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Environmental Impacts of Agriculture > 1 - Introduction > Flashcards

1 - Introduction Flashcards

1
Q

Define Agriculture:

A

Agriculture is the science of growing crops and raising animals to meet the needs of humans

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2
Q

What kind of things can agriculture produce?

A
  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Shelter
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3
Q

What kind of historic change has agriculture gone through?

A

Transition from systematic harvesting of wild plants to cultivation.

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4
Q

What is the Fertile Crescent?

A

Region in the Middle East which curves like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf

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5
Q

The Fertile Crescent is regarded as the _______ of agriculture.

A

Birthplace

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6
Q

Who are two important groups of people who influenced early agriculture in North America?

A
  • Indigenous Peoples
  • Colonists
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7
Q

How did Indigenous Peoples influence agriculture?

A

Through hunting and gathering for food and fibre needs.

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8
Q

How did Colonists influence agriculture?

A

Through subsistence crop production.
Started early domestication of animals; including confinement, and breeding of animals for human use.

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9
Q

What significant changes took place for agriculture in North America? (5)

A
  • Advanced Technology
  • Education
  • Mechanization
  • Scientific Discoveries
  • Wise Governance
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10
Q

When did Tillage / Land Preparation begin? Define it:

A

18th Century: Oxen and Horses used for power; wooden ploughs

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11
Q

Who was Charles Newbold?

A

He patented the first cast-iron plough (1797)

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12
Q

When did John Deere start making steel ploughs?

A

1837

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13
Q

When did agriculture change from using horses to tractors?

A

Between 1900 - 1950

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14
Q

When did no-till agriculture become popularized?

A

1950 - 2000

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15
Q

How was seeding done in the early days?

A

Sowing and cultivating by hand

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16
Q

When did machines begin seeding at the desired row spacing and distance?

A

1900s

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17
Q

When did Chemical Fertilizers begin selling commercially?

A

1800-1900

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18
Q

When did Pesticide use become commercially feasible?

A

1900 - 1950

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19
Q

When did Mendel discover the principles of heredity?

A

1800-1850

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20
Q

When was the first hybrid crop developed?

A

1933

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21
Q

What was the first kind of hybrid crop?

A

Corn

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22
Q

What is the green revolution associated with?

A

Selective Breeding

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23
Q

When did the Green Revolution begin?

A

1940

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24
Q

Why was genetic engineering developed?

A

To improve crops and livestock.

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25
Q

What other 4 categories does agriculture consist of?

A
  • Crop Production
  • Livestock Production
  • Aquaculture
  • Forestry
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26
Q

What are the two types of crop production?

A
  • Conventional Production
  • Suburban Farming
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27
Q

Define Conventional Production:

A

Large extent of land, typically growing grain crops.

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28
Q

Define Suburban Farming:

A

Normally smaller areas of land in residential or business locations.

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29
Q

Define Livestock Production:

A

Raising large numbers of animals like swine, beef, dairy cattle, and sheep.

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30
Q

Define Aquaculture:

A

“Fish Farming”, involves raising fish or similar aquatic animals. Also includes producing aquatic plants like water cress or water chestnuts.

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31
Q

Define Forestry:

A

Involves the production of lumber and use of trees for other purposes.

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32
Q

Who is the father of the Green Revolution?

A

Norman Borlaug

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33
Q

Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970?

A

Norman Borlaug

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34
Q

How did the Green Revolution start?

A

Breeding a new hybrid which was a high-yield dwarf wheat

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35
Q

What is a High-yield dwarf wheat?

A

A strain of wheat that is resistant to most pests and diseases; more grain than traditional varieties.

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36
Q

What happened after the new wheat hybrid was developed?

A

Different breeding programs were initiated for other crops in different countries.

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37
Q

What is IR8?

A

A High-yielding semi-dwarf rice variety.

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38
Q

Who developed IR8?

A

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the 1960s.

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39
Q

What does Genetic Engineering do?

A

Produces genetically modified organisms (GMO) with new traits.

40
Q

What are 6 traits of a GMO crop?

A
  • Frost / Drougth Tolerance
  • High Nutrition Value
  • Low Nutrient Tolerance
  • Pest-resistance
  • Pesticide-tolerance
  • Salt Resistance
41
Q

Define Golden Rice:

A

A variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, in the edible parts of rice.

42
Q

How does Golden Rice differ from its parental strain?

A

By addition of three beta-carotene biosynthesis genes.

43
Q

Where is Golden Rice intended to be grown and consumed?

A

In areas with a shortage of dietary vitamin A.

44
Q

True or False: Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to kill 670,000 children under the age of 5 each year

A

True

45
Q

Why is there a significant opposition from environmental and anti- globalization activists regarding Golden Rice?

A

Claim that there are sustainable, long-lasting and more efficient ways to solve vitamin A deficiency.

46
Q

True or False: Bioavailability of the carotene from golden rice has been confirmed. Found to be an effective source of vitamin A for humans

A

True

47
Q

Golden Rice 2 produces up to ____ times more beta-carotene than the original golden rice.

A

23

48
Q

Who first approved GM “Golden Rice”?

A
  • Australia
  • New Zealand
  • Canada
  • USA
49
Q

When did commercial propagation of Golden Rice stop in Philippines by a Supreme court order?

A

April, 2023

50
Q

Why do people genetically modify animals? Provide several examples.

A
  • To grow faster
  • Pigs to produce omega-3 fatty acids
  • To produce pharmaceuticals in their milk.
  • To produce milk that would be the similar to human breast milk (using genes from human beings).
  • To produce allergy-free milk
  • Salmon to survive near-freezing waters and
    continue their development
  • To produce pigs with low phosphorus in manure
51
Q

What is an Enviropig?

A

A genetically enhanced line of Yorkshire pigs in Canada

52
Q

Why did they invent the Enviropig?

A
  • Capable of digesting plant phosphorus better.
  • Less P supplement in feed (Reduce algal growth in water)
53
Q

What are the four types of Agriculture methods?

A
  1. Industrialized
  2. Plantation
  3. Traditional Subsistence
  4. Traditional Intensive
54
Q

Define Industrialized Agriculture:

A

A form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops.

55
Q

Define Plantation Agriculture:

A

A commercial tropical agriculture system which is essentially export-oriented. Eg. Tea, coffee

56
Q

Define Traditional Subsistence Agriculture:

A

A self-sufficient farming system in which the farmers
focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families.

57
Q

Define Traditional Intensive Agriculture:

A

A farming system with high inputs (fertilizer, pesticides,
irrigation) and labor to produce more food per area of cultivated land to the point that they have enough to sustain their families and still some for profit.

58
Q

What is an Intensive Production System?

A

They use high inputs (Fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, labour, etc.)

59
Q

True or False: Traditional Subsistence Agriculture is intensive.

A

False.

60
Q

Provide 6 characteristics of Intensive Cropping:

A
  • Extensive Pesticide Use
  • High fertilizer inputs
  • High water inputs
  • Monoculture
  • Multi-cropping
  • Selectively bred or GM crops
61
Q

Define Monocropping/Monoculture:

A

Monocropping involves growing only one crop on a piece of land year after year.

62
Q

Define Multiple Cropping:

A

Multiple cropping involves growing two or more crops on the same piece of land within one calendar year.

63
Q

Define Crop Rotation:

A

Planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land

64
Q

Define Intercropping:

A

Intercropping is the growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land with a definite row pattern.

65
Q

Define Strip Cropping:

A

Strip cropping involves alternating closely sown strip crops, such as cotton with small grains, such as wheat.

66
Q

Define Shifting Cultivation:

A

An agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow.

67
Q

What are the 5 most common types of crop production?

A
  1. Corn
  2. Wheat
  3. Rice
  4. Potatoes
  5. Cassava
68
Q

What are the 4 most common types of livestock production?

A
  1. Chicken
  2. Cattle
  3. Pigs
  4. Sheep
69
Q

Has the world food supplies kept put with the increasing human population?

A

Yes ! World food supplies have more than kept up with human population growth over the past 2 centuries.

70
Q

Population growth has averaged ___% per year.

A

1.7%

71
Q

Food production has increase an average of ____%.

A

2.2%

72
Q

Which areas of the world having increasing agricultural area?

A

Africa & Latin America

73
Q

Which areas of the world having declining agricultural area?

A

Europe and Asia

74
Q

What 3 categories is water use divided in Canada? Consequently.

A
  • Industry
  • Public
  • Agriculture
75
Q

What are examples of Genetic Resources?

A
  • Plants/crops, animals, aquatic resources, forests, micro-organisms and invertebrates
76
Q

How much energy use in Canada does agriculture account for?

A

2%

77
Q

Why do we use fertilizers and manures?

A
  • A rich source of nutrients (N and P)
  • A good way to recycle nutrients
78
Q

What should be the role of science and technology in agriculture? (7)

A
  • Genetic Improvement
  • Information Transfer & Use
  • New Agriculture Products
  • Mechanization
  • Reducing Stress
  • Reduce Waste
  • Reducing Environmental Impact
79
Q

What is the role of Genetic Improvement?

A

To increase yield and quality per area/animal/time

80
Q

What is the role of Reducing agricultural Stresses?

A
  • Better management providing crop nutrients/ irrigation/crop protection/ animal nutrition and health etc.
  • To minimize losses due to stress and improve animal welfare
81
Q

What are some ways of reducing environmental impact from agriculture?

A
  • Minimum tillage
  • Precision farming
  • Nutrient management
82
Q

Why is Information Transfer & Use important to agriculture?

A

To improve decision making

83
Q

Define Food Security:

A

Ability to obtain sufficient food on a daily basis.

84
Q

What is the greatest threat to food security?

A

Poverty

85
Q

What are Famines characterized by? (4)

A
  • Economic Chaos
  • Large-scale food shortages
  • Massive starvation
  • Social disruption
86
Q

Define Malnourishment:

A

Nutritional imbalance caused by a lack of specific dietary components

87
Q

What are the 3 Nutritional problems humans face?

A
  • Iron Deficiency
  • Iodine Deficiency
  • Vitamin A Deficiency
88
Q

Which is the most common dietary imbalance in the world?

A

Iron

89
Q

What does a lack of Iodine lead to?

A
  • Leads to goiter as well as stunted growth and reduced mental capacity.
90
Q

What is a result of Vitamin A deficiencies?

A

Blindness

91
Q

What are two main Protein Deficiency Diseases?

A
  1. Kwashiorkor
  2. Marasmus
92
Q

What is Kwashiorkor?

A

A protein deficiency that is prone to children (Bloating, orange/red hair)

93
Q

What is Marasmus?

A

A protein deficiency known “To waste away...”

94
Q

True or False: we consume 33% more calories than we need.

A

True

95
Q

What percentage of Americans are overweight?

A

62%.

96
Q

Define a Food Pyramid:

A

A food pyramid or diet pyramid is a triangular diagram representing the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups.

97
Q

What are the 4 global trends in Agriculture?

A
  1. Historical, present, and future trends
  2. Resource Use
  3. Science and Technology
  4. Food Security through Enhanced Production

Environmental Impacts of Agriculture (9 decks)

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