Lecture 2

Question 1

land use change over the last 8000 years =

Answer 1

reduction in wild lands (forests), semi-natural

increase in arable and pasture and densely settled

Question 2

building crop production systems on the sustainable principles of natural ecosystems consequences

Answer 2

-reduction in productivity
- reduction in biodiversity?
difficult to please all

Question 3

what do we need to understand to achieve sustainable yet effective agro sector

Answer 3

• understand & better manage global carbon & nutrient cycles
• conserve soil and natural ecosystems
• sustainably feed growing population
• reduce carbon and nutrient emissions from agriculture
• restore sustainability & biodiversity of ecosystems & agriculture

Question 4

natural ecosystems are ___ self-sustaining and perpetually renewing and adapting

Answer 4

naturally

– we need to learn from this to be effective stewards of earths resources

Question 5

has sustainability been a major goal in agriculture in past?

Answer 5

no, been on productivity.

• recently now on sustainability
• -but focussed on money, economical value of products

Question 6

research of ‘healthy’ soil in developed countries

Answer 6

little research, more research in developing countries as they can’t afford high use of fertilisers (chemicals), energy use etc

Question 7

is soil perceived the same from everyone?

Answer 7

no,
agronomist (farmer) diff to ecologist
ecologist like virgin tropical rainforest
agronomist like intensive agriculture

Question 8

many of the ecosystem properties that farmers manipulate to enhance productivity result in

Answer 8

loss of diversity and ‘ecological value’ but ensure cheap food –> but what value do we put on sustainability and nature

Question 9

agricultures role in society extends beyond

Answer 9

production of food and fibre
- management of renewable natural resources, conserve biodiversity, landscape aesthetics and regulates hydrological flows

RENTING et al 2009

No value for these, so famers payed for producing such services

Question 10

positive and negative environmental values of agriculture?

Answer 10

• UK agriculture generates environmental value of £650 million per year
• agriculture damage due to ghg emissions estimated £2.07 billion per year (ANGUS et al 2009)
  MORE WORSE THAN GOOD

Question 11

Current UK government 25 year environment plan

Answer 11

• improve soil health

- by 2030 all england soils managed sustainability = unrealistic! massively

Question 12

there is often more biology and biodiversity above/below ground

Answer 12

belowground

Question 13

is there a Royal Society for the Protection of Soil Organisms

Answer 13

No

Question 14

characteristics of soil: agricultural soil vs ‘Natural’ ecosystems soil

Answer 14

• Natural more variable, not having manipulations

- natural = more organic matter

Question 15

Characteristics of plants in agricultural vs natural soil

Answer 15

• agricultural =
• • grown in monocultures
• -annual herbaceous
• -high yield
• • shallow roots

natural

• -mixed sp. co-existiing
• -perennial plants

Question 16

Even urban areas now host more ____ than our intensively managed farmland

Answer 16

biodiversity

Question 17

alternative to less intensive agriculture in natural ecosystems

Answer 17

intensification of agriculture to ‘spare’ natural ecosystems

• land sharing vs land sparing
• land sharing not been looked into enough

Question 18

land sparing concentrates risks of

Answer 18

major crop failures

• drought
• hurricanes

Question 19

soil degradation reduces crop ___ and soil ____

Answer 19

crop production and soil fertility

– so more land needs to be converted to agriculture to compensate for this loss and more fertiliser added

Question 20

UK post 1940’s agricultural intensification and productivity gains have had

Answer 20

high ecological costs

- loss of biodiversity in birds, wildflowers are noticed but loss of topsoil, earthworms, mychorriza go unnoticed

Question 21

UK crop yields have__

Answer 21

plateaued - fake in recent years due to poor weather & soil constraints

Question 22

The food-biofuel conflict

Answer 22

• over 30% of maize (corn) grown in the USA from 2009 is used to make bioethanol
• 18% fall in world grain stocks from 2000-2012 at the same time a 14% increase in world pop
• now less than 3 months stock of food globally

Question 23

cereals (wheat, maize, rice etc) provide __% pf human food energy

Answer 23

48%

• world per capita cereal production has peaked and is not keeping up with population growth
• now biofuel production is also using food

Question 24

what do we mean by sustainable agriculture?

Answer 24

no universally accepted definition BUT
‘producing abundant food without depleting the earths finite resources or polluting its environments whilst providing dependable incomes to growers’

Question 25

finite resources (land,soil,water,nutrients,energy) mean we cannot merely ___

Answer 25

expand intensive agriculture to feed the world

• more of the same isn’t an option
• must produce more food efficiently with a growing population