1. Chapter 11
Feeding the World

2. Global Undernutrition

3. Nutritional Requirements
Overnutrition
too many calories and improper foods that causes a person to become overweight.
Undernutrition
not consuming enough calories to be healthy.
Malnourished
a persons diet lacks the correct balance of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals even though they get enough calories.
Related terms:
Food Insecurity
Famine
Anemia
Global Nutrition Imbalance

4. A Balanced Diet vs. malnutrition
Nutrient
Function
Major Food Sources
Carbohydrates
Supplies Energy
Bread, Cereals, Potatoes, Beans
Proteins
Used to build and maintain the body
Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, Dairy, Beans
Lipids
(fats and solids)
Used to build membranes and some hormones. May help store energy.
Butter, Vegetable Oils, Animal Fats

5. Annual Meat Consumption
Interpreting Graphs:
How does the United States compare to the rest of the world in terms of meat consumption?
What are some issues regarding agriculture (or environmental effects) of eating more or less meat?

6. Global Grain Production, 1950-2006
Interpreting Graphs:
Why does lower graph (b) appear to remain level while the upper graph (a) is increasing?
What do you think are primary sources/examples of grain from various parts of the world?
Asia
Africa
Central America
North America

7. Reasons for Undernutrition and Malnutrition
Economy – Poverty vs. Wealthy
Society – influenced by media
Political factors (war, genocide, etc.)
Agricultural resources being diverted to feed livestock and ethanol (fuel) rather than people

8. Pros Cons The Green Revolution
Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s, agriculture became more “industrialized”, burning fossil fuels to replace human & animal labor.
Between the 1950’s ’s: new management techniques and mechanization as well as the triad of fertilization, irrigation, and improved crop varieties increased food production dramatically.
Pros
The introduction of new grains and new farming techniques allowed for a much greater “yield”.
Cons
New varieties require more fertilizer, pesticides, and water.

9. Farming Challenges Pest Control Soil Conservation Fertilizer Climate
 Some people speak of agriculture collectively as “the single most harmful human action that has taken place.”
- Friedland p.287 
Soil Conservation
Erosion
Desertification
Salinization
Irrigation
Pest Control
Biological
Genetic
Chemical
Fertilizer
Climate
Seasonal Changes
Air Pollution
Floods/Drought
Industrial vs
Sustainable

10. Soil Conservation Contour plowing: following the terrain
Issues:
Arable Land (suitable for farming) decreased 1/5 from 1985 to 2000.
Over ½ of the fertile “TopSoil” has been lost in the U.S. just in the past 200 years due to erosion: the wearing away of topsoil by wind and water.
Desertification: areas with this topsoil are easily destroyed, and the land becomes desert-like.
Salinization: accumulation of salts in soil – often from irrigation.
Solutions:
Contour plowing: following the terrain
No-till farming: leaving the remain of previous crops to decompose and retain soil.
Low-input farming: using as little fertilizer, pesticide, energy and water as possible.
Composting!

11. Irrigation Problems
Waterlogging- when the soil remains under water for prolonged periods which impairs root growth because the roots cannot get oxygen.
Salinization- when the small amounts of salts in irrigation water become highly concentrated on the soil surface through evaporation.
DROUGHT!

12. Desertification
Desertification- When soil is degraded by agriculture to the point at which they are not longer productive.

13. Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers- organic matter from plants and animals. Typically made from animal manure that has been allowed to decompose.
Inorganic fertilizers (synthetic)- fertilizers that are produced commercially. This is usually done by combusting natural gas, which allows nitrogen from the atmosphere to be fixed and captured in fertilizer.

14. Monocropping Growing a large amount of a single species of plant.
Advantages:
allows large expanses of land to be planted, and then harvested, all at the same time.
Disadvantages:
When monocropped fields are readied for planting or harvesting all at once, soil will be exposed over many hectares at the same time.
Some farmland in the United States loses an average of 1 metric ton of topsoil per hectare/year to wind erosion.
Pests easily invade monocrops and reproduce rapidly.
Monocropping removes habitat for predators that might otherwise control the pest population.

15. Pesticides
Pesticide- a substance that kills or controls organisms that people consider pests. Related to:
Insecticide- target insects
Herbicides- target plants
Broad-spectrum - pesticides designed to kill many different types of pests.
Selective – pesticides designed to kill a narrower range of organisms.
vs.
Persistent - pesticides that
do not break down and thus remain in the environment, accumulating in water and soil.
Non-persistent - pesticides that breaks down relatively rapidly, usually in weeks to months.
vs.

16. Pesticides
Bioaccumulation- some pesticides build up over time in the fatty tissues of predators.
An example was DDT.
When an organism containing the pesticide is eaten, the chemical is transferred to the consumer.
This eventually leads to very high pesticide concentrations at high trophic levels.

17. Pesticides
Resistance - pest populations may evolve resistance to a pesticide over time.
Pesticide treadmill - the cycle of pesticide development followed by pest resistance, requiring development of a new pesticide.

18. Agricultural Effects on the Climate
From Farming in general……
CO2 releases linked to deforestation
Methane releases from rice farming
Methane releases from fermenting cattle feces
Nitrous oxide releases from fertilizer application
From livestock……
9% of global Carbon dioxide emissions
35–40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to manure/fecal fermentation)
64% of global nitrous oxide emissions (chiefly due to fertilizer use)

19. GMOs Genetically Modified Organisms
PROs
CONs
Greater yield
More profit
Increase nutrition
Pest resistance
Herbicide tolerance
Disease resistance
Cold tolerance
Drought tolerance
Salinity tolerance
Pharmaceuticals
Environmental hazards
Harm to other organisms
Reduced effectiveness of pesticides
Gene transfer to non-target species
Human health risks
Unlabeled / Unregulated
Allergens, Carcinogens (cause cancer)
Unwanted Steroids & Hormones
Antibiotics lose effectiveness

21. Farming Methods
Traditional farming - still used in the developing world where human labor is used and not machinery.
Nomadic grazing - moving herds of animals to find productive feeding grounds.
Conventional agriculture - “industrial agriculture” where labor is reduced and machinery is used.
Shifting agriculture - used in areas with nutrient poor soils. It involves planting an area for a few years until the land is depleted of nutrients and then moving to another area and repeating the process.

22. High-Density Animal Farming
CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) - large structures or lots where animals are being raised in high density numbers.
High-density animal farming is used for beef cattle, dairy cows, hogs, and poultry, all of which are confined or allowed very little room for movement.
Animals are given antibiotics to reduce the risk of adverse health effects and diseases which would normally be high in such highly concentrated animal populations.
contributing to an increase in antibiotic- resistant strains of microorganisms that can affect humans.

23. Harvesting of Fish and Shellfish
Fishery - a commercially harvestable population of fish within a particular ecological region.
Bycatch - unintentional catch of non-target species.
Fishery collapse - the decline of a fish population by 90% or more.

24. Aquaculture
Aquaculture- the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, shellfish, and seaweeds.
CON:
environmental problems:
wastewater containing feces, uneaten food, and antibiotics is pumped back into the river or ocean
may contain bacteria, viruses, and pests that thrive in the high-density habitat
fish that escape from aquaculture facilities spread diseases and parasites in surrounding waters.
PRO:
can alleviate some of the human-caused pressure on overexploited fisheries while providing much-needed protein for the more than 1 billion under-nourished people in the world.

25. Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture- producing enough food to feed the world’s population without destroying the land, polluting the environment, or reducing biodiversity.
Intercropping- two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time.
Crop rotation- rotating crops species from season to season.
Agroforestry- intercropping trees with vegetables.
Contour plowing- plowing and harvesting parallel to the land to prevent erosion.
No-till agriculture- not tilling the land after each harvest helps to stop soil degradation by leaving crop residues in the fields.

26. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Integrated pest management- using a variety of techniques designed to minimize pesticide inputs. Techniques:
Crop rotation
Intercropping
Planting pest resistant crop varieties
Creating habitats for predators
Limited use of pesticides

27. Organic Agriculture
Organic agriculture- production of crops without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
Organic agriculture follows several basic principles:
Use ecological principles and work with natural systems rather than dominating them.
Keep as much organic matter and as many nutrients in the soil and on the farm as possible.
Avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Maintain the soil by increasing soil mass, biological activity, and beneficial chemical properties.
Reduce the adverse environmental effects of agriculture.