Small farms contribute a third of the food consumed in high-income nations.

The diversity of farms and farmers that operate in national food supply chains remains poorly understood. This study couples country-sector-specific agricultural production patterns with agri-food trade data to offer a global assessment of how different farmers contribute towards national food consumption. Here results show that the contribution of farmers to national food supply chains bears little resemblance to their territorial production owing to countries' reliance on, and export to, other countries with different agricultural systems. Specifically, the role of small-scale farmers in national food consumption has been substantially underestimated, particularly in high-income nations, where small farms account for about a third of consumption. By contrast, in regions where small-scale agriculture is widely practised (for example, West Asia, North Africa and East Africa), agricultural imports originate from countries and sectors dominated by large-scale farming. Future research must account for the differentiated roles, impacts and vulnerabilities of farmers beyond national borders.