Final Exam Review - Food Production & Distribution

Question 1

What is the ‘nutrition transition’ and ‘epidemiological transition’?

Answer 1

Nutrition Transition: From a traditional diet of whole foods and fruits/veggies to a western diet of refined/processed foods, sugar, oils. and calorie dense foods

Epidemiological Transition: From holistic/traditional medical focus to increased reliance on drugs and interventions to treat chronic diseases

Question 2

What is the “productionist paradigm” and how is it related to the “nutrition transition”?

Answer 2

From small, rural traditional (subsistence) farmers to specialized farmers with an industrial approach & technology

Goal: increase food supply, lower food cost, less concern about quality

Related to “nutritional transition” in that more sweeteners are derived from corn and soybean products and since people crave these, they are produced industrially

Question 3

Compare a traditional and western diet?

Answer 3

Whole foods vs. processed foods full of sugar, fat and excess protein.

The China Study

• US: high fat, low carb, low fiber, high protein (animal)
• China: low fat, high complex carb, high fiber, low low protein

Question 4

What is the connection between the western diet and chronic disease?

Answer 4

Increases in obesity and meat consumption lead to higher risks of chronic disease.

Question 5

Who is at greatest risk to chronic diseases and why?

Answer 5

People in developed nations because with increased income, increased meat consumption and calories available.

Question 6

How do genetic factors cause or contribute to chronic disease?

Answer 6

Genetic factors only account for 5-10% of chronic disease risk. Most has to do with diet.

Question 7

What might protein have to do with cancer causation?

Answer 7

Protein, especially Casein, promotes aflatoxin activation, which when converted to AF*, forms adducts that interfere with DNA replication. These adducts later develop into foci. More foci = increased cancer incidence.

Question 8

Even if the biochemical pathways of protein x cancer are unclear, is there evidence of diet and cancer relationships that are convincing?

Answer 8

There are many studies that link animal fat intake to breast and prostate cancer. These studies show that for countries with increased animal fat intake, there is a much higher death rate due to these forms of cancer.

Statin drugs may reduce these cancer risks.

Question 9

What basic dietary advice is provided by mainline sources, esp. protein requirements (e.g., USDA, CDC, WHO, Marion Nestle), and how do these recommendations compare with activists like Campbell and Pollan?

Answer 9

Mainline Sources:
Eat more meat, dairy, need protein.

Activists: Avoid foods from animals (dairy and meat) and stick to whole food, plant based diets.

Question 10

Is our food valued correctly? Spinach? Explain. (3 ways we pay for our food)

Answer 10

No, it is not.

For example, we pay for a McDonalds cheeseburger in the:

• $1 we pay for it upfront
• $ we spend on hospital bills
• $ we give to Gov. in taxes to subsidize corn.

Question 11

What are features of a healthier diet?

Answer 11

1. Eat Food
2. Mostly Plants
3. Not Too Much

• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
• Eat diverse foods
• Eat food from healthy soils
• Eat more like a traditional food culture
• Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism
• Pay more, Eat less
• Eat meals not snacks
• Don’t get fuel from same place as your car
• Have wine with dinner

Question 12

Dietary advice is not simple, what are conflicting issues around meat, dairy, fish, soda?

Answer 12

Typical Advice…

Meat: Eat more because protein is needed to build muscles and stay full during the day.

Dairy: Need protein and calcium.

Fish: Good source of protein and good fats

Soda: “Diet” is better, caffine good.

Reality:

Meat: Increases risk of cancer/chronic disease

Dairy: Also higher risk of disease

Fish: Toxins in water; too much protein

Soda: Processed and refined sugars

Question 13

Explain the impact of people having lost “touch” with industrialized food production systems on environmental and health costs, and why the public seems not even to care.

Answer 13

Since food is produced so far away, it is hard to see all that went into producing that food. Public seems not to care because few attribute health costs to diet. Most would rather attribute these things to genetics or something else.

Question 14

In “Landscapes Lost and Found”, Pretty describes a dualism among people in developed countries like the UK. What is the dualism, why do we feel disconnected even though we are really not?

Answer 14

We feel disconnected because we see ourselves outside of nature, rather than a part of the system and bound to it.

Also, nature is seen to have boundaries (edges of parks and protected areas). This leads to a disconnectedness.

Finally, we hold onto the idea of enclaves (social such as Chinatown and natural such as the national parks). We fail to see the connection of these enclaves to our everyday life.

Question 15

What is the “world food problem”?

Answer 15

1. Growing population
2. Emerging climate change
3. Stagnant productivity gains for 20 years
4. Environmental pollution, lower soil fertility
5. Increased use of pesticides and fertilizer
6. Limited potential for more arable land

Question 16

What are short- and longer-term actions developed food producers are taking to become more sustainable?

Answer 16

Minimum or no-tillage

Increase soil organic matter

Improve water use efficiency

Benefits and problems of using less and/or more specific pesticides

Question 17

Contrast the approach of Sachs (Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated) and Polak (Big Potential on Small Farms). How might both be right and/or wrong?

Answer 17

Sachs: 
Infrastructure
-Health
-Education
-Roads
-Dams
-Irrigation systems
$160B/year, $1,500B
Government centered

Polak:
Individual farmers
- Treadle pumps
- Trickle irrigation
- Microloans
$20B total
Small business centered

Question 18

In “Rethinking Agriculture” … how might the paradigm of food production in developed countries DIFFER from that in developing? How can low tech approaches be used to maintain or even increase productivity levels? (define agroecology!)

Answer 18

Developed countries are all about monoculture and least cost per calorie output. We need to reshape our thinking to focus on quality calories vs. quantity of calories. Also, we need to incorporate all the externalized costs of food production in the actual cost of foods. Also, stop thinking off soil surface area and more towards soil volume

Question 19

Describe what the “green revolution” is, what made it possible?

Answer 19

The Green Revolution refers to a series of research, and development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1960s, that increased agriculture production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s.[1] The initiatives, led by Norman Borlaug, the “Father of the Green Revolution” credited with saving over a billion people from starvation, involved the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers.

Question 20

Describe with biotechnology is and how it might/might not be contribute positively to global food production capacity and poverty.

Answer 20

Biotechnology deals with modifying the genes in crops to grow larger, resist certain pesticides, etc.

Good in that it can produce taller crops with greater yield

Bad in that it can encourage the use of industrialized pesticides and insecticides.

Question 21

As described in “Doubly Green”, what is the difference between specialized and generalist insect pests and what might this have to do with monocultures?

Answer 21

Specialized pests are insects that attack a specific food crop (corn bore).

Generalist insect pests attack a large range of crops.

This is related to monocultures in that if you grow all of one crop, you will always have additional problems with specialized pests and often apply insectides to rid fields of these pests.

Question 22

What technologies were useful in the Cambodia case study and how are they best introduced or implemented?

Answer 22

• Cows glean fice fields and fences
• Rice Fields w/ Later Tillers
• Have chickens who eat insects
• Generator for multiple uses
• Rice Straw for bedding, mulch and compost base
• Rice husks for garden mulch
• Animals provide meat and manure
• Manure Tea fertilizes seedlings
• Biogas septic tank
• Liquid manure from tilapia in pond
• Overstory and understory trees that bear fruits

Question 23

List the factors associated with successful outreach of helpful systems changes.

Answer 23

Helpful:

• Integrated –plants, animals, diversity
• Year around harvest of renewable resources like light and water –canopy layers, seasons
• Recycle ‘everything

Question 24

What is Cuba’s “alternative” model? Was change easy? Effective?

Answer 24

Past:
Industrial farming approach (socialism)
 Tractors
 Fertilizers
 Pesticides
 Collectives (80%)
 Educated

Alternative Model:
Social: Collectives split and given to local workers; Urban vegetable gardens;

Environmental: Biopesticides–microbials+ natural predators; Biofertilizers–animal & green manure, compost, earthworms; Resistant plant varieties; Crop rotations; Animal traction and food animals

Economic: Small farmers flourished; Urban roadside stands made money; Input costs way down, comparable yields

Change was not easy!
 External support lost nearly overnight
 53% less oil
 50% less imported wheat
 70% less fertilizer
 70% less pesticides
 Loss of food, especially protein, from the diet
 Caloric intake (2450 in early 1990’s, 1700 in mid 1990’s)

Question 25

What are different ways of thinking about or valuing efficiency? (Consider water use efficiency (WUE), or energy or nitrogen use efficiencies. If we value efficiency differently, how might this impact ways in which food is produced?)

Answer 25

Water Use Efficiency
Energy Efficiency
Nitrogen Use Efficiency
Dollar Efficiency ($ in / calorie out)

If we change from dollar efficiency towards more environment conscious efficiency, sustainability will happen naturally.

Question 26

When are polycultures used in the U.S. (e.g., community support agriculture, veggie gardens), are they productive, sustainable?

Answer 26

Polycultures are generally seen as community gardens and personal veggie gardens.

What they do?

• Complete and efficient spatial and seasonal use of light and water
• Improve soil quality
• Nitrogen use efficiency –fertilize w/ legumes
• Suppressed damage by specialized insects