The Green Revolution

Where Does Your Food Come From?

Where Does Your Food REALLY Come From?

Why Has It Changed?

The Green Revolution• The shift in farming from small farms relying on

human labor and relatively low fossil fuel inputs to a system of large industrial operations with fewer people and much more machinery.

Increased food production dramatically to meet the needs of a growing population!

Industrialized Agriculture• Characterized by large capital input, but less

land and labor.Mechanization Fertilization Irrigation

Improved Crop Varieties Pesticides

Consequences of Modern Agriculture• Fossil Fuel Use

• Air pollution • Land and water pollution • Climate Change

• Loss of biodiversity • Domestication of crops and livestock.

• Farmer selects and propagates animals and plants that have desirable agricultural characteristics.

• Monocropping

Consequences of Modern Agriculture• Fertilizer Use

• Runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus into local water systems.

Eutrophication

Consequences of Modern Agriculture• Habitat fragmentation

• Breakup of large areas of habitat into isolated patches.

• Land Degradation • Decreases future ability of land to support

crops or livestock. • When fields are ploughed, the exposed topsoil

is susceptible to erosion. • Soil erosion leads to water pollution.

Soy production in Brazil leads to 55 million tons of soil loss annually!

Consequences of Modern Agriculture• Cultivation of Marginal Lands

• Marginal lands are areas that are the last to be used under good conditions and the first to be avoided under bad conditions. • Low quality soil • Limited Rainfall • Hilly terrain

• Poor management can make these areas unusable.

The degradation of formerly productive land is known as desertification!

Desertification