Can plant-based agriculture produce enough food to feed the world?
Summary
Yes. Research consistently shows that shifting to plant-based diets would actually require far less agricultural land than current food systems, potentially reducing global farmland use by about 75%. The current system is inefficient because the majority of cropland is used to grow animal feed rather than food for direct human consumption.
Supported by 1 cited source
Evidence Summary
The most comprehensive study on this question is the landmark meta-analysis by Poore and Nemecek, published in Science in 2018, which synthesized data from approximately 38,700 farms across 119 countries covering 40 food products. The study found that animal-sourced foods occupy approximately 83% of global agricultural land but provide only 18% of global calorie supply and 37% of protein supply. If the world adopted plant-based diets, global agricultural land use could be reduced by
Supporting Evidence
Published by FAO researchers in Global Food Security. Challenges the common claim that livestock eat food that could otherwise feed humans. However, this does not negate the land-use efficiency argument.
Caveats: The 86% figure is global -- regional variation is significant. Intensive operations (feedlots, poultry, pig farms) use much higher proportions of human-edible grain. The remaining 14% of human-edible feed still represents ~1 billion tonnes globally.
Sources & Evidence
1 source cited across 1 claim
86% of livestock feed is not human-edible (FAO)
Modeling