April 2025 Environmental Performanceof Agriculture in OECDCountries KEY TRENDS AND INSIGHTS This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed andarguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD. This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty overany territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use ofsuch data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements inthe West Bank under the terms of international law. Photo credits:Cover © David BISE/Shutterstock.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Attribution– you must cite the work.Translations– you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text:In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and thetranslation, only the text of original work should be considered valid.Adaptations– you must cite the original work and add the following text:This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed inthis adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.Third-party material– the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and forany claims of infringement.You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shallbe Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one. Table of contents Key findings4 1 The OECD Agri-Environmental Indicators5 2 Key trends in the environmental performance of agriculture in OECD countries6Natural resource and other input uses6Environmental impacts8 3 About the Agri-Environmental Indicators database14 Scope and coverage14Data collection and methodology15Data accessibility and visualisation15Future developments15 Bibliography16 FIGURES Figure2.1. Trends in agricultural input use in OECDcountries7Figure2.2. Trends in agricultural land use changein OECD countries7Figure2.3. Trends in nitrogen and phosphorus balancesacross OECD countries8Figure2.4. Trends in nutrient use efficiency in OECD agriculture9Figure2.5. Main agricultural GHG emissions in OECD countries10Figure2.6. Agricultural GHGemissions intensityin OECD countries11Figure2.7. Agricultural ammonia emissions in OECDcountries12Figure2.8. Trends in the Farmland Birds Indexin OECD countries13 Key findings Over theperiod 1990–2021 covered in this report, agricultural production in OECDcountrieshassignificantly increased, while environmental performance showed mixed results. On the positive side, while agricultural output grew by 40% over this period, agricultural areadecreased by 10% and agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased by 4% only, reflectingsignificant productivity gains in the sector and the positive environmental impact resulting from theadoption of more climate-efficient farming practices. Progressin terms of environmental performance,however,has slowed over the past10-15 years. •Agricultural GHG emissions in OECD countries that were previously stable started to increaseat an average rate of 0.4% per year in the 2010s. Meanwhile, the decline in the medianemission intensity has slowed down, dropping from-0.6% per year in the 1990s and 2000s to-0.2% per year in the 2010s.•From 1990 to 2009,nutrientsurpluses alsoshoweda marked decline across OECD countries,reflecting theobserved improvements in nutrient management or reduced fertiliser useinmanycountries. However, this progressappears to have stalled since 2010, andOECDmaximum nitrogen balance hasevenincreased.•The trend of ammonia emissions at the OECD level has also changed in the last decade. Datashow a downward trend up to 2015, followed afterwards by a reversal, with an averageincrease in emissions of 2.8% per year between 2015 and 2021. This could be the source ofpotential environmental threats in the most affected regions. Between 2011 and 2021, total agricultural land area in OECD countries remained relatively stable,althoughcropland area declined at an average annual rate of 0.7% andpasture area expanded by0.4%per ye