Current rate of yield increase for major food crops is not fast enough to meet demand on existing farmland. Given limited land suitable for crop production and population soon to exceed 9 billion, ensuring food security while protecting carbon-rich and biodiverse rainforests, wetlands, and grasslands depends on achieving highest possible yields on existing farm land. Yet for most major crop-producing countries, including data-rich regions such as the USA and Europe, there are few reliable data on yield potential (Yp) or water-limited yield potential (Yw). Hence, the target of the Global Yield Gap Atlas (GYGA) is to provide best available estimates of the exploitable yield gap (Yg-E) — difference between current average farm yields and 80% of Yp and Yw. Water resources to support rainfed and irrigated agriculture also are limited, which means efficiency in converting water to food, water productivity (WP) , is another key food security benchmark included in the Atlas...
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