Agriculture land-use change is driven by socioeconomic flows across local to global scales

Agriculture is the key to global food security and environmental sustainability; however, little is known about how cross-scale socioeconomic flows influence agricultural land use. We addressed this knowledge gap by evaluating the metacoupled flows of crops, capital investments, and migration. We assessed how these flows impacted land used for crop production in India and Argentina, which contain global biodiversity hotspots and high levels of agriculture. During our study time frame (1990-2015), land used for crop flows increased by 33.6 Mha, primarily driven by increases in crops produced for domestic consumption. Capital investments from distant countries and within the focal countries increased transportation infrastructure and processing capacity, supporting the expansion of crop production. Migration from adjacent countries and within the focal countries increased urban populations, leading to the displacement of agricultural lands surrounding metropolitan areas. Our results underscore the significance of cross-scale socioeconomic flows and their potential to inform effective land use policies.