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Credit: <i>PNAS</i>
A study explores the interplay of farm energy use and crop production worldwide from 1961 to 2014. Agricultural technology developed after World War II was strongly dependent on fossil fuels. The oil crisis of the 1970s highlighted unsustainable aspects of such technology, but, long-term, global trends in the relationship between agricultural energy use and crop production remain understudied. Pedro Pellegrini and Roberto Fernández examined trends in agricultural energy use and crop production for 58 of the main crop-producing countries from 1961 to 2014. The authors used a database from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to analyze energy use related to crop production, and found that high crop intensification, assessed through the amount of energy use per hectare, occurred in 28 countries, whereas the remaining 30 countries had a low level of crop intensification over the study period; crop intensification was particularly high in Asia and Latin America. Worldwide, the authors observed a 137% increase in energy use per hectare, but only a 10% increase in land use. However, during the later decades of the study period, energy use did not increase as much as crop production across the globe, suggesting improved efficiency in the use of agricultural energy. According to the authors, developments in the fertilizer industry and improvements in agricultural technology might explain the findings.
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Article #17-17072: "Crop intensification, land use, and on-farm energy-use efficiency during the worldwide spread of the green revolution," by Pedro Pellegrini and Roberto J. Fernández.
MEDIA CONTACT: Roberto J. Fernández, Universidad de Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA; tel: +5491132394616; e-mail: <fernandez@agro.uba.ar>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences