APES Chapter 12: Food Production
What fraction of the world's population is under/malnourished?
2 billion people
animal manure
Dung and urine of animals used as a form of organic fertilizer.
green manure
Freshly cut or still-growing green vegetation that is plowed into the soil to increase the organic matter and humus available to support crop growth.
soil salinization
Gradual accumulation of salts in upper soil layers that can stunt crop growth, lower crop yields, and can eventually kill plants and ruin the land.
How can we use hydroponics to help deal with soil degradation?
Growing plants by exposing their roots to a nutrient-rich water solution Using it doesn't degrade the soil because the soil isn't needed since roots are exposed.
plantation agriculture
Growing specialized crops such as bananas, coffee, and cacao in tropical developing countries, primarily for sale to developed countries.
Explain 3 of the benefits of buying locally grown food.
Healthy Supports small businesses Benefits environment
Compare the benefits and harmful effects of industrialized meat production.
Increased production Higher profits Less land use Disease is prevalent Greenhouse gases
What can a deficiency in vitamin A cause? Iron? Iodine?
Infections and Diseases
organic fertilizer
Organic material such as animal manure, green manure, and compost applied to cropland as a source of plant nutrients.
How can we reduce desertification?
Population growth Overgrazing Deforestation Mining in drylands
Traditional subsistence agriculture:
Production of enough crops or livestock for a farm family's survival
What is soil permeability?
The rate at which water and air move through the soil.
How can urban farming help to increase food security?
They bring food closer to consumers, which increases food security.
Pest
Unwanted organism that directly or indirectly interferes with human activities.
Famine
Widespread malnutrition and starvation in a particular area because of a shortage of food, usually caused by droughts, war, flood, earthquakes, or other catastrophic events that disrupt food production and distribution
soil conservation
a method to maintain the fertility of the soil by protecting the soil from erosion and nutrient loss
Monoculture
the cultivation of a single crop in a given area.
Summarize 3 important aspects of making a shift to more sustainable food production. Describe the role of organic farming in making this shift.
100% USDA certified organic agriculture sharply reduces harmful environmental effects of industrialized farming Does use expensive synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers and usually receives higher prices for their crops Uses less energy per unit of crops yields and organically raise crops to store more carbon in soil.
What percent of American adults over age 20 are overweight or obese?
72%
Chronic undernutrition:
A condition suffered by people who cannot grow or buy enough food to meet their basic energy needs. Most chronically undernourished children live in developing countries and are likely to suffer from mental retardation and stunted growth and to die from infectious diseases.
Explain the connection between feeding livestock and the formation of ocean dead zones.
A great amount of inorganic fertilizer is used in the western United States to produce corn for animal feed. Some of this fertilizer runs off the cropland and goes into the Mississippi River. THe nitrate and phosphate nutrientes is added to the waters in the Gulf of Mexico because of over fertilizing, this creates the dead zone.
Irrigation
A mix of methods used to supply water to crops by artificial means.
List the advantages and disadvantages of using genetic engineering in food production.
Advantages: Better overall quality and taste More resistant to disease More nutrition benefits Disadvantages: Environmental damage No economic value Growth in an allergic reaction.
food desert
An area characterized by a lack of affordable, fresh and nutritious food.They are found predominantly in low-income areas, although not everyone living in a food desert is poor. They can be in urban, suburban or rural communities.
pesticides
Any chemical designed to kill or inhibit the growth of an organism that people consider undesirable.
How is artificial selection different from genetic engineering?
Artificial selection is chosing what's desirable after the facts while genetic engineering is when people physically change the DNA of the plant seed.
How are the diets of people in industrialized countries different than those in developing countries?
Both countries have malnutrition. Developing countries tend to have undernutrition while industrialized countries tend to have over nutrition. Industrialized countries tend to eat more meats and had a variety of things to chose from while developing countries eat more plants and don't have a lot to chose from.
In what 2 areas is chronic malnutrition a serious problem?
Brain Damage → lack of iodine Goiter → enlargement of the thyroid gland, caused by a lack of iodine in someone's diet.
Describe the method of slash-and-burn agriculture.
Burning and clearing small plots in tropical forests, growing a variety of crops for a few years until the soil is depleted of nutrients, and then shifting to other plots to begin the process again.
What are 3 important ways in which individual consumers can help to promote more sustainable food production?
Buy certified organic foods Use organic farming to grow some of your own food eat local organic food
How is industrialized agriculture contributing to projected climate change?
Clear and burn natural forest and grasslands Agriculture contributes ¼ of all human-generated greenhouse cases Livestock contributed 18% of all greenhouse gases (methane); feed- fed produces more methane than free-range.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Combined use of biological, chemical, and cultivation methods in proper sequence and timing to keep the size of a pest population below the size that causes economically unacceptable loss of a crop or livestock animal.
Polyculture
Complex form of intercropping in which a large number of different plants maturing at different times are planted together.
soil
Complex mixture of inorganic minerals (clay, silt, pebbles, and sand), decaying organic matter, water, air, and living organisms.
fishery
Concentration of particular aquatic species suitable for commercial harvesting in a given ocean area or inland body of water.
food security
Conditions under which every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life.
food insecurity
Conditions under which people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition that threatens their ability to lead a healthy and productive life
What is the biggest problem resulting from excessive use of water for irrigation in agriculture?
Contributes to the depletion of groundwater and surface water supplies.
What are the 2 main approaches used by governments to influence food production?
Control prices to keep prices artificially low Provide subsidies to keep farmers in business Let the marketplace decide rather then impending price controls.
Desertification
Conversion of rangeland, rain-fed cropland, or irrigated cropland to desertlike land, with a drop in agricultural productivity of 10% or more. It usually is caused by a combination of overgrazing, soil erosion, prolonged drought, and climate change.
List alternatives to conventional pesticides.
Crop rotation: adjusting planting time Starves pests: allows preys to eat them Polyculture: homes for the pests' prey Biological control:
What 3 systems supply most of the world's food? Describe each.
Croplands (grains) Rangelands and pastures (meat) Oceanic fisheries and aquaculture (fish)
What is one example of a pest, the adverse effects it can have on agriculture or human health and a viable method of controlling the pest (other than use of pesticides)?
Deer are a type of pest. They eat people's garden and eat plants and kill them. By using an onion as a repellent, you can control this pest and lure them away from your garden
Overnutrition
Diet so high in calories, saturated (animals) fats, salt, sugar, and processed foods, and so low in vegetables and fruits that the consumer runs a high risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other health hazards.
Describe the use of laws and treaties to help protect US citizens from the harmful effects of pesticides.
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency - mission to protect human and environmental health. USDA: United States Department of Agriculture - manages various programs related to food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, and nutrition. FDA: Food and Drug Administration - protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products and medical devices. Fungicide and Rodenticide Act 1947: mandates the EPA Food Quality Protection Act 1996: ensures the levels of pesticide residues in food meet strict standard for public health protection.
What type of diet do people in less-developed countries usually consume?
Eat further down in the food change on a diet of grain.
What is the trend related to meat consumption worldwide? What are feedlots and CAFOs?
Eggs and milk are sources of high-quality protein and represent the world's second major food-producing system. Feedlots are a type of animal feeding operation which is used in intensive animal farming. CAFOs have concentrated animal feeding operation. It is a farm in which animals are raised in confinement.
What are 3 hidden costs related to American food consumption?
Expensive Pollution Environmental degradation Harmful health effects
chronic malnutrition
Faulty nutrition, caused by a diet that does not supply an individual with enough protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients needed for good health.
What are the 2 major harmful environmental effects of soil erosion?
Flowing water (cause of soil erosion) carries away soil loosened by rainfall Wind blows away topsoil particles from flat land in dry climates. Farming deforestation and overgrazing exposes land and hastens soil erosion
hydroponics
Form of agriculture in which farmers grow plants by exposing their roots to a nutrient-rich water solution instead of soil.
Aquaculture
Growing and harvesting of fish and shellfish for human use in freshwater ponds, irrigation ditches, and lakes, or in cages or fenced-in areas of coastal lagoons and estuaries.
organic agriculture
Growing crops with limited or no use of synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers; genetically modified crops, raising livestock without use of synthetic growth regulators and feed additives; and using organic fertilizer (manure, legumes, compost) and natural pest controls (bugs that eat harmful bugs, plants that repel bugs and environmental controls such as crop rotation). See sustainable agriculture.
Compare the benefits and harmful effects of aquaculture.
High efficiency High Yield Reduces over-harvesting of fisheries Low fuel use High profits Large inputs of land, food, and water Large waste output Loss of mangrove forests
Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using synthetic pesticides
Human lives have been saves from insect-transmitted diseases Food supplies are increased by the reduction of food loss due to pests Crop yields and farming profits increase
What is the direct result of lack of genetic diversity in food crops?
If there is a disease and if all the plants are the same they are likely to all die if the diseases infect its. And this there wouldn't be a back up, all the plants would die and there would be no food crops.
How are the health problems associated with developing countries different than those of a developed country?
In developing countries, they lack the technology and advanced medicine. This leads to certain heart problems as well as infectious diseases such as malaria and tuburulosis. In developed countries, you rarely see diseases like that. Most people in developed countries suffer from diabetes because of the over nutrients they get. There are also a lot of health problems regarding obesity in developed countries because they have more choices and a variety of foods to chose from.
What 5 strategies could help farmers and consumers to shift to more sustainable agriculture
Increasing research on more sustainable organic farming Establish education and training programs Setting up international funs to give farmers in poor countries access to forms of more sustainable agriculture Replacing government subsidies for environmentally harmful forms of industrialized agriculture with subsidies that encourage more sustainable agriculture Mounting a massive program to educate consumers about the true costs of the food they buy.
Explain how industrialized food production systems have caused losses in biodiversity.
Industrialized food system prefers monoculture crops that the diversity of crops that are grown is drastically decreasing.
Give 2 examples of pesticides.
Insecticides (insects) Herbicides (weeds)
What are the positive impacts of polyculture on the environment?
It allows for a maximum use of land and constant upkept which will keep the land healthier and not wasted.
How does crop rotation help to restore topsoil fertility?
It keeps the topsoil covered with vegetation.
Why does industrialized food production require large inputs of energy? Why does it result in a net energy loss?
It requires a lot of energy because it uses non renewable energy (oil/natural gases), farm machinery, processes and transports of food, irrigation, production of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.
What are the fundamental characteristics of the green revolution?
It's the use of monoculture cultivation. Rotation of monocultures (including cover crops) disrupts pests, helps recycle nutrients, adds nitrogen (if legumes are used), shifts soil biology, and benefits yields of all the crops in the rotation. The use of pesticides, farming machinery, and high crop yield varieties.
What types of health problems do people who are underweight or overweight both share?
Lower life expectancies Greater susceptibility to diseases and illness Lower productivity Lower life quality
What are the harmful environmental effects of soil salinization and waterlogging?
Lowers productivity of crop plants and kills them, after prolonged exposure, because it deprives plants of the oxygen they need to survive.
Soil erosion
Movement of soil components, especially topsoil, from one place to another, usually by wind, flowing water, or both. This natural process can be greatly accelerated by human activities that remove vegetation from soil.
Describe 3 ways to make aquaculture more sustainable.
Open ocean aquaculture: raise large carnivorous fish in unwater pens where currents can sweep away fish waste and dilute them Raise shrimp and fish species inland facilities using zero discharge freshwater. Water use to raise fish will continually be recycled reducing pollution and chemicals Poly aquaculture: raise fish/shrimps along with algae.
compost
Partially decomposed organic plant and animal matter used as a soil conditioner or fertilizer.
Describe 6 ways to reduce topsoil erosion.
Plant grass and shrubs Add rocks Avoid soil compaction Improve drainage Put down fiber loss Reduce water if possible
Green Revolution
Popular term for the introduction of scientifically bred or selected varieties of grain (rice, wheat, maize) that, with adequate inputs of fertilizer and water, can greatly increase crop yields.
What is the root cause of food insecurity? List 5 other causes of food insecurity.
Poverty Lack of food sources Population growth Natural disasters Food wastage
What are some ways to prevent and some ways to clean up soil salinization?
Prevent: Reduce irrigation Use efficient irrigation methods Switch to salt-tolerant crops Clean up: Flush soil (extensive & inefficient) Stop growing crops for 2-5 years Install underground drainage systems
Traditional intensive agriculture:
Production of enough food for a farm family's survival and a surplus that can be sold. This type of agriculture uses higher inputs of labor, fertilizer, and water than traditional subsistence agriculture.
Industrialized agriculture:
Production of large quantities of crops and livestock for domestic and foreign sale; involves use of large inputs of energy from fossil fuels (especially oil and natural gas), water, fertilizer, and pesticides.
List the advantages of integrated pest management (IPM).
Reduces synthetic pesticides use and pest control by 50% without reducing crop yields and food quality Reduces inputs of fertilizer and irrigation water Slows the development of fertilizer resistance → pests attack less
What are 2 other ways in which organizations are improving food security?
Reducing poverty and chronic malnutrition Rely more on locally grown food and cutting food waste Reducing population growth
what are the positive impacts of polyculture on the environment?
Relies on Solar energy and natural fertilizers
How are the 3 major components of soil (sand, silt & clay) different from one another?
SAND: Sand does not hold minerals in the soil. Water molecules find their way through sand easily and get away. The advantage of sand is its absorbs to plants roots/ The bad part about sand is its poor water and plants nutrients retention. CLAY: Different types of clay have different capabilities to exchanges cations in the soil, playing a role in plant nutrients storage and availability. Clays in soils which have been weathered intensely have structures less prone to interacts with minerals. It is one of the reasons soils have a lack of minerals in the tropics. These minerals not being held by clay have been washed away by intense rains. SILT: slit is a size between sand and clay. Carried by water during the flood it forms a fertile deposit on valleys floor. Silt is easily compacted.
How can the effects of soil salinization be remediated?
Salt can be drained from the soil by watering the crop with more water than it needs. This washes the salt away from the crops roots.
What are the components of soil that can affect the water-holding capacity?
Sand isn't able to absorb water which means it affects the water-holding capacity in the soil
What caused the 1930's dust bowl? Where do scientists believe 2 more dust bowls will form and why?
Severe Droughts, high winds and temperature over 100 degrees. Farming methods at the time didn't use ground cover, crop rotation, or soil conservation methods. This resulted in dry condition and high winds that carved the soil to turn to dust and blow effect. The next dust bowl will happen in China and Sahara. Because the same things that caused the dust bowl are reoccurring in those places.
Describe the system used by Jennifer Burney to help people grow crops in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
She advocated a system of solar irrigation and drip irrigation systems in Africa. Since they are solar powered they work without the use of electricity.
Who is Rachel Carson and what is she known for?
She was a marine biologist, environmentalist, and a writer. She is known as the first to alert the world about the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides.
What are 2 physical or chemical properties of soil and what role does each play in the determination of soil quality?
Soil's ability to retain water determines how much it should be used and watered. soil's nitrgoen content determines what kind of plants should be grown there.
How does industrialized agriculture negatively affect biodiversity? Soil? Water? Air? Human health?
The fertilizers used in industrial agriculture can runoff from the cropland. This fertilizer carries pesticides and other toxic chemicals that can damage aquatic ecosystems. Because of certain farming activities, soil erosion occur where the topsoil particles wear away through activities such as tillage. Air emissions can impact climate and can cause public health problems. These emissions can go in the atmosphere cause climate change. Humans can also inhale this emission which can cause harm to their health and their communities.
What is the major goal of industrialized agriculture?
The major goal is to steadily increase each crop's yield, which is the amount of food produced per unit of land.
Describe the formation of soil and the major layers in mature soils.
The soil is a complex mixture of rocks, mineral nutrients, decaying matter, water, air, billions of biotic organisms. O horizon - leaf the filter A horizon - topsoil Roots of most plants and organic matter are concentrated in 2 upper layers in healthy soil these 2 layers abound with bacteria, fungi, and earthworms B horizon - subsoil C horizon - parent material Bottom 2 layers contain inorganic matter, broken down rocks
Topsoil
The uppermost layer of soil as a soil's A-horizon layer. It contains the organic and inorganic nutrients that plants need for their growth and development.
How have governments used subsidies to influence food production and what have been some of their effects?
They provide subsidies by giving framers price support to keep them in business and enough them to increase food production.
Why is topsoil one of our most important resources?
Topsoil nutrients recycle endlessly. It stores water and nutrients needed by plants.
Distinguish between crossbreeding through artificial selection and genetic engineering.
Traditional crossbreeding is a slow process, typically taking 15 years or more to produce a commercially valuable new crop variety, and it can combine traits only from species that are genetically similar. Genetic engineering involves altering an organism's genetic material through adding, deleting, or changing segments of its DNA to produce desirable traits or to eliminate undesirable ones. It enables scientists to transfer genes between different species that would not interbreed in nature. The resulting organisms are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
What are 2 major benefits of high-yield modern agriculture?
Uses less land to produce more food Helps to protect biodiversity in many areas by reducing the destruction of forest and grasslands for farming.
What are the 3 most common grain crops?
Wheat Corn Soybeans
List the advantages of relying more on organic polyculture and perennial crops.
When using those methods, there is no need to till(prepare land for raising crops) each year which reduces topsoil erosion. It reduces the need for irrigation because it uses less water. There isn't a lot of chemicals and pesticides which results in no/little population.
What are possible strategies for ensuring adequate nutrition for a rapidly growing global population?
diversified crops, encouraging organics, ethical practices, se of efficient and natural fertilizers.
Describe 2 ways to make meat production and consumption more sustainable.
eliminate most/all meat from the diet Switch to more grain-efficient forms
Synthetic/ Inorganic Fertilizers
gaseous fuel containing mostly methane produced from soil coal.
In terms of calories for consumption, is it more productive to use farmland for growing corn or letting cattle graze?
letting cattle graze
Waterlogging
saturation of soil with irrigation water or excessive precipitation so that the water table rises close to the surface
What are 2 viable strategies for reducing the amount of land needed for agriculture?
terracing helps to use less land as does practices such as hydroponics.
agrobiodiversity
the genetic variety of animal and plant species used on farms to produce food
What are the harmful environmental effects of desertification?
they dont have the ability to grow plants.
List 3 technological advances that supported an increase in global food production.
tractors pesticides GMOS
