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Food and Agriculture

Food and Agriculture. Chapter 7, pages 152-175. The issues:. Difference between food production and agriculture in the past and today: Refrigeration and transportation Chemicals Genetic engineering Packaging and processing Higher resource use, more pollution. Food as an industry.

geoffrey-kristian
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Food and Agriculture

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  1. Food and Agriculture Chapter 7, pages 152-175

  2. The issues: • Difference between food production and agriculture in the past and today: • Refrigeration and transportation • Chemicals • Genetic engineering • Packaging and processing • Higher resource use, more pollution

  3. Food as an industry • Farms managed to maximize profit • Environmental cost?

  4. Industrialized food • Problems: • Resource use • Pollution • Antibiotics • Pesticides • Nutrition

  5. Global food supply • Food is not a local commodity • Seasonal disconnect • Use of fossil fuels • Food in U.S. travels 1500 miles • Calorie (energy) imbalance

  6. What do we eat? • 3 grains • Wheat and rice = 60% world’s calories • 23 plants • 8 animals

  7. Meat and dairy • CAFO • Issues: • Animal rights • Waste • Antibiotics/hormones

  8. Livestock and pollution • What happens to the waste? • 500 million tons of manure • CAFOs produce more than half • Groundwater contamination • Air pollution

  9. Antibiotics and hormones • Antibiotics widespread in CAFOs • Antibiotic resistance • Hormones used to speed up fattening, rBGH/rBST for increased milk • Effect on humans?

  10. Free-range • Regulated for poultry meat only • Allowed access to outdoors, but how much?

  11. Movie time! • http://www.themeatrix.com

  12. Seafood • 15% of all protein worldwide • Main protein in developing countries • Fisheries declining or unsustainable • Fishing methods destructive

  13. Farmed fish • 80% of U.S. seafood imported, 40% farmed • Similar problems as CAFOs • 40x more PCBs than in other protein (www.ewg.org) • Salmon had higher levels of 13 toxins

  14. Crops • Associated topics: • Soil • Water • Chemicals • Genetic modification • Distribution

  15. Soil • Healthy soil vital to agriculture • Composed of: • Minerals • Organic material • Living organisms

  16. Soil horizons • Influenced by: • Organic matter • Precipitation • Parent material • Desert soils • Aridisols • Most common soil order

  17. Erosion • Caused by wind and water • Loss of topsoil, reduction in fertility

  18. Erosion in the U.S. • 1.9 billion tons of soil lost/year

  19. Water • Most water worldwide used for agriculture • In Coachella Valley, irrigation essential • Soil salinity results

  20. Fertilizers • Plants need N-P-K • Increase yield • Problems: • Too much fertilization • Made from fossil fuels • Alternatives: • Manure • Compost

  21. The green revolution • High yield crops • Synthetic fertilizers • Increased production

  22. Pesticides • Pests reduce yield • Pesticides kill non-target species • Enter water supply, biomagnify • Other control methods possible

  23. Genetic engineering • Splicing genes • GMOs • Good: increase crop yield • Bad: cross pollination, select for resistant pests, higher herbicide use, human safety

  24. Organic Foods • Definitions: • No pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or sewage sludge • No antibiotics or growth hormones • Farms are inspected and certified

  25. Seasonal and local • Benefits: • Less fuel to import • Organic • Support local economy • Seasonal foods • Local food • Farmer’s markets: Palm Springs, Sat. 8-12:30 • CSA’s: $28/wk.

  26. Sustainable agriculture • Production of food indefinitely without destroying the environment • Creating farming communities • Organic movement

  27. Soil conservation • Contour plowing, terracing • Cover crops • Companion planting • Mulching • Reduced tillage

  28. Nutrition • Chronic hunger

  29. Agricultural production • 95% of food shortages are in developing nations

  30. Hunger • Need: 2,200 calories/day • 15% of people in developing nations chronically undernourished

  31. Food security • “The ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-to-day basis” • Linked to poverty • Insecurities in rich and poor countries • Difficult to escape chronic hunger

  32. Microcredit • 2006 Nobel Peace Prize • Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank • Average loan $200 • Helps reduce poverty • http://www.kiva.org

  33. Famine • Cause: • Drought • War • Corruption • Ethiopia famine (1984) • 1 million died • Darfur (2003-today) • 400,000 dead

  34. Malnutrition • Lack of protein, vitamins, or minerals • Lack of variety in food • Health problems: • Anemia – iron • Spina bifida – folic acid • Kwashiorkor – protein • Rickets – vitamin D

  35. Obesity • BMI greater than 30 • In U.S., 30% of adults obese • Highest obesity rate in developed world • Symbolic?

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