Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon1

Which Came First; The Chicken or the Egg?Sustainable Agriculture? or A

Sustainable World?

Goals:

Websites: These may be helpful…http://www.sare.org/ http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/Concept.htmhttp://www.farmsanctuary.org/ http://www.factoryfarming.com/index.htm

1. What is sustainable thinking?

4. Understand your personal contribution to global equality and environmental health

Read: Chapters 40, 42, 43, 44 & 45 (Alt. Bk. – 27 to 32 not 28)

3. Sustainable agriculture and its goals.

2. Define a sustainable World.

Dr. Mark WhalonDepartment of Entomology

Center for Integrated Plant SystemsMichigan State Universitywhalon@msu.edu

When you think of a sustainableUSA; what does that mean to you?

Context-In the cold cruel world of life on planet earth:• Why would we (you, me, your parents, your friends, your state, your country

all of Society) want to “conserve” natural resources – if it’s not to sustain “useful” lands and natural systems for the future

(generations)?• If Sustainability is what we are aiming at, will our current

measures (way we live) “hit” the target? Given: – 1) Your (mine and our) attitudes, – 2) What you (me and us) have bought into, – 3) The way you do life, and/or – 4) The way we ALL DO LIFE.

• Since current definitions of sustainability segregate into fourgeneral, but related sectors; – 1) economics, – 2) social systems, – 3) agroecosystems (landscapes) and the – 4) environment,

• What do you know about sustainability?

What gets measured gets managed…

Sustainability

• Definition: “the ability of a system to

continue in time”– It’s at the least a

presumption or presupposition about the future:

– involves at least:• How well are you, me,

WE measuring our own life outcomes relative to sustainability?

1- The Environment

2- The Ecosystem

3- Society

4- Economics

5. Can the natural environment be degraded irrevocably?

4. The longer the long-term consequences, the less likely detected

3. Standard of living depends on production

2. Closed world system

1. Future

B. Observations about sustainable thinking

Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon2

What is an ecosystem?May be easier to understand an agroecosystem…

• A unit of management.= a spatial unit of habitat that a

producer identifies as a field, a block, a planting, a woods or a paddock; which he manages as a contiguous whole.

– Applies inputs to…as a unit.– Harvests from…as a unit.

“Hey, John! Spray ‘Dad’s back-ten’ before the wind gets up today! OK?”

“Yep, I’ll get ‘er done right now, Boss…”

Jay Bruner Picture

Meso-area Biotic Exchange:• landscape interactions• recruitment & biotic flow

Everybody on the farm knows that this unit of landis ‘Dad’s back-ten’…it’s an agroecosytem.

What is an ecosystem?You can understand any unit of earth that you have

impact on as an ecosystem, your ecosystem…• A unit of management.

= a spatial unit of habitat that a person identifies as a yard, a house, a block, a township a county or state or continent or earth; which he (you, me or we) manage or influence as a contiguous whole.

– Applies inputs to…as a unit.– Harvests from…as a unit.

“Hey, John! Mow the lawn! OK?”

“###%***##!!!, Ah, well, OK I’ll do it…(under his breath, I just got home and now this! Doesn’t he know that I’m not a kid anymore?” Jay Bruner Picture

Meso-area Biotic Exchange:• landscape interactions• recruitment & biotic flow

Everybody in the house knows that this unit of landis ‘the back yard’…it’s an ecosystem—a unit of managed habitat.

Ecosystems:Abiotic and Biotic Integration

Abiotic Environment– Physical laws and structure:

• earth, soil, water, minerals, atmosphere…

– Cycles: H20, C, N, etc…– Chemical Interactions…

• metabolism & synthesis• degradation & mass action

– Energy flux: light, +/_ charge • e.g. heat (long wave length

light)• e.g. electrical charges

(chemical bonds & enzymes)

• Biotic Systems– Species– Populations– Communities– Agro-Ecosystem– Ecozones– Hemispheres– Bioshpere– Earth– Solar System– Universe

Integration

Structure + Process = Pattern

Energy Flow

Water Cycle

Carbon Cycle

Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon3

Nitrogen Cycle

FungiActinomy-cetes

Bacteria

Nematodes

Protozoa

ArthropodsEarthworms

“The Soil Ecosystem”

The Soil Food Web

Trophic Levels

Producers“Crops”

Herbivores“Pests”

Carnivores“Biocontrol Agents”

Complexity

Spatial scales: Local to Regional to Global

Plants (1 m2)Tripod

Balloon

Aerial PhotoTM Landsat Scene

Plant patches (100 m2)

Field patches (1000 m2)

Landscape mosaics

(100,000 m2)

Regions(1,000,000 m2)AVHRR scene

Imagine using differentVisual Tools…from a

Microscope (.0001 m2) toCamera tripod, to an aerial baloon,

To an Airplane, to Landsat, to AVHRR

1. Philosophy: stewardship of both natural and human resources

A. Definition of a sustainable land unit…

"sustain," from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or

maintain, implies long-term support or permanence & YOU figure prominently in the

equation…

You hold the key

to sustainability of the land,

its ecosystems and environment!

Defining Sustainable Agriculture

Systems of food, feed and fiber production that are socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound.

Social Economic

Agroecology

Highly productiveServe local needsProvide rewarding human vocationsPerform restorative ecological functionsViable over long time horizons

Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon4

1. Philosophy: stewardship of both natural and human resources

A. Definition of sustainable agriculture

"sustain," from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or

maintain, implies long-term support or permanence

It’s the same definition

Just a different unit

Of land!

Overview

Challenges and opportunities in sustainable agriculture & world

Background

A vision for sustainable agriculture and the role of each person in this class

ChallengesWorld populationEconomic disparitiesGlobalizationEnvironmental degradation

Opportunities

Awareness of sustainabilityWellness lifestyles– Apply to you?Michigan’s/US’s natural resourcesPersonal Responsibility?

1980

2020

2040

BuiltAgricultureOther vegetationForestLakeWetland

ProjectedLand Use

Trend

Michigan Land Resources Integrated Agricultural Landscapes

Work & Income

Environment

Nature &Landscape

Health & Well-being

Climate

Production

Vereijken, P., 2001

Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon5

C. What Sustainable thinking seeks not to do

Fail to value all of life; including the soil,

microbes, plants,

animals, people, communities,

populations, cities, regions,

continents, the Earth!

One can not value something without

Some understanding of it!

Four disciplines: 1) environmental health,2) functional ecology, 3) social and

economic equity, & 4) economic profitability within the system’s limits

2. Avoid long-term side effects 3. Use non-renewable resources slowly

The fate of lead in the 1970’s

4. Value the land and the people on it! That means farmers, they are your kids future!

5. Value Self-sufficiency… could you survive in a polluted world? A world without clean water? A world where you had to produce yourown food and housing?

Lecture X, ISB 202, Spring 2001, Whalon6

D. Measures of sustainability

1. Productivity

2. Stability

3. Sustainability

4. Equity

5. Functional Ecology

Implementation of sustainable thinking in you…

1. Ecological Efficiency & Living simply…

2. Substitution expensive and energy wasteful for frugal and effective

3. Redesign your thinking, expectations & your (our) future!

Extension has the information you need to survive!

Insect Ecology and Biological controlMSU a resource for your futureBiological Control ProgramsSustainable AgricultureSustainable USustainable MISustainable World

http://www.cips.msu.edu/biocontrol/

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)US president 1953-1961

I believe that the great Creator has put ores and oil on this earth to give us a breathing spell. As we exhaust them, we must be prepared to fall back on our farms,

which is God’s true storehouse and can never be exhausted. We can learn to synthesize material for

every human need from things that grow.George Washington Carver (1860-1943)

Agricultural chemist, developer of crop-rotation and 325 uses for the peanut

Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth.Ambassador Li Zhaoxing (1940-present)

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the United States