Unit 5- Livestock

Question 1

Feedlots/Factory Farms:

Answer 1

• Also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
• Large warehouses designed to deliver energy rich food to animals living at extremely high densities
• Reduces the impact that livestock have on the environment (i.e. overgrazing, soil degradation…etc)
• Waste can pollute surface and groundwater
• Poor waste containment practices can cause disease
• Crowded and dirty conditions require the use of antibiotics, can travel up the food chain and result in resistance
Manure can be used as a natural fertilizer, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers

Question 2

Aquaculture

Answer 2

• Overharvesting of fish has caused wild fish populations to plummet
• Raising aquatic organisms in a controlled environment
Many fish are grown in open water, in large, floating net pens, others raised in land based ponds or holding tanks

Question 3

Impacts of Aquaculture:

Answer 3

• Small scale aquaculture can provide fertilizers for crops (uneaten fish scraps)
• Reduces fishing pressure (overharvesting), also reduces bycatch (unintended catch of non-target organisms)
• Requires less fossil fuels than fishing vessels, very energy efficient
• Can increase pressure on wild stocks if the feed for the cultured fish is made from fish caught in the wild
• Dense concentrations of farmed animals can increase disease
• If farmed aquatic organisms escape into non native ecosystems, they can spread disease and out compete native species
Escaped GMOs can outcompete non-GMO species (bigger fish)

Question 4

Sustained Agriculture:

Answer 4

• Agriculture that does not deplete soils faster than they form
• Farming and ranching that does not reduce the amount of healthy soil, clean water, and genetic diversity
Closely related to low input agriculture (agriculture that uses smaller amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuels than are used in industrial agriculture)

Question 5

Organic Agriculture:

Answer 5

Food growing practices that use no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, but instead rely on biological approaches such as composting or biocontrol

Question 6

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA):

Answer 6

• Consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield, usually in the form of weekly deliveries of produce
  
  • Consumers get fresh produce, farmers get money up front to invest in their crops