Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources.Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrentlydegrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a global scale. To meet the world’s future food security andsustainability needs, food production must grow substantially while, at the same time, agriculture’s environmentalfootprint must shrink dramatically. Here we analyse solutions to this dilemma, showing that tremendous progresscould be made by halting agricultural expansion, closing ‘yield gaps’ on underperforming lands, increasing croppingefficiency, shifting diets and reducing waste. Together, these strategies could double food production while greatlyreducing the environmental impacts of agriculture