Research
Energy balance
Shifting global production to match the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (HHEP) recommendations would save 51 million hectares of arable land compared to current production levels.
Producing food according to nutritional guidelines (more fruits/veg, less grain/sugar) is more land-efficient than current practices. This shift saves 51 million hectares of arable land, preserving habitats and ecosystem services.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Overall, therefore, shifting production to match the diet recommended by the HHEP would reduce the amount of arable land needed for agriculture by a total of 51 million ha.
Why this rating
Based on FAO data and modeling assumptions; high fidelity for a modeling study.
Source
When too much isn’t enough: Does current food production meet global nutritional needs?
Krishna Bahadur KC et al. · PLoS ONE · 2018
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0205683
narrative_reviewCited 192×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Current global agricultural production overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while underproducing fruits, vegetables, and protein, creating a nutritional imbalance that contributes to obesity and diabetes.Good
- Adopting the HHEP diet increases total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 49% compared to the current global diet, primarily due to increased animal-source protein consumption.Good
- A complete shift to plant-based protein (vegetarian diet) reduces total agricultural land use and GHG emissions compared to the HHEP diet, despite requiring more arable land for crops.Good
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