The UK Land Use & Rewilding models are parameterized using official UK Government statistics and peer-reviewed agricultural land use meta-analyses:
1. UK Government & DEFRA
gov.uk (Annual)
Agriculture in the United Kingdom (AUK) & DEFRA Cereal Usage Survey. Documents that 71% of total UK land is agricultural (~53% pasture/grazing, ~18% arable cropland), and over 55% of all UK cropland is dedicated to animal feed production while the UK imports >50% of its human food.
2. University of Oxford (Poore & Nemecek)
Science, 2018
"Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers" (Science 360, 987–992). The largest global food meta-analysis (38,700 farms, 119 countries), establishing that plant-based food systems reduce agricultural land use by 75% globally.
3. Harvard University & Univ. of Aberdeen
Harwatt & Hayek, 2019
"Eating Away at Climate Change with Negative Emissions". Proves the UK can be fully nourished within current arable cropland while native woodland/peatland restoration sequesters 9–12 years of total UK CO2.
4. UK National Food Strategy (The Dimbleby Plan)
DEFRA Review, 2021
Independent review for the UK Government confirming that 85% of total UK agricultural land is devoted to livestock (pasture + feed crops), delivering only 32% of calories and 48% of protein.
5. WWF-UK & Trase Supply Chain Intelligence
WWF / Trase.earth
"Riskier Business" & "Stepping Up? The UK’s Land Footprint Overseas". Supply chain tracing shows over 70% of UK imported feed soy originates in South America (predominantly Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay), directly fueling the conversion and deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado savannah.
6. 3D Simulator Methodology: Realistic UK Trade Model
Oxford / Harvard Meta-Model
The interactive 3D map simulator models a Realistic UK Trade Plant-Based Food System:
- Domestic Human Cropland (8% → 12%): Britain does not need to grow 100% of all produce domestically. Assuming current UK plant import habits continue (importing ~35% of diverse plant calories like citrus, bananas, olive oil, coffee, and rice), domestic cropland only expands from 8% to 12% to grow all staple grains, pulses, oats, potatoes, and vegetables.
- Overseas Land Footprint (-86%): Because Britain stops importing 3.6M hectares of overseas animal feed, our foreign cropland requirement collapses from 3.6M ha to just ~0.5M ha for direct human foods.
- Domestic Nature Recovery (21% → 80%): Removing livestock pasture (53%) and feed crops (10%) frees over 12.5M hectares of UK land for ancient forests, peatlands, and clean rivers.
7. History of British Woodland & Deforestation (4500 BC – Present)
Forestry Commission / Domesday
Historical timeline reconstructed from UK Forestry Commission & Forest Research studies (The Legacy of Fragmentation in Ancient British Woodland), Rackham (1986), Hayulls (A Brief History of British Woodland), and the Domesday Book Survey (1086). Confirms peak wilderness ~75%–85% in 4500 BC, rapid clearance during Neolithic/Iron Age agriculture down to 15% by 1086 AD, and an all-time recorded low of 5% in 1919 AD.