Total world land area used for food production increased 9% from 1967 to 2012
For land used to produce food, the following is included:
• "Arable land" which includes: temporary agricultural crops, temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow (less than five years)
• Permanent crops: land cultivated with long-term crops which do not have to be replanted for several years (such as cocoa and coffee)
• Permanent meadows and pastures (both cultivated and naturally occurring)
1967: 4,514,723,170 hectares or 11,156,106,689 acres (11 billion)
2012: 4,919,446,560 hectares or 12,151,278,976 acres (12 billion)
[RG MATH: Percent change- (4,919,446,560- 4,514,723,170)/ 4,514,723,170 = .089 or 9% increase in total area used to produce food between 1967 and 2012]
Calculated from FAOSTAT, (World + (Total), Area, Arable land, permanent crops, permanent meadows and pastures, Year: 1967-2012; accessed October 29, 2014), http://faostat3.fao.org/download/R/RL/E.