Food and Soil Resources

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Food and Soil Resources
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How Is Food Produced?

• Primary plantswheat, corn, and rice

• Primary animalsfish, beef, pork, and chicken

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Major Types of Agriculture

• Industrialized agriculture

• Plantation

• Traditional subsistence agriculture

• Traditional intensive agriculture

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World Food Production
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Producing Food by Green-Revolution Techniques

• High-input monoculture

• Selectively bred or genetically-engineered crops

• High inputs of fertilizer

• Extensive use of pesticides

• High inputs of water

• Multiple cropping

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Green Revolutions
Fig. 14-4 p. 277
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Producing Food by Traditional Techniques

• Interplanting

• Polyvarietal cultivation

• Intercropping

• Agroforestry (alley cropping)

• Polyculture

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Causes of Soil Erosion

• Wind
• Water
• People

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Global Soil Erosion
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Soil Erosion in the US

• Dust Bowl 1930s
• Reductions in erosion since 1987
• 1985 Food Security Act

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Causes of Desertification

• Overgrazing
• Deforestation
• Erosion
• Salinization
• Soil Compaction
• Natural Climate Change

Refer to Fig. 14-10 p. 283
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World Desertification
Fig. 14-9 p. 282
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Soil Degradation on Irrigated Land

• Salinization

• Waterlogging

Fig. 14-11 p. 283
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Reducing and Cleaning Up Salinization

• Reduce irrigation
• Switch to salt-tolerant crops
• Flush soils
• Not growing crops for 2-5 years
• Install underground drainage

Refer to Fig. 14-12 p. 283
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Solutions Soil Conservation

• Conventional-tillage

• Conservation tillage

• Terracing

• Contour farming

• Strip and alley cropping

• Windbreaks

• Land Classification

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Soil Restoration

• Organic fertilizer

• Animal manure

• Green manure

• Compost

• Crop rotation

• Commercial inorganic fertilizer

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World Food Production

• Now leveling off

• Shortages in developing countries

Fig. 14-16 p. 287
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Nutrition

• Undernutrition

• Malnutrition

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Over-nutrition
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US Obesity by State
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Environmental Effects of Food Production

• Biodiversity loss

• Soil degradation

• Air pollution

• Water shortages and erosion

• Human health

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Increasing World Crop Production

• Crossbreeding and artificial selection

• Genetic engineering (gene splicing)

• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

• Continued Green Revolution techniques

• Introducing new foods

• Working more land

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Producing More Meat

• Feedlots

• Rangelands

• Efficiency

• Improved rangeland management

• Environmental consequences (Connections p. 295)

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Catching and Raising More Fish

• Fisheries

• Fishing methods

• Overfishing

• Commercial extinction

• Aquiculture

• Fish farming and ranching

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Government Agricultural Policy

• Artificially low prices

• Elimination of price controls

• Subsidies

• Food aid

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Solutions Sustainable Agriculture

• Low-input agriculture

• Organic farming

• Profitable

• Increasing funding for research in sustainable
  techniques