If land for soy were diverted to cereal, cereal cropland would have grown 15.5% instead of 4%
The following are Giulio's calculations from FAOSTAT FOASTAT Crops. World (total) Area Harvested (Ha) Soybeans 1970: 29,522,510 2012: 106,625,241 %Change: +261% compare to cereals: FOASTAT Crops. World (total) Area Harvested (Ha) Cereals 1970: 675,465,050 2012: 703,122,729 %Change: +4% If the increase in cropland devoted to soy were diverted to cereals, between 1970 and 2012 cropland for cereals would have grown 15.5 % instead of just 4% --------------------------------------------- Explanation of calculation: 1)Find difference in Soy from 1970 to 2012 of total area harvested (77,102,731) 2)Add it to cereal's total area harvested in 2012 (703,122,729 + 77,102,731 = 780,225,460) 3)Find percent increase in new cereal totals between 1970 and 2012 (780,225,460 - 675,465,050 = 104760410 / 675,465,050 = 0.15509 x 100 = 15.5%)
Calculated with the data from FAOSTAT