The meaning of arable land

Arable land refers to land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted only once), temporarily meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen garden and land temporarily fallow (less than five years). They are often mono-crops and have a limited biodiversity.

The expansion of global arable land has mainly occurred in Asia, Africa and America. Arable land covers 1.38 billion hectares, which is about 28 per cent of the world’s agricultural area and 11 percent of the total land area.

The arable area includes neither abandoned areas in shifting cultivation systems nor land that potentially may be cultivated. Arable lands provide prime examples of so-called ‘cultural landscapes’, areas which have been shaped by human intervention throughout the centuries.

Arable land is multifunctional of the categories of agricultural area and can fulfill the functions, for example is use as grassland.

The land is characterized by the production of crops for food or feed supply purpose, a ‘normal’ permeability and a substantial soil erosion potential at least due to episodic bare or dead fallow periods. 

Countries with high share of arable land were characterized by high livestock specialization.

This phenomenon is particularly vivid for the Baltic republics, where 70% of agricultural land was arable and 70% of agricultural product was from livestock production.
The meaning of arable land