What were the benefits of terraced farming?

Terraced farming has a number of benefits:

• Significantly increased yield per acre, per person, and per dollar relative to extensive farming and therefore,
• Food becomes more affordable to the consumer as it costs less to produce.
• The same area of land is able to supply food and fibre for a larger population reducing the risk of starvation.
• The preservation of existing areas of woodland and rainforest habitats (and the ecosystems and other sustainable economies that these may harbour), which would need to be felled for extensive farming methods in the same geographical location. This also leads to a reduction in anthropomorphic CO2 generation (resulting from removal of the sequestration afforded by woodlands and rainforests).
• In the case of intensive livestock farming: an opportunity to capture methane emissions which would otherwise contribute to global warming. Once captured, these emissions can be used to generate heat and/or electrical energy, thereby reducing local demand for fossil fuels.

Hope this helps!