Conclusion:

I really enjoyed calculating the land for food requirements. I did it by calculating how much energy the sun provides per unit of land, and then calculating how much of that energy can be converted to use. I hypothesize that this the final limiting factor in land production, and that any production greater than my estimation on a smaller plot of land must have some external input that is not being accounted for correctly. My final calculation revealed that an average American diet (3700 calories, 1/3 animal products, 2/3 veggies/grains) requires an absolute minimum of 1/2 acre of land.

Even though I advocate for vegitarianism, I recognize that animals fill the function that shipping, canning and freezers fill in modern society, and that vegetarianism is exceedingly difficult to follow during the winter months without those aids. I will, therefore, plan on having a mixed diet with some animal products during winter and some foraged food along with my fruits, vegetables and grains. So I now have the numbers I need to determine what I want exactly in terms of land space dedicated to food production.

I know the bare minimum is 1/2 acre per person for my diet. I know hunter-gatherers lived at approximately 200-700 acres per person. I don't have the resources to buy that much land, but I'd like to.

I feel that it is unwise for someone who is not an expert in subsistence living to aim for the minimum acreage, and I would like a permacultural style garden, which lowers my efficiency. I know that modern estimates for conventional farming put the rate at about one acre per person

Therefore, I feel that one acre per person is the minimum I would like available to use for food production on my land. I hope to be more efficient than that, and an acre per person sounds like a lot of hoeing work, so hopefully I can produce enough food on less land with less effort. Until I'm sure I can, I will aim for a minimum of 1 acre per person (including children, who will one day be teenagers and eat more than I do).

Ramblings:

I think that my calculations reveal the theoretical limits of land production, and I cant find any other similar study or analysis. There is definitely a lot more to be done on to further extend the implications of this hypothesis, with the first focus being in energy use, and the second in non-edible plant products (like clothing, wood, plastic etc.). I plan on investigating those separately.

This study definitely supported my quasi-vegetarianism. There is such a radical difference in the land requirements for veggies v meats.