View source for Arable land

{{short description|Land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[File:040719 172 dorset marnhull2.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb| Modern mechanised agriculture permits large [[field (agriculture)|fields]] like this one in [[Dorset]], England]]

'''Arable land''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|arābilis}}|able to be [[plough]]ed or farmed}}) is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.<ref name="oed">''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', {{nowrap| 3rd ed.}} "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.</ref> Alternatively, for the purposes of agricultural statistics,<ref>The World Bank. Agricultural land (% of land area) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517075041/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS |date= 17 May 2015 }}</ref> the term often has a more precise definition:
{{blockquote|Arable land is the land under temporary agricultural crops (multiple-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary [[meadow]]s for mowing or [[pasture]], land under [[market garden|market]] and [[kitchen garden]]s and land temporarily [[fallow]] (less than five years). The abandoned land resulting from [[shifting cultivation]] is not included in this category. Data for 'Arable land' are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.<ref>FAOSTAT. [Statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] Glossary. http://faostat3.fao.org/{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601235945/http://faostat3.fao.org/mes/glossary/E |date= 1 June 2015 }}</ref>}}
A more concise definition appearing in the [[Eurostat]] glossary similarly refers to actual rather than potential uses: "land worked (ploughed or tilled) regularly, generally under a system of [[crop rotation]]".<ref>Eurostat. Glossary: Arable land. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Arable_land {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507063241/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Arable_land |date= 7 May 2015 }}</ref> In Britain, arable land has traditionally been contrasted with pasturable land such as [[heath]]s, which could be used for [[sheep-rearing]] but not as [[farmland]].

Arable land is vulnerable to [[land degradation]] and some types of un-arable land can be enriched to create useful land.  [[Effects of climate change on agriculture|Climate change]] and [[biodiversity loss]] are driving pressure on arable land.<ref>{{Cite book |author=IPCC |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/11/SRCCL-Full-Report-Compiled-191128.pdf |title=IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse gas fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems |publisher=In press |year=2019 |editor-last1=Shukla |editor-first1=P.R. |ref={{harvid|IPCC SRCCL|2019}} <!-- ipcc:20200204 --> |author-link=IPCC |editor-last2=Skea |editor-first2=J. |editor-last3=Calvo Buendia |editor-first3=E. |editor-last4=Masson-Delmotte |editor-first4=V. |editor-last5=Pörtner |editor-first5=H.-O. |editor-last6=C. Roberts |editor-first6=D. |editor-last7=Zhai |editor-first7=P. |editor-last8=Slade |editor-first8=R. |editor-last9=Connors |editor-first9=S. |display-editors=4 |editor-first10=R. |editor-last10=van Diemen |editor-first11=M. |editor-last11=Ferrat |editor-first12=E. |editor-last12=Haughey |editor-first13=S. |editor-last13=Luz |editor-first14=S. |editor-last14=Neogi |editor-first15=M. |editor-last15=Pathak |editor-first16=J. |editor-last16=Petzold |editor-first17=J. |editor-last17=Portugal Pereira |editor-first18=P. |editor-last18=Vyas |editor-first19=E. |editor-last19=Huntley |editor-first20=K. |editor-last20=Kissick |editor-first21=M. |editor-last21=Belkacemi |editor-first22=J. |editor-last22=Malley}} https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/.</ref>

==By country==
[[File:Share of land area used for arable agriculture, OWID.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|Share of land area used for arable agriculture, OWID]]
{{Further|Land use statistics by country}}
According to the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the United Nations, in 2013, the world's arable land amounted to 1.407&nbsp;billion hectares, out of a total of 4.924&nbsp;billion hectares of land used for agriculture.<ref name="faostat_new">{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT Land Use module |url=http://faostat3.fao.org/browse/R/RL/E |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816210159/http://faostat3.fao.org/browse/R/RL/E |archive-date=16 August 2016 |access-date=8 July 2016 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]]}}</ref>

{| style="margin: 0 auto;"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Arable land area (1000&nbsp;ha)<ref name="faostat_old">{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT Land Use module |url=http://faostat.fao.org/site/377/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=377#ancor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816084634/http://faostat.fao.org/site/377/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=377#ancor |archive-date=16 August 2016 |access-date=8 July 2016 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]]}}</ref>
|-
! Rank !! Country or region !! 2015 !! 2016 !! 2017 !! 2018 || 2019
|-
| 1 || {{flag|United States}} || 156,645 || 157,191 || 157,737 || 157,737 || 157,737
|-
| 2 || {{flag|India}} || 156,413 || 156,317 || 156,317 || 156,317 || 156,067
|-
| 3 || {{flag|Russia}} || 121,649 || 121,649 || 121,649 || 121,649 || 121,649
|-
| 4 || {{flag|China}} || 119,593 || 119,512 || 119,477 || 119,475 || 119,474
|-
| 5 || {{flag|Brazil}} || 54,518 || 55,140 || 55,762 || 55,762 || 55,762
|-
| 6 || {{flag|Canada}} || 38,282 || 38,530 || 38,509 || 38,690 || 38,648
|-
| 7 || {{flag|Nigeria}} || 34,000 || 34,000 || 34,000 || 34,000 || 34,000
|-
| 8 || {{flag|Ukraine}} || 32,775 || 32,776 || 32,773 || 32,889 || 32,924
|-
| 9 || {{flag|Argentina}} || 36,688 || 35,337 || 33,985 || 32,633 || 32,633
|-
| 10 || {{flag|Australia}} || 31,090 || 30,057 || 30,752 || 30,974 || 30,573
|-
|}
|}

===Arable land (hectares per person)===
[[File:Chvojnica hills near Unin.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Fields in the region of [[Záhorie]] in [[Western Slovakia]]]]
[[File:Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de La Blanca, Cardejón, España, 2012-09-01, DD 02.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.35|A field of [[sunflower]]s in [[Cardejón]], Spain]]

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ {{nowrap|Arable land (hectares per person)<ref name="faostat_old" />}}
! Country Name || 2013
|-
| Afghanistan || 0.254
|-
| Albania || 0.213
|-
| Algeria || 0.196
|-
| American Samoa || 0.054
|-
| Andorra || 0.038
|-
| Angola || 0.209
|-
| Antigua and Barbuda || 0.044
|-
| Argentina || 0.933
|-
| Armenia || 0.150
|-
| Aruba || 0.019
|-
| Australia || 1.999
|-
| Austria || 0.160
|-
| Azerbaijan || 0.204
|-
| Bahamas, The || 0.021
|-
| Bahrain || 0.001
|-
| Bangladesh || 0.049
|-
| Barbados || 0.039
|-
| Belarus || 0.589
|-
| Belgium || 0.073
|-
| Belize || 0.227
|-
| Benin || 0.262
|-
| Bermuda || 0.005
|-
| Bhutan || 0.133
|-
| Bolivia || 0.427
|-
| Bosnia and Herzegovina || 0.264
|-
| Botswana || 0.125
|-
| Brazil || 0.372
|-
| British Virgin Islands || 0.034
|-
| Brunei Darussalam || 0.012
|-
| Bulgaria || 0.479
|-
| Burkina Faso || 0.363
|-
| Burundi || 0.115
|-
| Cabo Verde || 0.108
|-
| Cambodia || 0.275
|-
| Cameroon || 0.279
|-
| Canada || 1.306
|-
| Cayman Islands || 0.003
|-
| Central African Republic || 0.382
|-
| Chad || 0.373
|-
| Channel Islands || 0.026
|-
| Chile || 0.074
|-
| China || 0.078
|-
| Colombia || 0.036
|-
| Comoros || 0.086
|-
| Congo, Dem. Rep. || 0.098
|-
| Congo, Rep. || 0.125
|-
| Costa Rica || 0.049
|-
| Côte d'Ivoire || 0.134
|-
| Croatia || 0.206
|-
| Cuba || 0.278
|-
| Curaçao ||
|-
| Cyprus || 0.070
|-
| Czech Republic || 0.299
|-
| Denmark || 0.429
|-
| Djibouti || 0.002
|-
| Dominica || 0.083
|-
| Dominican Republic || 0.078
|-
| Ecuador || 0.076
|-
| Egypt, Arab Rep. || 0.031
|-
| El Salvador || 0.120
|-
| Equatorial Guinea || 0.151
|-
| Eritrea ||
|-
| Estonia || 0.480
|-
| Ethiopia || 0.160
|-
| Faroe Islands || 0.062
|-
| Fiji || 0.187
|-
| Finland || 0.409
|-
| France || 0.277
|-
| French Polynesia || 0.009
|-
| Gabon || 0.197
|-
| Gambia, The || 0.236
|-
| Georgia || 0.119
|-
| Germany || 0.145
|-
| Ghana || 0.180
|-
| Gibraltar ||
|-
| Greece || 0.232
|-
| Greenland || 0.016
|-
| Grenada || 0.028
|-
| Guam || 0.006
|-
| Guatemala || 0.064
|-
| Guinea || 0.259
|-
| Guinea-Bissau || 0.171
|-
| Guyana || 0.552
|-
| Haiti || 0.103
|-
| Honduras || 0.130
|-
| Hong Kong SAR, China || 0.000
|-
| Hungary || 0.445
|-
| Iceland || 0.374
|-
| India || 0.123
|-
| Indonesia || 0.094
|-
| Iran, Islamic Rep. || 0.193
|-
| Iraq || 0.147
|-
| Ireland || 0.242
|-
| Isle of Man || 0.253
|-
| Israel || 0.035
|-
| Italy || 0.113
|-
| Jamaica || 0.044
|-
| Japan || 0.033
|-
| Jordan || 0.032
|-
| Kazakhstan || 1.726
|-
| Kenya || 0.133
|-
| Kiribati || 0.018
|-
| Korea, Dem. People's Rep. || 0.094
|-
| Korea, Rep. || 0.030
|-
| Kosovo ||
|-
| Kuwait || 0.003
|-
| Kyrgyz Republic || 0.223
|-
| Lao PDR || 0.226
|-
| Latvia || 0.600
|-
| Lebanon || 0.025
|-
| Lesotho || 0.119
|-
| Liberia || 0.116
|-
| Libya || 0.274
|-
| Liechtenstein || 0.070
|-
| Lithuania || 0.774
|-
| Luxembourg || 0.115
|-
| Macao SAR, China ||
|-
| Macedonia, FYR || 0.199
|-
| Madagascar || 0.153
|-
| Malawi || 0.235
|-
| Malaysia || 0.032
|-
| Maldives || 0.010
|-
| Mali || 0.386
|-
| Malta || 0.021
|-
| Marshall Islands || 0.038
|-
| Mauritania || 0.116
|-
| Mauritius || 0.060
|-
| Mexico || 0.186
|-
| Micronesia, Fed. Sts. || 0.019
|-
| Moldova || 0.510
|-
| Monaco ||
|-
| Mongolia || 0.198
|-
| Montenegro || 0.013
|-
| Morocco || 0.240
|-
| Mozambique || 0.213
|-
| Myanmar || 0.203
|-
| Namibia || 0.341
|-
| Nauru ||
|-
| Nepal || 0.076
|-
| Netherlands || 0.062
|-
| New Caledonia || 0.024
|-
| New Zealand || 0.123
|-
| Nicaragua || 0.253
|-
| Niger || 0.866
|-
| Nigeria || 0.197
|-
| Northern Mariana Islands || 0.019
|-
| Norway || 0.159
|-
| Oman || 0.010
|-
| Pakistan || 0.168
|-
| Palau || 0.048
|-
| Panama || 0.148
|-
| Papua New Guinea || 0.041
|-
| Paraguay || 0.696
|-
| Peru || 0.136
|-
| Philippines || 0.057
|-
| Poland || 0.284
|-
| Portugal || 0.107
|-
| Puerto Rico || 0.017
|-
| Qatar || 0.007
|-
| Romania || 0.438
|-
| Russian Federation || 0.852
|-
| Rwanda || 0.107
|-
| Samoa || 0.042
|-
| San Marino || 0.032
|-
| São Tomé and Príncipe || 0.048
|-
| Saudi Arabia || 0.102
|-
| Senegal || 0.229
|-
| Serbia || 0.460
|-
| Seychelles || 0.001
|-
| Sierra Leone || 0.256
|-
| Singapore || 0.000
|-
| Sint Maarten (Dutch part) ||
|-
| Slovak Republic || 0.258
|-
| Slovenia || 0.085
|-
| Solomon Islands || 0.036
|-
| Somalia || 0.107
|-
| South Africa || 0.235
|-
| South Sudan ||
|-
| Spain || 0.270
|-
| Sri Lanka || 0.063
|-
| St. Kitts and Nevis || 0.092
|-
| St. Lucia || 0.016
|-
| St. Martin (French part) ||
|-
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines || 0.046
|-
| Sudan || 0.345
|-
| Suriname || 0.112
|-
| Swaziland || 0.140
|-
| Sweden || 0.270
|-
| Switzerland || 0.050
|-
| Syrian Arab Republic || 0.241
|-
| Tajikistan || 0.106
|-
| Tanzania || 0.269
|-
| Thailand || 0.249
|-
| Timor-Leste || 0.131
|-
| Togo || 0.382
|-
| Tonga || 0.152
|-
| Trinidad and Tobago || 0.019
|-
| Tunisia || 0.262
|-
| Turkey || 0.270
|-
| Turkmenistan || 0.370
|-
| Turks and Caicos Islands || 0.030
|-
| Tuvalu ||
|-
| Uganda || 0.189
|-
| Ukraine || 0.715
|-
| United Arab Emirates || 0.004
|-
| United Kingdom || 0.098
|-
| United States || 0.480
|-
| Uruguay || 0.682
|-
| Uzbekistan || 0.145
|-
| Vanuatu || 0.079
|-
| Venezuela, RB || 0.089
|-
| Vietnam || 0.071
|-
| Virgin Islands (US) || 0.010
|-
| West Bank and Gaza || 0.011
|-
| Yemen, Rep. || 0.049
|-
| Zambia || 0.243
|-
| Zimbabwe || 0.268
|}

==Non-arable land==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Kerbau Jawa.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Water buffalo ploughing rice fields near Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia]]
[[File:Beverley Minster from West Pasture.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A pasture in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]] in England]]
[[Agricultural land]] that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes:
* Meadows and [[pasture]]s{{snd}}land used as pasture and grazed range, and those natural grasslands and sedge meadows that are used for hay production in some regions.
* [[Permanent crop]]{{snd}}land that produces crops from woody vegetation, e.g. orchard land, vineyards, coffee plantations, rubber plantations, and land producing nut trees;

Other non-arable land includes land that is not suitable for any agricultural use. Land that is not arable, in the sense of lacking capability or suitability for cultivation for crop production, has one or more limitations{{snd}}a lack of sufficient freshwater for irrigation, stoniness, steepness, adverse climate, excessive wetness with the impracticality of drainage, excessive salts, or a combination of these, among others.<ref>United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service.  1961.  Land capability classification.  Agriculture Handbook 210.  21 pp.</ref> Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, large areas unsuitable for cultivation may still be agriculturally productive. For example, United States NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock.<ref>NRCS. 2013. Summary report 2010 national resources inventory. The United States Natural Resources Conservation Service. 163 pp.</ref> In British Columbia, Canada, 41 percent of the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve area is unsuitable for the production of cultivated crops, but is suitable for uncultivated production of forage usable by grazing livestock.<ref name="ALCALRFS">Agricultural Land Commission.  Agriculture Capability and the ALR Fact Sheet. http://www.alc.gov.bc.ca/alc/DownloadAsset?assetId=72876D8604EC45279B8D3C1B14428CF8&filename=agriculture_capability__the_alr_fact_sheet_2013.pdf{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Similar examples can be found in many [[rangeland]] areas elsewhere.

==Changes in arability==
===Land conversion===
Land incapable of being cultivated for the production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food and can reduce [[starvation]]. This outcome also makes a country more [[self-sufficient]] and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. Making non-arable land arable often involves digging new irrigation canals and new wells, aqueducts, [[desalination]] plants, planting trees for shade in the desert, [[hydroponic]]s, fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, [[pesticide]]s, [[reverse osmosis]] water processors, [[PET film (biaxially oriented)|PET film]] insulation or other insulation against heat and cold, digging ditches and hills for protection against the wind, and installing greenhouses with internal light and heat for protection against the cold outside and to provide light in cloudy areas. Such modifications are often prohibitively expensive. An alternative is the [[seawater greenhouse]], which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the only energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on desert land close to the sea.

The use of artifices does not make the land arable. Rock still remains rock, and shallow{{snd}}less than {{convert|6|feet|abbr=off}}{{snd}}turnable soil is still not considered toilable. The use of artifice is an open-air non-recycled water hydroponics relationship.{{clarify |date=November 2019 |reason=Unclear what this sentence means}} The below described circumstances are not in perspective, have limited duration, and have a tendency to accumulate trace materials in soil that either there or elsewhere cause deoxygenation. The use of vast amounts of fertilizer may have unintended consequences for the environment by devastating rivers, waterways, and river endings through the accumulation of non-degradable toxins and nitrogen-bearing molecules that remove oxygen and cause non-aerobic processes to form.

Examples of infertile non-arable land being turned into fertile arable land include:
* [[Aran Islands]]: These islands off the west coast of Ireland (not to be confused with the [[Isle of Arran]] in Scotland's [[Firth of Clyde]]) were unsuitable for arable farming because they were too rocky. The people covered the islands with a shallow layer of seaweed and sand from the ocean. Today,{{When|date=July 2021}} crops are grown there, even though the islands are still considered non-arable.
* Israel: The construction of [[desalination]] plants along Israel's coast allowed agriculture in some areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from ocean water, have produced a new source of water for farming, drinking, and washing.
* [[Slash and burn]] agriculture uses nutrients from the wood ash, but these are exhausted within a few years.
* [[Terra preta]], fertile tropical soils produced by adding charcoal.

===Land degradation===
{{Excerpt|Land degradation}}

====Examples====
Examples of fertile arable land being turned into infertile land include:
* Droughts such as the "[[Dust Bowl]]" of the [[Great Depression]] in the US turned farmland into desert.
* Each year, arable land is lost due to [[desertification]] and human-induced [[erosion]]. Improper irrigation of farmland can wick the [[sodium]], [[calcium]], and [[magnesium]] from the soil and water to the surface. This process steadily concentrates salt in the root zone, decreasing productivity for crops that are not salt-tolerant.
* [[Rainforest]] deforestation: The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land. For example, Madagascar's central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren (about ten percent of the country) as a result of [[slash-and-burn]] [[illegal logging in Madagascar|deforestation]], an element of [[shifting cultivation]] practiced by many natives.
* According to a study published in the journal, ''Science'', toxic heavy metals can contaminate arable land.<ref>{{cite news |title=Heavy metals contaminate up to 17% of world's arable land: Study |url=https://phys.org/news/2025-04-heavy-metals-contaminate-world-arable.html |work=phys.org |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Development easement]]
* [[Land use statistics by country]]
* [[List of environment topics]]
* [[Soil fertility]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|arable}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120302133333/http://technorati.com/business/finance/article/arable-land-shortage-and-the-case/ Article] from Technorati on Shrinking Arable Farmland in the world
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041031145545/http://pages.prodigy.net/jhonig/bignum/qland2.html Surface area of the Earth]

{{Natural resources}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Agricultural land]]