The environmental imperative of Sustainable AgricultureThe Future of Food

Concept The greatest

obstacles to providing enough food for everyone are poverty, political upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful environmental effects of food production.

The challenge of feeding a growing population

Byzantine ProverbHe who has bread has many problemsHe who has no bread has only one problem

What Is Food Security and Why Is It So Difficult to Attain?

Concept Many of the poor have health problems from

not getting enough food, while many people in affluent countries suffer health problems from eating too much.

Food About 925 million

people have health problems because they do not get enough to eat

1.6 billion people face health problems from eating too much.

Over-nutrition Too many calories, too

little exercise, or both Similar overall health

outlook as undernourished

66% of American adults overweight

34% obese Heart disease and stroke Type II diabetes and

some cancers

Over nutrition Food intake exceeds energy use and causes

body fat Too many calories not enough exercise Lower life expectancy, heart disease, lower

productivity and quality of life In developed countries it is 2nd leading

preventable cause of death after smoking

Malnutrition UN Estimates: Annually, 5.5

million children die prematurely due to effects of under nutrition.

In U.S. estimates are 11 million do not have access to enough food

Concept We have used high-

input industrialized agriculture and lower-input traditional methods to greatly increase supplies of food

Modern industrialized agriculture has a greater harmful impact on the environment than any other human activity.

What are the environmental impacts of our food choices?

Environmental Effects of Food Production

Biodiversity loss Soil degradation Air pollution Water shortages

and erosion Human health

Green Revolution Attributed to Norman Borlaug,

American scientist Conducted research in Mexico Developed new disease resistance

high-yield varieties of wheat. By combining Borlaug's wheat

varieties with new mechanized agricultural technologies, Mexico was able to produce more wheat than was needed, leading to its becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s.

Prior to the use of these varieties, the country was importing almost half of its wheat supply.

Green Revolution The technologies spread

worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s.

The U.S. imported about half of its wheat in the 1940s but after using Green Revolution technologies, became an exporter by the 1960s.

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as many government agencies around the world funded increased research.

Green Revolution India was on the brink of mass

famine in the early 1960s because of its rapidly growing population.

Borlaug and the Ford Foundation implemented research there and developed a new variety of rice, IR8, that produced more grain per plant when grown with irrigation and fertilizers.

Today, India is one of the world's leading rice producers and IR8 rice usage spread throughout Asia.

Green Revolution Along with the new

strains of wheat, rice and corn, GR required Synthetic fertilizer and

pesticides Increased water and

fossil fuel consumption Leading to

Localized pollution Soil erosion Salinization Desertification

Green Revolution Monocultures: large

expanses of single crop types

Replaced traditional, small-scale polycultures

More efficient for planting and harvesting

Increased risk of crop failure due to disease

Food Production Global food production

has risen more quickly than world population over the past half-century

Between 1960-2008 food production rose 150%

Between the same years, population rose 100%

Land area converted to agriculture increased only 10%

Seed Bank Seed banking involves

collecting and storing seed from plants.

It is both an insurance policy against extinction and a source of high-quality material for the restoration of habitats.

Labor intensive Estimated an average

of $5000 is needed to save a species from extinction.

The Millennium Seed BankWakehurst, England Largest ex situ plant conservation project in the

world. Focus on global plant life faced with the threat of

extinction and plants of most use for the future. Partner with 50 countries. Successfully banked 10% of the world's wild plant

species. Goal is 25% by 2020 Target plants and regions most at risk from

climate change and the ever-increasing impact of human activities.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault Spitsbergen, Norway. On 10 March 2010

the seed count at the vault passed half a million (500,000) samples. As of July 2012, the number of distinct samples has increased to 750,000.

Main focus is food crops

The Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve

Southern Mexico Repository for crop

biodiversity, especially corn.

Preserving traditional varieties in their ancestral homelands

Can We Continue to Produce MORE? Crossbreeding and

artificial selection Genetic engineering

(gene splicing) Genetically modified

organisms (GMOs) Continued Green

Revolution techniques Introducing new foods Working more land

Cross Breading and Artificial Selection

Done for centuries to produce “improved” crops

Bigger corn and tomatoes

Slow process

Genetic Engineering Slicing the DNA of one

species into another Quicker More cost efficient Allows insertion of

almost any species More than 2/3 of foods

in U.S. have GE ingredients

Improvements drought, pests, salty

soil, less fertilizer………

Can We Continue to Produce MORE?

Lack of resources such as water, fertile soil and environmental factors may limit our ability to continue to yield more crops.

Can we just spread the “Green Revolution” around the world to produce more?

Will GE uniformity lead to more vulnerable crops to pests, diseases, harsh weather?

Can We Continue to Produce MORE?

Will people be willing to try new foods? (superfoods)

Is irrigating more land the answer?

Is cultivating more land the answer?

Can we grow more food in urban areas?

Why not just waste less food? 70% currently wasted

How are rangelands used to produce meat?

Is producing more meat the answer to the world’s food problems?

What are the effects of overgrazing?

How can meat be produced more sustainable?

Environmental issues of raising animals for food

Mmmm, bacon!!!

Producing More Meat Many feel need to

increase meat production to feed population

As incomes rise so does meat consumption

Meat Industry is a powerful lobby

Jobs, jobs, jobs…

Producing More Meat Global meat

production has increased fivefold since 1950

Per capita meat production has doubled since 1950

Feedlots: animals are fattened for slaughter in densely populated confined areas

Producing More Meat Concentrated

animal feeding operations (CAFO)

High density Minimize land cost Improve feeding

efficiency

Producing More Meat One-third of the

world’s cropland is devoted to growing feed for animals

45% of global grain production goes to livestock and poultry

High Density Farming Leads to Problems Surface and

ground water contamination

Disease Antibiotic and

hormone use Greenhouse

gases Waste disposal

Rangelands Cattle, Sheep,

goats are on 42% of rangeland

Pastures are managed grasslands

Renewable resource

Threat to native plant species?

Overgrazing Occurs when too

many animals graze for too long and exceed the carrying capacity of the grassland area

Kills vegetation Reduces grass cover Causes erosion Compacts soil Damages watershed Desertification

Overgrazing Solutions Control numbers by

figuring out carrying capacity

Move from riparian zones and locate watering hole away from sensitive zones

Move animals around

Replant overgrazed areas and/or use fertilizers

Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight

Beef cattle 20

Pigs 7.3

Chicken 2.8

Milk 1.1

Efficiency of converting grain to animal protein

More Fish?• Where do we get our fish

and shellfish?• What are the impacts of

over fishing?• What is aquaculture?

Where do we get fish and shellfish?Fisheries: concentrations of

aquatic species suitable for harvesting from a body of water

55% come from the ocean

Fish and shellfish supply 7% of world’s food

Mostly from coastal zones Primary source of protein

for more than 1 billion people (mostly developing countries)

How are fish harvested?

High Tech Global Fishing Fleets Roam World Sonar, GPS, spotter

planes, huge nets, long fishing lines

Large factory ships catch, process and freeze product

How are fish harvested? Trawling: dragging a

funnel shaped net along bottom of sea

Used to catch bottom dwellers

Shrimp, cod, flounder, scallops

Scrapes up everything on bottom leaving it bare

Clear cutting ocean floor

Bycatch thrown back

How are fish harvested? Purse-Seine Fishing:

Surrounding schools of fish with boats and a huge net to capture entire school

Net drawn in tighter and tighter

Tuna, herring, mackerel

Uses spotter planes often

Led to huge dolphin kills

How are fish harvested? Long lining: putting

out lines up to 80 miles long with thousands of hooks

Swordfish, tuna, shark, halibut, cod

Huge bycatch Endanger turtles,

dolphins, whales etc.

How are fish harvested? Drift netting: using

huge nets to trap fish

Huge bycatch Kill many unwanted

species Danger to marine

mammals Since 1992 UN ban

driftnets over 1.6 miles in international water (voluntary compliance)

Overfishing Tragedy of Commons Not a new problem,

but becoming global and tech driven

Commercial Extinction Adding to the problem

development along the coasts

wetland and estuary pollution

coral reef and mangrove forest destruction

New high demand for “healthy” fish

Where do we get fish and shellfish?Aquaculture: using feedlot

management to raise marine and freshwater fish.

Using cages and nets Rivers, lakes and oceans China is the world’s

leader 1/3rd of world’s marine

fish harvest is used for animal feed, fishmeal and oil

AquacultureRaising fish and shellfish for food, like crops World’s fastest

growing food production

What do you think are pros and cons of this technique?

AquaculturePros

Highly efficient High yield in small volume

of water Increased yields through

crossbreeding and genetic engineering

Can reduce overharvesting of conventional fisheries

Little use of fuel Profits not tied to price of

oil High profits

Cons Large inputs of land, feed and

water needed Produces large and

concentrated outputs of waste Destroys mangrove forests Increased grain production

needed to fee some species Fish can be killed by pesticide

runoff Dense populations vulnerable

to disease Tanks too contaminated to

use after about 5 years.

Solutions: Sustainable AgricultureConcept More sustainable

forms of food production will greatly reduce the harmful environmental impacts of current systems while increasing food security and national security for all countries.

Is Organic Agriculture the Answer?

Many environmental advantages over conventional farming

Requires more human labor

Organic food costs 10-75% more than conventionally grown food

Cheaper than conventionally grown food when environmental costs are included

Organic Agriculture Organic agriculture as a component of

sustainable agriculture Certified organic farming:

Less than 1% of world cropland 0.1% of U.S. cropland 6-18% in many European countries

Sustainable AgricultureMore

High yield polyculture Organic fertilizers Biological pest control Integrated pest management Irrigation efficiency Perennial crops Crop rotation Use of more water efficient

crops Soil conservation Subsidies for more

sustainable farming and fishing

Less Soil erosion Soil salinization Aquifer depletion Overgrazing Overfishing Loss of biodiversity Loss of prime cropland Food waste Subsidies for

unsustainable farming and fishing

Population growth poverty

Industrialized vs. Organic

Government PolicyHow do governments influence agriculture?

Governments influence food production

Control prices Helps consumers Hurts farmers

Governments influence food production

Provide subsidies to farmers Price supports, tax

breaks to encourage food production

Can harm farmers in other countries who don’t get subsidies

Some analysts call for ending all subsidies

Let the marketplace decide