The World's Smallest Farms Feed More People Than You Might Think, Research Shows

• 81% of global crops are grown on farms less than 199 hectares.
• China leads the world production of rice, wheat and many vegetables and operates mainly small farms, to supply its own growing population
• Big farms have a minority share in crop production, only contributing to 5% of worldwide crop growth.

84 percent of a total of estimated 570 million farms worldwide were cultivating less than two hectares of agricultural land in 2018. Due to the low labor productivity and grueling work conditions on small farms, their yield stands in stark contrast to their total numbers: Only 29 percent of the global production of crops for food, animal feed and fuel come from land cultivated by smallholders according to Our World in Data. As our chart shows, most of the crops still are generated on farms smaller than 200 hectares or 500 acres though.