Lecture 13: Agriculture and sustainability

Question 1

there has been a _____ of agriculture

Answer 1

global expansion of agriculture

–> 1999-2008 (increase 25-50%)

Question 2

____ of tropical agriculture

Answer 2

expansion

–v rapid expansion of many tropical crops

Question 3

tropical forests: conversion to agriculture between 1980 and 2012

Answer 3

~154 Mha converted

Question 4

theres a global ___ in deforestation

Answer 4

imbalance

Question 5

cost of agriculture expansion in tropics

Answer 5

• massive loss of biodiversity

- vastly simplified systems

Question 6

why do we not see this expansion ending?

Answer 6

continuing expansion in population (11 billion by 2100)

• greedy people! (1.5 billion overweight/obese)
• more meat consumed / capita
• more BIOFUEL use

Question 7

__ X more protein / ha from soy than beef

Answer 7

18 times

Question 8

more/less US corn grown for biofuels than for animal feed in 2010

Answer 8

MORE

Question 9

in the next forty years, agriculture production could grow by

Answer 9

60-100%

Question 10

agriculture is key driver of

Answer 10

extinction crisis

Question 11

future of global biodiversity in hands of

Answer 11

agriculture policymakers

Question 12

how best to manage agriculture expansion to minimise biodiversity loss?

Answer 12

1) land sharing/ land sparing

2) expand in low biodiversity areas

Question 13

land sharing:

Answer 13

• farm at lower intensity
• organic farming
• set aside strips
• hedgerows
• woodlots/fragments
• biodiversity protect WITHIN agricultural matrix

Question 14

land-sparing

Answer 14

• farm at high intensity
• ‘industrial’ farming
• use lead land to meet demand
• biodiversity protected within remaining natural forest

Question 15

determine land sharing/sparing which graph?

Answer 15

• Density yield curve
• L-sharing on top (concave relationship)
• L-sparing under (convex relationship)

Question 16

in oil palm, sharing / sparing?

Answer 16

SPARING

- especially for spp with small ranges

Question 17

land sparing/sharing

Answer 17

sparing is best for:

• biodiversity (more app have higher abundance, higher landscape level species richness)
• better further from contagious forest edge
• best for carbon

Question 18

option 2 expand in low biodiversity areas

Answer 18

• many areas ave been degraded across the tropics
• -burned multiple times
• -erosion
• -converted to farmland

Question 19

can we meet the 2020 demand of oil palm demand without forest loss IF we focus on degraded lands??

Answer 19

YES

Question 20

llanos pasture good for oil palm??

Answer 20

• forest patches have most species
• minimal biodiversity impacts converting intensive llanos pasture to oil palm
• but vital to preserve forest patches
• -> sustainability (‘green’) labelling answer to persuade industry to use such areas

Question 21

sustainability labelling:

Answer 21

• media & consumer pressure
• greenpeace vs nestle
• 400 global retailers cut all deforestation from supply chains by 2020

Question 22

cost of removing deforestation?

Answer 22

$30/t –> one prob there are to enough forest free areas to meet demand beyond 2025

Question 23

using higher yielding varieties

Answer 23

=more crop / hectare on existing land

• genome sequencing opens way for producing rough and pest resistance
• sime drabs super palms increase yield from 4->10 tCPO/ha