO2 equivalents in 2010, or 10% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, global crop production has expanded threefold over the past 50 years, largely through higher yields per unit of land and crop intensification.
The 2013 edition of FAO’s Statistical Yearbook sheds new light on agriculture’s contribution to global warming, trends in hunger and malnutrition and the state of the natural resource base upon which world food production depends.
Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture grew 1.6% per year during the decade after the year 2000, new FAO data presented in the yearbook show, with the sector’s total annual output in 2010 reaching 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, or 10% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Among the various agriculture sectors, livestock activities and the use of synthetic fertilizer are the largest contributors.
Agricultural production has increased
* Global crop production has expanded threefold over the past 50 years, largely through higher yields per unit of land and crop intensification.
* Global per capita food supply rose from about 2 200 kcal/day in the early 1960s to over 2 800 kcal/day by 2009
* Buoyed by high commodity prices, agriculture has demonstrated astonishing resilience during global economic turmoil. In 2010, agricultural value-added at the world level rose by 4 percent, in contrast to a 1 percent increase in overall GDP.
The entire document can be down loaded at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/178138/icode/
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