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Farm to Fork > Farming > Flashcards

Farming Flashcards

1
Q

Hunter-gatherer

A

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
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2
Q

Hunter-gatherer diet

A

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

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3
Q

Advent of farming

A
  • Farming for 10,000 years
  • Not all consumers are growers – trade
  • First crops were small grain cereals
  • Modern agriculture
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4
Q

Modern agriculture

A

evolved with science.

Started storing, processing and combining ingredients

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5
Q

Spread of Agriculture

A

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

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6
Q

The Green Revolution

A 
A planned international effort in the 1960s to increase crop yield through:
= New crop cultivars
=  Irrigation
= Fertiliser
= Pesticides
= Mechanisation
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7
Q

Effects of The Green Revolution

A

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

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8
Q

Norman Borlaug (1914-2009)

A
  • Initiated the green revolution
  • Developed dwarf wheat
  • Involved with breeding a hybrid of wheat and rye (triticale)
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9
Q

the green revolution Initiation

A

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

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10
Q

dwarf wheat development

A
  • High yielding , resistant to disease and climate conditions
  • Resulted in a 60% increase in wheat harvests in Pakistan and India
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11
Q

breeding a hybrid of wheat and rye (triticale)

A
  • High yield and protein content

- Under poor growth conditions its yield exceeds wheat

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12
Q

Food security exist when

A

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

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13
Q

3 pillars

A

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

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14
Q

population increase

A

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

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15
Q

Land availability

A
  • 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
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16
Q

Food prices

A

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

17
Q

Food (in)security

A

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
18
Q

Ideotype

A

The ideal type or perfect specimen

19
Q

Crop ideotypes

A

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

dependent on mechanisation and unlimited availability of NPK and H2O

20
Q

Day length requirements

A

Identification of a gene related to flowering time

21
Q

Life cycle

A

Time taken to go from seed to seed

22
Q

Pests/disease

A

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]

23
Q

Harvest index

A

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

24
Q

Crop improvement only possible for

A

a limited number of crops

25
Q

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

A

Rice/ wheat / maize

26
Q

the pro of depending on 3 plant species

A

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

27
Q

the con of depending on 3 plant species

A
  • Bad for marginal rain fed environments
  • Bad for non-cereal crops
  • Bad for agricultural diversity
  • Genetic diversity
  • System diversity
  • Cultural diversity (knowledge)
28
Q

Loss of Diversity

A 
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
29
Q

loss of Systems diversity

A

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

30
Q

loss of Cultural diversity

A

[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)

31
Q

The need to maintain diversity

A

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

32
Q

Can food security be maintained in a changing environment?

A

= The climate is changing quicker than adaptations of plant genetics and agricultural systems

= Developed countries are better equipped to adapt to climate change

33
Q

Agricultural water

A

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.

34
Q

Seawater greenhouse

A

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.

35
Q

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

A

20%

36
Q

Seawater greenhouse - how it works

A
  • 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.

Farm to Fork (12 decks)

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