tation of productive new technologies that provide more food, shelter, and industrial materials for an expanding world population. Agricultural output needed to produce an abundant food supply for nations where economies and distribution systems are adequate is currently achieved on approximately six million square miles of cultivated land, the same land use as in 1950, despite a doubling in wo...

Water is vital to food production: every calorie of plant food requires at least one litre of water, while one calorie of meat or dairy product can require up to 10 litres of water. Water is supplied either through rainfall or through irrigation. Irrigated agriculture uses 18 per cent of agricultural land, and produces 40 per cent of agricultural products. But urbanisation, agricultural land de...

Changes in land use and agriculture have occurred frequently during the last millennium in Europe. Now at the start of the millennium a review of how and why changes took place may lead to a better understanding of these developments. This insight based on scientific analysis and understanding may be combined with explorative studies to gain a view on future possibilities. Such an explorative s...

Biodiversity conservation and agricultural production are often seen as mutually exclusive objectives. Strategies for reconciling them are intensely debated. We argue that harmonization between biodiversity conservation and crop production can be improved by increasing our understanding of the underlying relationships between them. We provide a general conceptual framework that links biodiversi...

Human population growth in the developing world drives land-use changes, impacting food security. In India, the dramatic change in demographic dynamics over the past century has reduced traditional agricultural land-use through increasing commercialization. Here, we analyze the magnitude and implications for the farming system by the introduction of cash-cropping, replacing the traditional slas...

Agricultural tenancy reforms have been widely enacted, but evidence on their long-run impact remains limited. In this paper, we provide such evidence by exploiting the quasirandom assignment of linguistically similar areas to different South Indian states that subsequently varied in tenancy regulation policies. Given imperfect credit markets, the impact of tenancy reform should vary by househol...

Policies to effectively reduce deforestation are discussed within a land rent (von Thünen) framework. The first set of policies attempts to reduce the rent of extensive agriculture, either by neglecting extension, marketing, and infrastructure, generating alternative income opportunities, stimulating intensive agricultural production or by reforming land tenure. The second set aims to increase ...

The global demand for agricultural products is surging due to population growth, more meat-based diets, and the increasing role of bioenergy. Three strategies can increase agricultural production: (1) expanding agriculture into natural ecosystems; (2) intensifying existing farmland; or (3) recultivating abandoned farmland. Because agricultural expansion entails substantial environmental trade-o...

Changes in surface land use may threaten groundwater quality and ecosystem integrity, particularly in shallow aquifers where links between groundwater and surface activities are most intimate. In this study we examine the response of groundwater ecosystem to agricultural land uses in the shallow alluvial aquifer of the Gwydir River valley, New South Wales, Australia. We compared groundwater qua...