How much land is needed to feed one person?

Answer 1

This is a very difficult question to answer because there are a variety of different variables to consider. However, if we simplify it we come out to about 1 acre of land needed to produce enough food to feed a single person.

Working the numbers:

On fertile land, an acre will produce about 147 bushels of corn, which comes out to about 8000 pounds or so. At an average of about 70 calories per pound edible, that equates to about 560,000 calories, which in turn works out to about 1500 calories per day. According to the UN's FAO, a subsistence diet is about 1300 calories per day.