In the coming decades, a crucial challenge for humanity will be meet-
ing future food demands without undermining further the integrity
of the Earth’s environmental systems
1–6
. Agricultural systems are
already major forces of global environmental degradation
4,7
,but
population growth and increasing consumption of calorie- and
meat-intensive diets are expected to roughly double human food
demand by 2050 (ref. 3). Responding to these pressures, there is
increasing focus on ‘sustainable intensification’ as a means to
increaseyields on underperforming landscapes whilesimultaneously
decreasing the environmental impacts of agricultural systems
2–4,8–11
.
However, it is unclear what such efforts might entail for the future of
global agricultural landscapes. Here we present a global-scale assess-
ment of intensification prospects from closing ‘yield gaps’ (differ-
ences betweenobserved yields and those attainable in a givenregion),
the spatial patterns of agricultural management practices and yield
limitation, and the management changes that may be necessary to
achieve increased yields. We find that global yield variability is
heavily controlled by fertilizer use, irrigation and climate. Large pro-
duction increases (45% to 70% for most crops) are possible from
closing yield gaps to 100% of attainable yields, and the changes to
management practices that are needed to close yield gaps vary con-
siderably by region and current intensity. Furthermore, we find that
there are large opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of
agriculture by eliminating nutrient overuse, while still allowing an
approximately 30% increase in production of major cereals (maize,
wheat and rice). Meeting the food security and sustainability chal-
lengesofthecomingdecadesispossible,butwillrequireconsiderable
changes in nutrient and water management.