The wheat situation made me curious about the national arable land per capita statistics. Here they are, in hectares per capita. Details and caveats are in the worldbank.org link below.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC?most_recent_value_desc=true

Kazakhstan	1.63
Australia	1.24
Canada	1.04
Argentina	0.88
Russian Federation	0.84
Niger	0.79
Lithuania	0.75
Ukraine	0.74
Paraguay	0.68
Latvia	0.67
Moldova	0.62
Belarus	0.61
Uruguay	0.57
Guyana	0.54
Estonia	0.52
Bulgaria	0.5
United States	0.48
Sudan	0.47
Romania	0.45
Hungary	0.44
Mongolia	0.42
Denmark	0.41
Finland	0.41
Bolivia	0.39
Central African Republic	0.39
Serbia	0.37
Iceland	0.34
Mali	0.34
Chad	0.34
Togo	0.34
Turkmenistan	0.33
Namibia	0.33
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.31
Burkina Faso	0.3
Poland	0.29
Zimbabwe	0.28
Syrian Arab Republic	0.28
Isle of Man	0.27
France	0.27
Brazil	0.27
Libya	0.26
Cuba	0.26
Spain	0.25
Sweden	0.25
Guinea	0.25
Slovak Republic	0.25
Cameroon	0.25
Benin	0.24
Thailand	0.24
Cambodia	0.24
Tanzania	0.24
Turkey	0.24
Belize	0.23
Czech Republic	0.23
Nicaragua	0.23
Tunisia	0.23
Lao PDR	0.22
Zambia	0.22
Albania	0.21
Azerbaijan	0.21
South Africa	0.21
Morocco	0.21
Afghanistan	0.21
Sierra Leone	0.21
Myanmar	0.21
Kyrgyz Republic	0.2
Lesotho	0.2
Senegal	0.2
North Macedonia	0.2
Eritrea	0.2
Greece	0.2
Malawi	0.2
Croatia	0.2
Tonga	0.19
Gambia	0.19
Mozambique	0.19
Mexico	0.19
Fiji	0.19
Iran	0.18
Algeria	0.18
Nigeria	0.17
Kosovo	0.17
Samoa	0.17
Uganda	0.16
Guinea-Bissau	0.16
Angola	0.16
Ghana	0.16
Eswatini	0.15
Gabon	0.15
Norway	0.15
Armenia	0.15
Austria	0.15
Ethiopia	0.15
Pakistan	0.14
Germany	0.14
Congo Dem Rep	0.14
Cote d’Ivoire	0.14
Panama	0.14
Iraq	0.13
Bhutan	0.12
Uzbekistan	0.12
Timor-Leste	0.12
Colombia	0.12
India	0.12
Botswana	0.12
Madagascar	0.11
Kenya	0.11
Italy	0.11
Suriname	0.11
Burundi	0.11
Peru	0.11
Honduras	0.11
Congo Rep	0.1
Liberia	0.1
Luxembourg	0.1
Saudi Arabia	0.1
New Zealand	0.1
Indonesia	0.1
El Salvador	0.1
Haiti	0.1
St. Kitts and Nevis	0.1
Rwanda	0.09
Ireland	0.09
Korea DPR	0.09
Cabo Verde	0.09
Equatorial Guinea	0.09
United Kingdom	0.09
Mauritania	0.09
Venezuela	0.09
Portugal	0.09
Slovenia	0.09
Cyprus	0.09
China	0.09
Dominica	0.08
Georgia	0.08
Dominican Republic	0.08
Comoros	0.08
Tajikistan	0.08
Nepal	0.08
Belgium	0.07
Somalia	0.07
Vietnam	0.07
Vanuatu	0.07
Chile	0.06
Sri Lanka	0.06
Faroe Islands	0.06
Mauritius	0.06
Netherlands	0.06
San Marino	0.06
Liechtenstein	0.06
Ecuador	0.06
American Samoa	0.05
Guatemala	0.05
Philippines	0.05
Costa Rica	0.05
Bangladesh	0.05
Switzerland	0.05
Israel	0.04
Antigua and Barbuda	0.04
Jamaica	0.04
Yemen	0.04
Papua New Guinea	0.03
Marshall Islands	0.03
British Virgin Islands	0.03
Japan	0.03
Solomon Islands	0.03
Egypt	0.03
Grenada	0.03
Korea	0.03
Turks and Caicos Islands	0.03
Malaysia	0.03
Barbados	0.02
Channel Islands	0.02
New Caledonia	0.02
Bahamas	0.02
Jordan	0.02
Lebanon	0.02
Sao Tome and Principe	0.02
Aruba	0.02
Malta	0.02
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	0.02
Trinidad and Tobago	0.02
Micronesia	0.02
Northern Mariana Islands	0.02
Kiribati	0.02
Palau	0.02
St. Lucia	0.02
Greenland	0.02
Oman	0.02
Puerto Rico	0.02
Montenegro	0.01
Brunei Darussalam	0.01
West Bank and Gaza	0.01
Andorra	0.01
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	0.01
French Polynesia	0.01
Maldives	0.01
Guam	0.01
Qatar	0.01
Bermuda	0
United Arab Emirates	0
Cayman Islands	0
Djibouti	0
Kuwait	0
Seychelles	0
Bahrain	0
Hong Kong SAR	0
Singapore	0

So there are some countries near the top that you might not associate with being a food export powerhouse.
Niger, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, Chad.
Mali of all these is a major net food exporter.
But all the others on the list are net food importers. Typically their exports are cotton, oil, coffee, uranium etc. With Western help and decent governance these nations should be foodbaskets, not basketcases.

dv said:

The wheat situation made me curious about the national arable land per capita statistics. Here they are, in hectares per capita. Details and caveats are in the worldbank.org link below.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC?most_recent_value_desc=true

Kazakhstan	1.63
Australia	1.24
Canada	1.04
Argentina	0.88
Russian Federation	0.84
Niger	0.79
Lithuania	0.75
Ukraine	0.74
Paraguay	0.68
Latvia	0.67
Moldova	0.62
Belarus	0.61
Uruguay	0.57
Guyana	0.54
Estonia	0.52
Bulgaria	0.5
United States	0.48
Sudan	0.47
Romania	0.45
Hungary	0.44
Mongolia	0.42
Denmark	0.41
Finland	0.41
Bolivia	0.39
Central African Republic	0.39
Serbia	0.37
Iceland	0.34
Mali	0.34
Chad	0.34
Togo	0.34
Turkmenistan	0.33
Namibia	0.33
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.31
Burkina Faso	0.3
Poland	0.29
Zimbabwe	0.28
Syrian Arab Republic	0.28
Isle of Man	0.27
France	0.27
Brazil	0.27
Libya	0.26
Cuba	0.26
Spain	0.25
Sweden	0.25
Guinea	0.25
Slovak Republic	0.25
Cameroon	0.25
Benin	0.24
Thailand	0.24
Cambodia	0.24
Tanzania	0.24
Turkey	0.24
Belize	0.23
Czech Republic	0.23
Nicaragua	0.23
Tunisia	0.23
Lao PDR	0.22
Zambia	0.22
Albania	0.21
Azerbaijan	0.21
South Africa	0.21
Morocco	0.21
Afghanistan	0.21
Sierra Leone	0.21
Myanmar	0.21
Kyrgyz Republic	0.2
Lesotho	0.2
Senegal	0.2
North Macedonia	0.2
Eritrea	0.2
Greece	0.2
Malawi	0.2
Croatia	0.2
Tonga	0.19
Gambia	0.19
Mozambique	0.19
Mexico	0.19
Fiji	0.19
Iran	0.18
Algeria	0.18
Nigeria	0.17
Kosovo	0.17
Samoa	0.17
Uganda	0.16
Guinea-Bissau	0.16
Angola	0.16
Ghana	0.16
Eswatini	0.15
Gabon	0.15
Norway	0.15
Armenia	0.15
Austria	0.15
Ethiopia	0.15
Pakistan	0.14
Germany	0.14
Congo Dem Rep	0.14
Cote d’Ivoire	0.14
Panama	0.14
Iraq	0.13
Bhutan	0.12
Uzbekistan	0.12
Timor-Leste	0.12
Colombia	0.12
India	0.12
Botswana	0.12
Madagascar	0.11
Kenya	0.11
Italy	0.11
Suriname	0.11
Burundi	0.11
Peru	0.11
Honduras	0.11
Congo Rep	0.1
Liberia	0.1
Luxembourg	0.1
Saudi Arabia	0.1
New Zealand	0.1
Indonesia	0.1
El Salvador	0.1
Haiti	0.1
St. Kitts and Nevis	0.1
Rwanda	0.09
Ireland	0.09
Korea DPR	0.09
Cabo Verde	0.09
Equatorial Guinea	0.09
United Kingdom	0.09
Mauritania	0.09
Venezuela	0.09
Portugal	0.09
Slovenia	0.09
Cyprus	0.09
China	0.09
Dominica	0.08
Georgia	0.08
Dominican Republic	0.08
Comoros	0.08
Tajikistan	0.08
Nepal	0.08
Belgium	0.07
Somalia	0.07
Vietnam	0.07
Vanuatu	0.07
Chile	0.06
Sri Lanka	0.06
Faroe Islands	0.06
Mauritius	0.06
Netherlands	0.06
San Marino	0.06
Liechtenstein	0.06
Ecuador	0.06
American Samoa	0.05
Guatemala	0.05
Philippines	0.05
Costa Rica	0.05
Bangladesh	0.05
Switzerland	0.05
Israel	0.04
Antigua and Barbuda	0.04
Jamaica	0.04
Yemen	0.04
Papua New Guinea	0.03
Marshall Islands	0.03
British Virgin Islands	0.03
Japan	0.03
Solomon Islands	0.03
Egypt	0.03
Grenada	0.03
Korea	0.03
Turks and Caicos Islands	0.03
Malaysia	0.03
Barbados	0.02
Channel Islands	0.02
New Caledonia	0.02
Bahamas	0.02
Jordan	0.02
Lebanon	0.02
Sao Tome and Principe	0.02
Aruba	0.02
Malta	0.02
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	0.02
Trinidad and Tobago	0.02
Micronesia	0.02
Northern Mariana Islands	0.02
Kiribati	0.02
Palau	0.02
St. Lucia	0.02
Greenland	0.02
Oman	0.02
Puerto Rico	0.02
Montenegro	0.01
Brunei Darussalam	0.01
West Bank and Gaza	0.01
Andorra	0.01
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	0.01
French Polynesia	0.01
Maldives	0.01
Guam	0.01
Qatar	0.01
Bermuda	0
United Arab Emirates	0
Cayman Islands	0
Djibouti	0
Kuwait	0
Seychelles	0
Bahrain	0
Hong Kong SAR	0
Singapore	0

So there are some countries near the top that you might not associate with being a food export powerhouse.
Niger, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, Chad.
Mali of all these is a major net food exporter.
But all the others on the list are net food importers. Typically their exports are cotton, oil, coffee, uranium etc. With Western help and decent governance these nations should be foodbaskets, not basketcases.

No food baskets at the bottom of the list there.

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

party_pants said:

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

also having the capacity to produce some food on the land does not equal putting a plough over it. (I associate arable with tillable.)

party_pants said:

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

Right but most of those things can be changed through land management.

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

also having the capacity to produce some food on the land does not equal putting a plough over it. (I associate arable with tillable.)

That’s not what arable means. You can till a dune.

dv said:

party_pants said:

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

Right but most of those things can be changed through land management.

+ fertilisers + pesticides + herbicides etc.

sibeen said:

dv said:

party_pants said:

I am not sure if this information is particularly useful.

There is a big difference in fertility and yield in various places. In the case of wheat for example, Australian soils are pretty low yield, average in the 1-2 tonnes per hectare, whereas in Europe and Russia and Ukraine they get over 5. North America is also way more productive than us.

Also need to take into account the climate variability, and by extension the food crop variability.

Then you need to factor in the type of food grown, it’s calorific value, and number of crops that can be grown per year. Also the degree of mechanisation versus manual labour.

There’s lots and lots more numbers than just land area per capita to take into account. It should probably be in terms of kJ per capita or something like that.

Right but most of those things can be changed through land management.

+ fertilisers + pesticides + herbicides etc.

Thumbs up emoji

I mean Europe is worried rn about running short of wheat because of problems with just two countries. It might be a good option for them to help develop agriculture elsewhere to diversify their supply options.

And as I say… all those countries are major cotton exporters.

In Africa there’s been a long battle between agriculture and conservation of enough space for their large wildlife.

Bubblecar said:

In Africa there’s been a long battle between agriculture and conservation of enough space for their large wildlife.

and the wildlife ar getting less space every day.

From: Ian
ID: 1861085
Subject: re: Russia Invades Ukraine
a lot of Egypt’s arable land is covered in cities

—

Arable land is land what is actually tilled, by Arabs.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Also there’s a lot of good arable land being lost to national parks and the like.

Peak Warming Man said:

Also there’s a lot of good arable land being lost to national parks and the like.

There is already a war thread. No need to divert this one…

;)

dv said:

The wheat situation made me curious about the national arable land per capita statistics. Here they are, in hectares per capita. Details and caveats are in the worldbank.org link below.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC?most_recent_value_desc=true

So there are some countries near the top that you might not associate with being a food export powerhouse.
Niger, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, Chad.
Mali of all these is a major net food exporter.
But all the others on the list are net food importers. Typically their exports are cotton, oil, coffee, uranium etc. With Western help and decent governance these nations should be foodbaskets, not basketcases.

Nicely worked out.

Arable land wouldn’t tell us maximum sustainable yield per hectare of course.