APES Chapter 12
Hyrdroponics
Growing plants by exposing their roots to a nutrient rich water solution instead of soul
Strip-cropping
Helps to reduce erosion and to restore soil fertility with alternating strips of a row crop and another crop that completely covers the soil
Industrialised agriculture
Issues heavy equipment along with large amounts of financial capital, fossil fuels, water, commercial inorganic fertilisers, and pesticides to produce single crops
O horizon
Leaf lotter
To be classified as organically grown, animals must be raised:
On 100% organic feed without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones
Alley cropping
One or more crops, usually legumes or other crops that add nitrogen to the soil, are planted together in alleys between orchard trees or fruit-bearing shrubs
Erosion of topsoil has two major harmful effects:
Loss of soil fertility and water pollution
People who are underfed and underweight and those who are overfed and overweight share similar health problems:
Lower life expectancy, greater susceptibility to disease and illness, and lower productivity and life quakity
C horizon
Parent material
Community supported agriculture
People buy shares of a local farmer's crops and receive a box of fruit or vegetables each week during the summer and fall
Contour olanting
Plotting and planting crops in rows across the slope of the land rather than up and down. Each row acts as a small dam to help hold topsoil by slowing runoff
The root cause of food insecurity is ____
Poverty
Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots
Produce meat and meat products and supply about 16% of the world's food using about 29% of the world's land area
Croplands
Produce mostly grains and provide about 77% of the world's food using 11% of its land area
Compost
Produced when microorganisms in topsoil break down organic matter such as leaves, crop residues, food wastes, paper, and wood in the presence of oxygen
Macronutrients
Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates
China consumes a ____ of all the meat produced in the world
Quarter
Circle of poison (boomerang effect)
Residues of some banned or unapproved chemicals used in synthetic pesticides reported to other countries can return to the exporting countries on imported food
Main grains people survive on:
Rice, wheat, corn
In undisturbed, vegetated ecosystems, the ______ ___ ________ help to anchor the topsoil and prevent some erosion
Roots of plants
Topsoil
Stores water and nutrients needed by plants
B horizon
Subsoil
Broad-spectrum agents
Synthetic pesticides that are toxic to beneficial species as well as pests
Agrobiodiversity
The genetic variety of animal and plant species used on farms to produce food
Soil erosion
The movement of soil components, especially surface litter and topsoil, from one place to another by the actions of wind and water
Desertification
The process in which the productive potential of topsoil falls by 10% or more because of a combination of prolonged drought and human activities that expose the topsoil to erosion
A horizon
Topsoil
Windbreaks
Trees around crop fields that help to reduce wind erosion
Conservation-tillage farming
Use of special tillers and planting machines that inject seeds and fertiliser directly through crop residues into minimally disturbed topsoil
Many people suffer from a defiance of one or more vitamins and minerals, usually:
Vitamin A, iron, and iodine
Micronutrients
Vitamins and minerals
Waterlogging
Water accumulates underground and gradually raises the water table, especially when farmers apply large amounts of irrigation water in an effort to leach salts deeper into the soil; lowers productivity of crop plants and kills them after prolonged exposure
Benefits of synthetic pesticides:
-Have saved human lives -Have been to known to increase food supplies -Can help farmers increase their profits -Work fast -Newer pesticides are safer to use and more effective than old ones
Deseritifaction levels
-Moderate (10-15% drop) -Severe (25-50% drop) -Very severe (more than 50% drop)
Promote IPM in the US:
1. Add a 2% sales tax on synthetic pesticide and use the revenue to fund IPM research 2. Set up a federally supported IPM demonstration project on at least one farm in every county 3. Train USDA field personnel and county farm agents in IPM
Three steps of green revolution:
1. Develop and plant monoculture of selectively bred or genetically engineered high-yield varieties of key crops 2. Produce high yields by using large inputs of water, synthetic inorganic fertilisers, and pesticides 3. Increase the number of crops grown per year on a plot of land through multiple cropping
About ____ of all food produced globally is lost during production and thrown away
1/3
Worldwide, only about ____ species of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes cause most of the damage to the crops we groe
100
The average U.S. Farmer feeds ___ people
129
In the US, food travels an average of ____ miles from farm to plate
1300
Industrialised livestock production generates about __% of the world's greenhouse gases
18
1 of every _ people in less developed countries aren't getting enough to eat
6
Products labelled made with organic food must contain __% organic ingredients
70
Products labelled organic must contain __% organic ingredients
95
Integrated pest management (IPM)
A carefully designed program in which each crop and its pests are evaluated as parts of an ecosystem, and farmers use a combination of cultivation, biological, and chemical tools and techniques, applied in a coordinated process
Agriculture contributes to ____ _______ and ________ ________
Air pollution and climate change
Wakame (undaria)
An Asian kelp that is a popular product and raised on some farms. But this invasive seaweed is disrupting coastal aquatic systems in several parts of the world
Food desert
An urban area where people have little or no easy access to nutritious food without traveling long distances
Governments improve food security by:
Controlling food prices and providing subsidies
Terracing
Converting steeply sloped land into a series of broad, nearly level terraces that run across the land's contours
Perennial crops
Crops that grown back year after year on their own
Famines are usually caused by:
Drought, flooding, war, and other catastrophic events
FIRA
EPA was supposed to asses the health risks of the active ingredients in synthetic pesticides already in use
Narrow-spectrum agents
Effective against a narrowly defined group of organisms
Largest cause of erosion
Flowing water
Industrialised agriculture has greater overall harmful environmental impacts than any other human activity and these environmental effects may limit future ____ _______
Food production
Soil salinization
Gradual accumulation of salts in the upper soil layers; stunts crop growth, lowers crop yields, and can eventually kill plants and ruin the land
Negatives of synthetic pesticides:
-Accelerate the development of genetic resistance to pesticides in pest organisms -Can put farmers on a financial treadmill -Some insecticides can kill natural predators and parasites that help to control the pest population -Pesticides are usually applied inefficiently and often pollute the environment -Some harm wildlife -Some threaten human health
Idoine
-Essential for proper functioning of thyroid gland -Lack of it can cause goiter
Alternatives to synthetic pesticides:
-Fool the pest -Provide homes for pest enemies -Implant genetic resistance -Bring in natural enemies -Use insect perfumes -Bring in hormones -Reduce use of synthetic herbicides to control weeds