Agricultural expansion
Agricultural expansion describes the growth of agricultural land in the 21st century.
The agricultural expansion is often explained as a direct consequence of the global increase in food and energy requirements due to the human overpopulation, with an estimated expectation of 10 to 11 billion humans on Earth by end of this century. It is foreseen that most of the world's non-agrarian ecosystems will be affected adversely, from habitat loss, land degradation, overexploitation, and other problems. The intensified food production will in particular affect the tropical regions.
Most modern agriculture relies on intensive methods. Further expansion of the predominant farming types that rest on a small number of highly productive crops has led to a significant loss of biodiversity on a global scale already.
In the light of the already occurring and potential massive ecological effects, the need for sustainable practices is more urgent than ever.
The FAO predicts that global arable land use will continue to grow from a in 2014 to in 2050, with most of this growth projected to result from developing countries. At the same time, arable land use in developed countries is likely to continue its decline.
A well-known example of already ongoing agricultural expansion is the proliferation of palm oil production areas or the land conversion/deforestation for soy bean production in South America. Today's land grabbing activities are often a consequence of the strive for agricultural land by growing economies.
In the beginning of the 21 century the palm oil industry caused a massive deforestation in Borneo with a heavy consequences.
