Food, Soil, and Pest Management Chapter 12

12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?  Food security Every person in an area has access to enough nutritious food for a healthy, active life

12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?  Food insecurity Living with chronic undernutrition (hunger) and malnutrition 1 out of 6 people are not getting enough to eat in developing countries Reasons for food insecurity: 1.Poverty 2.Political upheaval 3.Corruption 4.War

12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain?  Famine Severe shortage of food in an area, accompanied by mass starvation Usually caused by crop failures from: Drought Flooding War Catastrophic events Famine-Stricken Sudan, Africa

12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain? MACRONUTRIENTS MICRONUTRIENTS – Vitamins (A*, B, C, D, E) and minerals (Fe*, I*, Ca, Mg, Na, etc.)

Woman with Goiter in Bangladesh (caused by iodine deficiency)

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands 2.Rangelands, pastures 3.Fisheries

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands: Supply 77% of the world’s food Use 11% of the land Three major grains – wheat, rice, corn – feed 2/3 of the world’s population 2.Rangelands, pastures 3.Fisheries

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands: 2.Rangelands, pastures Supply 16% of the world’s food Use 2% of the land Per person meat consumption has doubled in last 50 years. 3.Fisheries

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands: 2.Rangelands, pastures 3.Fisheries Supply 7% of the world’s food

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  1. Traditional agriculture Produces 20% of world’s crops Uses human and animal labor Practiced by 42% of world’s people (mostly in developing countries) Utilizes polyculture (grow several crops on same plot simultaneously) Two types: Subsistence – enough to feed family Intensive – feed family; sell extra

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  2. Industrialized agriculture (high-input) Produces 80% of world’s crops Uses heavy equipment, large amounts of money, energy, water, fertilizers, and pesticides Practiced mainly in developed countries Utilizes monoculture (production of single crop on large plot of land Goal is to steadily increase crop yield

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

Case Study: Industrialized Food Production in the United States  Agribusiness – The growing, processing, distributions, and sale of food  Annual sales (U.S.) bigger than: Automotive industry Steel industry Housing industry  Percent of income spent on food US: 2% of annual income In developing countries: 40% COMBINED

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  2. Industrialized agriculture (high-input) Other examples: Plantation agriculture Hydroponics Greenhouse crops

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  PLANTATION AGRICULTURE – cash crops in tropical developing countries Soybean Plantation Sugarcane Plantation

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  HYDROPONICS

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

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Biodiversity Degradation and loss of grasslands, forests, and wetlands

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Soil Erosion – movement of soil components Global Soil Erosion

Natural Capital Degradation: The Dust Bowl of the Great Plains, U.S., 1930’s Soil Erosion Act of 1935

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Soil Erosion - movement of soil components Loss of soil fertility – depletion of soil nutrients Salinization (accumulation of salts from fertilizers) Desertification (soil productivity reduced by 10% or more)

Natural Capital Degradation: Desertification of Arid and Semiarid Lands

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Water Water waste during irrigation Depletion of aquifers Polluted with pesticides Algal blooms by fertilizer runoff (nitrates)

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Air Greenhouse gases from: Fossil fuels (CO 2 ) Inorganic fertilizers (N 2 O) Rice paddies (CH 4 ) Pollutants from pesticide sprays

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? CROPS Human Health Pesticides in food and water

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  Green Revolution ( ) Increase crop yields rather than farming more land World grain production tripled

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops) First Green Revolution - Three-step process: 1.Plant monocultures of high-yield key crops (rice, wheat, and corn) 2.Use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and water 3.Multiple cropping - Increase number of crops grown per year on a plot of land 4.Benefits to society included reduced prices and increased production

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops) Second Green Revolution (since 1967) Using fast-growing, dwarf varieties of rice and wheat Protects biodiversity by saving large areas of land Benefits society by producing more crops

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  Gene Revolution First Gene Revolution Cross-breeding through selective breeding (artificial selection) Developed genetically improved varieties of crops and livestock Slow process (15+ years to develop a commercially valuable new crop variety)

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops)  Gene Revolution Second Gene Revolution Genetic engineering Produce desired traits by altering organism’s genetic material by adding, deleting, or changing segments of DNA Results in GMOs (Genetic Modified Organisms): transgenic organisms

12-2 How Is Food Produced? (Crops) Genetic engineering, cont. Develop crops that: Grow faster (less time to develop new varieties) Cost less (survive with little or no irrigation, less fertilizer and pesticides) Can be inserted with genes from almost any other organism Develop crops that are resistant to: Heat and cold; drought Herbicides Insect pests; parasites; viral diseases Salty or acidic soil

Fig. 12-6, p. 283 Phase 1 Gene Transfer Preparations A. tumefaciens Plant cell Extract plasmidExtract DNA Foreign gene of interest plasmid Foreign gene integrated into plasmid DNA. Phase 2 Make Transgenic Cell Agrobacterium takes up plasmid A. tumefaciens (agrobacterium) Enzymes integrate plasmid into host cell DNA. Host cell Host DNA Foreign DNA Nucleus Transgenic plant cell Phase 3 Grow Genetically Engineered Plant Cell division of transgenic cells Cultured cells divide and grow into plantlets (otherwise teleological) Transgenic plants with desired trait Genetic Engineering: Steps in Genetically Modifying a Plant

Core Case Study: Grains of Hope or an Illusion? (Golden Rice)  Vitamin A deficiency in some developing countries leads to: Blindness Death  1999: Porrykus and Beyer Genetically engineered rice with beta-carotene (yellow pigment in plants, such as daffodils, that converts to Vit A) and more iron

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands 2.Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots 3.Fisheries and Aquaculture

MEAT  Traditional meat production: Animals graze on unfenced rangelands or enclosed pastures

MEAT  Industrial meat production: Animals are raised in densely-packed feedlots and confined animal feeding operations Feed consists of grain or fish-meal

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? MEAT BIODIVERSITY → Loss and degradation of grasslands SOIL → Increased crop growth due to increased demand for grain as feed WATER → Large amounts of water used → Contamination of drinking water from livestock wastes

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? MEAT AIR → Increased greenhouse gas methane (CH 4 ) from cattle belching HUMAN HEALTH → Pathogens in drinking water from animal waste 16% of all methane gas!!!

12-2 How Is Food Produced?  Three systems produce most of our food: 1.Croplands 2.Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots 3.Fisheries and Aquaculture

FISH AND SHELLFISH  Fisheries - Concentrations of particular aquatic species in oceans or inland waters

FISH AND SHELLFISH  Aquaculture - Raising fish in ponds and underwater cages World’s fastest growing type of food production Dominated by operations that raise herbivorous species, mainly:

FISH AND SHELLFISH  Aquaculture - Raising fish in ponds and underwater cages World’s fastest growing type of food production Dominated by operations that raise herbivorous species, mainly: Carp (China) Catfish (U.S.) Tilapia (China, Indonesia) Shellfish

World Fish Catch, Including Both Wild Catch and Aquaculture

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? MEAT BIODIVERSITY → Degradation and loss of wetlands, ocean floor, and estuaries SOIL → Increased crop growth due to increased demand for grain as feed WATER → Clean water is circulated through the ponds, bringing in O 2 while taking away CO 2 and fecal wastes.

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (Crops) 1.Reduce soil erosion: a.Strategic planting, such as: TerracingContour Planting Alley-croppingWind Breaks

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (Crops) 1.Reduce soil erosion: a.Strategic planting, such as: Terracing Contour planting Alley-cropping Windbreaks b.Conservation-tillage, such as no-till and minimum-tillage farming.

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (Crops) 2.Restore fertility: a.Organic fertilizers - green manure (plant waste), and animal manure (animal waste), and compost. b.Inorganic fertilizers – produced from various minerals, such as N, P, K

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (Crops) 3.Reduce irrigation a. Switch to drought- and salt-tolerant crops b. Utilize microirrigation techniques

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (Fish) 4.Switching to open-ocean aquaculture

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? 5. Move down the food chain Kilogram of grain per kilogram of body weight. Efficiency of Converting Grain into Animal Protein

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? 6. Switch to more sustainable organic agriculture.

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? 6. Switch to more sustainable organic agriculture.

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? 7. Buy locally grown and produced food.

SOIL TEXTURE  Soil texture is determined by knowing the soil type.  Soil type can be determined by the “feel” method  Soil type is also determined by measuring the amount of: Sand (largest particles) Silt Clay (smallest particles)

Soil Texture Triangle - Example 40% SILT 40% SAND 20% CLAY Medium loam After separating soil sample and determining % of each, a soil texture pyramid is used.