Food and Agriculture Flashcards
Malnutrition
deficiencies of
protein and other key nutrients
Undernourishment
hunger-people
cannot grow or produce enough
food to meet basic energy needs
Famine
is an acute food shortage
that has ended in widespread
deaths and migration in search of
food. It has social, and often
political causes.
Iron
Hemoglobin needs to transport O2.Causes
anemia, fatigue, more prone to infection, chance
of women dying in child birth due to infection
Iodine
essential for proper functioning of thyroid
gland which produces hormones that control the
rate of metabolism. Can lead to stunted growth,
mental retardation and goiter-swollen thyroid
gland
Poverty
unequal food distribution; food exists but not everyone has access
Political and Economic Forces
refugees that may have grown and stored food have fled due to war/natural disaster
Three systems that supply most of our food
Croplands, Rangelands/Pastures, Ocean Fisheries
Pest
any species that competes for food, invades
lawns/crops, spreads disease, invades ecosystems
First Generation Pesticides (1945-1965)
natural
chemicals that were initially used to fight off pests. Ex.
Nicotine from tobacco plants / Pyrethrum from
chrysanthemums. Environmentally friendly but not as
good as synthetics
Second Generation Pesticides(1965- today)
began with
DDT, a powerful pesticide that produced yields never
seen before, farmers happy, until early 1970’s when it
was found to biomagnify in bald eagles due to being a
top carnivore. DDT weakened the shells so chicks would
die. Produced in a laboratory. Synthetic. Fat Soluble.
Fat soluble
does not dissolve in water; concentrates itself
in body tissues and does not “flush” out. This is bad.
Water soluble
like vitamins; you cannot overdose on
vitamin C. Body just flushes it out.
Pesticide Treadmill
Insects become resistant;a more
toxic compound is developed;
insects become resistant and the
cycle continues.
Integrated Pest
Management
Alternatives
to Pesticides. Uses a mix of
cultivation practices and
biological controls with small
amounts of select chemical
pesticides. Goal is to reduce
crop damage to an
economically tolerable level.
Conservation Tillage
Leaves the
previous year’s
crop residue (such
as corn stalks or
wheat stubble) on
fields before and
after planting the
next crop
prevents top soil
loss.
Intercropping
growing two or
more crops in close
proximity
Agroforestry
Trees or shrubs are grown
among crops or
pastureland; combines
agricultural and forestry
technologies to create
more diverse, productive,
profitable, healthy, and
sustainable land-use
systems.
Contour Farming
Growing crops “on the
level” across or
perpendicular to a slope
rather than up and down
(parallel) to the slope.
Slows water from flowing
down and eroding the soil
Crop Rotation
alternating crops
each growing season on one piece of
ground
Plantation farming (also known as Banana
Republics)
growing monoculture cash crops of
bananas, soybeans, sugarcane, coffee, palm oil
mostly in tropical developing countries.
Confined Animal Feeding Operations/CAFO:)
CAFO’s congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals,
and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to
the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking
feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland
Capture fisheries
fish caught in wild
By-catch
fish, mammals birds caught that are not the target fish
ex. Dolphins in the tuna nets
Drifnets
float through water and catch everything-not so great for biodiversity.
Hits top mostly
Long lining
baited hooks
Bottom trawling
Easiest way to fish and get lots of fish. Heavy nets scrape the
bottom of the ocean floor picking up everything in path. Could include endangered
species. Not good.
Governments use two main approaches to influence food production
1) control prices by putting a legally mandated upper limit on prices in
order to keep prices artifically low and affordable
-hard for farmers to make a living
2) Provide subsidies by giving farmers price supports and tax breaks
Global Crop Diversity
gene banks to save gene pool of 100,000
varieties of food – needed because of monoculture
1st Green Revolution
brought about dramatic increases in
productivity due to technology in farming practices and hybridizing
(concentrating good genes like “bigger fruit”.),The Green Revolution has done more than
anything else to prevent hunger and malnutrition
Biofuel
a renewable fuel made from ethanol and oil
derived from crops
Ethanol
made from corn (in the U.S.) and sugar (Brazil)
,1/3 of U.S. corn is devoted to ethanol production
, Higher oil prices make ethanol more competitive
The 2nd Green Revolution
Genetic engineering is now
widely used to increase
productivity., GMOS
Secondary pests
minor pests become major when competitor
pests have been eliminated by a toxic gene that was put into the
“crop” they were trying to eat
Mirid bugs
a major pest to cotton in China only after
competing insects and predators were killed
