Global maps of cropland extent and change show accelerated cropland expansion in the twenty-first century

This study presents an analysis of global cropland area change from 2003 to 2019 using satellite data. In 2019, cropland area was 1,244 Mha with an annual net primary production (NPP) of 5.5 Pg C year⁻¹. Cropland area increased by 9% and NPP by 25% during this period, largely due to expansion in Africa and South America. Expansion accelerated over the past two decades, nearly doubling the annual rate, especially in Africa. Half of the new cropland replaced natural vegetation, conflicting with sustainability goals. While per-capita cropland area decreased by 10%, per-capita cropland NPP increased by 3.5% due to intensification. The high-resolution cropland map time-series supports monitoring land appropriation.

Peter Potapov, Svetlana Turubanova, Matthew C. Hansen, Alexandra Tyukavina, Viviana Zalles, Ahmad Khan, Xiao-Peng Song, Amy Pickens, Quan Shen, Jocelyn Cortez