U5L5 Sustainable Farming Practices

Question 1

What is happening to rainforests as the population increases?

Answer 1

More and more rain forest land is used for agriculture

Question 2

What is the definition of intercropping?

Answer 2

Growing multiple crops on the same plot of land

Question 3

What is the definition of alley cropping?

Answer 3

A type of agroforestry in which rows of trees are plated in between rows of crops

Question 4

What is the definition of agroforestry?

Answer 4

The intentional use of trees and shrubs in farming

Question 5

How can agroforestry and alley cropping affect the atmosphere?

Answer 5

When farmers plant trees for alley cropping—or even maintain existing forests in more complex forms of agroforestry—they allow for greater carbon storage. When more carbon dioxide is stored, less carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, which slows down the process of climate change.

Question 6

What is the definition of carbon sequestration?

Answer 6

The process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored

Question 7

What biome if the Alpha Coffee Co. in?

Answer 7

Tropical region

Question 8

What method does Alpha use to make room for their crops?

Answer 8

Slash-and-burn

Question 9

Mono-cropping, what the Alpha Co. does, is bad for the environment. Why?

Answer 9

Alpha grows coffee beans as its only crop. Mono-cropping—growing a single crop over a period of years—leads to depletion of nutrients, like nitrogen, in the soil.

Question 10

How does Aloha compensate for the problem caused by mono-cropping?

Answer 10

By adding increasing amounts of fertilizer to the soil each year. Soil erosion is also a problem resulting from mono-cropping, so Alpha continues to clear new farmland as needed.

Question 11

Why does the Alpha Coffee Company need to order pesticides?

Answer 11

Insects, like the coffee berry borer, are common at the Alpha Coffee Company farm. Without the trees and other plants, there are no predators, like birds, to eat these insects.

Question 12

Why is Alpha Coffee Co. so successful?

Answer 12

Alpha has focused on making its planting and harvesting processes more efficient by focusing on a single crop. For example, Alpha is able to make use of mechanical harvesters. This efficiency results in significantly reduced labor costs.
By using a conventional farming approach, Alpha’s coffee plants did not have any competition for sun, water, or nutrients. As a result, the production rate for the Alpha farm is one of the highest in the region. Because of the high production rates, Alpha company is quite profitable.

Question 13

What type of farming does Beta Coffee Co. use?

Answer 13

Sustainable

Question 14

What methods does Beta Coffee Co. use?

Answer 14

The farmers there are using alley cropping by planting rows of macadamia nut trees and inga trees in between rows of Arabica bean coffee plants.

Question 15

Why is Beta Coffee Co. spending more money that the Alpha Co.?

Answer 15

They had to hire and train more workers in order to manage the additional planting, and mulching tasks of two crops. Because they will not be able to use mechanical harvesters, Beta will continue to need to employ more manual laborers.

Question 16

Why didn’t Beta Coffee Co. have to order pesticides?

Answer 16

The macadamia and inga trees provide habitats for many insect-eating birds, allowing Beta to eliminate the need for pesticides.

Question 17

Why are Beta’s Coffee beans more expensive?

Answer 17

Because they don’t use pesticides, Beta is able to sell its coffee beans at a higher price.

Question 18

Why can’t Beta apply for a shade-grown certification?

Answer 18

Beta might also sell the coffee beans for a higher price if the company applies for a shade-grown certification, but it has not yet done so due to the application cost.

Question 19

Why are palm oil plantations bad for the environment?

Answer 19

The clear rainforests to make room for monoculture oil palm plantations.

Question 20

Which places face the most environmental impact due to palm oil?

Answer 20

Indonesia and Malaysia, for they produce 80% of the world’s palm oil

Question 21

What similarities do you observe between the debate over palm oil production and the debate over coffee production? How are the scenarios different?

Answer 21

Conventional cultivation of oil palms and coffee both lead to deforestation and a decrease in biodiversity in the area. There is increasing demand for sustainable coffee as well as sustainable palm oil. However, while coffee production only affects the coffee industry, palm oil production effects a wide range of industries. Palm oil has more potential substitutes than coffee.

Question 22

Given the negative impacts of palm oil production, do the benefits of using palm oil outweigh the costs?

Answer 22

Compared with other crops, oil palms require less land to produce the same amount of vegetable oil. Since less land needs to be cleared to cultivate oil palms than to cultivate soy or other substitutes, palm oil’s benefits outweigh its environmental costs.

Question 23

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start an oil palm plantation while maximizing benefits and minimizing costs?

Answer 23

Farmers should try to maximize efficiency on land that has already been cleared rather than causing further deforestation. Farmers can repurpose land that was previously used for grazing or agriculture instead of clearing new areas of the rain forest. Farmers should also adhere to policies on environmental and social responsibility, which will protect communities and also make the palm oil more attractive to companies seeking sustainable solutions.