Land
About 75% less farmland if the world went vegan
75%Less agricultural land on a vegan world diet
Animals have to eat and drink, so we grow food for them first. About 80% of the world’s agricultural land goes to grazing and feed, while farm animals give back only about 18% of the calories and 37% of the protein. Beef returns only a few percent of the protein that went into the animal. There is not enough feed on the land we already farm, so wild land keeps getting taken. A worldwide vegan diet would shrink farmland from about 4.1 billion hectares to about 1 billion — roughly three-quarters of agricultural land freed, an area on the order of North America plus Brazil that could return to forests and wild habitat. It is infinitely more efficient to eat plants directly. All of that extra land use would be gone if we didn’t harm or kill animals.
What the evidence says
The main points first. Every claim is tied to a source below.
Our World in Data · How is the world’s land used? · Hannah Ritchie & Max Roser
Farm animals use about 80% of agricultural land for a minority of calories
To eat animals we first have to feed them plants. About 80% of agricultural land is used for grazing and feed. Meat and dairy then give back only about 18% of calories and 37% of protein. Beef returns only a few percent of the protein that went into the animal. Eating the crops ourselves is orders of magnitude more efficient. We do not have to harm or eat animals at all.
Our World in Data · if the world ate plants, 4.1 billion hectares down to 1 billion
About 75% less farmland if the world ate vegan
Our World in Data, drawing on Poore and Nemecek, estimates that a global shift to a plant-based diet would cut agricultural land use by about 75% — from about 4.1 billion hectares to about 1 billion. That is an area on the order of North America plus Brazil that could return to forests and wild habitat. It is infinitely more efficient to eat plants directly.
Our World in Data · Environmental impacts of food production
Only 6% of non-human mammal biomass is wildlife — 94% is farm animals
Our World in Data, using Bar-On, Phillips, and Milo: if you weigh every mammal that isn’t a human, about 94% is cows, pigs, and other farm animals. They outweigh wild mammals about 15 to 1. On land only, it is 97%. That is what using most of the world’s farmland as a feedlot does to everyone else. We do not have to harm or eat animals at all.
Sources
Papers and datasets. Caveats stay on the card — small samples and single animals included on purpose.
Our World in Data · Review
Our World in Data — land use of diets
If everyone shifted to a plant-based diet, global agricultural land use would fall by about 75%.
Our World in Data · Review
Global land for agriculture
Around 80% of agricultural land is used for meat and dairy (pasture plus feed crops).
Science · Meta-analysis
Poore & Nemecek — reducing food’s environmental impacts
Meat and dairy provide ~18% of calories and ~37% of protein, yet use the vast majority of farmland and ~60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gases. Avoiding them is the single biggest way to cut your food impact.
Environmental Research Letters, 2013 · Observational
Redefining agricultural yields — people nourished per hectare
Cassidy et al.: shifting crop calories from animal feed to people would increase the number of people nourished per hectare. A large share of global calories never reach a human plate because they go through an animal first.
Nature, 2018 · Review
Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits
Springmann et al.: without a shift toward plant-based diets, staying within land-use and climate planetary boundaries is not feasible even with production-side fixes. Completely plant-based diets cut global land use on the order of 70%.