This is a consequence increased agricultural productivity from the Green Revolution and subsequent advances. If population doesn't grow, then eventually this leads to reduction in area under production, accelerated by losing the least productive land first.
Maybe it could be countered by increased non-food use of land, say for fiber, fuel, structural wood, or replacements for other petrochemicals?
It's certainly happened in the US also. The county I live in, in upstate NY, was at one point just 3% forested. It's now majority forest as abandoned farmland has reverted and trees have regrown. The land here cannot compete with highly productive farms in the US midwest and elsewhere.
This phenomenon should be kept in mind when people say PV and wind use too much land area. We have lots and lots of land, so much that people are just abandoning it.
I mean I don't know if I would say the land is just abandoned. Some farmland that people let go back to forest can also have the trees harvested from it periodically so its still productive in another way. The land can still be valuable.
Maybe it could be countered by increased non-food use of land, say for fiber, fuel, structural wood, or replacements for other petrochemicals?
It's certainly happened in the US also. The county I live in, in upstate NY, was at one point just 3% forested. It's now majority forest as abandoned farmland has reverted and trees have regrown. The land here cannot compete with highly productive farms in the US midwest and elsewhere.
This phenomenon should be kept in mind when people say PV and wind use too much land area. We have lots and lots of land, so much that people are just abandoning it.