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The Green Revolution: Feeding 9 Billion People

Explore the impact of the Green Revolution on food production, Norman Borlaug's contributions, agricultural advancements, and challenges such as waterlogging and pesticide use. Understand the benefits of genetic engineering and concerns about genetically modified organisms. Learn about different farming methods and the importance of sustainable agriculture. Discover how innovations in agriculture can help feed the growing global population sustainably.

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The Green Revolution: Feeding 9 Billion People

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  1. Chapter 11 Feeding the World

  2. Global Undernutrition

  3. Nutritional Requirements • Undernutrition - not consuming enough calories to be healthy. • Malnourished - a persons diet lacks the correct balance of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals even though they get enough calories. • Famine – food insecurity so great that a larger number of deaths occur over a short time period within a given region

  4. Annual Meat Consumption

  5. Global Grain Production, 1950-2006

  6. Reasons for Undernutrition and Malnutrition • Poverty – famine is due to lack of distribution rather than food scarcity • Political & economic factors– food supplies can both be both cause and effect of under or malnourishment • Agricultural resources being divertedto feed livestock and poultry rather than people

  7. The Green Revolution • Energy Subsidy – a strong consideration in developing sustainable agriculture. • New management techniques and mechanization as well as the triad of • fertilization, • irrigation, and • improved crop varieties. • This has increased food production dramatically.

  8. The Green Revolution The human population first hit 1B in 1804. It took another 123 years to get to 2B. In 1960 the world’s human population hit 3B.

  9. World Population What is today’s world population of humans? What will it be mid-century? How will we feed 9 Billion People?

  10. The Green Revolution Norman Borlaug -“ The Father of the Green Revolution” Credited with saving >1B people from starvation

  11. What drove the Green Revolution? Seeds Fertilizers Pesticides

  12. Fertilizer WW2 – N used in TNT Bomb factories converted to fertilizer factories

  13. Hybridized Seeds Rice, corn & wheat were targets. Take up more N, grow faster, bigger!! Take up more N, fall over!! Hybrids formed with dwarf varieties.

  14. Green Revolution!! In the 1960’s advances in technology and agriculture led to increased crop production. Semi-dwarf rice was introduced to India in the early 1960’s It increased crop yield 10 times traditional yields.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. Monocropping • Growing a large amount of a single species of plant.

  18. Pesticides • Pesticide - a substance that kills or controls organisms that people consider pests. • Insecticide - target insects • Herbicides - target plants • Fungicide – target fungi

  19. Pesticides • Broad-spectrum pesticides- designed to kill many different types of pests. • Selective pesticides- designed to kill a narrower range of organisms.

  20. Pesticides • Persistent- pesticides that remain in the environment a long time. • Nonpersistent - pesticide that breaks down relatively rapidly, usually in weeks to months.

  21. Pesticides • Bioaccumulation - some pesticides are found to 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.

  22. Pesticides • Resistance - pest populations may evolve resistance to a pesticide over time. These are said to be resistant. • Pesticide treadmill - the cycle of pesticide development followed by pest resistance, followed by development of a new pesticide.

  23. Benefits of Genetic Engineering • Greater yield • Greater food quality • Reductions in pesticide use • Reduction of world hunger by increased food production • Increased profits

  24. Concerns about Genetically Modified Organisms • Safety for human consumption • Effects on biodiversity • Regulation of genetically modified organisms

  25. Farming Methods • Conventional agriculture - industrial agriculture where labor is reduced and machinery is used. • Traditional farming - still used in the developing world where human labor is used and not machinery. • 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. Also called “Slash and burn”. • Nomadic grazing - moving herds of animals to find productive feeding grounds.

  26. Desertification • Desertification - When soil is degraded by agriculture to the point at which they are not longer productive.

  27. 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.

  28. No-till Agriculture • No-till agriculture - helps to stop soil degradation by leaving crop residues in the fields and not tilling the land after each harvest.

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

  30. Shade Grown Coffee

  31. Organic Agriculture • Organic agriculture - production of crops without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

  32. High-Density Animal Farming • CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) - large structures where animals are being raised in high density numbers.

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

  34. Aquaculture • Aquaculture - the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, shellfish, and seaweeds.

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