Geographic distribution of major crops across the world
University of Wisconsin–Madison · National Geographic Society
Abstract
Humans have transformed the surface of the planet through agricultural activities, and today, ∼12% of the land surface is used for cultivation and another 22% is used for pastures and rangelands. In this paper, we have synthesized satellite‐derived land cover data and agricultural census data to produce global data sets of the distribution of 18 major crops across the world. The resulting data are representative of the early 1990s, have a spatial resolution of 5 min. (∼10 km), and describe the fraction of a grid cell occupied by each of the 18 crops. The global crop data are consistent with our knowledge of agricultural geography, and compares favorably to another existing data set that partially overlaps with…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 13.14
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 33
Authors
3Topics & keywords
- Geography
- Agriculture
- Context (archaeology)
- Food security
- Rangeland
- Land cover
- Geospatial analysis
- Agricultural diversification
- Zero hunger