How much land would a plant-based world free?

Roughly 3 billion hectares, about 76% of current farmland, according to the Poore & Nemecek analysis.

Is cattle ranching really behind Amazon loss?

Yes — monitoring by INPE and independent analyses attribute the large majority of clearance to pasture, with feed cropland following.

Would rewilding actually store carbon?

Yes. Restored forests and grasslands accumulate carbon for decades; the potential is measured in hundreds of gigatonnes CO₂.

What about regenerative grazing?

Soil-carbon gains are real but modest, saturate within decades, and are generally outweighed by methane and land requirements.

Does eating less dairy help land use?

Yes — cheese uses about twelve times and milk about eight times the land of peas per 100 g of protein in the global mean data.

All guidesEnvironment9 min read

Land, forests and biodiversity: agriculture's biggest bill

Livestock uses 77% of farmland and returns 18% of calories. That ratio is why land use — not emissions alone — is the sharpest environmental argument.

In short

Half of habitable land is agricultural; livestock and their feed occupy 77% of it.
Agriculture is the primary driver of deforestation, and cattle ranching drives most Amazon clearance.
Wild mammal biomass has fallen while livestock now outweigh wild mammals many times over.
A global shift excluding animal products could free roughly 3 billion hectares, creating substantial opportunities for ecosystem restoration and carbon storage.

Key numbers

77%

Of farmland used for livestock and feed

Our World in Data / FAO

18%

Of global calories from those animals

FAO

Major driver

Cattle pasture is a major driver of Amazon forest loss

Our World in Data

3 bn ha

Farmland freed under a global plant-based diet

Science 2018

The efficiency loss is thermodynamic

Converting feed into animal foods loses much of its dietary energy. Conversion efficiency differs by species and production system. Eating crops directly generally requires less land, although grazing animals can also use grass and crop by-products that people cannot eat.

Deforestation follows demand, not borders

Around three-quarters of global soy is used as animal feed, largely as meal after oil extraction. Beef and soy are important drivers of tropical deforestation. Trade and demand can displace production, so certification and import rules need careful design and enforcement.

Primary tropical forest loss varies greatly by year and region.
Cleared land releases stored carbon immediately and loses its future sequestration capacity.
Fires used for clearance drive regional health impacts far from the farm.

Biodiversity: habitat conversion is the main mechanism

IPBES identifies land-use change as the leading driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss, ahead of climate change. Agriculture is the dominant form of that change. Livestock also outcompete wildlife for water and forage and drive predator culling programmes across continents.

Rewilding freed land is the missed lever

Carbon opportunity cost accounting shows that restoring vegetation on land currently used for animal agriculture could sequester several hundred gigatonnes of CO₂ over decades — comparable to a decade or more of global emissions, and achievable without new technology.

The data

Mammal biomass shares, measured as carbon (Bar-On et al., 2018)

Livestock60 %
Humans36 %
Wild mammals4 % · remaining

At a glance

Land required to produce 100 g of protein

Food	Land m²	Relative to peas	Main pressure
Beef (beef herd)	164	48×	Deforestation, methane
Lamb	185	54×	Overgrazing
Cheese	39.8	12×	Feed cropland
Pork	11	3×	Feed soy
Poultry	7	2×	Feed soy
Tofu	2.2	0.6×	Low
Peas	3.4	1×	Low

Common objections

ClaimSoy farming is caused by vegans.

What the evidence showsAround three-quarters of global soy is fed to farmed animals; direct human soy foods are a small minority of production.

ClaimGrazing land could not grow crops anyway.

What the evidence showsSome could not — but marginal land can be restored to forest or grassland, which is a climate benefit rather than a waste.

ClaimBiodiversity loss is mostly about climate change.

What the evidence showsIPBES ranks land-use change first, and agriculture is its principal driver.

Questions people ask

How much land would a plant-based world free?: Roughly 3 billion hectares, about 76% of current farmland, according to the Poore & Nemecek analysis.
Is cattle ranching really behind Amazon loss?: Yes — monitoring by INPE and independent analyses attribute the large majority of clearance to pasture, with feed cropland following.
Would rewilding actually store carbon?: Yes. Restored forests and grasslands accumulate carbon for decades; the potential is measured in hundreds of gigatonnes CO₂.
What about regenerative grazing?: Soil-carbon gains are real but modest, saturate within decades, and are generally outweighed by methane and land requirements.
Does eating less dairy help land use?: Yes — cheese uses about twelve times and milk about eight times the land of peas per 100 g of protein in the global mean data.