A revolution is coming in what we eat and how we grow it. As well as promising to make us healthier, it will make the planet healthier. For centuries, wild grasslands have lost ground to farmland. But that's all about to change.
Grasslands are home to our planet's most spectacular gatherings of animals. Big herds of big grazing animals and the predators that feed on them. This is the land of the megafauna. It once covered a quarter of the Earth's land surface.
A vast amount of space. But then, for grasslands, space is everything. Grasses and grazers need each other. But grasses can't hope to withstand the herds, unless there's space for them to move on. We humans have spent the last 10,000 years taking over this space.
We've swapped the wild grasses and wild herds for tame ones. Pasture land. Crop land. Expanding our domain and fencing in the plains. And we've been remarkably successful.
Today, we and our domesticated animals account for 96% of the tonnage of mammals on Earth. Most of the area the wild grasslands once covered is now farmland. Where grasslands remain, they're fenced in, their space squeezed. If we can take up less space on Earth, then the grasslands will be able to expand and thrive forever.
But how can we hope to do that when our demands rise year on year? We bring about a revolution in food. Experts predict that in the future it will be possible for us to feed more people on less land if we do two things. Firstly, reduce our consumption of meat. Humans have always eaten both plants and animals.
We are natural omnivores. But for most of our history, meat has been a rare treat. It's only recently that meat has become so affordable for some that large numbers of people have come to expect it each and every day. Our new dietary routine places a huge strain on planet Earth.
When we eat meat, we position ourselves higher up the food chain, like predators. And when we do that, we unknowingly demand much more space. The area of land we use to raise the animals we eat is twice the size of South America.
Much of that is for the feed crops we need to build up their bodies. It is possible to raise animals on natural grassland in a sustainable way. And there are communities around the world doing just that. If we can eat less meat, and only from animals raised sustainably, we would dramatically reduce the amount of land we need to feed ourselves. But moving away from meat is a big change, unthinkable for many.
To help ease the way, hundreds of entrepreneurs across the globe are now developing plant products that look, feel and taste the same as meat. While others are discovering how to make clean meat. Meat products grown from scratch in the lab. These meat alternatives may take some getting used to, but they're far better for the planet.
There's another way to save space. Farmers could make the move to smarter farming on a global scale. Farming methods vary hugely around the world. We don't always choose the best crop for a particular location.
And we routinely rely on extra water and fertilizers to support growth. The knowledge now exists to change all that. New tools include Controlled environments, robotic tractors, real-time data, vertical farms, ocean crops, cellular agriculture, plant selection and urban farming. Smarter, more sustainable farming is just around the corner.
If we help farmers globally to adopt these ideas, we will produce far more food on far less land. The coming revolution in food and farming will largely remove our need to cut down forests for food production. It would mean we give off fewer greenhouse gases, and we would significantly reduce our demand for fresh water. If we ate less meat from only the best sources, it would be better for our health.
Fewer animal fats, pesticides and antibiotics in our food. Studies suggest that if we eat healthily with less meat, deaths from heart disease, obesity and some cancers could drop by up to 20%. We could save a trillion dollars in healthcare worldwide. Yet the food will be just as tasty. And what will we do with all that extra land?