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Mapping Export-Oriented Crop Production

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Telecoupling

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management ((PSNRM))

Abstract

The globalisation of agriculture is evident in the rising volumes and values of internationally traded agricultural products. Export growth has led to increasingly commercialised agricultural production, particularly in regions where a large share of produce is exported. However, the increasing share of exports in global agriculture has led to adverse environmental and societal outcomes that are of growing concern. We mapped the 12 most important export crops using a spatial allocation algorithm that combines global cropland maps with data on each crop’s suitability for export. The results reveal that export crops are concentrated in Latin America, the US, and Southeast Asia and show the growing focus on a few high-value crops. Anticipating the spatial imprint of export-oriented agriculture helps to pinpoint the telecoupled land-use footprints of global consumption patterns.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Thomas Kastner for providing the trade flow data. We thank Jonas Ø. Nielsen, Liangzhi You, and Thomas Kastner for useful comments that helped improve this chapter. Parts of this research were supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, project PASANOA, 031B0034A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Christian Levers & Daniel Müller

  2. Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Halle (Saale), Germany

    Daniel Müller

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  1. Christian Levers
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Correspondence to Christian Levers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IRI THESys & Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Cecilie Friis  & Jonas Ø. Nielsen  & 

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Levers, C., Müller, D. (2019). Mapping Export-Oriented Crop Production. In: Friis, C., Nielsen, J.Ø. (eds) Telecoupling. Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11105-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11105-2_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11104-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11105-2

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