Arable land (from the Latin: arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.[1] Alternatively, for the purposes of agricultural statistics,[2] the term often has a more precise definition:
Modern mechanised agriculture permits large fields like this one in Dorset, England
Arable land is the land under temporary agricultural crops (multiple-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow (less than five years). The abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for 'Arable land' are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.[3]
A more concise definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual rather than potential uses: "land worked (ploughed or tilled) regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation".[4]
In Britain, arable land has traditionally been contrasted with pasturable land such as heaths, which could be used for sheep-rearing but not as farmland.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2013, the world's arable land amounted to 1.407 billion hectares, out of a total of 4.924 billion hectares of land used for agriculture.[5]
Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes:
Meadows and pastures – land used as pasture and grazed range, and those natural grasslands and sedge meadows that are used for hay production in some regions.
Permanent crop – land that produces crops from woody vegetation, e.g. orchard land, vineyards, coffee plantations, rubber plantations, and land producing nut trees;
Other non-arable land includes land that is not suitable for any agricultural use. Land that is not arable, in the sense of lacking capability or suitability for cultivation for crop production, has one or more limitations – a lack of sufficient freshwater for irrigation, stoniness, steepness, adverse climate, excessive wetness with the impracticality of drainage, excessive salts, or a combination of these, among others.[7] Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, large areas unsuitable for cultivation may still be agriculturally productive. For example, United States NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock.[8] In British Columbia, Canada, 41 percent of the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve area is unsuitable for the production of cultivated crops, but is suitable for uncultivated production of forage usable by grazing livestock.[9] Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere.
Land incapable of being cultivated for the production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food and can reduce starvation. This outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. Making non-arable land arable often involves digging new irrigation canals and new wells, aqueducts, desalination plants, planting trees for shade in the desert, hydroponics, fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides, reverse osmosis water processors, PET film insulation or other insulation against heat and cold, digging ditches and hills for protection against the wind, and installing greenhouses with internal light and heat for protection against the cold outside and to provide light in cloudy areas. Such modifications are often prohibitively expensive. An alternative is the seawater greenhouse, which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the only energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on desert land close to the sea.
The use of artifices does not make the land arable. Rock still remains rock, and shallow – less than 6 feet (1.8 metres) – turnable soil is still not considered toilable. The use of artifice is an open-air none recycled water hydroponics relationship.[clarification needed] The below described circumstances are not in perspective, have limited duration, and have a tendency to accumulate trace materials in soil that either there or elsewhere cause deoxygenation. The use of vast amounts of fertilizer may have unintended consequences for the environment by devastating rivers, waterways, and river endings through the accumulation of non-degradable toxins and nitrogen-bearing molecules that remove oxygen and cause non-aerobic processes to form.
Examples of infertile non-arable land being turned into fertile arable land include:
Aran Islands: These islands off the west coast of Ireland (not to be confused with the Isle of Arran in Scotland's Firth of Clyde) were unsuitable for arable farming because they were too rocky. The people covered the islands with a shallow layer of seaweed and sand from the ocean. Today,[when?] crops are grown there, even though the islands are still considered non-arable.
Israel: The construction of desalination plants along Israel's coast allowed agriculture in some areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from ocean water, have produced a new source of water for farming, drinking, and washing.
Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years.
Terra preta, fertile tropical soils produced by adding charcoal.
Examples of fertile arable land being turned into infertile land include:
Each year, arable land is lost due to desertification and human-induced erosion. Improper irrigation of farmland can wick the sodium, calcium, and magnesium from the soil and water to the surface. This process steadily concentrates salt in the root zone, decreasing productivity for crops that are not salt-tolerant.
Rainforest deforestation: The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land. For example, Madagascar's central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren (about ten percent of the country) as a result of slash-and-burndeforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives.
^FAOSTAT. [Statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] Glossary. http://faostat3.fao.org/ 1 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
Look up arable in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
from Technorati on Shrinking Arable Farmland in the world
January 20, 2023
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Arable land from the Latin arabilis able to be ploughed is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops 1 Alternatively for the purposes of agricultural statistics 2 the term often has a more precise definition Modern mechanised agriculture permits large fields like this one in Dorset England Arable land is the land under temporary agricultural crops multiple cropped areas are counted only once temporary meadows for mowing or pasture land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow less than five years The abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category Data for Arable land are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable 3 A more concise definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual rather than potential uses land worked ploughed or tilled regularly generally under a system of crop rotation 4 In Britain arable land has traditionally been contrasted with pasturable land such as heaths which could be used for sheep rearing but not as farmland Contents 1 Arable land area 1 1 Arable land hectares per person 2 Non arable land 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksArable land area Edit Share of land area used for arable agriculture OWID Further information Land use statistics by country According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2013 the world s arable land amounted to 1 407 billion hectares out of a total of 4 924 billion hectares of land used for agriculture 5 Arable land area 1000 ha 6 Rank Country or region 2015 2016 2017 2018 20191 United States 156 645 157 191 157 737 157 737 157 7372 India 156 413 156 317 156 317 156 317 156 0673 Russia 121 649 121 649 121 649 121 649 121 6494 China 119 593 119 512 119 477 119 475 119 4745 Brazil 54 518 55 140 55 762 55 762 55 7626 Canada 38 282 38 530 38 509 38 690 38 6487 Nigeria 34 000 34 000 34 000 34 000 34 0008 Ukraine 32 775 32 776 32 773 32 889 32 9249 Argentina 36 688 35 337 33 985 32 633 32 63310 Australia 31 090 30 057 30 752 30 974 30 573Arable land hectares per person Edit Fields in the region of Zahorie in Western Slovakia A field of sunflowers in Cardejon Spain Arable land hectares per person 6 Country Name 2013Afghanistan 0 254Albania 0 213Algeria 0 196American Samoa 0 054Andorra 0 038Angola 0 209Antigua and Barbuda 0 044Argentina 0 933Armenia 0 150Aruba 0 019Australia 1 999Austria 0 160Azerbaijan 0 204Bahamas The 0 021Bahrain 0 001Bangladesh 0 049Barbados 0 039Belarus 0 589Belgium 0 073Belize 0 227Benin 0 262Bermuda 0 005Bhutan 0 133Bolivia 0 427Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 264Botswana 0 125Brazil 0 372British Virgin Islands 0 034Brunei Darussalam 0 012Bulgaria 0 479Burkina Faso 0 363Burundi 0 115Cabo Verde 0 108Cambodia 0 275Cameroon 0 279Canada 1 306Cayman Islands 0 003Central African Republic 0 382Chad 0 373Channel Islands 0 026Chile 0 074China 0 078Colombia 0 036Comoros 0 086Congo Dem Rep 0 098Congo Rep 0 125Costa Rica 0 049Cote d Ivoire 0 134Croatia 0 206Cuba 0 278CuracaoCyprus 0 070Czech Republic 0 299Denmark 0 429Djibouti 0 002Dominica 0 083Dominican Republic 0 078Ecuador 0 076Egypt Arab Rep 0 031El Salvador 0 120Equatorial Guinea 0 151EritreaEstonia 0 480Ethiopia 0 160Faroe Islands 0 062Fiji 0 187Finland 0 409France 0 277French Polynesia 0 009Gabon 0 197Gambia The 0 236Georgia 0 119Germany 0 145Ghana 0 180GibraltarGreece 0 232Greenland 0 016Grenada 0 028Guam 0 006Guatemala 0 064Guinea 0 259Guinea Bissau 0 171Guyana 0 552Haiti 0 103Honduras 0 130Hong Kong SAR China 0 000Hungary 0 445Iceland 0 374India 0 123Indonesia 0 094Iran Islamic Rep 0 193Iraq 0 147Ireland 0 242Isle of Man 0 253Israel 0 035Italy 0 113Jamaica 0 044Japan 0 033Jordan 0 032Kazakhstan 1 726Kenya 0 133Kiribati 0 018Korea Dem People s Rep 0 094Korea Rep 0 030KosovoKuwait 0 003Kyrgyz Republic 0 223Lao PDR 0 226Latvia 0 600Lebanon 0 025Lesotho 0 119Liberia 0 116Libya 0 274Liechtenstein 0 070Lithuania 0 774Luxembourg 0 115Macao SAR ChinaMacedonia FYR 0 199Madagascar 0 153Malawi 0 235Malaysia 0 032Maldives 0 010Mali 0 386Malta 0 021Marshall Islands 0 038Mauritania 0 116Mauritius 0 060Mexico 0 186Micronesia Fed Sts 0 019Moldova 0 510MonacoMongolia 0 198Montenegro 0 013Morocco 0 240Mozambique 0 213Myanmar 0 203Namibia 0 341NauruNepal 0 076Netherlands 0 062New Caledonia 0 024New Zealand 0 123Nicaragua 0 253Niger 0 866Nigeria 0 197Northern Mariana Islands 0 019Norway 0 159Oman 0 010Pakistan 0 168Palau 0 048Panama 0 148Papua New Guinea 0 041Paraguay 0 696Peru 0 136Philippines 0 057Poland 0 284Portugal 0 107Puerto Rico 0 017Qatar 0 007Romania 0 438Russian Federation 0 852Rwanda 0 107Samoa 0 042San Marino 0 032Sao Tome and Principe 0 048Saudi Arabia 0 102Senegal 0 229Serbia 0 460Seychelles 0 001Sierra Leone 0 256Singapore 0 000Sint Maarten Dutch part Slovak Republic 0 258Slovenia 0 085Solomon Islands 0 036Somalia 0 107South Africa 0 235South SudanSpain 0 270Sri Lanka 0 063St Kitts and Nevis 0 092St Lucia 0 016St Martin French part St Vincent and the Grenadines 0 046Sudan 0 345Suriname 0 112Swaziland 0 140Sweden 0 270Switzerland 0 050Syrian Arab Republic 0 241Tajikistan 0 106Tanzania 0 269Thailand 0 249Timor Leste 0 131Togo 0 382Tonga 0 152Trinidad and Tobago 0 019Tunisia 0 262Turkey 0 270Turkmenistan 0 370Turks and Caicos Islands 0 030TuvaluUganda 0 189Ukraine 0 715United Arab Emirates 0 004United Kingdom 0 098United States 0 480Uruguay 0 682Uzbekistan 0 145Vanuatu 0 079Venezuela RB 0 089Vietnam 0 071Virgin Islands US 0 010West Bank and Gaza 0 011Yemen Rep 0 049Zambia 0 243Zimbabwe 0 268Non arable land EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Water buffalo ploughing rice fields near Salatiga Central Java Indonesia A pasture in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes Meadows and pastures land used as pasture and grazed range and those natural grasslands and sedge meadows that are used for hay production in some regions Permanent crop land that produces crops from woody vegetation e g orchard land vineyards coffee plantations rubber plantations and land producing nut trees Other non arable land includes land that is not suitable for any agricultural use Land that is not arable in the sense of lacking capability or suitability for cultivation for crop production has one or more limitations a lack of sufficient freshwater for irrigation stoniness steepness adverse climate excessive wetness with the impracticality of drainage excessive salts or a combination of these among others 7 Although such limitations may preclude cultivation and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use large areas unsuitable for cultivation may still be agriculturally productive For example United States NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation yet such land has value for grazing of livestock 8 In British Columbia Canada 41 percent of the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve area is unsuitable for the production of cultivated crops but is suitable for uncultivated production of forage usable by grazing livestock 9 Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere Land incapable of being cultivated for the production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land New arable land makes more food and can reduce starvation This outcome also makes a country more self sufficient and politically independent because food importation is reduced Making non arable land arable often involves digging new irrigation canals and new wells aqueducts desalination plants planting trees for shade in the desert hydroponics fertilizer nitrogen fertilizer pesticides reverse osmosis water processors PET film insulation or other insulation against heat and cold digging ditches and hills for protection against the wind and installing greenhouses with internal light and heat for protection against the cold outside and to provide light in cloudy areas Such modifications are often prohibitively expensive An alternative is the seawater greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the only energy input This technology is optimized to grow crops on desert land close to the sea The use of artifices does not make the land arable Rock still remains rock and shallow less than 6 feet 1 8 metres turnable soil is still not considered toilable The use of artifice is an open air none recycled water hydroponics relationship clarification needed The below described circumstances are not in perspective have limited duration and have a tendency to accumulate trace materials in soil that either there or elsewhere cause deoxygenation The use of vast amounts of fertilizer may have unintended consequences for the environment by devastating rivers waterways and river endings through the accumulation of non degradable toxins and nitrogen bearing molecules that remove oxygen and cause non aerobic processes to form Examples of infertile non arable land being turned into fertile arable land include Aran Islands These islands off the west coast of Ireland not to be confused with the Isle of Arran in Scotland s Firth of Clyde were unsuitable for arable farming because they were too rocky The people covered the islands with a shallow layer of seaweed and sand from the ocean Today when crops are grown there even though the islands are still considered non arable Israel The construction of desalination plants along Israel s coast allowed agriculture in some areas that were formerly desert The desalination plants which remove the salt from ocean water have produced a new source of water for farming drinking and washing Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash but these expire within a few years Terra preta fertile tropical soils produced by adding charcoal Examples of fertile arable land being turned into infertile land include Droughts such as the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression in the US turned farmland into desert Each year arable land is lost due to desertification and human induced erosion Improper irrigation of farmland can wick the sodium calcium and magnesium from the soil and water to the surface This process steadily concentrates salt in the root zone decreasing productivity for crops that are not salt tolerant Rainforest deforestation The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land For example Madagascar s central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren about ten percent of the country as a result of slash and burn deforestation an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives See also EditDevelopment easement Land use statistics by country List of environment topics Soil fertilityReferences Edit Oxford English Dictionary 3rd ed arable adj and n Oxford University Press Oxford 2013 The World Bank Agricultural land of land area http data worldbank org indicator AG LND AGRI ZS Archived 17 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine FAOSTAT Statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Glossary http faostat3 fao org Archived 1 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine Eurostat Glossary Arable land http ec europa eu eurostat statistics explained index php Glossary Arable land Archived 7 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine FAOSTAT Land Use module Food and Agriculture Organization Archived from the original on 16 August 2016 Retrieved 8 July 2016 a b FAOSTAT Land Use module Food and Agriculture Organization Archived from the original on 16 August 2016 Retrieved 8 July 2016 United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service 1961 Land capability classification Agriculture Handbook 210 21 pp NRCS 2013 Summary report 2010 national resources inventory The United States Natural Resources Conservation Service 163 pp Agricultural Land Commission Agriculture Capability and the ALR Fact Sheet http www alc gov bc ca alc DownloadAsset assetId 72876D8604EC45279B8D3C1B14428CF8 amp filename agriculture capability the alr fact sheet 2013 pdfExternal links Edit Look up arable in Wiktionary the free dictionary Article from Technorati on Shrinking Arable Farmland in the world Surface area of the Earth Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Arable land amp oldid 1124952523, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
