Growth in harvests of crops meant for exports, processing and industrial use, together with their higher yields and faster yield gains, stands out globally; at a more granular level, this was driven by specific global regions that are getting increasingly specialized in harvesting crops for these usages.
Changes in global-level harvested areas
At the global scale, we find that crops harvested for direct food utilization have the highest area and have been relatively stable over the study period (Fig. 1a). However, as the total harvested hectares have increased globally (Supplementary Table 1), this has translated into decreasing fractions of crops harvested for direct food utilization, from ~51% in the 1960s (average over 1964 to 1968) to ~37% in the 2010s (average over 2009 to 2013), with a similar reduction in feed crop harvests (Table 1). Conversely, there has been a substantial increase in crops for processing, exports and industrial use (Fig. 1a, Table 1 and Supplementary Table 1). The increase in industrial crop harvests occurred after year 2000. Around the same time, harvested hectares for exported crops ramped up and by the 2010s had surpassed those of crops harvested for feed use (Fig. 1a). Crops harvested for seed usage and losses are relatively minor, and we will not discuss them further. If the global trends observed in the past 20 years continue (Fig. 1a), by 2030, crops harvested for exports, processing and industrial use will account for ~ 23%, 17% and 8% of overall harvested hectares, whereas those for food will decrease to ~29% (Table 1).
a–d, Observed total harvested ha (a), average yield in kcal ha−1 per year (b), average yield in protein ha−1 per year (c) and average yield in fat ha−1 per year (d) in the seven sectors of food, feed, processing, export, other uses (non-food/industrial), seed and losses from 1964 to 2013, annually, and projections to 2030 based on the past 20 years. The shading shows the 90% confidence interval for the significant linear model projections.
Changes in global-level crop yields
We find that crops harvested for direct food usage generally have had lower yields than all other sectors at the global scale over the time period of the study (Fig. 1b–d). This is not a new phenomenon, as crops harvested for direct food utilization have always had lower yields relative to other sectors (Supplementary Table 1). What has changed, however, is the ramping up (steeper positive slopes) of industrial, export and processing crop yields (Fig. 1b–d and Table 1). At these rates, caloric yields of industrial-use crops could increase by 28% from the 2010s to 2030 compared with 24% and 21% yield increases of crops harvested for directly consumed food and for feed use (Fig. 1b). Given that caloric yields of industrial-use crops are already substantially higher than food and feed crops (2× and 1.4×, respectively, in the 2010s), the faster caloric yield increases for industrial-use crops will widen this gap (2.1× and 1.5×, respectively). Yield measurements in other units of protein and fat show similar results (Table 1, Fig. 1c,d and Supplementary Table 1).
Changes in the spatial patterns of harvested areas and production
Within country-level information on harvested areas and productivity based on utilization categories is required for developing more locally effective agricultural policies. Over the course of the study time period 1964 to 2013 (Fig. 2a,b and Supplementary Video 1), we find changes in all continents when spatially analysed at the grid-cell level, except for most parts of Africa. Even in Africa, there are locations with fractional reductions in food crop harvests over the study period, such as parts of Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Within these and other countries, the exact location, magnitude and direction of the change varies from one region to the next (that is, compare Fig. 2a with Fig. 2b).
a,b, The fraction of a grid cell in one of seven categories—food, feed, processing, export, other (non-food/industrial use), seed and losses—in each period, 1964–1968 (a) and 2009–2013 (b).
Crops harvested for direct food utilization have been prevalent in Asia, though much has changed since the 1960s (Fig. 2a,b and Supplementary Video 1). In China, there appears to be an imaginary belt, north and west of which harvests of crops used as directly consumed food decreased between the 1960s (Fig. 2a) and 2010s (Fig. 2b), while those for other uses increased. This belt appears to roughly extend from the northern half of Jiangsu (a province on the Yellow Sea in the east), curving westwards and southwards through northern Anhui, southern Henan, central Hubei and the northern tip of Hunan, and then turning sharply south and splitting Guangdong (a province on the South China Sea) through the middle. The sector gaining from the 10–20% fractional food harvest reduction varies. The increase in crops for feed, processing and industrial usage increases as one moves northward, especially north of Jiangsu and Anhui (Fig. 2a,b and Supplementary Video 1).
Similarly, in India, there is a north–south zone encompassing eastern Haryana in the north, moving southwards through eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh to eastern Maharashtra in the south, where there was a drastic reduction in crops harvested for direct food utilization over the study period (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1); crops harvested for processing primarily increased. Changes in South and Southeast Asia over the study period are primarily away from once-dominant harvests of directly consumed food crops to feed crops, followed by processing crops, export crops and industrial-use crops, as in Myanmar and Thailand. In Malaysia, the growth was in export and industrial-usage crops, whereas in Indonesia, it was export crops and smaller increases in industrial-utilization crops. Central Asian states, especially Kazakhstan and some parts of Russia, witnessed a large reduction in crops harvested for direct food use over the study period, replaced by the crops destined for exports between the two periods (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1).
In Australia in the 1960s, food crops were harvested everywhere, accounting for ~10% of the total, which declined to ~5% by the 2010s. This was accompanied by small reductions in crops harvested for feed and export and balanced mainly by increases in crops for processing and industrial utilization (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1).
In Europe in the 1960s, crops were dominantly harvested for food and feed, but by the 2010s, this changed to include crops harvested for processing (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1). In France, major reductions in feed crops have been balanced by growth in processing, export and industrial-use crops. In Spain, the primary change is from crops harvested for direct food to those of feed. In Germany, crops harvested for export have replaced those for direct food utilization.
Latin America used to dominantly harvest food crops (as in Mexico) or food and feed crops (as in Brazil and Argentina) (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1). Midwestern Brazil used to harvest only food crops, and feed and processing crop harvests were restricted to the Atlantic states (the 1960s; Fig. 2a), but by the 2010s (Fig. 2b), harvests of food crops had become a negligible fraction in Midwestern Brazil (as in Mato Grosso), and crops harvested for processing and exports are dominant now. In the Atlantic states of Brazil, one of the major changes is the increased proportion of harvests for industrial crops. In Argentina, over the study period, the proportion of crops harvested for food and feed has decreased, and this utilization has been mainly replaced by crops harvested for processing; crops harvested for exports changed, but the direction of change was spatially heterogeneous across Argentina (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Video 1). In Mexico, the primary change is the reduction in the fraction of crops harvested for direct food consumption and the increased harvests of crops for feed.
Crops harvested for food and feed are also on the decline proportionally in North America. The United States has experienced a change from the dominance of food and feed crops in the 1960s to processing and industrial-usage crops in the 2010s. Detailed changes in the United States and Canada vary from one location to the next (Fig. 2), though the major change is the lower fraction of crops harvested for direct food consumption.
Results are similar when viewed through the lens of calories, protein and fat with local-level differences as yields vary based on the measurement units (Supplementary Fig. 1). Further dramatic changes can be expected if observed linear trends from 1994 to 2013 at each grid cell continued until 2030 (Supplementary Fig. 2).
Calories harvested in 2030 and achieving UN SDG 2
We compare the extra food calories that will potentially be harvested in 2030 (Fig. 3a and Supplementary Data 2) to those required for both the projected extra population and feeding the projected undernourished population in each country (Fig. 3b and Supplementary Data 2). As an extreme case, we also compared whether total calories (all seven utilization sectors) would be sufficient (Fig. 3c and Supplementary Data 2). Altogether, we evaluated 156 countries, of which 86 had reported undernourished populations (Supplementary Data 2). On the basis of the minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER), we find that countries with reported undernourished populations will have a shortfall of ~675.4 trillion kcal per year to nourish the increased population and the expected undernourished from their extra harvested food calories. However, compared with the more realistic average dietary energy requirement (ADER), this shortfall will be ~993.9 trillion kcal per year (or ~70% from requirements) in 2030 (15 additional scenarios of undernourished populations in 2030 (provided in Supplementary Data 3) show global calorie shortfalls may similarly range from ~587.2 trillion kcal per year to ~1,269.3 trillion kcal per year based on the MDER level of nutrition requirement, and ~880.7 trillion kcal per year to ~1,755.6 trillion kcal per year based on the more realistic ADER level of nutrition requirement in 2030).
a, Same as Fig. 2 but for the projected kcal ha−1 per year in 2030 per utilization sector and then mapping the fraction of total kcal ha−1 per year projected as harvested. b, Shortfall or gap from kcal per year harvested in 2030 as crops for direct food use and those to plug the gap from population growth and/or undernourished population. Computed based on the 2018 to 2020 ADER number for the country. c, Same as b but the kcal per year harvested used for computation is the total across all the seven sectors and shortfall is from whether the total calories harvested were used for direct food consumption (little to no processing).
Countries reporting undernourishment can, however, meet their requirement of extra calories in 2030 for both population change and those for the undernourished if calories from other utilization sectors are diverted and consumed directly as food calories (Fig. 3c and Supplementary Data 2 and 3). Though at the global scale, it appears that countries with high levels of undernourishment in 2030 can divert just a portion of their total harvested calories and meet some of the requirements of UN’s SDG 2 (ref. 4). In reality, many of the individual countries concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa have limited scope of diversion of calories from other sectors such as feed, processing or exports as crops for direct food use, as they already harvest most crops for direct food consumption (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2). As such, many countries in this region may see deepening reliance on food imports. Note that the UN’s second SDG goal is broader in scope, including efforts to end malnutrition and increase agricultural productivity, among other goals4. Reconfiguration planning19 can use our spatially detailed information (Figs. 2 and 3, Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2 and Supplementary Data 2 and 3) in conjunction with policies that incentivize increased food crop harvests globally and ensure their equitable distribution to undernourished regions when local production is not sufficient20,21. This will require supply chain management22,23 and detailed analysis of optimization scenarios24 with our maps and tables as an important step linking specific production regions with the initial use of that production.
Source: Ecology - nature.com
