Chapter 12 Flashcards
- What are the two strongest arguments for industrialized agriculture? Organic?
Industrialized farming has can produce higher yields on less land and organic farming costs 10-100% more to produce food.
- How might organic food actually be cheaper than industrial food?
if you include the cost of health and environmental effects, then some say organic farming would be less expensive.
- What is food insecurity? What is the primary cause? What are some other obstacles to food security?
It is when people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition, which threaten their ability to live healthy and productive lives. Most say that poverty is the root cause of food insecurity but other causes are politics, war, corruption and bad weather.
- With climate change, what % of the world’s population will face food shortages by the end of this century?
50%
- What is the difference between chronic undernutrition and chronic malnutrition?
Undernutrition is the inability to grow or buy enough food to meet their basic energy needs, also known as hunger. Malnutrition is the inability to be able to afford enough food to support a high energy diet.
- How many people in less developed countries are chronically undernourished or malnourished?
About 1 billion people are malnourished/undernourished as of the mid-1990s IN THE WORLD. However, in less-developed countries, 1 out of every 6 people are in this condition.
- How many more people do we need to feed on the planet each day?
1 billion
How many children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition?
6 million
- T/F We produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet? ‘
T
- What is a famine? What are its causes
Famine is the severe shortage of food in an area that leads to mass starvation, death and economic chaos. They are caused by crop failures from drought, flooding, war and other catastrophic events.
- Why is protein an important macronutrient (figure 12-1)?
Because it helps the body repair and build body tissues.
- Why is vitamin A important? How many people go blind each year from a lack of it?
250,000 – 500,000 people go blind from a lack of vitamin A each year and amount half of them die within a year.
- What is anemia? How many people suffer from it?
Anemia is the lack of oxygen that is transported to the blood. It causes fatigue, makes infection more likely and increases a woman’s chances of dying at birth. 1/5 of the world suffer from it.
- What is a goiter? Cause? How much would it cost to prevent?
A goiter is a very swollen thyroid gland, which produces hormones that handle the metabolism. It is caused by a lack of iodine and would only cost 2-3 cents per person per year to prevent it.
- How many people on the planet suffer from overnutrition? How many people suffer from this?
1.2 billion people have health problems due to overnutrition. 2/3 of adults are overweight and by 2030 86% of Americans will be overweight.
- How much is spent on weight loss in the U.S.? How much is needed to eliminate undernutrition and malnutrition?
$147 billion is spent on treatment on the health care bill and an additional $58 billion that Americans personally spend to lose weight.
- Which systems provide most of our food and what % each? (Total, croplands, rangelands, pastures and feedlots)
Total: 40% of land use for food supply – Croplands use 11% of the land and feed 77% of the population. Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots use 29% of the land and feed 16% of the pop. Fisheries feed 7% of pop.
- Of the 50,000 edible plants species, how many provide most (90%) of our food?
14
- What are problem associated with relying on such a limited number of species?
It puts us in a vulnerable position if we can no longer if we can no longer support them – breaks principles of sustainability
- What technological developments helped increase food production?
Irrigation, fishing tech advancements, tractors and other farm machinery
- Compare and contrast industrialized and subsistence (page283) agriculture. Make a chart for your answer.
Industrialized – uses heavy equipment, uses pesticides, fossil fuels and inorganic fertilizers, one mass focused yield
Subsistence – sustainable labor, growth at cash crops
- What is plantation agriculture? Where is it primarily used?
It is the growth of cash crops and it is used in less developed countries.
- Is modern industrial agriculture sustainable? Explain.
No, high yields, but relies on fossil fuels that are nonrenewable, doesn’t have a high crop diversity and neglects soil/nutrient conservation
- What is hydroponics? Make an advantage/disadvantage chart for hydroponics.
Growing plants without soil by exposing their roots to nutrient rich water
- Pros: Indoor crop growth, high yields, underground growth with artificial lighting, no pesticides or fertilizer runoff.
- Cons: expensive to establish, need expert knowledge, threatens big business profits.
- What are the advantages of polyculture?
- Principles of sustainability approved
- reduces risk of losing food supply
- What is slash and burn agriculture?
Burning and clearing small plots in tropical forests, growing a variety of crops for a few years, then moving to a fresh plot when the nutrients are ready.
- T/F Polyculture outproduces monocultures?
T
- What is the green revolution? What is the difference between the first and second?
Using high input industrialized agriculture to increase yields
1st – 1950 – 1970: high input increase of crop yields
2nd – 1967: New dwarf varieties introduced to under developed countries.
- How long does it take for 1” of topsoil to form?
Hundreds of years
- What is agribusiness? How much of the world’s grain is produced with how much of the world’s farm labor force?
Higher yields induced by tech advances through agribusiness = less use of unfarmed lands
How much of our disposal income is spent on food? How about for a person living in a developing country?
US: less than 10%. Developing: 40%
- What are some of the hidden costs of food production?
- Subsidies in taxes by the government
- Environmental damage and future impact
- How can you tell from a label if produce was grown organically?
You can look at the price look up code #s on labels and stickers to identify: organic fruit has 5 digits beginning with 9 GMOs, have 5 digits beginning with 8 and conventional produce has 4 digits.
- What is a CAFO?
Concentrated animal feeding operations
- Feedlots: raising large #s of animals in small, dirty spaces to get fat quickly then be sold
- How many food animals are raised each year?
56 million
- Grain shortages likely to increase in the future. Why?
Countries income grows: more meat eaten, supported/grown by grain → increased demand for grain → loss of crop land to urban spread → further increase grain import resilience → not enough land to produce grain.
- What is aquaculture and what % of our food is produced this way?
The practice of raising freshwaer and marine fish in freshwater in cages in coastal or open ocean waters - 20% of animal protein provided in some areas
- What is the fossil fuel to food ratio?
10 units of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy: 1 unit of food energy
- How far, on average, does food travel from farm to plate? What are some environmental consequences of this well-travelled food?
1300 miles from farm to plate
- What might happen to industrialized food production and to your lifestyle if oil prices rise sharply in the next two decades as experts predict?
Food prices would increase sharply, diet standards and amounts would lower → health would drop
- Agriculture accounts for what % of water pollution?
Approximately 40%
- What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Erosion → movement of soil components such as surface litter and topsoil
Weathering → the wearing down and gradual degrading of land due to weather.
- What are some causes of soil erosion? What factor—wind, water or ice—accounts for most erosion?
Water = biggest cause → over use of land, drought, wind, water, runoff carrying away loose particles
- What is desertification? Which countries have the most serious problems? Are they countries that can afford to grow less food?
It occurs when 10% or more of the productive potential of topsoil falls by more than 10% because of the combination of prolonged drought and human activities such as over grazing and deforestation.
- What are some downsides to irrigation? Explain each.
Most irrigation water is a diluted form of salt water so the water that doesn’t get dissolved into the ground evaporates and leaves a thin crust of dissolved minerals in the topsoil. This is known as salinization and can be harmful to crops. Another problem is waterlogging, which is when water accumulates underground and gradually raises the water table.
- Where has the sharpest drop in food production occurred? Why?
America has lost 97% of the food plant varieties since the 1940s.
- What are some limitations to increasing irrigated cropland?
Salinization and waterlogging
a. Salinization
The gradual accumulation of salts in the upper layers of topsoil
b. Waterlogging
When water accumulates underground and gradually raises the water table.
c. Desertification
Land that has a 10% or more drop in productivity
- Discuss several examples of how food production has caused major losses in biodiversity.
As food yields increase, we use less varieties of strains of foods. India once used 30,000 types of rice but now more than 75% of its rice production comes from one or two varieties.
- How much of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops have we lost since 1900? Does this loss of biodiversity make our food supply more vulnerable?
¾ and the endangered species are very important to our worlds food supply and so this loss of biodiversity makes it more vulnerable.
- Why might organic farmers dislike farming next to GM crops?
Because the GM crops have unknown ecological effects, may have harmful toxins, may need more pesticides to kill of weeds around it and it may disrupt the seed market as well.
- Are there limits to the expansion of the green revolution?
Yes and many people can’t irrigate their farms because they are too poor. Also, flood numbers are projected to increase which will lower food production as well.
- What are some of the harmful environmental consequences of industrialized meat production?
In the production of this meat, they use large amounts of fossil fuels and water and produce large amounts of animal waste, which contaminates the environment.
- What % of the world’s greenhouse gases are produced from livestock production?
18%
- How does meat production contribute to the “dead zones” in the Gulf of Mexico?
Lots of fertilizer is used to feed the animals in the feedlots and that inorganic fertilizer runs off into the Mississippi River, which then runs into the Gulf and causes dead zones.
- How much more livestock waste is produced in US compared to human waste?
130 times more than the amount of human waste.
- What % of antibiotics are feed to animals?
70% of all antibiotics used in the US are added to animal feed.
- What are some problems with farmed raised “Atlantic” salmon?
Had toxic levels that were 11 times higher than that of wild salmon. It also takes 6 pounds of wild fish to produce 2 pounds of farmed salmon.
- What is a pest? How does nature generally control them?
They are any species that interferes with human welfare by competing with us for food, invading lawns and gardens, destroying building materials, spreading disease, invading ecosystems or simply being a nuisance. However, natural enemies control the populations of these animals as a part of the natural capital.
- What is a pesticide? What is a fertilizer?
It is a chemical that we use to kill or control populations that are undesirable to us.
- What were some of the first-generation pesticides?
Nicotine sulfate and other natural chemicals that were borrowed from plants
- What are the second-generation pesticides?
DDT and other chemicals that slight modifications have been made on.
- Pesticide use has increased by what % since 1950?
They have increased 50-fold.
a. Broad-spectrum agents
Chemicals that are toxic to pests to but beneficial to many other species.
b. Narrow-spectrum (selective) agents
Chemicals that are only effective against a narrowly defined group of organisms.
c. Persistence
The length of time a pesticide remains deadly in the environment.
d. DDT
The first second-generation pesticide and became the world’s most used pesticide and the founder of it received the Nobel Peace Prize.
- How much pesticide do we put on our lawns?
We put 10 times more synthetic pesticides on our lawn per unit of land area than what is put on an equivalent amount of US cropland.
- Read about Rachel Carson. What famous book did she write? Why was it so famous?
She wrote Silent Spring and was credited with finding the initial harmful effects of pesticides on the rest of the environment, which led to the banning of many pesticides.
- Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of synthetic pesticides in a chart.
Advantages: They save human lives (insect transmitted disease), Increase food supplies, increase profits, they work fast, and newer ones re safer than older ones.
Disadvantages: They accelerate the development of genetic resistance to pesticides in pest organisms (pests can develop immunity to pesticides), they can put farmers on a financial treadmill, some pesticides harm wildlife, some even threaten human life, some kills populations of species that actually kill pests, and they do not stay put and can be harmful to the environment.
- What % of insecticides and herbicides don’t end up reaching the target pest? Where do they go instead?
98-99.9% of the insecticide and 95% of the pesticide
- Support the claim that pesticide use has not reduced U.S. crop losses to pests.
Even when insecticide use increased tenfold, the crop losses from pests increased from 7% - 13%. Second, there is a $5 - $10 cost for every $1 actually spent on pesticides. Lastly, other forms of pest control could be cut in half and still maintain crop yield as much as pesticides.
- Summarize the crazy ecological surprise brought about by pesticide use in Borneo.
Besides the malaria that was eliminated, many insects and lizards were killed as well. Then the cats died from eating those species. Then when a rat flea disease spread, they sent in healthy cats to control the rats. The pesticide also killed many bees, which fed on the caterpillars, which fed on the roofs of houses. So the caterpillar population exploded and the roofs began to fall.
- What is FIFRA and what is it supposed to do?
It was an at passed by the FDA that was supposed to regulate the sale and use of the 25,000 pesticides used in the US. It was supposed to asses the health risks of them as well.
- What is FQPA and what is it supposed to do?
It is another act passed by the FDA that says it has to reduce the amount of pesticides used on products where there is a lack of information on the harmful effects on children.
- What is the boomerang effect?
It is when residue from some banned chemicals exported to other countries can return to the exporting countries on imported food.
- List and describe the 7 alternatives to using pesticides.
- Fool the pest (rotate crops and adjust planting times)
- Provide homes for pest enemies.
- Implant genetic resistance (pest and disease resistance crop strains)
- Bring in natural enemies
- Use insect perfumes (pheromones can attract pests into traps or to their enemies)
- Bring in the hormones (can stop the insect before its reproductive age)
- Reduce the use of synthetic herbicides to control weeds (other methods)
- What is IPM and what are its goals? Can pesticides be used in IPM? When?
The Integrated Pest Management Program each crop and its pests are evaluated as parts of an ecological system. Then they can use specific control methods based on specific situations.
- How did IPM work in Indonesia? Give facts to support your answer.
Yes because not only did pesticide use drop 65% but the rice crop also increased 15%.
- What are the disadvantages of IPM?
It requires expert knowledge and take much longer than traditional pesticide use. Plus, methods in one area might not apply to an area with just slightly different growing conditions.
- What are the two main approaches governments use to influence food production?
- Control prices by putting an upper limit on prices.
2. Provide subsidies to give farmers price support, tax breaks and other financial support.
- What are some measures UNICEF recommends to reduce nutrition-related childhood deaths? How much would these cost?
Immunizing more children, preventing dehydration from diarrhea by giving them sugar and salt in their water and finally prevent blindness by giving them an inexpensive vitamin, a capsule twice a year.
- Describe soil conservation methods.
- using a variety of methods to reduce topsoil erosion and restore fertility: terracing, contour planting, strip cropping, cover cropping, alley cropping (agroforestry), use of wind breaks, conservation tillage farming
- What is no-till farming and what are the advantages?
The use of special planting machines tat drill seeds through crop residue into undisturbed topsoil. No tilling: erosion prevented
- How fast are we losing topsoil compared to how quickly it is formed?
Topsoil loss = 17x faster than topsoil formation
- Explain the cause and effects of the Dust Bowl.
Expansive mass tillage and over farming land area, depletion of nutrients, drought → leads to extreme dust storms and no crop production for long time periods.
- What are the three types of organic fertilizers?
Animal manure, green manure, and compost
- What are inorganic fertilizers?
Fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium → manufactured chemically
- How can we reduce soil salinization and desertification?
By reducing population growth, overgrazing, deforestation and destructive forms of planting/ irrigation/mining
- What are the three largest contributions to the ecological and carbon footprints of individuals in affluent nations?
- eating meat
- growing grain to feed animals
- catching fish to feed animals
- Figure 12-33: Which type of protein is most efficient?
Fish, then poultry: need feast amount of grain
- What does Michael mean when he suggests we “re-solarize our food chain” and “While there are alternatives to oil, there is not alternative to food.”
Resolarize: revamp food production → use sun and other renewable sources to grow and produce food.
- How much food do Americans waste?
35-45%
- What are the three big ideas from this chapter?
- More than 1 billion people suffer form malnutrition and face health problems. 2. Modern industrialized agriculture has a greater harmful impact than good. 3. More sustainable forms of food production will greatly reduce the harmful environmental impacts of current institutions.
First generation pesticides
Botanicals and heavy metals - haven’t been altered yet
Second generation pesticides
Created in a lab like DDT, chlordane and malathion.
Bio magnification
Poison being passed through food chain in many species, getting worse as it progresses
Bio accumulation
Getting poisoned from eating another poisoned species
Pesticide advantages (5)
Using chemicals to kill bacteria Malaria protection (bed nets dipped in insecticides) Increases food supplies and profits Works quickly Decreased health risks now
Pesticide disadvantages (5)
Accelerates genetic resistance to pesticides by pests
Expensive treadmill - health and environmental costs
Some insecticides kill insects that help prevent those pests
Harms wildlife
Pesticides have not reduced crop losses to pests
US federal agencies that regulate
EPA
USDA
FDA
Why is it hard to help developing countries with pesticide problems?
Effects of active and inactive pesticide ingredients are poorly documented
FIFRA
Federal insecticide, fungicide rodenticide act - tell how people and companies need to get their pesticides registered
Boomerang effect
Pesticides we export can come back to us on imported food or in the wind
Alternatives to pesticides (6)
Fool the pest - with something else with a strong scent or grow another plant just for the pests
Provide home for the pest enemies
Implant genetic resistance (Bt)
Use insect perfumes (pheromones) to attract them to a trap
Bring in hormones
Scald them with hot water
1st green revolution
Happened after WWII. Wanted to shift interests away from war and more towards agriculture. Increased yields through pesticides, irrigation, fertilizer
2nd green revolution
Helps developing countries! Focused on hybridizing grains so they can support poor countries by increasing yield. Told them to use American ways (pesticides/fertilizers)
Green revolution in India
Started to use American techniques but they became unsustainable. Launched revolution in Punjab. New seeds needed more water which led to a decline in water supply.
Cancer train
Train 339. Increased cancer on villages that user pesticides. Could have been side effects of green revolution.
What percent of food comes from land based agriculture?
90%
Characteristics of clay
Impermeable
Characteristics of silt
Holds nutrients
Characteristics of sand
Porosity and permeability
Porosity
The amount of room for water to fill in the grand of sand.
Permeability
Ability for water to travel down and around the pieces of sand
What percent of sand, silt and clay make up loam?
40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay.
What do the numbers mean on a bag of fertilizer?
First number is nitrogen and then phosphorus and then potassium
Why are organic fertilizers better than inorganic?
Inorganic runoff easier and you also apply them at higher rates. They are also made of chemicals so it is bad if they runoff.
Transpiration
Loss of water through pores
Two problems with soil
Overwatering - saturation and water logging. Especially if high in clay
Compaction - crushing of soil leads to no roots and no has exchange
Salinization in soil
Highly slated soils will pull moisture out if the plants
How much topsoil is carried away by rivers and streams in the US?
4 billion metric tons
How long does it take for 1 inch of topsoil to form?
100 yrs
What percent of agriculture suffers from erosion?
40%
What is the biggest source of pollution in IL streams?
Erosion
5 conservation methods (and explain each one)
Windbreaks - lines of trees that stop wind
Contour farming - rolling hills, water runs down hills and they grow crops around the hills instead of up and down
Terraces - mountain regions, helps slow water runoff
Strip cropping - growing cover crops to pick up water that isn’t picked up by other crops
No till - reduces erosion by plowing over the land one time where the soil is planted and prepared all at the same time
Persistence of pesticides
How long it stays harmful
Important Chlorinated Hydrocarbons
Chlordane and DDT
Important organophosphate
Malathion - mosquito spray
Neonicotinoids
Causes colony collapse disorder and comes from nicotine extract
Coevolution
Herbivores overcome plant defenses through natural selection
Chlorinated hydrocarbons
Insecticide, DDT, chlordane, high persistence and is biologically magnified
Organophosphates
Insecticide, Malathion (mosquito spray), low persistence and is not biologically magnified
Carbamates
Insecticide, Sevin, low persistence and is not biologically magnified
Botanicals
Insecticide, Pyrethrum (marigolds), low persistence and is not biologically magnified
Neonicotinoids
Causes colony collapse disorder
Microbotanicals
Insecticide, Bt, low persistence and not biologically magnified
Contact chemicals
Herbicide, atrazine, kills on contact, low persistence and is not biologically magnified
Systemic chemicals
Herbicide, glyphosate, shuts down glucose production in plant, pretty low persistence and not biologically magnified
Soil sterilants
Herbicide, butylate, low persistence and not biologically magnified
Various chemicals
Fungicide, zeneb, low persistence and not biologically magnified
Fumigants
Carbon tetrachloride, high persistence and is biologically magnified
O-horizon
Organic leaf litter
Decomposed organic matter
A-horizon
Topsoil, bacteria
B-horizon
Subsoil, medium rock size
E-horizon
Zone of eluviation or leaching of nutrients
C-horizon
Regolith/all rock
Intercropping
Planting different types of crops over a large area
Cover crops
Using nitrogen fixing crops to restore nitrogen to the soil
Shelter belts or windbreaks
Rows of trees to stop wind and erosion
Reduced till
When the soil has been distributed to a lesser extent relative to conventional tillage.
No till
A tractor pulls a drill that cuts furrows through weeds and crop remains
Green manure
Natural compost of dead material used as chemical free fertilizer
Terracing
Transforming steep slopes into a series of steps allowing very hilly land to be cultivated
Contour farming
Planting your crops so that they follow the natural topography of the land. Rows of plants are perpendicular to the slope
What percent of antibiotics are used on animals?
70%
What 3 things supply half of our food?
Corn rice and wheat
What percent of food do Americans waste?
40%
What is the largest cause of erosion?
Water
