Fig. 1: Current and environmentally optimal distributions of global croplands.
From: Relocating croplands could drastically reduce the environmental impacts of global food production
The estimated reduction potentials in a are based on an optimal trade-off between carbon and biodiversity impacts (see the “Methods” section). Potential yield data used here are based on current climatic conditions and assume high-input crop management and rainfed water supply, so that relocated areas are, by design of the approach, not irrigated. The global production levels of individual crops for optimally distributed areas are identical to current levels; in the scenario of national relocation, this is additionally the case for national production levels. For visualisation purposes, in b–d, the 25 crops were grouped together; maps of the optimal distribution of individual crops for across- and within-border relocation are shown in Supplementary Movie 1.
