Feeding the World

 Chronic under nutrition -means not consuming enough calories to be healthy  Malnourished- is regardless of calories diets lack balance one half of the world is malnourished  Overnutrition -is the ingestion of too many calories and improper foods that can cause a person to become overweight

 Poverty  Political and economic factors  Agricultural resources being diverted to feed livestock and poultry rather than people

 Somalia ■ Sudan ■ Zimbabwe ■ Chad ■ Iraq ■ Democratic Republic of the Congo ■ Afghanistan ■ Ivory Coast ■ Pakistan ■ Central African Republic  ■ Guinea ■ Bangladesh ■ Burma (Myanmar) ■ Haiti ■ North Korea ■ Ethiopia ■ Uganda ■ Lebanon ■ Nigeria ■ Sri Lanka

 New management techniques and mechanization as well as the triad of fertilization, irrigation, and improved crop varieties. This has increased food production dramatically.

 With fossil fuel use came more efficient farming and this led to industrial agriculture  Energy subsidy –the energy input per calorie of food produced  For example if we used 5 calories to produce food and we receive 1 when we eat that food then the food has an energy subsidy of 5.

The Green Revolution - Programs that have led to the development of new strains of crops with higher yields, better resistance to disease or better ability to grow under poor conditions  Improved Irrigation  Fertilizers  Mechanization

 Large plantings of a single species or variety  This improves productivity

 Monocropping encourages the use of pesticides  Pesticide- substance that controls or kills organisms that people consider pests.  Insecticides kill insects  Herbicides kill weeds

 Broad-spectrum pesticides- designed to kill many different types of pests.  Selective pesticides- designed to kill a narrower range of organisms.  Persistent- pesticides that remain in the environment a long time.  Nonpersistent- pesticide that breaks down relatively rapidly, usually in weeks to months.

 Bioaccumulation- some pesticides are found to build up over time in the fatty tissues of predators.  An example was DDT.  When an organism containing the pesticide is eaten, the chemical is transferred to the consumer.  This eventually leads to very high pesticide concentrations at high trophic levels.

 Resistance- pest populations may evolve resistance to a pesticide over time. These are said to be resistant.  Pesticide treadmill- the cycle of pesticide development followed by pest resistance, followed by development of a new pesticide.

1. Try to stop ecological succession and keep the agroecosystem in an early successional state 2. Monoculture: Large areas planted with a single species 3. Crops are planted in neat rows 4. Farming greatly simplifies biological diversity 5. Plowing is unlike any natural soil disturbance 6. Genetic modification of crops.

 Limiting Factor: The single requirement for growth available in the least supply in comparison to the need of an organism 2 Types of Life-Important Chemicals 1. Macronutirents 2. Micronutirents Synergistic Effects: a change in availability of one resource affects the response of an organism to some other resource

 Conventional agriculture- industrial agriculture where labor is reduced and machinery is used.  Traditional farming- still used in the developing world where human labor is used and not machinery.  Shifting agriculture- used in areas with nutrient poor soils. It involves planting an area for a few years until the land is depleted of nutrients and then moving to another area and repeating the process.  Nomatic grazing- moving herds of animals to find productive feeding grounds. Farming Methods

 Soil erosion  Sediment transport and deposition downstream  On-site pollution from fertilizers and pesticides  Deforestation  Desertification  Degradation of water aquifers  Salinization  Accumulation of toxic metals and organic compounds  Loss of biodiversity

 Desertification is the deterioration of land in arid, semi- arid and dry sub humid areas due to changes in climate and human activities  Can be caused by  Poor farming practices  Conversion of marginal grazing lands to croplands

Ways to slow erosion:  Making Soil Sustainable  Contour Plowing  No-Till Agriculture  Combination of farming practices that include not plowing the land and using herbicides to keep down weeds.

 Sustainable agriculture- producing enough food to feed the world’s population without destroying the land, polluting the environment, or reducing biodiversity.  Intercropping- two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time.  Crop rotation- rotating crops species from season to season.  Agroforestry- intercropping trees with vegetables.  Contour plowing- plowing and harvesting parallel to the land to prevent erosion. Sustainable Agriculture

 No-till agriculture- helps to stop soil degradation by leaving crop residues in the fields and not tilling the land after each harvest. No-till Agriculture

 Integrated pest management- using a variety of techniques designed to minimize pesticide inputs.  Crop rotation  Intercropping  Planting pest resistant crop varieties  Creating habitats for predators  Limited use of pesticides Integrated Pest Management

Organic agriculture- production of crops without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. 3 Qualities 1. It is more like natural ecosystems than monocultures 2. It minimizes negative environmental impacts 3. The food that results from it does not contain artificial compounds

 Do you(your family) buy organic?  Would you buy organic if it was cheaper?

 Genetically Modified Crops are modified by genetic engineers to produce higher crop yields and increase resistance to drought, cold, heat, toxins, plant pests and disease.

 Increased crop yield  Greater food quality  Increased profits  Increase in nutrition  Could reduce the need for pesticides and herbicides  Decrease hunger world wide

 Concerns about safety for humans and the environment  Who is testing and researching GMO’s  Effects on natural biodiversity  Who is regulating  When is nature allowed to modify  How can we really know when it is safe

 A genetically modified crop which has a gene to cause the plant to become sterile after the first year  This way farmers have to keep buying new seeds but it does not allow for natural processes to take place.

 Discuss- why or why not?

Animal Farming Animals need food too. Rangeland: Provides food for grazing and browsing animals without plowing and planting Pasture: Plowed, planted and harvested to provide forage for animals We also grow food to feed to animals which takes away from the food we need to eat.

 CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations)- large structures where animals are being raised in high density numbers. High-Density Animal Farming

 Fishery- a commercially harvestable population of fish within a particular ecological region.  Fishery collapse- the decline of a fish population by 90% or more.  Bycatch- unintentional catch of non-target species. Harvesting of Fish and Shellfish

 Aquaculture  The farming of food in aquatic habitats  Can also cause environmental harm and damage native fish.  Can help ocean fish populations by keeping up with food demands.  Mariculture  The farming of ocean fish  Most catfish, salmon, trout, and shrimp are farmed.