Unit 4 Flashcards
benefits of industrial agriculture
Cheap and plentiful food
Convenience to the consumer
Contribution to the economy, growers to harvesters to processors to sellers
downsides of industrial agriculture
Environmental and social costs
Surface water and groundwater pollution
Potential health risks with pesticides
Heavy fossil fuel usage
In the United States and Europe, even the poorest one-fifth of households spend just ______ of their budget on food.
16%
Food ___________ is the ability of an individual nation to control its own food system.
Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button.
sovereignty
Food ___________ is the ability of an individual nation to grow enough food to feed its people.
self-sufficiency
By some estimates, about _________ % of Earth’s 7 billion people are overnourished.
21
When two different bacterium species are used to produce pest-resistant Bt plants, one bacteria naturally produces the pest-killing toxin and the second bacteria is used to ______.
deliver the gene to the plant cell
Undernourishment is ______ times greater in developing countries experiencing a prolonged armed conflict, drought, or natural disaster than it is in countries not in such crises.
3
Global population is expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050; experts say that to feed that many mouths we will need to produce ______ as much food as we are now producing.
2 times
True or False: The main cause of world hunger today is underproduction of food.
False
Food security is:
having sufficient safe and nutritious food freely available to everyone in the population.
having enough money to buy sufficient safe and nutritious food.
all people having access to enough calories to survive.
all people, at all times, having physical, social, and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food.
all people, at all times, having physical, social, and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food.
The Green Revolution:
increased world food supplies but introduced new problems.
was based on traditional, locally adapted crop species.
used crop plants that required less fertilizer and pesticides.
created food security for the global population.
increased world food supplies but introduced new problems.
What did the Green Revolution accomplish, and how did it do so? Discuss some of the unintended consequences of the methods used in the Green Revolution.
The Green Revolution increased food production (output/acre) tremendously by developing high yielding varieties of major food crops and providing them with fertilizers and irrigation to boost growth, and pesticides to reduce loss to pests.
The chemical additives can diminish soil fertility and contribute to water and soil pollution; pesticides are toxic to organisms other than just pests and can disrupt nutrient cycles and even poison our own populations and that of other species. A loss of crop biodiversity can result if we limit ourselves to planting just a few varieties of crops and heavy water use can damage soil or wash it away, as well as lead to water shortages. The social consequences of the Green Revolution were that farmers in nations that could afford the new farming technologies outcompeted the smaller farmers in developing nations (especially those of Africa) who then stopped farming, causing these nations to lose the ability to provide their own food.
Which of the following is not an example of a genetically modified organism (GMO)?
Golden rice
High-yield variety (HYV) corn
Bt cotton
AquAdvantage salmon
High-yield variety (HYV) corn
Proponents of the “Gene Revolution” believe that:
humans should be genetically modified to require less food.
genetically modified (GM) crop plants are useful, but GM animals are not.
GMOs are needed to achieve global food security.
GMOs will be useful in developed countries but not in developing countries.
GMOs are needed to achieve global food security.
Explain how genetic engineering is used to create plants or animals with more desirable traits.
Using genetic engineering, a gene that codes for a desired trait is inserted into a domesticated plant or animal species. The desired gene is isolated from the cells of an individual who possesses it and many copies of that gene are made. These copies are transferred to a bacterial cell which can “infect” the target cell and deliver the new genes. These genes are incorporated into the DNA of the target cell itself which will then be able to use the gene and express that trait itself.
True or False: The problems created by GMOs are much different than those created by industrial agriculture.
False
Critics say that GMOs are dangerous because:
herbicide-tolerant genes may migrate to other species and create “superweeds.”
beneficial insects as well as crop pests are killed.
they place too much power in the hands of large corporations.
all of the above are true.
all of the above are true
Explain how planting a genetically modified crop with a trait for pest resistance could lead to the use of less pesticide in some cases but could lead to the use of more in others.
Less pesticide might be used if the pest-resistant plant can successfully ward off the pests in the area. But if a new pest arrives that is not bothered by the GMO pest resistance trait (or increases due to lack of competition from other pests that cannot feed on this plant) then the crop may be attacked by this new pest, requiring even more pesticide to be applied than otherwise might have been.
An advantage that low-tech farming methods have over high-tech farming methods in developing countries is that low-tech methods are
more accessible to women
What is the value of keeping biodiversity in our crops high?
High biodiversity increases the odds that suitable species or varieties within a species will be available to grow under whatever environmental conditions arise. When all crop varieties are similar (little diversity) there is a greater chance that what harms one will harm them all. When they are very different, what harms one may not affect another, giving the farmer options for varieties to plant under these new conditions.
Compare the high-tech agriculture methods (HYVs and GMOs) with the low-tech suggestions given in the chapter. What path do you think a nation like Burkina Faso should pursue to achieve food security? Support your answer.
High-yield varieties developed through plant breeding and GMOs developed through genetic engineering can increase productivity per acre but these methods are expensive and the crops they produce will likely require inputs of fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation water as well as mechanized equipment to plant and harvest in order to maximize yields. Lower tech methods that depend on local crop varieties and traditional methods may be more accessible to low-income farmers and may be more responsive to the immediate conditions of the area (i.e. soil type, water availability, equipment availability). In some cases they may be as productive or nearly so, as HYV or GMO but their greatest value may lie in their accessibility (farmers can afford them; farmers can save seeds for next year’s planting; there are fewer inputs to purchase such as fertilizers or pesticides) and sustainability (there are fewer negative impacts on the environment and the methods may actually improve soil or other environmental conditions).
The use of a variety of methods to control a pest population with the goal of minimizing or eliminating the use of chemical toxins is called ______ pest management.
integrated
True or False: Consumers who have household incomes such that organic produce does not fit their budget may not be able to support sustainable agriculture.
True
The strip cropping cultivation technique is an example of ______ control of pest management.
cultural
The use of which of the following in industrial agriculture produces soil salinization?
irrigation
Saving seeds is a critical step in a sustainable food future. In order to meet changing needs, the __________ varieties that exist need to be available for future plant breeders to choose from.
wild-type
Perennial plants are characterized by ___________________.
longer root systems that tap into deeper water supplies
In sustainable agriculture, ___________ is to soil erosion as ___________ is to soil fertility.
terrace farming, crop rotation
The initial attempt at duck rice farming at the Massa family farm had limited success because ______.
the recommended duckling density was not followed
