FOOD RESOURCESPART-II

Types of Agriculture

• Industrialized Agriculture – “Agribusiness” or high-input agriculture

• Developed countries• Land – moderate amount• Labor – low• Capital Costs – high (use a lot of fertilizer, pesticides,

and irrigation systems)• Energy Use (fossil fuels) – high• Yield -high• Environmental Impacts – high (soil degradation,

pesticide resistance in agricultural pests)

Industrialized Agriculture

Types of Agriculture

• Intensive Traditional (Rice fields, China, Thailand)

• Developing countries• Capital Costs – low (use fertilizer and will

divert water for irrigation through dams on occasion)

• Energy use (fossil fuels) – low• Environmental Impacts (low-moderate)

Intensive Agriculture

Rice Paddies

Subsistence Agriculture

• Traditional agricultural methods, which are dependent on labor and a large amount of land to produce enough food to feed oneself and one’s family.

• They will have little left over to sell or reserve for hard times.

• Energy requirement: high (from humans and draft animals, rather than from fossil fuels)

Shifting Cultivation • Developing countries• Land – large tracts of tropical

forests cleared and used for agriculture

• Short period of cultivation are followed by longer periods of fallow.

• Labor – low-moderate• Capital Costs – low (rarely use

fertilizer)• Energy use – low to none

• Shift agricultural plots of land until nutrients are restored to land.

• Environmental Impacts (moderate)• Supports relatively small

populations.

Slash-and burn agriculture

• It is shifiting cultivation that involves clearing small patches of tropical forests to plant crops.

• Tropical soils lose productivity quickly when they are cultivated, farmers move from one area of forest to another every three years or so.

• It is land intensive.

Nomadic Herding

• Developing countries• Land – large tracts• Labor – low• Capital Costs – low• Energy use (fossil fuels) – none• Yak in Tibet (Snow Leopard Video)• Nomadic herders must continually

move their livestock to find adequate food for them.

INTERCROPPING

• It is a form of intensive subsistence agriculture that involves growing a variety of plants simultaneously on the same field.

• When certain crops are grown together, they produce higher yields than when they are grown as monocultures.

• Intercropping discourages the buildup of any single pest species to economically destructive levels.

• Native Americans practiced intercropping when they planted corn, bean, and squash seeds in the same mound of soil.

Intercropping by native Americans

• Root systems of these plants grow to different depths, so they do not compete with one another for water and essential minerals.

• Protein-rich bean crop fixes nitrogen that fertilizes the corn and squash plants naturally.

• Example, carbohydrate rich grains such as corn next to protein-rich legumes such as alfalfa that fixes nitrogen in the soils due to Rhizobium sp.

Intercropping

Polyculture • A complex form of intercropping. Many different

species/varieties of plants will mature at different times. This ensures year-round crop production and habitat for pests and wildlife.

• Practiced in the tropics, fast- and slow-maturing crops are often planted together so that plants are harvested throughout the year.

• Produces high sustainable yields.• Provides medicine, fuel, natural pesticides and natural

fertilizers.• Reduces environmental degradation from pesticides and

irrigation and reduces crop losses overall.• Vegetable crops and cereal grains, which mature first, might

be planted with papayas and bananas, which mature later.

Polyculture

Domestication

• The process of taming wild animals or adapting wild plants to serve humans; domestication markedly alters the characteristics of the domesticated organism.

• During the domestication of plants and animals, much of the genetic diversity is lost because the farmer selects for propagation only those plants and animals with the most desirable agricultural characteristics. At the same time, other traits not of obvious value to humans are selected against. As a result, many of the high-yielding crops grown by modern agriculture are genetically uniform.

Domestication

• The lower genetic diversity of domesticated animals and plants increases the likelihood that they will succumb to new strains of disease-causing organisms.

• When a disease breaks out in a domesticated plant or animal population, the entire uniform population is susceptible. The loss is greater than it would be in a natural, varied population, in which at least some individual would contain genes to resist the disease-causing organism.

• Read Page number 434-435 for more information in your text book and discuss with your partner.

Pre-Green revolution• 1912 – German chemist Fritz Haber developed a process for synthesizing ammonia directly

from nitrogen and hydrogen. “The Haber Process”• At the start of World War I, in 1914, Germany was dependent on nitrate deposits in Chile for

nitrogen containing compounds needed to manufacture explosives.• The Allied naval blockade of South America cut off this supply.• By fixing nitrogen from the air, Germany was able to continue explosives production.• From this incident and the development of the Haber process, scientists have continued to fix

nitrogen to manufacture fertilizers that have increased crop yields.• Approximately 50 billion pounds of ammonia are manufactured annually in the USA = BIG

BUSINESS!• The decision to award Fritz Haber the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1918 was the subject of

considerable controversy since he served as chief of Germany’s Chemical Warfare Service and developed chlorine as a poison gas-weapon later used in Nazi Germany concentration camps.

• He was awarded the Nobel Prize because it was believed that “the world would never go hungry again”.

• The ultimate irony came in 1933 when Haber was expelled from Germany because he was Jewish!

Haber Process

Green Revolution

• Using modern cultivation methods and the high-yielding varieties of certain staple crops to produce more food per acre of cropland is known as the green revolution. Norman Borlaug, a U.S scientist who worked on wheat in Mexico during the 1940s and 1950s, is credited with beginning the green revolution.

• His introduction of a short-stemmed, hybrid strain of “miracle wheat” to Mexico and countries in South Asia was followed by the development by other plant breeders of high-yielding varieties of rice and other grain crops.

2nd Green Revolution

• Introduction of genetically modified crops to obtain high yields.

• New herbicides introduced.

New Green Revolution

• “Sasakawa Global 2000”• Ryoichi Sasakawa, Norman Bourlag & Jimmy

Carter• Goal: Obtain high yields in an environmentally

friendly way by introducing• Integrated Management Plans (IPM’s)• Terracing• Intercropping.

Green Revolution (1950-1970)

• Plant monocultures to obtain high yields.• Input pesticides and fertilizers to obtain high

yields.• Increase frequency and intensity of cropping

to obtain high yields.

• Was all of this done to “feed the world” or make high profits?

Green Revolution

• Critics of the green revolution argue• It has made developing countries dependent on

imported technologies, such as agrochemical, tractors a t the expense of traditional agriculture.

• Two important problems associated with higher crop production

• High energy caused by the intensive use of commercial inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.

• The environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, including the green revolution.

Trade-OffsInorganic Commercial Fertilizers

Advantages Disadvantages

Do not add humus to soil

Reduce organic matter in soil

Reduce ability of soil to hold water

Lower oxygen content of soil

Require large amounts ofenergy to produce,transport, and apply

Release the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O)

Runoff can overfertilizenearby lakes and kill fish

Easy to transport

Easy to store

Easy to apply

Inexpensive to produce

Help feed one of every three people in theworld

Without commercialinorganic fertilizers,world food output coulddrop by 40%

Efforts to increase food security in low-income, food-deficient countries• During the 1990s, the FAO initiated a special

program for farmers in 19 nations, most in Africa. • Participating farmers are given genetically improved

seeds, commercial inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides and are trained in improved agricultural techniques.

• These farmers provide demonstrations to neighboring farmers on how to increase food production, reduce water use, control pests, and protect soil, and other natural resources.

• In Ethiopia, this program doubled grain yields at demonstration sites.

The Environmental Impacts of Agriculture

• The agricultural use of fossil fuels and pesticides produces air pollution• Untreated agricultural animal wastes and agricultural chemicals such as

fertilizers and pesticides cause water pollution that reduces biological diversity, harms fisheries, and leads to outbreaks of nuisance species (algal blooms)

• Surface-water pollution in the United States. It is significant in mid western states such as Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

• Agricultural chemicals have been detected in water deep underground as well as in surface waters.

• Nitrates are probably the most widespread groundwater contaminant in agricultural areas.

• Residues of pesticides contaminate our food supply and reduce the number and diversity of beneficial microorganisms in the soil

• Fishes and other aquatic organisms are sometimes killed by pesticide runoff into lakes, rivers and estuaries.

Colorado potato beetles on potato leaves

• As a result of being exposed to heavy application of pesticides over the years, Colorado potato beetles are resistant to most insecticides registered for use on potatoes

Livestock

• Cattle – beef = affluence• Horses• Oxen• Sheep• Chicken• hogs

Cattle Ranching

Beef Cows

Dairy Cows

Runoff From Slaughter Houses

Waste from livestock factories

• In livestock factories, thousands of animals are confined to small pens in buildings the size of football fields.

• Environmental problems• Air and water pollution• Manure produced by thousands of pigs in one livestock

factory causes a severe waste disposal problem• Manure is stored in lagoons, that have the potential to

pollute the soil, surface water and ground water.• People living near livestock factories dislike the odor.

Economics of Agriculture• AGRICULTURE MAKES UP 20% OF USA’S GNP! = BIG BUSINESS• High input = high output (high yields)• Industrial Agriculture uses:

1. tremendous amounts of energy (fossil fuels)2. Moderate amount of land3. fertilizers and pesticides

Food costs/salary have decreased by 50% since 1940 due to “relatively” cheap energy (subsidies), mass growing and processing.

ALL leading to environmental degradation.

Environmental degradation costs billions of dollars to attempt to repair structure and function losses of ecosystems. Restoration of habitats usually will NOT replace the originally lost structure, function and values of ecosystems.

Economics of the Hamburger• 1 acre of forest supports 800,000 pounds of plants and

animals.• 1 acre = 43, 560 square feet• 1 bovine = 200 pounds of actual beef• 200 pounds of beef = (800) 4 ounce hamburgers• 1 hamburger = ½ ton (1000 pounds) of forest products • 1 hamburger = 55 square feet of forest• Two 4oz. Hamburgers will fill 45-50 bowls with cooked cereal

grains for undernutrition/malnutritioned children in the USA.• 2.1 million children under the age of 3 live in poverty in the

USA!

Land degradation

• The natural or human induced process that decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock.

• Soil erosion causes a decline in soil fertility, and the sediments lost by erosion damage water quality.

• Compaction of soil by heavy machinery and water logging and salinization of soil from improper irrigation methods result in land degradation.

Compaction and Salinization of Soils

Habitat Fragmentation

• Clearing grasslands and forests and draining wetlands to grow crops have resulted in habitat fragmentation. This has resulted in reduction in biological diversity. Many species have become endangered or threatened as a result of habitat loss created by agriculture

Cultivating Marginal Land

• The United States had agricultural surplus during the 1980s, in part because farmers brought large amounts of marginal land into cultivation. This was ecologically unsound and some of the marginal farmlands are no longer used now.

Evaporation

Transpiration

Waterlogging

Less permeableclay layer

Environmental Degradation From Terrestrial Food Production

ConsequencesCauses

Worsening drought

Famine

Economic losses

Lower living standards

Environmentalrefugees

Overgrazing

Deforestation

Erosion

Salinization

Soil compaction

Natural climate change

Environmental Degradation From Terrestrial Food Production

Biodiversity Loss

Loss and degradation of habitat fromclearing grasslands and forests anddraining wetland

Fish kills from pesticide runoff

Killing of wild predators to protectlivestock

Loss of genetic diversity fromreplacing thousands of wild cropstrains with a few monoculture strains

Soil

Erosion

Loss of fertility

Salinization

Waterlogging

Desertification

Air Pollution

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossilFuel issue

Other air pollutants from fossil fuel use

Pollution from pesticide sprays

WaterWater waste

Aquifer depletion

Increased runoff andflooding from land clearedto grow crops

Sediment pollution fromerosion

Fish kills from pesticiderunoff

Surface and groundwaterpollution from pesticidesand fertilizers

Overfertilization of lakesand slow-moving riversfrom runoff of nitrates and phosphates fromfertilizers, livestockwastes, and foodprocessing wastes

Solutions to Agricultural problems

• Sustainable Agriculture• It is also called alternative or low-input

agriculture, and involves certain modern agricultural techniques carefully combined with traditional farming methods from agricultural past. These methods help to maintain soil productivity and a healthy ecological balance while having minimal long-term impacts.

Some goals of sustainable agriculture

• Increase biological diversity in crops and livestock• Minimize pesticide inputs• Maximize natural processes such as pest control and

pollination.• Manage wetlands and water resource carefully• Minimize soil erosion through crop rotation, multiple

cropping, conservation tillage and planting tracts of forest.• Improve soil fertility by adding organic and matter and

managing soil biology to minimize commercial inorganic fertilizer inputs.

• Avoid monoculture

Sustainable Agricultural Methods• Terracing• Contour Farming• Strip Cropping• Agroforestry (Alley Cropping)• Windbreaks• Conservation Tillage Farming• Salt Flushing• Gully Reclamation

Figure 14-13Page 284

Reduces erosion

Saves fuel

Cuts costs

Holds more soil water

Reduces soil compaction

Allows several crops per season

Does not reduce crop yields

Reduces CO2 release from soil

Can increase herbicide use for some crops

Leaves stalks that can harbor crop pests and fungal diseases and increase pesticide use

Requires investment in expensive equipment

DisadvantagesAdvantages

Trade-Offs

Conservation Tillage

Figure 14-12Page 283

Reduce irrigation

Switch to salt-tolerant crops(such as barley, cotton, sugar beet)

Prevention

Flushing soil(expensive andwastes water)

Not growing crops for 2-5 years

Installing under- ground drainagesystems (expensive)

Cleanup

Solutions

Soil Salinization

(d) Windbreaks

(b) Contour planting and strip cropping

Alley cropping • Definition• Alley cropping is the planting of trees or shrubs in two• or more sets of single or multiple rows with agronomic,• horticultural, or forage crops cultivated in the alleys• between the rows of woody plants.• Purpose• Alley cropping is used to enhance or diversify farm• products, reduce surface water runoff and erosion,• improve utilization of nutrients, reduce wind erosion,• modify the microclimate for improved crop production,• improve wildlife habitat, and enhance the aesthetics• of the area.

Alley Cropping• Trees• Trees or shrubs are generally planted in a single- or• multiple-row set or series. The spacing between sets• is determined by the primary purpose of the alley• cropping and the agronomic, horticultural, or forage• crop grown. Woody plants are typically selected for their• potential value for wood, nut, or fruit crops and/or for• the benefits they can provide to the crops grown in the• alleys. Common tree species are black walnut, pecan,• green ash, and northern red oak. There are many other• compatible species, depending upon region of the• country, value, and markets.

Alley Cropping

Other Sustainable Considerations

• Low input agriculture reduces irrigation water waste, pesticides and inorganic fertilizer applications.

• IPM’s – Integrated pest management uses release of natural predators to pests (ladybugs), hot water zapping (physical) and green fertilizer (manure) to reduce pesticide and fertilizer application.

Agricultural Methods

5. Organic Farming – Does not apply inorganically manufactured fertilizers (or sludge-product), pesticides, genetically modified varieties, nor adds hormones or uses antibiotics (in meats and poultry).

Success of Organic Farming

• provides a healthier way of life (no bioaccummulation of chemicals),

• Reduces environmental degradation,• Allows for maintenance or increases to

biodiversity by reducing nutrient and toxicity loading to environment.

• Allows for safe working conditions for farmers and employees.

1990 Organic Food Protection Act

• Designed to develop uniform national standards for being “organic”. USDA states that any food:

• Genetically engineered/modified;• Fertilized with municipal sludge;• Zapped with radiation…IS NOT ORGANIC!

Failures of Organic Farming• Unfavorable climate reduces cash crop because there are no

genetically modified varieties used (drives the consumer cost up)

• Global warming and increased deforestation of rain forests are reducing precipitation in critical areas, thereby requiring increased irrigation use (drives consumer cost up)

• No fertilizers/pesticides used so the crop is more susceptible to damage and disease (drives consumer cost up)

• Basic Economics – if demand is low, prices are high!• Winds carry genetically modified seed and pesticides onto

“organically farmed” lands (Monsanto).

Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2003Rider

• A rider was inserted into appropriations legislation that would have allowed producers to use the organic label for their meat and dairy products even if they did not meet the National Organic Standards (NOS). This loophole, reportedly created at the request of a single livestock producer in Georgia, would have allowed any livestock producer to skirt the requirement that “organic” livestock be fed only organically-produced food. This rider would have effectively gutted the organic standards, negating the hard-won consensus reached by stakeholders over the last ten years.

• Why is this allowed?• Chemical and Agribusiness Industries are HUGE BUSINESS!• Who really makes the laws?

Organic Restoration Act

• Tremendous pressure was placed on Congress by consumers …”I mean voters”

Constituents from the 4th District and across the country voiced their concern about this loophole. David Price was an original cosponsor of

The repeal was ultimately included in HR 1559, which was signed into law on April 16, 2003.

Pros of Food Subsidies

1. Farmers stay in business during low production years.

2. Food production is encouraged.3. Low interest loans provided for new

farmers.

Cons of Food Subsidies1. More food = overproduction which decreases profits

and depresses global prices.2. Surplus becomes food aid, which is believed by most

scientists, economists and politicians to reduce the incentive for recipients of food aid to grow their own.

3. Farm Bill1990, 1996, 2002 – provides subsidies to farmers for overproduction and/or crop losses due to weather conditions. ONLY govt. assistance that reimburses business for “Act of God”

Payment Limitations (Cont.)

• Adjusted Gross Income Limitation– Defined as: the 3 year average of the adjusted gross income

or comparable measure of the individual or entity over the 3 preceding years

– Begins in 2003– $2.5 million limit

» Unless not less than 75% of AGI comes from farming, ranching, or forestry operations

– An individual or entity shall not be eligible to receive any benefit (direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, and marketing loan gains/LDPs)

– Certification: An individual or entity shall provide to the Secretary

» Certification from a CPA or another third party» Information and documentation through other procedures

established by the Secretary

• Creates a new commission to study and make recommendations regarding payment limits

Market Receipts

CCP

MLG/LDP

Distribution of Government Support

Example: Grain Sorghum

Revenue per Bushel

Target Price – $2.54

LoanRate – $1.98

Fixed payment – $0.35

}Decoupled (do not have to produce to receive payment)

Coupled (do have toproduce to receive benefits from marketing loans gains or LDPs)

Market Price

Reflects payments not on full production(payment acres = .85 x base acres)

“Life Boat Ethics” Garrett Hardin

• Food relief goes to developing countries helping to ensure population increase (increases fitness).

• Population increase will “sink the boat”. It discourages governments of developing nations in investing in sustainable intensive agriculture.

• Relief seldom reaches target population.

Fisheries of the world

Fisheries of the world

• 90% of the world’s total marine catch is fishes.• Fishes contain high-quality protein (good

balance of essential amino acids)• No nation lays legal claim to the open ocean.

As a result, resources in the ocean are more susceptible to overuse and degradation than are resources on the land, which individual nations own and for which they feel responsible.

Problems and challenges for the Fishing Industry

• The most serious problem for marine fisheries is that many species have been overharvested to the point that their numbers are severely depleted.

• Large predatory fish such as tuna, marlin, and swordfish have declined by 90% since the 1950s.

• The growing human population requires protein in its diets, leading to a greater demand

• Technological advances in fishing gear have made it possible to fish so efficiently that every single fish is removed from an area.

Sophisticated fishing equipments

• Sonar• Rada• Computers• Airplantes• Satellites• These help to locate fish schools• Purse-seine nets (huge nets)• A trawl net• Drift nets

Bycatch

• Fishermen tend to concentrate on a few fish species with high commercial value such as menhaden, salmon, tuna, and flounder, while other species collectively called bycatch, are unintentionally caught and then discarded

Magnuson fishery Conservation Act

• Went into effect in 1977, regulates marine fisheries in the United States. This law established eight regional fishery council, each of which developed a management plan for its region. In 1996 the act was reauthorized as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery conservation and Management Act. It required the regional councils and the National Marine fisheries Service to protect “essential fish habitat” for more than 600 fish species, reduce overfishing, rebuild the population of overfished species and minimize bycatch.

Management tools to reduce overfishing

• Fishing quotas• Restriction of certain types of fishing gear• Limits on the number of fishing boats• Closure of fisheries during spawning • The Magnuson Stevens Act, which was

reauthorized in 2007, strengthened controls on illegal and unreported fishing in U.s waters.

Ocean pollution and Deteriorating Habitat

• Ocean is used as a dumping site• Pollution of the ocean threatens the world’s

fisheries.• Oil spills, dumping of litter , heavy metals such as

lead, mercury, and cadmium used in industry find their way into aquatic food webs, where they are highly toxic to both fishes and humans who eat fish.

• Storm water runoff from cities, agricultural aras, and roads is the single largest source of ocean pollution.

Aquaculture

• The growing of aquatic organisms (fishes, shell fish, and seaweeds) for human consumption.

• Originated in china• Contributes variety to the diets of people in highly

developed countries• It may provide much-needed protein and serve as a

source of foreign exchange for the people of developing countries

• Auaculture crop includes finfish, shell fish, sea weeds, oysters, mussles, clams, lobsters, and clams.

Aquaculture

• Aquaculture of shrimp is the single largest factor responsible for mangrove habitat losses worldwide

Read Vegetarian Diets on Page 449

• Is there any advantage of being a vegan?

Health Issues Related to Industrialized Food Production

1. Antibiotic resistance and susceptibility of young children to ear infections.2. Mad Cow Disease – (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) Slowly, progressive, degenerative,

fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle.• Abnormal proteins “prions” attack the organs. Organs are ground up by livestock owners to

add as a protein supplement to feedlot diets of cattle and is spread toother cattle.• Disease found in humans is called “Creutzfeldt-Jacob Diseas which is caused by eating

contaminated food. It is a fatal brain disorder in humans. Humans exhibit psychiatric or sensory symptoms, neurological abnormalities, and dimentia.

3. Avian Flu (Bird Flu) – Emerged in 2003 in China and Thailand. It has made the jump to mammals and can become the next pandemic. It is present in all of indonesia and Malaysia, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Georgia, Slovenia, Italy, Bosnia, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, France

TOTAL HUMAN DEATHS (2006) = 93Vietnam – 42; Indonesia – 20; Thailand – 14; China – 8 (?); Cambodia – 4; Turkey – 4; Iraq – 1. 4. Deaths related to pesticides? Millions? 5. Death’s related by hormone introduction into fowl and meats?6. Early onset of menstruation by young girls from introduction of hormones into meats and

poultry? UNKNOWN – millions? Billions?