January 09, 2014

Chapter 13: Food, Soil Conservation, and Pest Management

January 09, 2014

3 major food challenges of the world:

1) Poverty (land and money)

2) Providing and distributing food

3) Accomplishing food security in an environmentally sustainable manner (soil and water)

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/10/food-security-index

Food Security

January 09, 2014

Root cause of hunger and malnutrition is poverty. • can't afford to grow or buy food• war and corruption can deny poor people access to

food

*Global food production has stayed ahead of population growth, but 1/6 people in developing countries cannot grow or buy the food they need.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/10/food-security-index

January 09, 2014

Food Security: every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life

*Women

National Level• Government programs

> help poor help themselves> family planning> education* > jobs* > microloans> *India's National Food Security Bill

January 09, 2014

Food Security: every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life

International Level• developing countries do not produce enough

food to feed their people, too poor to import food

• Developed nations and international lending institutions (World Bank) provide:> Technical advice> Funding

January 09, 2014

Food Security: every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life

At all levels: Need to reduce harmful environmental effects of agriculture

January 09, 2014

Food Security: every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life

What do people need to eat?• Macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fats• Micronutrients: vitamins and minerals

Chronic undernutrition or hunger: not enough food to meet basic energy need

Malnutrition: deficiencies of key nutrients• Diet of poor consists mostly of grains (low-protein,

high carbohydrate)

January 09, 2014

Famine: severe shortage of food in an area accompanied by mass starvation, deaths, economic chaos, and social disruption• deplete seed grain stored for future crops• eat breeding livestock• mass migration

Causes• drought• flooding• war• *Sudan civil war

January 09, 2014

Millennium Development Goal: Reduce # of hungry and malnourished people to 400 million by 2015

Statistics Today:• Increased average daily food intake calories/person

1961-2000• Reduced # chronically undernourished or

malnourished people from 918 million (1970) to 852 million (2005)

• 6 million children die/year due to under/malnutrition and increased susceptibility to disease

• 1/3 suffer from deficiency of vitamins/minerals• US: 35 million people went hungry at times mostly

due to poverty

January 09, 2014

What are the consequences of undernutrition and malnutrition?

January 09, 2014

Iron Deficiency• iron is a component of

hemoglobin, which transports oxygen in RBC

• anemia> fatigue> increase susceptibility to

infection> increases chance of dying

from hemorrhage in childbirth

Iodine Deficiency• Iodine essential for thyroid gland:

produces hormones to control body's metabolism.

• Stunted growth• mental retardation• goiter: swollen thyroid gland• *Iodized salt

January 09, 2014

Possible solutions to reducing childhood deaths from hunger and malnutrition?

January 09, 2014

Possible solutions to reducing childhood deaths from hunger and malnutrition?• Immunizations• Encouraging breast-feeding• Oral rehydration (sugar and salt in water to

prevent dehydration from diarrhea)• Vitamin A capsule• Family planning (space births 2 years)• Increasing education for women: nutrition,

drinking water sterilization, contraception, childcare

January 09, 2014

Overnutrition: Food energy intake exceeds energy use• *Suffer similar health problems as underfed

people> lower life expectancy, more disease and

illness, lower quality of life• 60% American adults are overweight• 33% American adults are obese• 1 billion people face health problems from not

eating enough• 1.2 billion people face health problems from

eating too much

January 09, 2014

Food Production

29% land area

11% land area

• Since 1960: Increase in global food production. *technological advances

• Challenges:> Environmental harm: pollution, irrigation,

overgrazing, overfishing, etc.)> Loss of biodiversity*

– Destruction of natural ecosystems– 14 plants and 9 animals provide 90% of

world's food– Wheat, corn, and rice provide more than

half calories

Asia, coastal areas

January 09, 2014

Distribution of Types of Food Production

January 09, 2014

Industrialized agriculture or high-input agriculture• uses large amounts of fossil fuel energy, water,

commercial fertilizers, and pesticides to produce monocultures and livestock animal for sale

• 1/4 cropland, produces 4/5 of world's food• Greenhouses

> *moving water• plantation agriculture: growing cash crops on large

monoculture plantations, mostly for sale in developed countries

• feedlots: Densely populated animal factories, fed grain> *waste, water, energy

January 09, 2014

US Agribusiness• giant, multinational corporations control growing,

processing, distribution, and sale of food• 18% GDP• Efficiency

> Increase in yield/hectare– prevent forests, grasslands, wetlands from

being converted to farm> Reduced input of labor and resources (except

pesticide)• Food is cheaper

> Taxes to subsidize food producers and distributors

• Availability of cheap energy (oil) to use machines, process food, produce fertilizers and pesticides

January 09, 2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_chicken_house.jpg

January 09, 2014

http://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/industrial-agriculture-and-small-scale-farming.html

January 09, 2014

*Agriculture is world's largest industry and most environmentally harmful

January 09, 2014

Traditional agriculture• Low input polyculture• Traditional subsistence agriculture: uses mostly

human labor and animals to produce only enough crops/livestock for farm family's survival

• Traditional intensive agriculture: use more human and animal labor, fertilizer, and water to get higher yield. Produce enough food to feed family and sell

January 09, 2014

Traditional agriculture• Interplanting: Grow several crops on same plot

simultaneously> biodiversity = sustainable. Won't lose crops to

pests, weather, etc.> 4 types

1. polyvarietal cultivaton: planting plot with several genetic varieties of the same crop

2. intercropping: two or more different crops are grown at the same time on a plot (wheat and legume)

3. agroforestry/alley cropping: crops and trees grown together

4. polyculture: many different plants are planted together

« mature at different times, keep soil covered, less need for fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides

http://permaculturenews.org/2013/05/22/next-generation-polycultures/

January 09, 2014

Corn and Soy

Hedges, Kathryn. mvc-308s.jpg. 1999. Pics4Learning. 8 Jan 2014 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soybean.USDA.jpg

How often do you eat corn and soy?

January 09, 2014

Corn and Soy

• The US is the world's largest producer of corn (32%) and soybean (more than 50%)

84 million acres ~ size of Germany

January 09, 2014

Corn and Soy

• The US is the world's largest producer of corn (32%) and soybean (more than 50%)

• Distribution of corn use:> 40% ethanol (growing demand)> 37% feed livestock> 11% food *mostly as HFCS> 8% exported> rest for other industrial uses

• Large amounts of resource (fertilizer, water, etc.) are used, with environmental tolls

• Large demand for corn for ethanol is reducing diversity of American farms.

• Costs taxpayers: $90 billion between 1995-2010 • 88% of corn and 93% of soybeans grown in the US is

genetically modified

January 09, 2014

Brainstorm 5 negative impacts of conventional agriculture with your elbow buddy. Be ready to share.

January 09, 2014

Part II: Where does your food come from?

January 09, 2014

http://www.foodemissions.com/foodemissions/Calculator.aspx

According to the EPA, the average gasoline vehicle in the US has a fuel economy of about 21 miles/gallon.• every gallon of gasoline creates about 8887 grams

of CO2

• every mile driven creates about 423 grams of CO2

We have only looked at the distance that food has traveled to get to our table, but what other impacts can food have, espeically the way it is grown, distributed, and eaten today?

January 09, 2014

Soil Erosion: movement of soil components (esp. surface litter and topsoil)

> wind and water> roots of plants anchor topsoil, prevent erosion> human activities increase soil erosion> Lose soil fertility + water pollution

• topsoil = renewal resource (slow!)

January 09, 2014

Types of erosion:• sheet erosion• rill erosion• gully erosion

*Using a renewable resource unsustainably

January 09, 2014

Desertification: productive potential of drylands falls by 10% or more because1. natural climate change 2. human activities that reduce or degrade topsoil

*Classified as moderate to very severe depending on drop in productivity

January 09, 2014

Desertification affects people's livelihood:• loss of soil productivity = unable to grow food• displaces people (Dust Bowl, Midwestern US)

January 09, 2014

Repeated irrigation can lead to salinization and waterlogging.

January 09, 2014

Soil conservation: ways to reduce soil erosion + restore soil fertility

*Keep soil covered in vegetation! Why?

1. Conservation-tillage farming: Modern machinery can plant crops w/o disturbing the soil• Increases crop yields• raises soil carbon content• lowers use of water, pesticide, tractor fuel

January 09, 2014

Other methods of reducing soil erosion:

1. Terracing

2. Contour farming

3. Strip Croppinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terraced_fields_Sa_Pa_Vietnam.JPG

Planting on steep slopes!

Planting on slopes!

*Reduce runoff and erosion

January 09, 2014

Other methods of reducing soil erosion:

4. cover crops

5. alley cropping

6. windbreaks or shelterbeltshttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2004_0609_Italian_ryegrass_cover_crop.jpg

January 09, 2014

Fertilizer: replace nutrients that have been removed from soil from repeated crops or washed, blown, leached out of soil.

Organic fertilizer• Animal manure• green manure• compost

Commercial inorganic fertilizer• N, P, K• *doesn't replace organic matter

Other alternative: crop rotation

January 09, 2014

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2010/07/hungry-planet-what-world-eats-by-peter.html