Global Food Security

Around 12% of the Earth’s land surface is being used to grow crops and about 22% is being used for grazing and rearing livestock. As the world's population grows rising demand for food coupled with the environmental strains of global warming is straining our ability to feed ourselves.

The Colors of Food Security is a series of maps visualizing some of the social and environmental issues surrounding the future of global agriculture. The maps visualize a multitude of issues that affect the future stable supply of quality food, such as agricultural productivity, poverty, climate, biodiversity loss, water, and environmental pollution.

You can access each of the Colors of Food Security map visualizations by selecting from the icon buttons running down the side of the map. When a map visualization loads an information window provides a short introduction to the data being shown and its relationship to global food security.

If you are interested in where different crops and livestock are grown and reared then you might also be interested in Esri's The Living Land interactive map. The Living Land is the second installment in Esri's Living in the Age of Humans series and focuses on global agriculture and its environmental impacts. If you want to look more closely at agriculture in the USA then check out The Consolidation of the American Harvest. Bloomberg's The Consolidation of the American Harvest maps where different crops are grown in America.