1. Food, Soil, and Pest Management
Chapter 12

2. 12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?
Concept 12-1A Many of the poor suffer health problems from chronic lack of food and poor nutrition, while many people in developed countries have health problems from eating too much food.
Concept 12-1B The greatest obstacles to providing enough food for everyone are poverty, political upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful environmental effects of food production.

3. FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
Global food production has stayed ahead of population growth. However:
One of six people in developing countries cannot grow or buy the food they need.
Others cannot meet their basic energy needs (undernutrition / hunger) or protein and key nutrients (malnutrition).

4. FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
The root cause of hunger and malnutrition is poverty.
Food security means that every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life.
Need large amounts of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats).
Need smaller amounts of micronutrients (vitamins such as A,C, and E).

5. Key Nutrients for a Healthy Human Life

6. Acute Food Shortages Can Lead to Famines
Usually caused by crop failures from
Drought
Flooding
War
Other catastrophic events

7. War and the Environment: Starving Children in Famine-Stricken Sudan, Africa

8. Overnutrition: Eating Too Much
Overnutrition and lack of exercise can lead to reduced life quality, poor health, and premature death.
60% of American adults are overweight and 33% are obese (totaling 93%).
Americans spend $42 billion per year trying to lose weight.
$24 billion per year is needed to eliminate world hunger.

9. 12-2 How Is Food Produced?
Concept 12-2A We have sharply increased crop production using a mix of industrialized and traditional agriculture.
Concept 12-2B We have used industrialized and traditional methods to greatly increase supplies of meat, fish, and shellfish.

10. Food Production Has Increased Dramatically
Three systems produce most of our food
Croplands: 77%
Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots: 16%
Aquaculture: 7%

11. Industrialized Crop Production Relies on High-Input Monocultures
Industrialized agriculture = High-input agriculture
About 80% of the world’s food supply is produced by industrialized agriculture.
Uses large amounts of fossil fuel energy, water, commercial fertilizers, and pesticides to produce monocultures.
Goal is to steadily increase crop yield
Increased use of greenhouses to raise crops

12. Industrialized agriculture Plantation agriculture
Figure 13.4
Natural capital: locations of the world’s principal types of food production.
Industrialized agriculture
Plantation agriculture
Intensive traditional ag.
Shifting cultivation
Nomadic herding
No agriculture

13. Satellite Images of Greenhouse Land Used in the Production of Food Crops

14. C horizon Parent material
Wood sorrel
Oak tree
Earthworm
Organic debris builds up
Millipede
Grasses and small shrubs
Rock fragments
Honey fungus
Mole
Moss
and lichen
Fern
O horizon Leaf litter
A horizon Topsoil
Bedrock
B horizon Subsoil
Immature soil
Young soil
C horizon Parent material
Figure 12.A
Soil formation and generalized soil profile. Horizons, or layers, vary in number, composition, and thickness, depending on the type of soil. See an animation based on this figure at CengageNOW™. Questions: What role do you think the tree in this figure plays in soil formation? How might the picture change if the tree were removed? (Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company from Derek Elsom, Earth, New York: Macmillan, Copyright © 1992 by Marshall Editions Developments Limited)
Mite
Nematode
Root system
Red earth mite
Fungus
Mature soil
Bacteria
Fig. 12-A, p. 281

15. Active Figure: Soil profile

16. Global Outlook: Total Worldwide Grain Production (Wheat, Corn, and Rice)

17. Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties (1)
Gene Revolution
Cross-breeding through artificial selection
Slow process
Genetic engineering
Genetic modified organisms (GMOs): transgenic organisms

18. Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties (2)
Age of Genetic Engineering: developing crops that are resistant to
Heat and cold
Herbicides
Insect pests
Parasites
Viral diseases
Drought
Salty or acidic soil

19. Genetic Engineering: Steps in Genetically Modifying a Plant

20. Transfer Preparations A. tumefaciens
Phase 1 Gene
Transfer Preparations
A. tumefaciens
Plant cell
Extract plasmid
Extract DNA
plasmid
Foreign gene
if interest
Foreign gene integrated into plasmid DNA.
Agrobacterium takes up plasmid
Phase 2
Make Transgenic Cell
A. tumefaciens (agrobacterium)
Enzymes integrate plasmid into host cell DNA.
Foreign DNA
Host cell
Host DNA
Nucleus
Transgenic plant cell
Phase 3
Grow Genetically
Engineered Plant
Cell division of transgenic cells
Figure 12.6
Genetic engineering: steps in genetically modifying a plant. Question: How does this process change the nature of evolution by natural selection?
Cultured cells divide and grow into plantlets (otherwise teleological)
Transgenic plants with desired trait
Fig. 12-6, p. 283

21. Animation: Transferring genes into plants

22. GM crop production data
Click for webpage

23. Colorado State Transgenic Crops
Click for webpage

24. Perceptions about Genetically Modified Food
Click for webpage

25. TRADE-OFFS Genetically Modified Crops and Foods Projected Advantages
Projected Disadvantages
Irreversible and unpredictable genetic and ecological effects
Need less fertilizer
Need less water
More resistant to insects, disease, frost, and drought
Harmful toxins in food from possible plant cell mutations
Grow faster
New allergens in food
Can grow in slightly salty soils
Lower nutrition
Figure 12.16
Projected advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified crops and foods. Question: Which two advantages and which two disadvantages do you think are the most important? Why?
Increase in pesticide- resistant insects, herbicide- resistant weeds, and plant diseases
May need less pesticides
Tolerate higher levels of herbicides
Can harm beneficial insects
Higher yields
Less spoilage
Lower genetic diversity
Fig , p. 291

26. 12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production?
Concept Food production in the future may be limited by its serious environmental impacts, including soil erosion and degradation, desertification, water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation and destruction of biodiversity.

27. NATURAL CAPITAL DEGRADATION
Food Production
Biodiversity Loss
Soil
Water
Air Pollution
Human Health
Loss and degradation of grasslands, forests, and wetlands
Erosion
Water waste
Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) from fossil fuel use
Nitrates in drinking water (blue baby)
Aquifer depletion
Loss of fertility
Increased runoff, sediment pollution, and flooding from cleared land
Greenhouse gas emissions (N2O) from use of inorganic fertilizers
Pesticide residues in drinking water, food, and air
Salinization
Fish kills from pesticide runoff
Figure 12.9
Major harmful environmental effects of food production (Concept 12-3). According to a 2002 study by the United Nations, nearly 30% of the world’s cropland has been degraded to some degree by soil erosion, salt buildup, and chemical pollution, and 17% has been seriously degraded. Question: Which item in each of these categories do you believe is the most harmful?
Waterlogging
Killing wild predators
to protect livestock
Desertification
Pollution from pesticides and fertilizers
Greenhouse gas emissions of methane (CH4) by cattle (mostly belching)
Contamination of drinking and swimming water from livestock wastes
Loss of genetic diversity of wild crop strains replaced by monoculture strains
Algal blooms and fish kills in lakes and rivers caused by runoff of fertilizers and agricultural wastes
Other air pollutants from fossil fuel use and pesticide
sprays
Bacterial contamination of meat
Fig. 12-9, p. 286

28. Natural Capital Degradation: Severe Gully Erosion on Cropland in Bolivia

29. Natural Capital Degradation: Global Soil Erosion29

30. Severe Desertification

31. Natural Capital Degradation: Desertification of Arid and Semiarid Lands

32. Natural Capital Degradation: Severe Salinization on Heavily Irrigated Land

33. There May Be Limits to Expanding the Green Revolutions
Can we expand the green revolution by
Irrigating more cropland?
Improving the efficiency of irrigation?
Cultivating more land? Marginal land?
Using GMOs?
Multicropping?

34. Case Study: Industrialized Food Production in the United States
The U.S. uses industrialized agriculture to produce about 17% of the world’s grain.
Relies on cheap energy to run machinery, process food, produce commercial fertilizer and pesticides.
About 10 units of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy are needed to put 1 unit of food energy on the table.

35. Industrialized Agriculture uses ~17% of All Commercial Energy Used in the U.S.
Fig 12-15

36. Agriculture in California
Click for report

37. Agriculture in Ventura County
Click for report

38. Food and Biofuel Production Systems Have Caused Major Biodiversity Losses
Biodiversity threatened when
Forest and grasslands are replaced with croplands
Agrobiodiversity threatened when
Human-engineered monocultures are used
Importance of seed banks
Newest: underground vault in the Norwegian Arctic

39. Industrialized Meat Production

40. Meatrix webpage
Click for webpage

41. TRADE-OFFS Animal Feedlots Advantages Disadvantages
Increased meat production
Large inputs of grain, fish meal, water, and fossil fuels
Higher profits
Greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) emissions
Less land use
Reduced overgrazing
Concentration of animal wastes that can pollute water
Figure 12.17
Advantages and disadvantages of animal feedlots. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why?
Reduced soil erosion
Use of antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans
Protection of biodiversity
Fig , p. 292

42. World Fish Catch, Including Both Wild Catch and Aquaculture

43. TRADE-OFFS Aquaculture Advantages Disadvantages High efficiency
Needs large inputs of land, feed, and water
High yield in small volume of water
Large waste output
Can destroy mangrove forests and estuaries
Can reduce overharvesting of fisheries
Figure 12.18
Advantages and disadvantages of aquaculture. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why?
Uses grain to feed some species
Low fuel use
Dense populations vulnerable to disease
High profits
Fig , p. 293

44. Animation: Land use

45. 12-4 How Can We Protect Crops from Pests More Sustainably?
Concept We can sharply cut pesticide use without decreasing crop yields by using a mix of cultivation techniques, biological pest controls, and small amounts of selected chemical pesticides as a last resort (integrated pest management).

46. Nature Controls the Populations of Most Pests
What is a pest? What is a weed?
Natural enemies—predators, parasites, disease organisms—control pests
In natural ecosystems
In many polyculture agroecosystems

47. Natural Capital: Spiders are Important Insect Predators

48. The ideal Pesticide and the Nightmare Insect Pest
The ideal pest-killing chemical has these qualities:
Kill only target pest.
Not cause genetic resistance in the target organism.
Disappear or break down into harmless chemicals after doing its job.
Be more cost-effective than doing nothing.

49. How do pesticides work? Click for EPA page
Click here for Na. Pesticide Info Center

50. Individuals Matter: Rachel Carson
Wrote Silent Spring which introduced the U.S. to the dangers of the pesticide DDT and related compounds to the environment.

51. Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several Disadvantages
David Pimentel: Pesticide use has not reduced U.S. crop loss to pests
Loss of crops is about 31%, even with 33-fold increase in pesticide use
High environmental, health, and social costs with use
Use alternative pest management practices
Pesticide industry refutes these findings

52. TRADE-OFFS Conventional Chemical Pesticides Advantages Disadvantages
Save lives
Promote genetic resistance
Increase food supplies
Kill natural pest enemies
Profitable
Figure 12.20
Advantages and disadvantages of conventional chemical pesticides. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why?
Pollute the environment
Work fast
Can harm wildlife and people
Safe if used properly
Are expensive for farmers
Fig , p. 295

53. Pesticide Protection Laws in the U.S.
Government regulation has banned a number of harmful pesticides but some scientists call for strengthening pesticide laws.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate the sales of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
The EPA has only evaluated the health effects of 10% of the active ingredients of all pesticides.
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation controls pesticide use in California.

54. Pesticides in California
Click here for pesticide use data

55. What Can You Do? Reducing Exposure to Pesticides

56. Other Ways to Control Pests:
There are cultivation, biological, and ecological alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. Integrated Pest Management
Fool the pest through cultivation practices.
Provide homes for the pest enemies.
Implant genetic resistance.
Bring in natural enemies.
Use pheromones to lure pests into traps.
Use hormones to disrupt life cycles.

57. Natural Capital: Biological Pest Control

58. Case Study: integrated Pest Management: A Component of Sustainable Agriculture
Many scientists urge the USDA to use three strategies to promote IPM in the U.S.:
Add a 2% sales tax on pesticides.
Establish federally supported IPM demonstration project for farmers.
Train USDA personnel and county farm agents in IPM.
The pesticide industry opposes such measures.

59. Integrated Pest Management in California
Click for UC Davis IMP page
Click for Cal Poly SLO Sustainable Ag Resource Consortium

60. 12-5 How Can We Improve Food Security?
Concept We can improve food security by creating programs to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition, relying more on locally grown food, and cutting food waste.

61. Use Government Policies to Improve Food Production and Security (2)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) suggests these measures
Immunizing children against childhood diseases
Encourage breast-feeding
Prevent dehydration in infants and children
Provide family planning services
Increase education for women

62. 12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (1)
Concept 12-6A Sustainable food production will require reducing topsoil erosion, eliminating overgrazing and overfishing, irrigating more efficiently, using integrated pest management, promoting agrobiodiversity, and providing government subsidies for more sustainable farming, fishing, and aquaculture.

63. 12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (2)
Concept 12-6B Producing enough food to feed the rapidly growing human population will require growing crops in a mix of monocultures and polycultures and decreasing the enormous environmental impacts of industrialized food production.

64. Reduce Soil Erosion Soil conservation, some methods
Terracing
Contour planting
Strip cropping with cover crop
Alley cropping, agroforestry
Windbreaks or shelterbeds
Conservation-tillage farming
No-till
Minimum tillage
Identify erosion hotspots

65. Soil Conservation Methods

66. (b) Contour planting and strip cropping
(a) Terracing
(b) Contour planting and strip cropping
(c) Alley cropping
(d) Windbreaks
Figure 12.24
Soil conservation methods include (a) terracing, (b) contour planting and strip cropping, (c) alley cropping, and (d) windbreaks (Concept 12-6A).
Stepped Art
Fig , p. 302

67. Natural Capital Degradation: Dust Storm, Driven by Wind Blowing across Eroded Soil

68. Restore Soil Fertility
Organic fertilizer
Animal manure
Green manure
Compost
Commercial inorganic fertilizer active ingredients
Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Potassium

69. Reduce Soil Salinization and Desertification
Prevention
Clean-up
Desertification, reduce
Population growth
Overgrazing
Deforestation
Destructive forms of planting, irrigation, and mining

70. SOLUTIONS Soil Salinization Prevention Cleanup
Flush soil (expensive and wastes water)
Reduce irrigation
Stop growing crops for 2–5 years
Figure 12.28
Methods for preventing and cleaning up soil salinization (Concept 12-6A). Question: Which two of these solutions do you think are the most important? Why?
Switch to salt-tolerant crops (such as barley, cotton, and sugar beet)
Install underground drainage systems (expensive)
Fig , p. 305

71. Solutions: More Sustainable Aquaculture

72. Produce Meat More Efficiently and Humanely
Shift to more grain-efficient forms of protein
Shift to farmed herbivorous fish
Develop meat substitutes; eat less meat
Whole Food Markets: more humane treatment of animals

73. Efficiency of Converting Grain into Animal Protein

74. Shift to More Sustainable Agriculture
Strategies for more sustainable agriculture
Research on organic agriculture with human nutrition in mind
Show farmers how organic agricultural systems work
Subsidies and foreign aid
Training programs; college curricula

75. SOLUTIONS Sustainable Organic Agriculture More Less
High-yield polyculture
Soil erosion
Aquifer depletion
Organic fertilizers
Overgrazing
Biological pest control
Overfishing
Integrated pest management
Loss of biodiversity
Efficient irrigation
Food waste
Subsidies for unsustainable farming and fishing
Perennial crops
Figure 12.31
Major components of more sustainable, low-throughput agriculture based mostly on mimicking and working with nature (Concept 12-6B). Question: Which two solutions do you think are the most important? Why?
Crop rotation
Water-efficient crops
Soil salinization
Soil conservation
Population growth
Subsidies for sustainable farming and fishing
Poverty
Fig , p. 307

76. Solutions: Organic Farming

77. Science Focus: Sustainable Polycultures of Perennial Crops
Wes Jackson: natural systems agriculture benefits
No need to plow soil and replant each year
Reduces soil erosion and water pollution
Deeper roots – less irrigation needed
Less fertilizer and pesticides needed

78. Buy Locally Grown Food Supports local economies
Reduces environmental impact on food production
Community-supported agriculture. Click for Ventura County Farm Bureau link
Click for Ag Futures Alliance Ventura County

79. What Can You Do? Sustainable Organic Agriculture