How can all of the people in the world be fed?

1. How can all of the people in the world be fed?

2. Food Distribution Problems

3. War • Famine often accompanies war or involves criminality (clip: YouTube - Somalia Behind the HeadlinesSomalia) YouTube - 8 minute crash course about Somalia • YouTube - Black Hawk Down - Trailer Not able to plant crops – too dangerous • Relief resources only available during ceasefires • Sometimes the resources are taken by the government or military powers to feed the soldiers rather than the civilians

4. Debt • Many countries owe the IMF or World Bank and therefore sanctions are imposed on their countries • Forced to grow “cash crops” for profit – coffee, cotton, tea, sugar cane, peanuts • Less land for subsistence food crops • Means cutting spending on health, education, and housing leading to greater poverty and the cycle continues

5. Technology • Green Revolution • Super seeds require more water, fertilizer and pesticides • Poor countries can’t afford to grow food • Contaminates water • Genetically modified foods

6. Natural Causes • Not as large a factor as the 3 mentioned above • Drought • Poor soil quality • Flooding • Climate

7. The Green Revolution • The introduction and rapid spread of high yield wheat and rice. First large use of chemical pesticides and high yield varieties of crops • Achieved by crossing of the different strains of major food crops to greater and larger yields that were more resistance to drought and disease. • When: mid 1960’s • Purpose: To meet the food needs of the developing world.

8. The Results…. • led to greater grain and rice production • higher food outputs for LDC’s • Helped stave off catastrophic famines! • Self-sufficiency for some countries (Pakistan-wheat exporter, India-11 m tonnes to 27 m tons from 1965 to 1972, Mexico- double wheat yields, Philippines and Indonesia-rice previously imported) • Planting dates become more flexible

10. Criticisms of the Green Revolution • Rich farmers have the resources for fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation water, machinery, storage and transportation (gap between rich and poor farmers widen) • Colour, texture and tastes of new rice not well received. • More difficult to raise output of rice with biotechnology due to precise water control. • high yield varieties more costly to produce • Many HYVs require more labour than the traditional counterparts (irrigation and fertilization) • Contamination of watersheds by nitrates and phosphates, long term destroyed soil • Loss of biodiversity-4 strains of wheat produce 3/4 of Canada’s crop. • If farmers only rely on a few strains of a plant, a new disease can wipe out a large portion of the harvest

11. FACT • Some African countries import wheat due to the trend to consume “western foods”. Also, it is cheaper because governments have kept down the price of imported cereals. Thus, local farmers produce CASH CROPS for export rather than food crops for local consumption.

12. Solutions… • Maintain genetic Banks where seeds from a great diversity of plants can be frozen and stored. • Control population • Genetically modified foods (GM) • Get from the Sea… The Blue Revolution

13. The Blue Revolution • Modern technology has allowed us to obtain food from the sea in many fish varieties • increased seventeen fold in the last fifty years • Aquaculture, or the growing or harvesting of marine plants and animals for human consumption, is predicted to overtake the traditional wild fishery

15. What it can do… • Protein source for the one billion chronically malnourished people worldwide • Relieve pressure on land

16. Concerns • Exploitation of the traditional wild fishery • Boundary disputes • Aquaculture destroys land along coasts • Water pollution • Wetland loss • Spread of disease

17. What About the Terms Genetic Engineering/Genetically Modified? Genetic engineering is the basic tool set of biotechnology Genetic engineering involves: • Isolating genes • Modifying genes so they function better • Preparing genes to be inserted into a new species • Developing transgenes

18. What is a transgenic? Concept Based on the Term Transgene Transgene – the genetically engineered gene added to a species Ex. – modified EPSP synthase gene (encodes a protein that functions even when plant is treated with Roundup) Transgenic – an organism containing a transgene introduced by technological (not breeding) methods Ex. – Roundup Ready Crops (owned by Monsanto, as seen in “Food Inc”)

19. Why are transgenics important? We can develop organisms that express a “novel” trait not normally found in the species Extended shelf-life tomato (Flavr-Savr) Herbicide resistant soybean (Roundup Ready)

20. Agriculture Transgenics On the Market • Insect resistant cotton – Bt toxin kills the • cotton boll worm • transgene = Bt protein Source: USDA • Insect resistant corn – Bt toxin kills the • European corn borer • transgene = Bt protein Normal Transgenic

21. Herbicide resistant crops Now: soybean, corn, canola Coming: sugarbeet, lettuce, strawberry alfalfa, potato, wheat Source: Monsanto Virus resistance - papya resistant to papaya ringspot virus

22. Biotech chymosin; the enzyme used to curdle milk products Source: Chr. Hansen bST; bovin somatotropin; used to increase milk production (remember “Food Inc”WAl-MART STOPPED Bst Milk) Source: Rent Mother Nature

23. Some Ag Biotech Products Are Discontinued Why??? • Poor Quality • FlavrSavr tomatoes (Calgene) • Negative Consumer Response • Tomato paste (Zeneca) • Negative Corporate Response • NewLeaf (Monsanto) • Universal Negative Publicity • StarLink corn (Aventis)

24. Next Generation of Ag Biotech Products Golden Rice – increased Vitamin A content by adding carotene (effort to fight childhood blindness but not without controversy) Sunflower – white mold resistance Source: Minnesota Microscopy Society

25. Turfgrass – herbicide resistance; slower growing (= reduced mowing) Bio Steel – spider silk expressed in goats; used to make soft-body bullet proof vests (Nexia)

26. Human Applications • Pharmaceutical products • New solutions to old problems • Disease diagnosis • Determine what disease you have or may get  • Gene therapy • Correcting disease by introducing a corrective gene

27. Biotechnology and Health The genes for these proteins are: • Cloned • Inserted into bacteria

28. Environmental Applications Bioremediation - cleanup contaminated sites; uses microbes designed to degrade the pollution Indicator bacteria – contamination can be detected in the environment

29. Future Health-related Biotech Products Vaccines – herpes, hepatitis C, AIDS, malaria Tooth decay – engineered Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria that destroys enamel

30. Edible Vaccines Transgenic Plants Serving Human Health Needs • Works like any vaccine • A transgenic plant with a pathogen protein gene is developed • Potato, banana, and tomato are targets • Humans eat the plant • The body produces antibodies against pathogen protein • Humans are “immunized” against the pathogen • Examples: • Diarrhea • Hepatitis B • Measles

31. A Popular Term We Need To Know GMOs - Genetically modified organisms • GMO - an organism that expresses traits that result • from the introduction of foreign DNA • Originally a term equivalent to transgenic organism • Also called GMFs or “Frankenfoods”

32. The GMO Ruse • Some claim any improved biological product is a GMO • They feel this will • ease the publics fear • pave the way for product acceptance • For example, some call plant varieties biotechnology products • This is a false claim

33. Let’s Be Up Front • Biotechnology adds traits not available in the species •  Soybean does not have a gene to breakdown Roundup • The gene comes from bacteria • Breeding  Biotechnology • Breeding only exchanges genes found in the species • Breeding can transfer the transgene to other breeding materials • BUT this does not make it a biotechnology procedure

34. Important Plant Improvement Methods • Breeding • Crossing two individuals from the same species; • produces a new, improved variety; • not a biotechnology procedure Source: USDA • Transformation • Adding a gene from another species; the • essential biotechnology procedure to produce • transgenics Source: USDA

35. Interspecific Cross Wheat Rye X Triticale New species, but NOT biotechnology products

36. The Roundup Ready Story • Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide • Active ingredient in Roundup herbicide • Kills all plants it come in contact with • Inhibits a key enzyme (EPSP synthase) in an amino acid pathway • Plants die because they lack the key amino acids • A resistant EPSP synthase gene allows crops • to survive spraying

37. The Golden Rice Story • Vitamin A deficiency is a major health problem • Causes blindness • Influences severity of diarrhea, measles • >100 million children suffer from the problem • For many countries, the infrastructure doesn’t exist • to deliver vitamin pills • Improved vitamin A content in widely consumed crops • an attractive alternative

38. IPP Geranylgeranyl diphosphate Phytoene synthase Phytoene Problem: Rice lacks these enzymes Phytoene desaturase ξ-carotene desaturase Lycopene Lycopene-beta-cyclase Normal Vitamin A “Deficient” Rice  -carotene (vitamin A precursor) -Carotene Pathway Problem in Plants

39. IPP Geranylgeranyl diphosphate Phytoene synthase Phytoene Vitamin A Pathway is complete and functional Phytoene desaturase ξ-carotene desaturase Lycopene Lycopene-beta-cyclase  -carotene (vitamin A precursor) Golden Rice The Golden Rice Solution -Carotene Pathway Genes Added Daffodil gene Single bacterial gene; performs both functions Daffodil gene

40. Before After Final Test of the Transgenic Consumer Acceptance RoundUp Ready Corn

41. Desertification….What is It? • Land degradation in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas due to: • Over cultivation • Overgrazing • Deforestation • Poor irrigation practices

42. Problems with Desertification • Drought - Irregular precipitation • Populations in these areas used the methods of shifting agriculture and nomadic herding to respond to these challenges but… changing economic and political circumstances, population growth, and a trend towards more settled communities has increased desertification

44. The Earth's drylands are found in more than 110 nations, and moderate to severe land degradation has reduced the productivity of more than 70% of these areas..

45. Levels of degradation in the world

46. Consequences… • reduces the land’s resilience to natural climate variability. • Soil becomes less productive • Vegetation becomes damaged or lost • Some of the consequences are borne by people living outside the immediately affected area • Food production is undermined • Desertification contributes to famine • Desertification is a huge drain on economic resources

47. Africa and Desertification • 2/3 of the continent is desert or drylands. • affected by frequent and severe droughts. • Many African nations are landlocked, have widespread poverty, need external assistance and depend heavily on natural resources for subsistence • few institutional, legal, scientific, technical and educational resources • linked to migration and food security-Sahel zone (southern border of the Sahara Desert )

48. What about North America? 90% of arid land impacted • overstocking (livestock)- contributes to erosion and desertification. • excessive withdrawals of groundwater - resulting in a rapid decline in height of the water table. • salinization – from salts left behind on the soil surface after the irrigation water has evaporated.