Farming

Question 1

Hunter-gatherer

Answer 1

A community or group that subsists primarily by hunting wild game and gathering wild plant resources.

• Live in small groups – less than 150 individuals
• Require 18-1300 km2 of land per person to forage in
• Nomadic lifestyle = Permanent villages are only possible when food supplies are abundant and reliable

Question 2

Hunter-gatherer diet

Answer 2

TROPICS: Plant material/ Meat
ARCTIC: Meat
ARCHIPELAGO: Fish

Question 3

Advent of farming

Answer 3

• Farming for 10,000 years
• Not all consumers are growers – trade
• First crops were small grain cereals
• Modern agriculture

Question 4

Modern agriculture

Answer 4

evolved with science.

Started storing, processing and combining ingredients

Question 5

Spread of Agriculture

Answer 5

Fertile Crescent: Wheat/ Barley/ Beans

Yangzi and yellow river basins: Rice/ Millet/ Soybean

New Guinea Highlands: Breadfruit

Northern Southern America: Beans/ Potato

Mesoamerica: Maize/ Beans

Eastern USA: Sunflower/ Squash

Question 6

The Green Revolution

Answer 6

A planned international effort in the 1960s to increase crop yield through:
= New crop cultivars
=  Irrigation
= Fertiliser
= Pesticides
= Mechanisation

Question 7

Effects of The Green Revolution

Answer 7

Reduced chronic hunger from 40 to 20% of the world population whilst the population has doubled

Prevented the cultivation of millions of hectares of land

Question 8

Norman Borlaug (1914-2009)

Answer 8

• Initiated the green revolution
• Developed dwarf wheat
• Involved with breeding a hybrid of wheat and rye (triticale)

Question 9

the green revolution Initiation

Answer 9

Initiated wheat project in Mexico at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)

Question 10

dwarf wheat development

Answer 10

• High yielding , resistant to disease and climate conditions
• Resulted in a 60% increase in wheat harvests in Pakistan and India

Question 11

breeding a hybrid of wheat and rye (triticale)

Answer 11

• High yield and protein content

- Under poor growth conditions its yield exceeds wheat

Question 12

Food security exist when

Answer 12

when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life

Question 13

3 pillars

Answer 13

Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.

Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.

Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation

Question 14

population increase

Answer 14

World population ~ 9 billion by 2050

Predicted that by 2030 the world will need to produce 50% more food.

Predicted that 62% of worlds population will be living in Africa and Asia by 2050

An inadequate diet is a large factor contributing to disease susceptibility.
2 billion people have micronutrient deficiency

Question 15

Land availability

Answer 15

• Predicted that an additional 120 million ha will be needed for food production but 2030
• The cropland in Latin America would come from converting the rainforest to arable production.
• Changing the landscape might accelerate climate change

Question 16

Food prices

Answer 16

The 2011 spike is predicted to have pushed 44 million people into extreme poverty. (The world bank)

Half of sub-Saharan Africa live below the poverty line on < $1 per day

Question 17

Food (in)security

Answer 17

Food production < levels in 1970
- Child malnutrition increased by 30%

• 40% children deficient in iron and vitamin A
• 60 million ha of arable land are lost per year
• 80% of future growth must come from existing arable land
• Production needs to occur in countries that consume produce (reduce transport)
• Potash and phosphate supplies limited

Question 18

Ideotype

Answer 18

The ideal type or perfect specimen

Question 19

Crop ideotypes

Answer 19

Short life cycle
Day length insensitive
Pest/disease resistant
Redistribution of biomass

dependent on mechanisation and unlimited availability of NPK and H2O

Question 20

Day length requirements

Answer 20

Identification of a gene related to flowering time

Question 21

Life cycle

Answer 21

Time taken to go from seed to seed

Question 22

Pests/disease

Answer 22

Over the period 1988-90 pests accounted for
pre-harvest losses of up to 42%:

15% insects
13% weeds
13% pathogens [Orke et al.,1994]

Question 23

Harvest index

Answer 23

HARVEST INDEX = weight of edible part of crop divided by total plant biomass

ie Wheat Harvest Index in 2000 = > 0.5 i.e. 50% of biomass was grain

Question 24

Crop improvement only possible for

Answer 24

a limited number of crops

Question 25

More than 60% of the humans diet comes from these 3 plant species

Answer 25

Rice/ wheat / maize

Question 26

the pro of depending on 3 plant species

Answer 26

Rice and wheat yields have kept up with population growth - Japan and UK now food exporters Cost of food as proportion of income has declined - mechanisation has reduced labour costs

Question 27

the con of depending on 3 plant species

Answer 27

- Bad for marginal rain fed environments - Bad for non-cereal crops - Bad for agricultural diversity - Genetic diversity - System diversity - Cultural diversity (knowledge)

Question 28

Loss of Diversity

Answer 28

``` About 500,000 plant species About 7000 cultivated 90% of world food from 12 plant and 8 animal species >60% of diet from 3 plant species >90% human diet from <20 species ```

Question 29

loss of Systems diversity

Answer 29

Hunter-gatherers > Agri-silo pastoral -crop/tree/animal complex used in Cameroon > Agroforestry > Intercropping > Sole cropping (monoculture) > Irrigation inversely proportional to under-nourishment

Question 30

loss of Cultural diversity

Answer 30

[Loss of knowledge embedded in language] 6000 languages in the world 3000 languages spoken by 3.5 billion people :: 3 species and 8 languages influence food security of >50% humanity (When a farmer in Africa dies her knowledge dies with her)

Question 31

The need to maintain diversity

Answer 31

Local landraces are better than GR bred ones Wild types can be more resistant to abiotic stress Reduction in non-food biomass (straw) is a problem – straw is used for biofuels and housing

Question 32

Can food security be maintained in a changing environment?

Answer 32

= The climate is changing quicker than adaptations of plant genetics and agricultural systems = Developed countries are better equipped to adapt to climate change

Question 33

Agricultural water

Answer 33

On average 2.4 trillion cubic metres of water were used for agricultural purposes a year. Agricultural water includes that for irrigation and for livestock rearing.

Question 34

Seawater greenhouse

Answer 34

20% of people live in regions that don’t have enough water Enables plants to grow in arid environments A greenhouse produces more than five times the fresh water needed for the plants inside so some of it can be released into the local environment, creating a local microclimate just outside the greenhouses.

Question 35

% of people live in regions that don’t have enough water

Answer 35

20%

Question 36

Seawater greenhouse - how it works

Answer 36

- Seawater is trickled over the first evaporator - Air drawn into the greenhouse by fans is cooled by the seawater and becomes more humid. - Cool air drawn through a second evaporator containing heated seawater. - Hot air meets pipes of cold seawater and fresh water condenses, this is used to irrigate the crops.