Food,%20Soil,%20and%20Pest%20Management

1
Food, Soil, and Pest Management

• Chapter 12

2
12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It
Difficult to Attain?

• Concept 12-1A Many of the poor suffer health
  problems from chronic lack of food and poor
  nutrition, while many people in developed
  countries have health problems from eating too
  much food.
• Concept 12-1B The greatest obstacles to
  providing enough food for everyone are poverty,
  political upheaval, corruption, war, and the
  harmful environmental effects of food production.

3
Many of the Poor Have Health Problems Because
They Do Not Get Enough to Eat

• Food security means that every person in a
  given area has daily access to enough nutritious
  food to have an active and healthy life.
• Global food production has stayed ahead of
  population growth.
• However
• One of six people in developing countries cannot
  grow or buy the food they need.
• Food insecurity living with chronic hunger and
  poor nutrition.

4
Key Nutrients for a Healthy Human Life

• We need large amounts of macronutrients
• (protein, carbohydrates, and fats)

• We also need smaller amounts of micronutrients
• (vitamins such as A,C, and E and various minerals)

5
Many People Suffer from Chronic Hunger and
Malnutrition

• Some people cannot meet their basic energy needs
• Chronic undernutrition or hunger
• Others lack proteins and key nutrient needs
• Chronic malnutrition
• The root cause of hunger and malnutrition is
  poverty.
• In 2006, 862 million were undernourished
  worldwide.
• A 2005 estimate says 6 million children die
  annually from undernutrition or nonfatal diseases
  made worse by their poor diet.

6
Many People Do No Get Enough Vitamins and
Minerals

• One in three people has a deficiency of one or
  more vitamins and minerals, especially
• iron anemia
• vitamin A blindness
• iodine goiter or enlarged thyroid gland
• Can lead to deafness

• Famine a shortage of food in an area along with
  mass starvation, economic and social chaos
• Usually caused by crop failures from drought,
  flooding, war, or other catastrophic events

7
Many People Have Health Problems from Eating Too
Much

• Overnutrition excess calories and lack of
  exercise can lead to reduced life quality, poor
  health, and premature deathsame as
  undernutrition
• A 2005 Boston University study
• 60 of American adults are overweight
• 33 are obese
• Americans spend 42 billion a year
  trying to lose weight.
• Estimates are that 24 billion per year would
  eliminate world hunger.

8
12-2 How Is Food Produced?

• Concept 12-2A We have sharply increased crop
  production using a mix of industrialized and
  traditional agriculture.
• Concept 12-2B We have used industrialized and
  traditional methods to greatly increase supplies
  of meat, fish, and shellfish.

9
Food Production Has Increased Dramatically

• Wheat, rice, and corn provide more than half of
  the worlds consumed calories
• Fish and shellfish are an important source of
  food for about 1 billion people mostly in Asia
• Of all the biodiversity on the planet, only 14
  plant and 9 animal species make up 90 of the
  worlds consumed calories.

10
Food Production Has Increased Dramatically

• Three systems produce most of our food
• Grain from croplands 77
• Meat from rangelands, pastures, and feedlots 16
• Fish from fisheries/Aquaculture 7
• Dramatic increase in global food production since
  1960.
• Why?
• Technological advances
• More sophisticated farming techniques
• Expanded use of inorganic chemical fertilizers,
  irrigation, pesticides, high-yield crops
• Intense farming methods, densely populated
  feedlots, breeding/growing pens, aquaculture
  ponds or ocean cages

11
Two Types of Agriculture

• Industrial Agriculture (High Input Agriculture)
• A relatively small group of farmers produce large
  quantities of a single crop or livestock
• Mostly in developed countries
• Traditional Agriculture (Low Input Agriculture)
• Traditional subsistence agriculture
• Produces enough crops or livestock to feed family
• Traditional intensive agriculture
• Produces enough crops or livestock to feed the
  farmers family and maybe some to sell
• Mostly in developing countries

12
Industrialized Crop Production Relies on
High-Input Monocultures

• About 80 of the worlds food supply is produced
  by industrialized agriculture.
• Goal is to steadily increase crop yield
• Uses large amounts of fossil fuel energy, water,
  commercial fertilizers, and pesticides to produce
  monocultures.

• Plantation agriculture primarily in tropical
  developing countries (bananas, coffee, sugarcane)
• Cash crops crops intended for sale, not
  consumption or animals

13
Traditional Agriculture Often Relies on
Low-Input Polycultures

• Many farmers in developing countries grow a
  variety of crops on the same plot of land
• Polyculture different plants are grown together
• Limited technology, limited equipment, limited
  impact on the environment

• Slash-and-burn agriculture burning underbrush
  to provide nutrients to the soil

14
A Closer Look at Industrialized Crop Production

• The Green Revolution represents the 88 increase
  in food production per unit of area since 1950.
• Monocultures of high-yield key crops
• Selectively breed or genetically engineered crops
• Large inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, water
• The Second Green Revolution involves fast growing
  rice/wheat bred for tropical regions.
• Early in the century, one American farmer could
  produce food for 2.5 people.
• By 1999, a single farmer could feed over 130
  people.

15
A Closer Look at Industrialized Crop Production

• Since 1950, high-input agriculture has produced
  more crops per unit of land.
• Grain production has tripled during this
  timeframe
• Why has per Capita grain production gone down
  since the early 1980s?

16
Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce
New Crop Varieties

• Gene Revolution increased crop yields, as a
  result of mixing organisms genes
• Artificial selection has been used for centuries
  to develop genetically improved varieties of
  crops.
• Genetic engineering develops improved strains at
  an exponential pace compared to artificial
  selection.
• Add beneficial genes
• Delete negative genes

17
Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce
New Crop Varieties

• Age of Genetic Engineering
• developing crops that are resistant to
• Heat and cold
• Herbicides
• Insect pests
• Viral diseases
• Drought
• Salty or acidic soil

• Controversy has arisen over the use of
  genetically modified foods (GMFs).
• Critics fear that we know too little about the
  long-term potential harm to human health and the
  environment.

18
Meat Production and Consumption Have Grown
Steadily

• Meat production increased fourfold from 19612007
• Industrialized livestock production
• Densely populated feedlots are common
• System uses a lot of energy and water and produce
  huge amounts of animal waste

19
Industrialized Meat Production Has Harmful
Environmental Consequences
20
Fish and Shellfish Production Have Increased
Dramatically

• Aquaculture raising large numbers of fish and
  shellfish in ponds and cages
• worlds fastest growing type of food production.
• Fish farming involves cultivating fish in a
  controlled environment and harvesting them in
  captivity.

21
Producing Fish Through Aquaculture Can Harm
Aquatic Ecosystems
22
12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food
Production?

• Concept 12-3 Food production in the future may
  be limited by its serious environmental impacts,
  including soil erosion and degradation,
  desertification, water and air pollution,
  greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation and
  destruction of biodiversity.

23
Producing Food Has Major Environmental Impacts

• Modern agriculture has a greater harmful
  environmental impact than any human activity.
• Loss of biodiversity as a result of monocultures
• Loss of genetic variability in crops and
  livestock
• High input of chemicals
• Air, water pollution
• Greater soil erosion

24
Producing Food Has Major Environmental Impacts
25
Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem in Parts of
the World

• Soil erosion is the movement of soil components,
  especially surface litter and topsoil, by wind or
  water.

• Soil erosion increases through activities such as
  farming, logging, construction, overgrazing, and
  off-road vehicles.
• Soil erosion lowers soil fertility and can
  overload nearby bodies of water with eroded
  sediment.

26
Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem in Parts of
the World

• Soil is eroding faster than it is forming on more
  than one-third of the worlds cropland.

27
Excessive Irrigation Has Serious Consequences

• Irrigation problems
• Salinization repeated irrigation can reduce
  crop yields by causing salt buildup in the soil
• Waterlogging

28
Natural Capital Degradation Desertification of
Arid and Semiarid Lands
29
Industrialized Food Production Requires Huge
Inputs of Energy

• Industrialized agriculture uses about 17 of all
  commercial energy in the U.S. and food travels an
  average 2,400 kilometers from farm to plate.

30
12-4 How Can We Protect Crops from Pests More
Sustainably?

• Concept 12-4 We can sharply cut pesticide use
  without decreasing crop yields by using a mix of
  cultivation techniques, biological pest controls,
  and small amounts of selected chemical pesticides
  as a last resort (integrated pest management).

31
We Use Pesticides to Try to Control Pest
Populations

• What is a pest?
• Only about 100 species of plants (weeds), animals
  (mostly insects), fungi, microbes cause the most
  damage
• Chemists have developed hundreds of chemicals
  (pesticides) that can kill or repel pests.
• Pesticides
• Insecticides
• Herbicides
• Fungicides
• Rodenticides
• 2.6 million tons of pesticides (600 different
  active chemicals) used annually

32
We Use Pesticides to Try to Control Pest
Populations

• First-generation pesticides
• Natural chemicals derived from plants
• Second-generation pesticides
• Man-made chemicals from a laboratory
• DDT was the first
• Broad-spectrum agents
• Toxic to many pest and non-pest species
• Narrow-spectrum agents
• Effective against a specific group of species
• Pesticides vary in their persistence
• How long they remain deadly in the environment

33
We Use Pesticides to Try to Control Pest
Populations

• The ideal pest-killing chemical has these
  qualities
• Kill only target pest
• Not cause genetic resistance in the target
  organism
• Disappear/break down into harmless chemicals
  after doing its job
• Be more cost-effective than doing nothing

34
Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several
Advantages/Disadvantages

• Each year gt 250,000 people in the U.S. become ill
  from household pesticides

35
Laws and Treaties Can Help to Protect Us from the
Harmful Effects of Pesticides

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the
  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the
  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate the
  sale and use of pesticides under the Federal
  Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
  (FIFRA).
• The EPA has only evaluated the health effects of
  10 of the active ingredients of all pesticides.
• Cite lack of funding for complex and lengthy
  project
• The Food Quality Protection Act strengthens FIFRA
  by reducing the allowable level of chemicals by a
  factor of 10 for which the health effects are
  still unknown.
• Precautionary Principle

36
There are Alternatives to Using Pesticides

• There are cultivation, biological, and ecological
  alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides.
• Fool the pest through cultivation practices.
• Biological pest control
• Provide homes for the pest enemies.
• Bring in natural enemies.
• Use pheromones to lure pests into traps.
• Use hormones to disrupt life cycles.
• Implant genetic resistance into plants.

Both tomato plants were exposed to destructive
caterpillars. The genetically altered plant
(right) shows little damage.
37
Integrated Pest Management Is a Component of
Sustainable Agriculture

• Integrated pest management (IPM)
• Crops and pests are evaluated as parts of a
  larger ecosystem

• Comprehensive plan including cultivation,
  biological controls, and chemical tools applied
  in a coordinated way

38
12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably?

• Concept 12-6A Sustainable food production will
  require reducing topsoil erosion, eliminating
  overgrazing and overfishing, irrigating more
  efficiently, using integrated pest management,
  promoting agrobiodiversity, and providing
  government subsidies for more sustainable
  farming, fishing, and aquaculture.
• Concept 12-6B Producing enough food to feed the
  rapidly growing human population will require
  growing crops in a mix of monocultures and
  polycultures and decreasing the enormous
  environmental impacts of industrialized food
  production.

39
Soil Conservation Methods

• There are many different soil conservation
  techniques that can be employed to reduce soil
  erosion

Contour planting
Terracing
40
Soil Conservation Methods
Alley cropping
Strip cropping
Windbreaks
No-till or minimum tillage
41
Restore Soil Fertility

• Fertilizers can help restore soil nutrients, but
  runoff of inorganic fertilizers can cause water
  pollution.
• Organic fertilizers From plant and animal
  materials
• Animal manure
• Green manure freshly cut vegetation plowed into
  soil
• Compost broken-down organic matter
• Commercial inorganic fertilizers
• Made from minerals
• Active ingredients contain nitrogen (N),
  phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) and other
  trace nutrients

42
Shift to More Sustainable Agriculture

• Three main ways to reduce hunger and malnutrition
  and the harmful effects of agriculture
• Slow population growth
• Sharply reduce poverty
• Develop and phase in systems of more sustainable,
  low input agriculture over the next few decades