Food Consumption and Disruption of the Nitrogen Cycle

1. Patterns of World Food Consumption and Production After water, food is our most vital item of consumption. About three-quarters of the human food supply comes from agriculture (the balance being supplied by fishing, hunting and gathering). Cropland and permanent pasture cover some 37 percent of the world’s land area and a much higher proportion of the habitable land area. Food production is by far the dominant form of land use. The human diet varies widely in different parts of the world, but Figure 1 illustrates the composition of the average food intake in 1996. Some items, such as alcoholic beverages derived from cereals and fruits, are excluded.