Arability

Arable land after recent increases is now a stable fraction of global land mass – see data below.

This is because arable land is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow (less than five years).

So the data below is not the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, rather that which is being cultivated.

The amount of land which is potentially cultivatable has probably decreased over the last few years due to climate change and environmental degradation.

But technology allows land to be cultivated that previously wasn’t viable.

So the more interesting plot would be the % of potentially cultivatable land that is actually being cultivated. My guess is we’re close to 100% already.

As an aside the arable land already uses about 70% of available fresh water sources.