Search Results
Sustainable agriculture
Definitions
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Historical data and current trend methodology
- Pesticides (total) data was collected directly from FAOSTAT’s “Pesticide Use” database in the form of use per area of cropland. FAOSTAT’s Total Pesticides include insecticides, fungicides and bactericides, herbicides, plant growth regulators, rodenticides, mineral oils, disinfectants and others.
- No additional calculation was performed, yearly pesticides used per area of cropland were taken directly from the database.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
While pesticides enhance crop yields and promote global food security by reducing pest-induced loss, excessive or improper application can harm public health (especially for farmworkers and surrounding communities), cause biodiversity loss, and pollute air and water. Pesticide use per area of cropland, measuring the quantity of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides applied to agricultural land, serves as a proxy to monitor the potential overuse of pesticides.
Globally, average pesticide use per area of cropland doubled from 1.2 kg/ha in 1990 to 2.4 kg/ha in 2023, indicating growing risks to human health and the environment. However, the indicator cannot account for how the risk of pesticide overuse differs across the world, dependent on regional conditions (such as biodiversity levels and water scarcity) and different levels of exposure (e.g., farm workers are more exposed to pesticide overuse than consumers). An estimated 64% of global agricultural land is at risk of pesticide pollution by more than one active ingredient, and 31% is at high risk. Around one third (34%) of the high-risk areas are located in high-biodiversity regions, and around 5% are in water-scarce regions.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Only median values were included.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Nitrogen (N) is essential for crop growth and nitrogen fertilizers have been one of the primary drivers of increased crop yields (a key factor promoting food security) achieved over the past century. However, excess nitrogen that is not absorbed by plants can pollute both freshwater and marine water sources or be changed into ammonia by soil microbes, leading to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and soil and water acidification. Increasing Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) – the ratio between the amount of fertilizer N harvested in agricultural products (outputs) and the amount of fertilizer N applied (inputs) – can reduce excess nutrients lost to the environment, serving as an important indicator for monitoring nitrogen management and more sustainable agricultural systems.
Globally, NUE decreased from 68% in the early 1960s to just 47% as of 2014, although significant improvements have been made in many countries since the 1980s. Among OECD countries, the median NUE increased from 50% to 61% from 1990 to 2020.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Only median values were included.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Phosphorus (P) is essential for enhancing soil fertility and crop and forage productivity, but excess phosphorus that is not absorbed by plants can pollute both freshwater and marine water sources contributing to eutrophication, algal blooms, and biodiversity loss in water bodies. Excess phosphorus use can also disrupt soil fertility, inhibit the uptake of essential micronutrients, reduce crop yields, and cause nutrient deficiencies in crops. Increasing Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE) – the ratio between the amount of fertilizer P harvested in agricultural products (outputs) and the amount of fertilizer P applied (inputs) – can reduce excess nutrients lost to the environment, serving as an important indicator for monitoring phosphorus management and more sustainable agricultural systems.
Estimates find that to effectively address phosphorus management challenges, global PUE in crop production must increase to somewhere between 68% to 81%. Ongoing PUE data are only available for a large subset of OECD members, for which the median PUE increased 51% to 80% from 1990 to 2020. However, PUE varies significantly across regions, with lower rates in countries rapidly increasing agricultural productivity through higher input use, such as India, China, and Brazil.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- GHG emissions intensity is determined by dividing the total agriculture production emissions (CO2eq) by total food supply (kcal), both obtained from FAOSTAT.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with agricultural production is essential for achieving a more sustainable agriculture system. Even if fossil fuels were immediately eliminated, emissions from agricultural production (especially methane and nitrous oxide) would still need to be greatly reduced to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Because global population and food demand are projected to continue growing through at least 2050, the emissions intensity of agricultural production, measured in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per 1,000 kilocalories in the global food supply, needs to fall even faster than absolute emissions. Changes to food production practices as well as to consumption patterns (e.g., the amount of food loss and waste, share of animal-based foods in diets, and share of agricultural products used as bioenergy) are necessary to help achieve this required decline in emissions intensity.
The emissions intensity of agricultural production has been falling for decades, driven largely by steady gains in the efficiency of crop and livestock production. From 2010 to 2022, the global GHG emissions intensity of agricultural production declined by almost 12%. However, total absolute agricultural emissions are still increasing, rising by more than 7% from 2010 to 2022.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Data was collected directly from SDG Indicators Data Portal’s “Indicator 6.4.2 – Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources”. Amongst the major economic sectors, only the agriculture sector is displayed. Several countries do not have data prior to 2015; as a result, only global data from 2015 onwards are presented.
- No additional calculation was performed.
- Global trend prior to 2015 is not available since several countries do not have data prior to 2015.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Agriculture is the largest consumer of freshwater globally, accounting for approximately 70% of all freshwater withdrawals. Excessive water withdrawals for agriculture lead to the depletion of groundwater resources and the degradation of aquatic ecosystems. It also increases vulnerability to climate change. Water stress is defined as the degree to which water resources (rivers, lakes, aquifers) are being exploited to meet countries’ water demand for agriculture. It is reflected as the total freshwater withdrawn by agriculture as a proportion of available freshwater resources.
Water stress – measured as the global average freshwater withdrawal from agriculture as a proportion of available freshwater resources – has largely remained steady at around 13% each year from 2015 to 2022. At the same time, there is great geographical variation. Some areas, such as drier regions like the Middle East and North Africa, experienced much higher levels of water stress and withdrew a higher percentage of their available freshwater resources. For instance, over 600% of available water resources were withdrawn for agriculture in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Libya in 2023. Other countries withdrew at much lower rates, such as 11% of the available resources in the United States and 0.2% in Sweden.
Definitions
N/A
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Data was collected directly from AQUASTAT’s “SDG.6.4.1 Irrigated agriculture water use efficiency” variable under “Pressure under water resources”.
- No additional calculation was performed.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Irrigated agriculture accounted for 72% of global freshwater withdrawals in 2021, and it is one of the leading drivers of the increased demand for freshwater use. Improving water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture is essential to addressing water scarcity, which poses a significant threat to global biodiversity and food security. Enhancing water use efficiency also offers multiple co-benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from water pumping and distribution, improving soil health, and boosting resilience to drought and climate challenges.
Irrigated agriculture water use efficiency, measured by value added in US dollars per cubic meter of water used by the agriculture sector, has shown continuous growth, more than doubling between 2000 and 2022. More recently, it increased by 25% between 2018 to 2022.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- The Agrobiodiversity Index (ABDI) is a set of 22 indicators developed to monitor the most essential aspects of agrobiodiversity as it relates to food system sustainability – specifically across three key pillars: consumption, production, and genetic resource conservation. The indicators are sorted into three measurement categories: 1) action: indicators that monitor interventions to enhance biodiversity levels, 2) commitment: indicators that measure levels of support for improving biodiversity levels, and 3) status: indicators that evaluate the level of biodiversity in a country. The ABDI scores range from 0 (least desirable) to 100 (most desirable).
- Limitations
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Agrobiodiversity is a key component of more sustainable agriculture. It can enhance the resilience and adaptability of farming systems to climate change by improving carbon sequestration in soil and biomass, as well as improving genetic diversity for breeding crops and livestock that are more resilient to climate change and other stressors. The Agrobiodiversity Index (ABDI) is a set of 22 indicators developed to monitor the essential aspects of agrobiodiversity as it relates to food system sustainability – specifically across three key pillars: consumption, production, and genetic resource conservation. The indicators are sorted into three measurement categories: 1) action: indicators that monitor interventions to enhance biodiversity levels, 2) commitment: indicators that measure levels of support for improving biodiversity levels, and 3) status: indicators that evaluate the level of biodiversity in a country. The ABDI scores range from 0 (least desirable) to 100 (most desirable). The Agrobiodiversity Index can be used to assess the diversity of crops and livestock. It is a useful tool for monitoring the state of agrobiodiversity in different countries and regions.
A 2021 paper that evaluated ABDI scores for 80 countries found the mean agrobiodiversity status score to be 56 out of 100. Agrobiodiversity Index scores in consumption and conservation are 14 to 82% higher in developed countries than those of low-income countries. A comparison of the Agrobiodiversity Index scores of 80 countries revealed just 12 countries with high scores (60 to 80 scores) for agrobiodiversity status and action. Overall, this means that significantly more could be done to conserve agrobiodiversity and harness its contributions for more resilient agriculture.
Food security
Historical data sources
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Unfortunately, since the development of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity has been moving in the wrong direction. As of 2024, 2.3 billion people (28% of the global population) were moderately or severely food insecure. While this represents a slight decrease compared to 2023, the number of people is still 335 million above the 2019 level before the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to an increase in food insecurity.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Crop yields are calculated by dividing the total production (measured in tonnes) by the total area harvested (measured in ha) for the following items: cereals, primary; citrus fruit, total; fruit primary; pulses, total; roots and tubers, total; sugar crops primary; tree nuts, total; and vegetables, primary. All values are obtained from FAOSTAT.
- Although FAOSTAT data have several strengths, including coverage of most countries, relatively consistent methods across countries, and open access, they rely on national data submissions, which can be subject to differences in definitions and quantification methods across countries and time. As such, there can be discrepancies among methods used to generate FAOSTAT data and other measurement methods (e.g., using satellite data to map cropland and pastureland, or dietary surveys to estimate per capita food consumption patterns). Previous versions of FAOSTAT emissions data used global warming potentials (GWPs) from the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report. In 2021, FAOSTAT updated these GWPs to include those from the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (FAOSTAT 2022).
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Boosting crop yields is essential for food security and alleviating poverty in developing nations, while limiting further agricultural expansion to natural ecosystems. Crop yield refers to the quantity of crops produced per unit of cultivated land.
Globally, the average cereal yield has seen an impressive rise, surging from 4.6 tons per hectare in 1990 to 6.8 tons per hectare in 2023. During the early 2010s, the yields of the top four global crops, namely maize, rice, wheat, and soybean, responsible for supplying approximately 43% of the world’s dietary energy and 40% of daily protein intake, were increasing at linear rates of 1.6%, 1.0%, 0.9% and 1.3% per year, respectively.
However, substantial disparities exist in crop yields between different regions. In 2023, sub-Saharan African countries recorded some of the lowest yields; for example, Ethiopia recorded an average crop yield of 3.2 tonnes per hectare. In contrast, emerging economies such as Brazil and China achieved much higher yields, with 22 and 12 tonnes per hectare, respectively. Developed countries like the United States also reported high yields, averaging 9.9 tonnes per hectare. This yield discrepancy can be attributed to various factors, including variations in technology, infrastructure, and resource accessibility.
Agricultural policies and programs
Historical data and current trend methodology
- OECD agricultural policy data on “Producer Support Estimates (PSE)” and “General Services Support Estimates (GSSE)” were reorganized into the categories from the World Bank report: Revising Public Agricultural Support to Mitigate Climate Change (Searchinger et al., 2020) to determine what percentage of agricultural subsidies went towards “conservation” outcomes.
- The percent of agricultural subsidies that support conservation or climate objectives was calculated by adding conservation, production retirement, and other public goods total spending and dividing by total PSE and GSSE spending.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Agricultural subsidies are monetary payments and other types of support provided by governments to farmers or agribusinesses. While some subsidies are given to promote specific farming practices, others focus on research and development, conservation practices, disaster aid, marketing, nutrition assistance, risk mitigation, and more. To incentivize sustainable agriculture, promote food security, and benefit the environment, governments around the world can condition farm financial aid on the protection of forests and other native areas, support integrated projects that bring groups of farmers together with scientists to try out innovative systems that optimize fertilizer use, reward farmers for better environmental performance, and more. By making better use of agricultural subsidies, the world can produce more food while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing food security and nutrition.
However, only 6.4% of global agricultural subsidies from 2019 to 2021, valued at USD 600 billion, supported conservation or climate objectives in 2021, determined by applying the methods used by Searchinger et al. 2020 on updated OECD data.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- OECD agricultural policy data on “Producer Support Estimates (PSE)” and “General Services Support Estimates (GSSE)” were reorganized into the categories from the World Bank report: Revising Public Agricultural Support to Mitigate Climate Change (Searchinger et al., 2020) to determine insurance subsidies.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Crop insurance serves as a risk mitigation tool for safeguarding farmers’ income during periods of unpredictable crop yields, such as those resulting from droughts or floods. The specifics of crop insurance offerings, the extent of coverage, and the subsidies provided by governments can vary from one country to another.
Recently, however, there has been a push to reform crop insurance to incentivize sustainable agriculture, promote food security, and benefit the environment by including sustainable conditionalities. For example, in the United States, the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) which provides a diverse array of crop insurance products has been reformed to include conditionalities on the sustainability of cropping systems. Some of these conditionalities include cover cropping and diversification. Across the Asia and Pacific region, notable changes have been introduced to crop insurance programs, including the introduction of innovative products like weather index-based insurance. These reforms would encourage farmers to embrace practices that reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture. While global data on crop insurance with sustainable conditionalities is currently not available, from 2000 to 2021, government agricultural insurance payments in OECD countries and select other countries—which together account for nearly two-thirds of the world’s agricultural production output—increased from $3 billion to $24.2 billion.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- Data was sourced from the N database for NatSustain and from the FAOLEX Database.
- Within the N database for NatSustain, data was filtered by “water” under Sink,“all agriculture-related options” under Sector, “regulation” under Policy Type” and all those including “water pollution” under Description.
- For FAOLEX data, data was filtered by “regulation” and “regulation, policy” under Type of Text,“blanks” under Repealed, and all those that contain “agriculture” under Domain. A keyword filter for those containing “water pollution” was also performed.
- The number of agriculture-producing countries was sourced from FAOSTAT.
- Calculation: The results from the N database for NatSustain and FAOLEX databases were combined, and duplicated countries were removed. Share of countries was then calculated by dividing the number of countries with water pollution regulations for agriculture in place by the total number of countries.
Historical data sources
Full description, licensing and other information available at the original data source.
Gaps and opportunities in nitrogen pollution policies around the world
Kanter et al.
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Agricultural production is the largest user of water resources and a major polluter of water resources. Untreated agricultural runoff — containing pesticides, fertilizers, and other pollutants — contaminates water bodies, harms aquatic ecosystems, and poses risks to human health. This leads to the degradation of inland and coastal waters, eutrophication, and groundwater pollution. Regulations on water pollution can be implemented or redesigned to incentivize sustainable agriculture and benefit the environment.
However, in 2023, only 38% of countries had some form of water pollution regulation. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency provides information on how farmers can address the challenge of polluted runoff through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Farm Bill, and other approaches. Though success varies across countries, the European Union employs economic incentives, environmental rules, and information tools to address agricultural water pollution. However, some nations lack effective regulations. In China, for example, poor regulation and overuse of pesticides and fertilizers have made agricultural production the primary water pollution source.
Historical data and current trend methodology
- No publicly available data was identified.
Globally, agriculture is the largest user of water resources, making up around 70% of all freshwater extractions. Additionally, agriculture contributes an even greater portion to what is termed “consumptive water use” because of water loss through crop evapotranspiration. With escalating water shortages in regions where water extraction rates are unsustainable, there is a risk of limiting agricultural output and endangering food security and ecosystems. One approach to establishing sustainable water usage in agriculture is to implement regulations that control the quantity of water used. More research is needed to consistently track national water quantity regulations across the world.
Several countries have implemented standards, regulations, or subsidies to improve nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency as part of broader policy efforts to incentivize sustainable agriculture and benefit the environment. Nitrogen and phosphorus are essential nutrients for crop growth and development, but their inefficient use can lead to environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and economic losses.
While there are no global data sources yet tracking policies around nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency, several countries have implemented standards, regulations, or subsidies for this purpose. For example, in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides cost-share programs to farmers to implement conservation practices that reduce nutrient losses. In Argentina, the government has implemented a fertilizer management plan that includes soil testing, crop rotation, and the use of slow-release fertilizers. In Canada, the government has established a nutrient management framework that provides guidelines for fertilizer application rates and timing.
