Land Use

Methods 5.0

Acres of land required to produce one unit of crop.

Introduction

The Land Use indicator quantifies agricultural intensity by the amount of land required to produce one unit of crop. Lower values indicate greater land use intensity, meaning less land is needed to produce each unit of output, which is a key consideration as agricultural systems balance productivity with environmental stewardship. Land Use is the first sustainability indicator calculated by the Platform as the only input needed is the standardized crop yield (\(Y_s\)). The metric was first adopted by Field to Market in 2009. The intended environmental outcome may include avoiding land conversion by maintaining or increasing yields on already farmed lands.

Method

Inputs

Input	Value	Units	Symbol
Crop yield, adjusted to standard moisture	See Adjusting Yield	See Table 1	\(Y_s\)

Formula

\[ Land\ Use = \frac {1}{Y_s} \]

Example: Cotton

The standardized cotton yield was 1200 lb-lint/acre. How intensive was the land use?

# Lookups
yield_adjusted_uscs <- 1200 # lb-lint/ac

# Land Use Calculation
landuse_uscs <- 1 / yield_adjusted_uscs # acre/lb-lint

[1] "0.0008 acre/lb-lint"

Metric output

This is what the metric would report as if units were hectares per Mg of crop.

# calculate kg/ha
yield_adjusted <- yield_adjusted_uscs * lb_kg / ac_ha # convert denominator ac->ha

landuse <- 1000 / yield_adjusted # ha/Mg

[1] "0.743 ha/Mg"

Example: Wheat

The standardized wheat yield was 55 bu/acre (60 lb/bu). How intensive was the land use?

# Inputs
yield_adjusted_uscs <- 55 # bu/ac

# Land Use Calculation
landuse_uscs <- 1 / yield_adjusted_uscs # ac/bu

[1] "0.018 acre/bu"

Metric output

This is what the metric would report as if units were hectares per Mg of crop.

# Lookup
bushel_lb <- filter(tbl_yield, crop == "Wheat (winter)") |> pull(lb_per_unit)

# calculate kg/ha
yield_adjusted <- yield_adjusted_uscs * bushel_lb * lb_kg / ac_ha # convert denominator ac->ha

landuse <- 1000 / yield_adjusted # ha/Mg

[1] "0.27 ha/Mg"

Tables

Table 1: Standard Yield Units and Moisture

crop	uscs_units	lb_per_unit	kg_per_uscs_unit
Alfalfa	ton	2000	907.184000
Barley	bushel	48	21.772416
Chickpeas (garbanzos)	lb	1	0.453592
Corn (grain)	bushel	56	25.401152
Corn (silage)	ton	2000	907.184000
Cotton	lb	1	0.453592
Dry Beans	lb	60	27.215520
Dry Peas	lb	60	27.215520
Fava Beans	lb	1	0.453592
Lentils	lb	1	0.453592
Lupin	lb	1	0.453592
Peanuts	lb	1	0.453592
Potatoes	cwt	100	45.359200
Rice	cwt	100	45.359200
Sorghum	bushel	56	25.401152
Soybeans	bushel	60	27.215520
Sugar beets	ton sugar	2000	907.184000
Wheat (durum)	bushel	60	27.215520
Wheat (spring)	bushel	60	27.215520
Wheat (winter)	bushel	60	27.215520