section_path: Environmental impact/Land use
section_name: Land use
paragraph_text: Land use
  
  Meat production is by far the biggest user of land, as it accounts for nearly 40% of the global land surface. Just in the contiguous United States, 34% of its land area (265 million hectares or 654 million acres) are used as pasture and rangeland, mostly feeding livestock, not counting 158 million hectares (391 million acres) of cropland (20%), some of which is used for producing feed for livestock. Roughly 75% of deforested land around the globe is used for livestock pasture. Deforestation from practices like slash-and-burn releases CO and removes the carbon sink of grown tropical forest ecosystems which substantially mitigate climate change. Land use is a major pressure on pressure on fertile soils which is important for global food security.