Food production from plants and animals impacts the natural environment in various ways. It affects things like land and water usage, the natural balance of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.

At a global level, agriculture utilises 37% of all land. Of this proportion only a third is arable and suitable for growing crops, with a much smaller proportion able to support continuous cropping. The remaining two thirds of non-arable land is utilised for grazing with livestock, many of which are ruminant species. This livestock grazing enables the conversion of raw plant material inedible by humans into high quality, nutrient dense human food.