The map, produced by Radicalcartography.net shows the amount of land given over to agriculture around the world over the three centuries leading up to the year 2000.
The map shows that in 1700, outside of Europe and Asia there was a very small proportion of land being farmed. The 18th century saw an increase in arable land for use and the beginnings of a vast improvement in agricultural yields. New farming methods, such as four-field crop rotation, the increased use of fertilizer and increasing mechanization, opened up additional swaths of land for agriculture.
Via Neelima Sinha, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
NSW Syllabus
Sustainable Biomes
Content focus
Students
- examine the correlation between the world’s climatic zones and spatial distributions of biomes and their capacity to support food and non-food agricultural production
- analyse the impact humans have on biomes in an effort to produce food and increase agricultural yields
GeoWorld 9 NSW
Chapter 2 Biomes produce food and non food products
Chapter 3 factors affecting agricultural yields
Chapter 4 Challenges to food production and management