What’s for Lunch?

1. What’s for Lunch? Martha B. Sharma APHG Workshop NCGE – Lake Tahoe, NV October 6-7, 2006 www.rettew.com

2. V. Agricultural and Rural Land Use • Development and diffusion of agriculture • Major agricultural production regions • Rural land use and settlement patterns • Modern commercial agriculture

3. Importance of Agriculture • All humans depend on agriculture for food • Urban-industrial societies depend on the base of food surplus generated by farmers and herders • Without agriculture there could be no cities, universities, factories, or offices • Today agriculture remains the most important economic activity in the world • Agriculture employs 45percent of the working population • In some parts of Asia and Africa, over 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in agriculture

4. Agricultural Revolutions • Agriculture has passed through a series of revolutionary changes • Not everywhere at the same time • Some places still largely unaffected • Transition from predominantly subsistence activity to predominantly capital-intensive, market-oriented commercial agriculture • Three distinct revolutions

5. First Agricultural Revolution • ~12,000 year ago • Replaced hunting and gathering • Involved plant and animal domestication • Emergence of seed agriculture (wheat, rice) • Use of the plow • Use of draft animals • Modest population increase and outmigration

6. Second Agricultural Revolution • Late Middle Ages • Occurred in tandem with Industrial Revolution • End of feudal landholding system • Enclosure of individually owned fields • Emergence of urban industrial markets • Modification of subsistence farming practices • Crop rotation • Use of natural and semi-processed fertilizers • New tools and equipment • Dramatic increase in crop and livestock yields • Transportation technology linking farm and urban commercial food market

7. Third Agricultural Revolution • Origins in North America • Industrialization of agriculture • Mechanization • Replacement of human labor with machines • Chemical farming • Use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides • Food manufacturing • Addition of economic value through processing, canning, refining, packaging • Green Revolution • Plant breeding • Biotechnology • Genetic manipulation

8. Traditional plant breeding Commercial variety New variety Traditional donor DNA is a strand of genes, much like a strand of pearls. Traditional plant breeding combines many genes at once. (many genes are transferred) = X (crosses) Desired Gene Desired gene Plant biotechnology Commercial variety New variety Desired gene Using plant biotechnology, a single gene may be added to the strand. (only desired gene is transferred) = (transfers) Desired gene • Traditional breeding involves exchanging all genetic material between two related plants. • Genetic engineering usually only involves moving one or two genes and can cross the species barrier.

9. Protests at WTO Meetings

10. Biotechnology • Manipulation and management of biological organisms • Recombinant DNA techniques • Tissue culture (cloning) • Cell fusion • Embryo transfer • Positive: high yielding, disease resistant “super” plants • Negative: periphery excluded by distance and cost + concerns about safety

12. Increase in Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S. Source: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/

13. More than 50 biotech food products have been approved for commercial use in the United States • Canola • Corn • Cotton • Papaya • Potato • Soybeans • Squash • Sugarbeets • Sweet corn • Tomato

14. Four crops accounted for nearly all of the global biotech crop area in 2002 Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications

15. Four countries accounted for 99 percent* of the global biotech crop area in 2002 *Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain and Uruguay accounted for the remaining 1 percent of biotech crop acres. Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications

16. Some Benefits of Genetically Modified Foods

17. Some Concerns about Genetically Modified Foods • Possible adverse effects on human health • Introduction of new allergens • Antibiotic-resistant genes in foods • Production of new toxins • Concentration of toxic metals • Enhancement of toxic fungi • Environmental impacts • Dangers not yet identified http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/

18. Bringing It Into The Classroom “Harvest of Fear” A Learning Activity

19. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/

20. Harvest of Fear -- Synopsis In "Harvest of Fear," FRONTLINE and NOVA explore the intensifying debate over genetically-modified (gm) food crops. Interviewing scientists, farmers, biotech and food industry representatives, government regulators, and critics of biotechnology, this two-hour report presents both sides of the debate, exploring the risks and benefits, the hopes and fears, of this new technology. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/

21. Eight Main Themes • GM foods: pros and cons • Pests, pesticides, GM capabilities • Conflicts with mixed crops • Pesticide resistance • Attitudes toward GM foods • Intellectual property rights and GM foods • Organic farming • Green Revolution

22. Using the Class Activity Student resources provided: • Page 1 – Viewing Guide • Main Themes in the video • Important terms (21) used in the video • Questions to consider while watching the video • Page 2 – Taking a Position • Questions (6) to guide development of a position statement • Selected web sites to begin research

23. FOR AGAINST