Agriculture: Feast and Famine- Past, Present, and Future Chapter 10 Agriculture: Feast and Famine- Past, Present, and Future

10,900,000 Malnourished Today 925,000,000 Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks Catastrophic Events Number of Deaths Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks 2,981 Hiroshima & Nagasaki 199,000 U.S. Civil War 620,000 Rwandan Genocide (Hutu/Tutsi) 800,000-1,000,000 Irish Potato Famine 1,000,000 Korean War 1,500,000 Vietnam War 2,060,000 Jewish Holocaust (only Jewish deaths) 6,000,000 Hunger-Related Child Mortality (annual) 10,900,000 Atlantic Slave Trade 16,000,000 World War I 37,000,000 World War II 62,000,000 Black Death (Bubonic Plague) 200,000,000 Malnourished Today 925,000,000

Global Hunger Exists http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm#Number_of_hungry_people_in_the_world

Global croplands cover 4 billion acres

Global pasture cover 7.4 billion acres

Croplands and pasture lands

Agriculture is life… …but also transformative There is nothing that we do that transforms the world more than agriculture And there is nothing that we do that is more crucial to our survival!

More than 40% of earth’s land has been already cleared for agriculture

Land use Agriculture uses 60 times more land than urban and suburban areas combined.

Irrigation is the biggest use of water on the planet. Water use Irrigation is the biggest use of water on the planet. 27 billion acres of land have one inch of water on crops every day

% of Population Without Reasonable Access to Safe Drinking Water

More than five million people, most of them children, die every year from illnesses caused by drinking poor quality water. Over 1.4 billion people currently live in river basins where the use of water exceeds minimum recharge levels, leading to the desiccation of rivers and depletion of groundwater. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.

Fertilizer use Potassium Nitrogen Iron Magnesium

Desertification Hazard Fig. 10-14: The most severe desertification hazards are in northern Africa, central Australia, and the southwestern parts of Africa, Asia, North America, and South America.

The Sahel Fig. 10-16: The Sahel, which is south of the Sahara, frequently faces drought and food shortages, as does the Horn of Africa.

World Climate Regions Fig. 10-5b: Simplified map of the main world climate regions (see also Fig. 2.2).

Climate change Agriculture is the biggest contributor It generates 30% of greenhouse gas emissions More than the emissions from all the electricity and industry More than emission from all the world’s planes, trains and cars

How do we feed the planet without destroying it? Population growth + Meat consumption + Dairy consumption + Energy costs + Bio-energy production = _____________________________ STRESS on natural resources How do we feed the planet without destroying it?

2x 3x

Can get to the next century… …without cultivating more land?

Cropland Distribution 1995-2004 2045-2054

The future Farming more land may sound logical but should not be the answer: Higher inputs (water, fertilizers) More fragile ecosystems Bigger carbon footprint …

We should try to farm more efficiently the land we already use. The future Food security needs + environmental security needs Trade off between growing food and have a healthy environment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t19kvUiHvAE We should try to farm more efficiently the land we already use.

What are the answers? Local food Organic farming Incentives for farmers More effective irrigation systems Better soil management practices More water efficient plant varieties Water recycling Precision agriculture (GMOs) Smarter diets