Chapter 11 Feeding the World

1. Chapter 11 Feeding the World

2. Feeding the World Think & Write • Why do you think it is so difficult to provide adequate food for all of the world’s people? • What are some limitations? • What can be done to increase production? • How do farmers keep insects from destroying crops? • What are some alternatives to chemical pesticides?

3. A Balanced Dietvs. malnutrition Not needed in notes

4. Nutritional Requirements Global Nutrition Imbalance • Related terms: • Food Insecurity • Famine • Anemia

5. Global Undernutrition

6. Reasons for Undernutrition and Malnutrition • Economy – Poverty vs. Wealthy • Society – influenced by media • Political factors (war, genocide, etc.) • Agricultural resources being diverted to feed livestock (and make ethanol-fuel) rather than people

7. Annual Meat Consumption Interpreting Graphs: 1) How does the United States compare to the rest of the world in terms of meat consumption? 2) What are some issues regarding agriculture (or environmental effects) of eating more meat? (feel free to search online) Answer these questions in your notebooks

8. Global Grain Production, 1950-2006 • Interpreting Graphs: • 3) Why does lower graph (b) appear to remain level while the upper graph (a) is increasing? • 4) What do you think are primary types of “grain” from various parts of the world? • Asia • Africa • Central America • North America Answer these questions in your notebooks

9. Agricultural Revolutions • Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s, agriculture became more “industrialized”, burning fossil fuels to replace human & animal labor. The “Green” Revolution: • Between the 1950’s - 1970’s: new management techniques and mechanization as well as the triad of fertilization, irrigation, and improved crop varieties increased food production dramatically. Pros • The introduction of new grains and new farming techniques allowed for a much greater “yield”. Cons • New varieties require more fertilizer, pesticides, and water.

10. Farming Challenges  Some people speak of agriculture collectively as “the single most harmful human action that has taken place.” - Friedland p.287

11. Soil Conservation Solutions: • Contour plowing: following the terrain prevents erosion. • No-till farming: leaving the remain of previous crops to decompose and retain soil. • Low-input farming: using as little fertilizer, pesticide, energy and water as possible. • Composting! Issues: • Arable Land (suitable for farming) decreased 1/5 from 1985 to 2000. • Over ½ of the fertile “TopSoil” has been lost in the U.S. just in the past 200 years due to erosion: the wearing away of topsoil by wind and water. Effects: • Desertification: areas where topsoil is easily destroyed, and the land becomes desert-like. • Soil can be degraded by agriculture to the point at which it is no longer productive. • Salinization: When small amounts of salts in irrigation water accumulate and become highly concentrated in the soil.

12. Irrigation Problems • Waterlogging- when the soil remains under water for prolonged periods which impairs root growth because the roots cannot get oxygen. • Salinization- when the small amounts of salts in irrigation water become highly concentrated on the soil surface through evaporation. • And, of course, DROUGHT!

13. Desertification • Desertification- When soil is degraded by agriculture to the point at which they are no longer productive.

14. Fertilizers • Organic fertilizers- organic matter from plants and animals. Typically made from animal manure that has been allowed to decompose. • Inorganic fertilizers (synthetic)- fertilizers that are produced commercially. This is usually done by combusting natural gas, which allows nitrogen from the atmosphere to be “fixed” and captured in fertilizer. • Remember “nitrogen fixation”?

15. Monocropping • Growing a large amount of a single species of plant. • Advantages: • allows large expanses of land to be planted, and then harvested, all at the same time. • Disadvantages: • When monocropped fields are readied for planting or harvesting all at once, soil will be exposed over many hectares at the same time. • Some farmland in the United States loses an average of 1 metric ton of topsoil per hectare/year to winderosion. • Pestseasily invade monocrops and reproduce rapidly. • Monocropping removes habitat for predators that might otherwise control the pest population.

16. Pest Control Pesticides: substances that kill pests. Solutions: • Biological Pest Control • Pathogens • Plant defenses • Chemicals from plants • Disrupting insect breeding • Organic Pest Control • Companion Planting • Ladybugs • Soapy water Issues: • Beneficial Organismssuffer from chemicals, too. • Humans have also suffered cancer and illness due to exposure to pesticides. • Many pesticides are persistent(do not break down into harmless chemicals when they enter the environment)and accumulate in water and soil.

17. Pesticides • Pesticide- a substance that kills or controls organisms that people consider pests. • Insecticide- target insects • Herbicides- target plants Related to: Broad-spectrum - pesticides designed to kill many different types of pests. Selective – pesticides designed to kill a narrower range of organisms. vs. Non-persistent - pesticides that breaks down relatively rapidly, usually in weeks to months. Persistent - pesticides that do not break down and thus remain in the environment, accumulating in water and soil. vs.

18. Pesticides • Bioaccumulation- some pesticides build up over time in the fatty tissues of predators. • An example was DDT. • When an organism containing the pesticide is eaten, the chemical is transferred to the consumer. • This eventually leads to very high pesticide concentrations at high trophic levels.

19. Pesticides • Resistance - pest populations may evolve resistance to a pesticide over time. • Pesticide treadmill - the cycle of pesticide development followed by pest resistance, requiring development of a new pesticide.

20. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) • Integrated pest management- using a variety of techniques designed to minimize pesticide inputs. Techniques: • Crop rotation • Intercropping • Planting pest resistant crop varieties • Creating habitats for predators • Limited use of pesticides

21. Agricultural Effects on the Climate From Farming in general…… • CO2releases linked to deforestation • 9% of global CO2 emissions comes from livestock • Methane releases from fermenting cattle feces • 35–40% of global methane emissions • Nitrous oxide releases from fertilizer application • 64% of global nitrous oxide emissions

22. GMOsGenetically Modified Organisms

23. Greater yield More profit Increase nutrition Pest resistance Herbicide tolerance Disease resistance Cold tolerance Drought tolerance Salinity tolerance Pharmaceuticals Environmental hazards Harm to other organisms Reduced effectiveness of pesticides Gene transfer to non-target species Human health risks Unlabeled / Unregulated Antibiotics lose effectiveness Allergens, Carcinogens (cause cancer) Unwanted Steroids & Hormones GMOsGenetically Modified Organisms CONs PROs

24. GMOsGenetically Modified Organisms • What are the impacts of GMOs on the environment? • More than 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance 5. As a result, use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has increased 16 times since GMOs were introduced 6. • GM crops are also responsible for the emergence of herbicide resistant “super weeds” and “super bugs,” which can only be killed with more toxic poisons like 2,4-D (a major ingredient in Agent Orange)7,8. • GMOs are a direct extension of chemical agriculture and are developed and sold by the world’s biggest chemical companies. • The long-term impacts of GMOs are unknown, and once released into the environment, these novel organisms cannot be recalled. https://www.nongmoproject.org/gmo-facts/

25. Farming Methods • Nomadic grazing - moving herds of animals to find productive feeding grounds. • Traditional farming - still used in the developing world where human labor is used and not machinery. • Conventional agriculture - “industrial agriculture” where labor is reduced and machinery is used. • Shifting agriculture - used in areas with nutrient poor soils. It involves planting an area for a few years until the land is depleted of nutrients and then moving to another area and repeating the process. “Subsistence”

26. High-Density Animal Farming • CAFOs(concentrated animal feeding operations) - large structures or lots where animals are being raised in high density numbers. • High-density animal farming is used for beef cattle, dairy cows, hogs, and poultry, all of which are confined or allowed very little room for movement. • Animals are given antibiotics to reduce the risk of adverse health effects and diseases which would normally be high in such highly concentrated animal populations. • contributing to an increase in antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms that can affect humans.

27. Harvesting of Fish and Shellfish • Fishery - a commercially harvestable population of fish within a particular ecological region. • Bycatch - unintentional catch of non-target species. • Fishery collapse- the decline of a fish population by 90% or more.

28. Aquaculture • Aquaculture- the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, shellfish, and seaweeds. • CON: • environmental problems: • wastewater containing feces, uneaten food, and antibiotics is pumped back into the river or ocean • may contain bacteria, viruses, and pests that thrive in the high-density habitat • fish that escape from aquaculture facilities spread diseases and parasites in surrounding waters. PRO: can alleviate some of the human-caused pressure on overexploited fisheries while providing much-needed protein for the more than 1 billion under-nourished people in the world.

29. Sustainable Agriculture • Sustainable agriculture- producing enough food to feed the world’s population without destroying the land, polluting the environment, or reducing biodiversity. • Intercropping- two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time. • Crop rotation- rotating crops species from season to season. • Agroforestry- intercropping trees with vegetables. • Contour plowing- plowing and harvesting parallel to the land to prevent erosion. • No-till agriculture- not tilling the land after each harvest helps to stop soil degradation by leaving crop residues in the fields.

30. Organic Agriculture • Organic agriculture- production of crops without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. • Organic agriculture follows several basic principles: • Use ecological principles and work with natural systems rather than dominating them. • Keep as much organic matter and as many nutrients in the soil and on the farm as possible. • Avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. • Maintain the soil by increasing soil mass, biological activity, and beneficial chemical properties. • Reduce the adverse environmental effects of agriculture.