Food, Soil, and Pest Management

1. Miller Chapter 12A Food, Soil, and Pest Management

2. Vitamin A deficiency in some developing countries leads to • Blindness • Death • 1999: Porrykus and Beyer • Genetically engineered rice with beta-carotene and more iron Grains of Hope or an Illusion?

3. Many of the poor suffer health problems from chronic lack of food and poor nutrition, while many people in developed countries have health problems from eating too much food. The greatest obstacles to providing enough food for everyone are poverty, political upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful environmental effects of food production. What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?

4. Food security : daily access to enough nuritious food • Food insecurity : live with chronic hunger snd poor nutrition • 1 in 6 in developing countries • Root cause: poverty Many of the Poor Have Health Problems Because They Do Not Get Enough to Eat

5. Macronutrients • Carbohydrates • Proteins • Fats • Micronutrients • Vitamins • Minerals Many People Suffer from Chronic Hunger and Malnutrition

6. Chronic under nutrition, • hunger , • mental retardation, • stunted growth • Chronic malnutrition: • low protein, high-carbohydrate • weak, more susceptible to disease, hinders development • Vitamin and mineral deficiencies in people in developing countries : Iron, Vitamin A, Iodine Many People Suffer from Chronic Hunger and Malnutrition Goiter in Bangladesh

7. Key Nutrients for a Healthy Human Life

8. Famine : severe shortage of food • Usually caused by crop failures from • Drought • Flooding • War • Mass migration of starving people to other areas Acute Food Shortages Lead to Famines War and the Environment: Starving Children in Famine-Stricken Sudan, Africa

9. Overnutrition : when food energy intake exceeds energy use and causes excess body fat • Similar health problems to those who are underfed • Lower life expectancy • Greater susceptibility to disease and illness • Lower productivity and life quality Many People Have Health Problems from Eating Too Much

10. Three systems produce most of our food • Croplands: grains 77% use 11% of land area • Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots: 16% ,using 29% of the world’s land area • Aquaculture: 7% • Importance of wheat, rice, and corn: • provide about 47% of the calories , 42% of the protein • Tremendous increase in global food production • technological advancement , machinery Food Production Has Increased Dramatically

11. Industrialized agriculture, high-input agriculture • uses heavy equipment and large amounts of financial capital, fossil fuels, water,fertilizer • Goal is to steadily increase crop yield • Plantation agriculture: developing countries • cash crops – bananas, soybeans, sugarcane,coffee, vegetables on monocultures Industrialized Crop Production Relies on High-Input Monocultures

12. Satellite Images of Greenhouse Land Used in the Production of Food Crops • Increased use of greenhouses to raise crops

13. Traditional subsistence agriculture : human labor and draft animals, enough food to feed family only • Traditional intensive agriculture : human and draft animals, fertilizer, water, enough to feed family, sell some for income • Polyculture : several crops on the same plot, crop diversity • Benefits over monoculture • Slash-and-burn agriculture- clearing in tropical forests growing a variety of cash crops – 20 types • mature at different times ,keeps soil covered Traditional Agriculture Often Relies on Low-Input Polycultures

14. Soil composition: complex mixture of eroded rock, mineral nutrients, decaying organic matter, water, air and billions of living organisms • Soil formation :bedrock subject to mechanical and chemical weathering and biological processes to form soil • Layers (horizons) of mature soils • O horizon: leaf litter • A horizon: topsoil , humus • B horizon: subsoil, inorganic matter, (sand,silt,clay,gravel) • C horizon: parent material, often bedrock • Soil erosion : water and wind Soil Is the Base of life on land

15. Soil Formation and Generalized Soil Profile

16. Green Revolution: increase crop yields(since 1988) • Monocultures of high-yield key crops • E.g., rice, wheat, and corn • Use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and water • Multiple cropping • Second Green Revolution -1967. FAst growing dwarf varieties of rice and wheat . India , China, Central and South America • World grain has tripled in production A Closer Look at Industrialized Crop Production

17. Global Outlook: Total Worldwide Grain Production (Wheat, Corn, and Rice)

18. Agribusiness : giant multinational increasingly control the growing • Annual sales : more than automative , steel, housing combined .1/5 of the country’s GDP • Food production: very efficient • Percent of income spent on food : 2% of income Industrialized Food Production in the United States

19. Gene Revolution • Cross-breeding through artificial selection • Slow process – 15 years or more to produce a crop • Resulting varieties remain useful for only 5-10 years. • Genetic engineering • Genetic modified organisms (GMOs): transgenic organisms Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties

20. Age of Genetic Engineering: developing crops that are resistant to • Heat and cold • Herbicides • Insect pests • Parasites • Viral diseases • Drought • Salty or acidic soil • Advanced tissue culture techniques Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties

21. Animals for meat raised in • Pastures • Densely Packed Feedlots • Confined animal feeding operations • Meat production increased fourfold between 1961 and 2007 • Demand is expected to go higher as countries become more industrialized and incomes increase Meat Production and Consumption Have Grown Steadily

22. Aquaculture, blue revolution • World’s fastest-growing type of food production • Raising marine and freshwater species in ponds and underwater cages • Dominated by operations that raise herbivorous species –carp,catfish,tilapia Fish and Shellfish Production Have Increased

23. Integrate crop growing and aquaculture by using rice straw, pig and duck manure to fertilize farm ponds and rice paddies in order to produce phytoplankton eaten by various species of carp Poly aquaculture

24. Food production in the future may be limited by its serious environmental impacts, including soil erosion and degradation, desertification, water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation and destruction of biodiversity. Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production

25. Environmental Impacts of food production Food Production Biodiversity Loss Soil Water Air Pollution Human Health Loss and degradation of grasslands, forests, and wetlands Erosion Water waste Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) from fossil fuel use Nitrates in drinking water (blue baby) Aquifer depletion Loss of fertility Increased runoff, sediment pollution, and flooding from cleared land Greenhouse gas emissions (N2O) from use of inorganic fertilizers Pesticide residues in drinking water, food, and air Salinization Fish kills from pesticide runoff Waterlogging Contamination of drinking and swimming water from livestock wastes Pollution from pesticides and fertilizers Greenhouse gas emissions of methane (CH4) by cattle (mostly belching) Desertification Killing wild predators to protect livestock Algal blooms and fish kills in lakes and rivers caused by runoff of fertilizers and agricultural wastes Loss of genetic diversity of wild crop strains replaced by monoculture strains Bacterial contamination of meat Other air pollutants from fossil fuel use and pesticide sprays Fig. 12-9, p. 286

26. Soil erosion : movement of soil components • Natural causes-wind, water • Human causes- • Two major harmful effects of soil erosion • Loss of soil fertility:depletion of plant nutrients in topsoil • Water pollution in surface waters, sediment, residues of fertilizers and pesticides Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem in Parts of the World

27. Global Soil Erosion Serious concern Some concern Stable or nonvegetative Stepped Art Fig. 12-11, p. 287

28. Desertification Moderate: 10-25% drop Severe : 25-50% drop Very severe ; more than 50% - gullies, dunes Effect of global warming on desertification increase drought in arid areas drop in food production, Drought and Human Activities Are Degrading Drylands Sahel region in W Africa

29. Desertification of Arid and Semiarid Lands

30. Irrigation problems • Salinization: accumulation of salts -Asia • Waterlogging : water accumulates underground and raises the water table consequences of Excessive Irrigation

31. Expansion of the green revolution • requires huge inputs of fertilizer, pesticide, water, otherwise yields not much more than traditional crops • costs too much for subsistence farmers • Depletion of water, soil salinization, climate change Solutions • Irrigating more cropland? 80% increase by 2050 • Cultivating more land? mostly marginal land. • Using GMOs? increase yield /acre • Multicropping Limits to Expanding the Green Revolutions

32. Industrialized food production and consumption have a large net energy loss Industrialized Food Production Requires Huge Inputs of Energy Industrialized Agriculture uses ~17% of All Commercial Energy Used in the U.S.

33. GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS Projected Advantages Projected Disadvantages Irreversible and unpredictable genetic and ecological effects Need less fertilizer Need less water More resistant to insects, disease, frost, and drought Harmful toxins in food from possible plant cell mutations Grow faster New allergens in food Can grow in slightly salty soils Lower nutrition Increase in pesticide- resistant insects, herbicide- resistant weeds, and plant diseases May need less pesticides Tolerate higher levels of herbicides Can harm beneficial insects Higher yields Lower genetic diversity Less spoilage Fig. 12-16, p. 291

34. Biodiversity threatened when • Forest and grasslands are replaced with croplands • tropical forests and cerrado (savanna) in Brazil • Agrobiodiversity threatened when • Human-engineered monocultures are used • Replacing nature’s resilient genetic diversity • India – 30,000 varieties of rice, now only 10 • Importance of seed banks • Newest: underground vault in the Norwegian Arctic Food and Bio fuel Production Systems Have Caused Major Biodiversity Losses

35. Producing Fish through Aquaculture Can Harm Aquatic Ecosystems Aquaculture Advantages Disadvantages High efficiency Needs large inputs of land, feed, and water High yield in small volume of water Large waste output Can destroy mangrove forests and estuaries Can reduce overharvesting of fisheries Uses grain to feed some species Low fuel use Dense populations vulnerable to disease High profits Fig. 12-18, p. 293

36. We can sharply cut pesticide use without decreasing crop yields by using a mix of cultivation techniques, biological pest controls, and small amounts of selected chemical pesticides as a last resort (integrated pest management). How Can We Protect Crops from Pests More Sustainably?

37. What is a pest – interferes with human welfare • Natural enemies—predators, parasites, disease organisms—control pests • In natural ecosystems • In many polyculture • agroecosystems Nature Controls the Populations of Most Pests

38. Pesticides • Insecticides – insects killers • Herbicides – weed killers • Fungicides – fungus killers • Rodenticides – rat and mouse killers • Herbivores overcome plant defenses through natural selection: coevolution We Use Pesticides to Try to Control Pest Populations

39. First-generation pesticides-natural chemicals from plants • Second-generation pesticides • Paul Muller: DDT Nobel Prize 1948 • Benefits versus harm • Broad-spectrum agents – toxic to many pests and non-pest species. Chlorinated hydrocarbons: DDT, organophosphates : malathion, parathion • Selective or narrow spectrum agents - • Persistence – length of time they remain deadly in the environment for years, biologically magnified in food webs We Use Pesticides to Try to Control Pest Populations

40. Biologist : DDT use was increasing to control mosquitoes Silent Spring - 1962 Potential threats of uncontrolled use of pesticides Gave impetus to the US environmental movement Individuals Matter: Rachel Carson

41. Save human lives prevented deaths from malaria, typhus and bubonic plague : at least 7 million people • Increases food supplies and profits for farmers protect 55% of the world’s food supply. Profit $1:$4 • Work quickly, long shelf life, easily shipped and applied • Health risks are very low relative to their benefits • New pest control methods: safer and more effective Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several Advantages

42. Accelerate the development of genetic resistance, 5 to 10 years, sooner in the tropics Financial treadmill Kill natural predators and parasites that help control Only 0.1-2% of the pesticide applied by aerial or ground spraying reaches the target pest. Rest pollutes air, water, harm wild life, affect human health Expensive for farmers Some insecticides kill natural predators and parasites that help control the pest population Pollution in the environment Some harm wildlife Some are human health hazards Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several Disadvantages

43. David Pimentel: Pesticide use has not reduced U.S. crop loss to pests • Loss of crops is about 31%, even with 33-fold increase in pesticide use • High environmental, health, and social costs with use, $5-10 in damages for every $1 spent • Use alternative pest management practices could halve the use of chemical pesticides on 40 major US crops • Pesticide industry refutes these findings • Campbell soup tomatoes in Mexico, Rice in Indonesia, Sweden Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several Disadvantages

44. Best-selling herbicide (Roundup), Monsanto Advantages – does not harm living things, degrades into harmless substances within weeks Disadvantages - resistant weeds , expensive to develop other pesticides Glyphosate-Resistant Crop Weed Management System: A Dilemma

46. 1955: Dieldrin sprayed to control mosquitoes • Malaria was controlled • Dieldrin didn’t leave the food chain • Domino effect of the spraying • Happy ending Case Study: Ecological Surprises

47. U.S. federal agencies • EPA • USDA • FDA • Effects of active and inactive pesticide ingredients are poorly documented • Circle of poison, boomerang effect – residues of banned chemicals exported to other countries may come back on food, winds carry persistent pesticides such as DDT Laws and Treaties Can Help to Protect Us from the Harmful Effects of Pesticides

48. 1998 – 50 countries developed treaty that requires exporting countries to have consent from importing countries for exports of 22 pesticides , 5 industrial chemicals 2000 – 100 countries signed to phase out 12 of the most hazardous persistent organic pollutants (POP’s), 9 of them hydrocarbons (DDT) United States has not signed this agreement International Treaties

49. Fool the pest : rotate crops, adjust plant times Provide homes for pest enemies Implant genetic resistance : GMO’s Bring in natural enemies : natural predators Use insect perfumes Hormones Scald them Alternatives to Using Pesticides

50. Integrated pest management (IPM) • Coordinate: cultivation, biological controls, and chemical tools to reduce crop damage to an economically tolerable level • Disadvantages • expert knowledge Integrated Pest Management Is a Component of Sustainable Agriculture