Arable land (from Latin arabilis, "able to be plowed") is, according to one definition, land capable of

being ploughed and used to grow crops.[1] In Britain, it was traditionally contrasted

with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing but not farmland.

A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture. In

providing statistics on arable land, the FAO and the World Bank[2] use the definition provided in the

glossary accompanying FAOSTAT: “Arable land is the land under temporary agricultural crops

(multiple-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land

under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow (less than five years). The abandoned

land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for „Arable land‟ are not

meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.”[3] A briefer definition appearing in

the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use: “land worked (ploughed or

tilled) regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation.”[4]