Arable Land Meaning: FAO and USDA Definitions With Data

Arable land meaning, in short: arable land is land plowed or tilled regularly for crops that are replanted in a rotation. The FAO counts land under temporary crops, temporary meadows and pasture, and land fallow for less than five years. It covered 10.7% of the world’s land area and 16.6% of the US in 2023 (World Bank data from FAO).

Below you will find the official definitions side by side, the 2022 USDA acreage, a chart of arable land by country, and a calculator that sorts your own acres into the FAO categories.

What does arable land mean?

The word comes from the Latin for plowing. In plain English, arable land is farmland that is worked regularly for crops. Eurostat puts it simply: land plowed or tilled regularly, generally under a crop rotation (Eurostat glossary).

So if a quiz or a textbook asks what land suited for agriculture is called, or what land used for farming is called, the expected answer is arable land. Wheat, corn, soybean, barley, canola and vegetable fields are all typical arable land.

Two things surprise many readers. An apple orchard is farmland but not arable land in FAO tables. A cattle range that has never been plowed is farmland but not arable land either.

Chart

How US land was used in 2022

Million acres, all 50 states, ERS major land use categories

The FAO definition of arable land

The FAO glossary describes arable land as land used for temporary crops in rotation with fallow, meadows and pastures, in cycles of up to five years. It is the total of three areas (FAO glossary, 2025):

• Temporary crops: crops replanted after each harvest, such as wheat, rice and maize. A field cropped twice in a year is counted once.
• Temporary meadows and pasture: grass or forage mown or grazed as part of the rotation.
• Temporary fallow: land rested for less than five years.

The World Bank uses the FAO wording and adds market and kitchen gardens. It leaves out land abandoned after shifting cultivation. It also warns that the figures do not show how much land could be farmed (World Bank indicator notes).

That warning is the key point. In official statistics, arable land describes use, not soil quality. A fertile field left idle for more than five years drops out of the count. A poor field in a regular rotation stays in.

Arable land vs cultivable, cultivated and agricultural land

These words get mixed up all the time. The table shows how each one differs. The terms “cultivable” and “cultivated” are used loosely, so check how a given report defines them.

Cultivable vs cultivated

Cultivable describes capacity. Cultivated describes what is happening on the land. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) publishes a Cultivated Layer map, and its 2025 edition is based on the most recent five years, 2021 to 2025 (USDA NASS Cropland releases). The 2024 layer’s metadata gives the technical detail.

What fallow land means

Fallow land is crop land left unplanted for a season or more, often to rest the soil or store moisture. It still counts as arable under the FAO rule if the rest lasts less than five years. In US statistics, cultivated summer fallow is counted within cropland used for crops.

What non-arable land means

Non-arable land is any land outside the crop rotation. Some of it is simply used another way, such as forest or a town. Some has hard physical limits, such as steep slopes, shallow stony soil, salt or a lack of water. Non-arable does not mean useless: rangeland feeds livestock, and hill land can carry orchards. FAO counts deserts, glaciers, barren land and built areas as “other land” (FAO Land statistics 2001-2023).

The quiz answer: arable, arid, adjustable or acidic?

A common question reads: “Land that is suitable for cultivation is called ___ land: a. arable, b. arid, c. adjustable, d. acidic.” The correct answer is a. arable.

• Arid means very dry. Arid land usually needs irrigation before it can carry crops.
• Adjustable is not a land term.
• Acidic describes soil pH. An acidic soil can still be arable, and growers often correct it with lime.

The same answer fits “land that can be farmed is called arid, arable or urban land”. Note that a test answer uses the plain meaning, suitable for crops, while statistics use the stricter meaning, in a crop cycle. Both are correct in their setting.

How much arable land does the US have?

The closest US match is total cropland. It was 377.4 million acres in 2022, or about 17% of all US land (USDA ERS Major Land Uses, tables updated August 2026). That total splits into three parts:

• 328.7 million acres of cropland used for crops: harvested, failed or in cultivated summer fallow.
• 35.7 million acres of idle cropland.
• 13.0 million acres of cropland used only for pasture.

Some pages quote 338 million acres for crops and 659 million for pasture beside the 2022 total. Those two figures are for 2017 (USDA ERS, Amber Waves, 2024). The 2022 pasture and range figure is 652.7 million acres.

Different sources give different totals because they measure different things. The FAO-based figure for US arable land was about 151.6 million hectares in 2023, or roughly 375 million acres (World Bank hectares data). The Census of Agriculture counted 382 million acres of cropland on farms in 2022 (USDA NASS Census highlights). Quote the source and year with any figure you use.

Total cropland fell by about 100 million acres between 1949 and 2022 in the ERS series. Much of the fall from 2002 to 2012 came from changes in the Census method, which moved some cropland pasture into grassland, so ERS says recent changes are not fully comparable with earlier years. The series tells you direction better than an exact loss.

Where US cropland sits

US cropland is concentrated in the middle of the country. The Corn Belt and Northern Plains hold 183 million acres between them, nearly half the national total. In the Corn Belt, cropland covers 54% of all land. In the Mountain region it covers 7%.

These are the eight largest states by total cropland in the ERS 2022 table. Shares are our own calculation from the same table: cropland divided by total land area. Texas shows why area and share tell different stories. It has the third-largest area, yet most of the state is not cropland.

What idle cropland is

Idle cropland is cropland with no crop planted, or only a cover or soil-improvement crop, that year, and it is one reason the arable and cultivated figures differ. In the 2017 data, the Conservation Reserve Program accounted for 23 million of the 39 million idle acres, according to ERS. Land in that program is held out of production under contract, so it can stay in the cropland total without being planted.

Chart

US total cropland

Million acres, Major Land Uses survey years, selected

Arable land by country

The share of land that is arable varies widely. Germany and France sit above 30%. Canada and Australia are near 4% even though both are major grain exporters, because so much of their land is too cold, too dry or used for grazing. A low share does not mean a small area: Canada’s 4.3% equals about 38 million hectares and Australia’s 4.1% about 31 million, against about 6 million in the UK.

Chart

Arable land as a share of land area

Percent of total land area, 2023, selected countries

Worldwide, FAO reports about 4,800 million hectares of agricultural land in 2023. Cropland covered about 1,600 million and permanent meadows and pasture 3,200 million. Temporary crops reached 1,080 million hectares and permanent crops nearly 200 million. Cropland per person fell from 0.24 to 0.19 hectares between 2001 and 2023, while the value of farm output per hectare grew by more than 60%.

Regional trends differ too. FAO reports that cropland expanded between 2001 and 2023 in Africa (about 75 million hectares), South America (25 million) and South-eastern Asia (20 million). It contracted in Northern America (25 million), Eastern Europe (7 million) and Southern Europe (6 million).

Arable land in Europe

Eurostat’s farm statistics show how far one small country can go. In 2023, 56.2% of Denmark’s total land was arable, the highest share of any EU country. Ireland shows the opposite pattern: 54.0% of its land was permanent grassland, so its farming leans on grass rather than the plow (Eurostat farms and farmland).

Arable farming vs pastoral and mixed farming

The word also describes a type of farm. An arable farm earns its income mainly from crops grown in a rotation, such as wheat, barley, canola and sugar beet. A pastoral farm is built around grazing livestock on grass. A mixed farm does both, often moving fields between crops and temporary grass.

The mixed case shows why the FAO includes temporary meadows. A field in grass for three years and then back in wheat is still arable land, because it stays in the rotation cycle. The same field left in grass for good would eventually count as permanent pasture. For a closer look at crop systems, see these examples of arable farming.

Four common mistakes when reading arable land figures

1. Treating arable land as potential. The World Bank notes state that the data do not show how much land could be cultivated. A low figure may reflect land use, not a shortage of good soil.
2. Mixing arable land with cropland. Cropland adds permanent crops. Worldwide that is a gap of nearly 200 million hectares in 2023, so the two totals are not interchangeable.
3. Mixing years. ERS updates its land tables every five years, in step with the Census of Agriculture, but it updates cropland used for crops every year. Check that both numbers in a comparison share a year.
4. Reading small changes as real. The World Bank notes that year-to-year moves may come from revised data rather than changes in area. Compare a longer period and read the source’s method notes.

What makes land good for growing crops?

Flat, fertile land good for growing crops has a few things in common: gentle slope, deep soil, good drainage, low salt and a reliable water supply. No single soil type owns that description. River-laid (alluvial) loams are a classic example, but well-managed clays and sandy loams can also be arable. Acid soils may need lime, and dry soils may need irrigation. Soil test results should guide any amendment; follow local advice and rules.

To judge what land can do, rather than how it is used today, countries use capability systems. These grade physical limits and are separate from the arable land statistics above.

Sources: USDA NRCS land capability definitions, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, GOV.UK guide and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. Our guide to land use types and classification covers each system in more depth.

▶ Land cover classification and farm land types, explained by Farmonaut. · 8:53

Twenty ways farmland gets used

Only some farm land uses count as arable. This list sorts common uses by how the FAO categories would usually treat them. Exact treatment can vary by country.

Usually arable land

• Row crops such as corn and soybeans
• Small grains such as wheat and barley
• Oilseeds such as canola and sunflower
• Cotton and other fiber crops
• Vegetable and market garden crops
• Hay and forage in a rotation
• Cover crops within a rotation
• Irrigated field crops
• Dryland field crops
• Short fallow

Usually farmland, but not arable

• Tree fruit and nut orchards
• Vineyards
• Permanent pasture and rangeland
• Agroforestry and windbreaks
• Farm woodland
• Conservation strips and buffers

Farm land used for other purposes

• Farmsteads and buildings
• Farm roads and lanes
• Equipment yards
• Aquaculture ponds

Sort your own land into FAO categories

A farm is rarely all one thing. Enter your own areas below to see what would count as arable land, cropland and agricultural land under the FAO definitions. Use acres or hectares, as long as every field uses the same unit.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

How to check whether a parcel is arable

1. Check its recent use. In the US, the NASS Cropland Data Layer and Cultivated Layer show which land has carried crops in recent years.
2. Read the soil map. USDA Web Soil Survey reports soil types and capability classes for a drawn area in the US. Use the national system elsewhere.
3. Walk the land. Look for slope, stones, standing water and salt crusts.
4. Test the soil. A lab test gives pH, salt and nutrient levels for your actual field.
5. Confirm the water. Check rainfall records and any irrigation rights.
6. Check local rules. Zoning, conservation easements and clearing rules can limit use. Get professional advice before buying land or converting it.
7. Watch it over a season or more. Satellite vegetation maps can show whether crops grow evenly across a field, and where weak patches repeat. Farmonaut offers this kind of field monitoring, which adds to a soil test and site visit but does not replace them.

Related pages on our site: crop rotation benefits, farming and climate adaptation, product traceability, carbon footprinting, fleet management, large-farm management, satellite API documentation, satellite data API and field monitoring app.

▶ A walkthrough of satellite crop monitoring and reading NDVI for a field. · 19:36

FAQ

What is the simple meaning of arable land?

Arable land is land plowed or tilled regularly for crops, usually in a rotation. FAO statistics also include temporary meadows and fallow of less than five years.

What is the difference between arable land and agricultural land?

Agricultural land is the wider term. It covers arable land, permanent crops such as orchards, and permanent pasture. In 2023 the world had about 4,800 million hectares of agricultural land, and about two-thirds of it was permanent meadows and pasture (FAO).

Is cultivated land the same as arable land?

Not quite. Cultivated land has a crop on it now or in recent seasons. Arable land also includes fields resting in short fallow, and temporary meadows.

Is pasture arable land?

Temporary pasture in a crop rotation is. Permanent pasture and rangeland are not, even when the soil could be plowed.

Does the US publish an arable land figure?

USDA reports cropland rather than arable land: 377.4 million acres of total cropland in 2022 (USDA ERS). The FAO-based figure in World Bank data was about 151.6 million hectares in 2023.

Can non-arable land become arable?

Sometimes. Drainage, irrigation, terracing, lime and salt leaching can each remove a specific limit. Cost depends on the limit and the site, so get a soil survey and local advice first.