Statistics
The numbers behind hands, soil and health
Four views on why this work matters: land we have lost, farms waiting for workers, young people ready to show up, and what soil time does to our bodies.
- 0 M ha
- fertile land lost since 1720
- 0.0 M ha
- Indian farmland left fallow
- 0 %
- of youth open to farm work
Losing ground
Fertile soil lost to desert, last 300 years
One square = one year, 1721 → 2020
What the ground looks like underneath
Topsoil takes roughly 100 years to build one centimetre. Most of what is missing above will not return in our lifetime — unless it is rebuilt by hand.
Turning points
1760 · Deep ploughing spreads
Topsoil first exposed at scale
1870 · Cash-crop monocultures
Rotation and fallow abandoned
1935 · Dust Bowl
Bare soil simply blows away
1968 · Pumps and chemicals
Yields up, soil life down
2005 · Aquifers run thin
Irrigated land turns saline
2,150 M ha
fertile land degraded worldwide since 1720 — about 44% of the world's workable soil. Indicative figures from UNCCD and FAO land degradation estimates.
Losing ground
The pace of loss, 1720 to 2020
0 M ha
Cumulative fertile land worldwide degraded into desert or near-desert conditions. The curve steepens after 1900 — the century of the plough and the pump.
Indicative figures compiled from UNCCD and FAO land degradation estimates.
Waiting for hands
Indian farmland left uncultivated for lack of workers
0.0 M ha
Cultivable area kept fallow each year because farms cannot find enough hands. Maharashtra alone idles more land than Punjab's entire fallow area, four times over.
Indicative figures based on agricultural census fallow-land and rural labour trends.
Willing hands
Are young people willing to work the land?
0%
Where aspiring youth stand when asked about hands-on farming. Only one in six says no outright — the rest are waiting to be asked.
- Curious, would try a weekend42%
- Ready for a season of work27%
- Want farming as a career14%
- Not interested17%
Illustrative survey-style breakdown — for conversation, not policy.
Body and soil
Chronic illness risk vs. weekly hours in soil
0% lower
Relative chronic illness risk (100 = no time outdoors) as weekly hours of gardening or farm work increase. Most of the gain arrives in the first five hours.
Indicative trend from published studies on horticultural activity, movement and metabolic health.
Numbers only change on the ground
Every hour logged on a farm nudges these curves. Find a farm that needs hands, or list your own land for help.