Food, Soil, and Pest Management Chapter 12

12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is It Difficult to Attain? Concept 12-1A Many of the poor suffer health problems from chronic lack of food and poor nutrition, while many people in developed countries have health problems from eating too much food. Concept 12-1B The greatest obstacles to providing enough food for everyone are poverty, political upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful environmental effects of food production.

FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION Global food production has stayed ahead of population growth. However: One of six people in developing countries cannot grow or buy the food they need. Others cannot meet their basic energy needs (undernutrition / hunger) or protein and key nutrients (malnutrition).

FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION The root cause of hunger and malnutrition is poverty. Food security means that every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life. Need large amounts of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats). Need smaller amounts of micronutrients (vitamins such as A,C, and E).

Key Nutrients for a Healthy Human Life

Acute Food Shortages Can Lead to Famines Usually caused by crop failures from Drought Flooding War Other catastrophic events

War and the Environment: Starving Children in Famine-Stricken Sudan, Africa

Overnutrition: Eating Too Much Overnutrition and lack of exercise can lead to reduced life quality, poor health, and premature death. 60% of American adults are overweight and 33% are obese (totaling 93%). Americans spend $42 billion per year trying to lose weight. $24 billion per year is needed to eliminate world hunger.

12-2 How Is Food Produced? Concept 12-2A We have sharply increased crop production using a mix of industrialized and traditional agriculture. Concept 12-2B We have used industrialized and traditional methods to greatly increase supplies of meat, fish, and shellfish.

Food Production Has Increased Dramatically Three systems produce most of our food Croplands: 77% Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots: 16% Aquaculture: 7%

Industrialized Crop Production Relies on High-Input Monocultures Industrialized agriculture = High-input agriculture About 80% of the world’s food supply is produced by industrialized agriculture. Uses large amounts of fossil fuel energy, water, commercial fertilizers, and pesticides to produce monocultures. Goal is to steadily increase crop yield Increased use of greenhouses to raise crops

Industrialized agriculture Plantation agriculture Figure 13.4 Natural capital: locations of the world’s principal types of food production. Industrialized agriculture Plantation agriculture Intensive traditional ag. Shifting cultivation Nomadic herding No agriculture

Satellite Images of Greenhouse Land Used in the Production of Food Crops

C horizon Parent material Wood sorrel Oak tree Earthworm Organic debris builds up Millipede Grasses and small shrubs Rock fragments Honey fungus Mole Moss and lichen Fern O horizon Leaf litter A horizon Topsoil Bedrock B horizon Subsoil Immature soil Young soil C horizon Parent material Figure 12.A Soil formation and generalized soil profile. Horizons, or layers, vary in number, composition, and thickness, depending on the type of soil. See an animation based on this figure at CengageNOW™. Questions: What role do you think the tree in this figure plays in soil formation? How might the picture change if the tree were removed? (Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company from Derek Elsom, Earth, New York: Macmillan, 1992. Copyright © 1992 by Marshall Editions Developments Limited) Mite Nematode Root system Red earth mite Fungus Mature soil Bacteria Fig. 12-A, p. 281

Active Figure: Soil profile

Global Outlook: Total Worldwide Grain Production (Wheat, Corn, and Rice)

Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties (1) Gene Revolution Cross-breeding through artificial selection Slow process Genetic engineering Genetic modified organisms (GMOs): transgenic organisms

Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Can Produce New Crop Varieties (2) Age of Genetic Engineering: developing crops that are resistant to Heat and cold Herbicides Insect pests Parasites Viral diseases Drought Salty or acidic soil

Genetic Engineering: Steps in Genetically Modifying a Plant

Transfer Preparations A. tumefaciens Phase 1 Gene Transfer Preparations A. tumefaciens Plant cell Extract plasmid Extract DNA plasmid Foreign gene if interest Foreign gene integrated into plasmid DNA. Agrobacterium takes up plasmid Phase 2 Make Transgenic Cell A. tumefaciens (agrobacterium) Enzymes integrate plasmid into host cell DNA. Foreign DNA Host cell Host DNA Nucleus Transgenic plant cell Phase 3 Grow Genetically Engineered Plant Cell division of transgenic cells Figure 12.6 Genetic engineering: steps in genetically modifying a plant. Question: How does this process change the nature of evolution by natural selection? Cultured cells divide and grow into plantlets (otherwise teleological) Transgenic plants with desired trait Fig. 12-6, p. 283

Animation: Transferring genes into plants

GM crop production data Click for webpage

Colorado State Transgenic Crops Click for webpage

Perceptions about Genetically Modified Food Click for webpage

TRADE-OFFS Genetically Modified Crops and Foods Projected Advantages Projected Disadvantages Irreversible and unpredictable genetic and ecological effects Need less fertilizer Need less water More resistant to insects, disease, frost, and drought Harmful toxins in food from possible plant cell mutations Grow faster New allergens in food Can grow in slightly salty soils Lower nutrition Figure 12.16 Projected advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified crops and foods. Question: Which two advantages and which two disadvantages do you think are the most important? Why? Increase in pesticide- resistant insects, herbicide- resistant weeds, and plant diseases May need less pesticides Tolerate higher levels of herbicides Can harm beneficial insects Higher yields Less spoilage Lower genetic diversity Fig. 12-16, p. 291

12-3 What Environmental Problems Arise from Food Production? Concept 12-3 Food production in the future may be limited by its serious environmental impacts, including soil erosion and degradation, desertification, water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation and destruction of biodiversity.

NATURAL CAPITAL DEGRADATION Food Production Biodiversity Loss Soil Water Air Pollution Human Health Loss and degradation of grasslands, forests, and wetlands Erosion Water waste Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) from fossil fuel use Nitrates in drinking water (blue baby) Aquifer depletion Loss of fertility Increased runoff, sediment pollution, and flooding from cleared land Greenhouse gas emissions (N2O) from use of inorganic fertilizers Pesticide residues in drinking water, food, and air Salinization Fish kills from pesticide runoff Figure 12.9 Major harmful environmental effects of food production (Concept 12-3). According to a 2002 study by the United Nations, nearly 30% of the world’s cropland has been degraded to some degree by soil erosion, salt buildup, and chemical pollution, and 17% has been seriously degraded. Question: Which item in each of these categories do you believe is the most harmful? Waterlogging Killing wild predators to protect livestock Desertification Pollution from pesticides and fertilizers Greenhouse gas emissions of methane (CH4) by cattle (mostly belching) Contamination of drinking and swimming water from livestock wastes Loss of genetic diversity of wild crop strains replaced by monoculture strains Algal blooms and fish kills in lakes and rivers caused by runoff of fertilizers and agricultural wastes Other air pollutants from fossil fuel use and pesticide sprays Bacterial contamination of meat Fig. 12-9, p. 286

Natural Capital Degradation: Severe Gully Erosion on Cropland in Bolivia

Natural Capital Degradation: Global Soil Erosion 29

Severe Desertification

Natural Capital Degradation: Desertification of Arid and Semiarid Lands

Natural Capital Degradation: Severe Salinization on Heavily Irrigated Land

There May Be Limits to Expanding the Green Revolutions Can we expand the green revolution by Irrigating more cropland? Improving the efficiency of irrigation? Cultivating more land? Marginal land? Using GMOs? Multicropping?

Case Study: Industrialized Food Production in the United States The U.S. uses industrialized agriculture to produce about 17% of the world’s grain. Relies on cheap energy to run machinery, process food, produce commercial fertilizer and pesticides. About 10 units of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy are needed to put 1 unit of food energy on the table.

Industrialized Agriculture uses ~17% of All Commercial Energy Used in the U.S. Fig 12-15

Agriculture in California Click for report

Agriculture in Ventura County Click for report

Food and Biofuel Production Systems Have Caused Major Biodiversity Losses Biodiversity threatened when Forest and grasslands are replaced with croplands Agrobiodiversity threatened when Human-engineered monocultures are used Importance of seed banks Newest: underground vault in the Norwegian Arctic

Industrialized Meat Production

Meatrix webpage Click for webpage

TRADE-OFFS Animal Feedlots Advantages Disadvantages Increased meat production Large inputs of grain, fish meal, water, and fossil fuels Higher profits Greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) emissions Less land use Reduced overgrazing Concentration of animal wastes that can pollute water Figure 12.17 Advantages and disadvantages of animal feedlots. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why? Reduced soil erosion Use of antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans Protection of biodiversity Fig. 12-17, p. 292

World Fish Catch, Including Both Wild Catch and Aquaculture

TRADE-OFFS Aquaculture Advantages Disadvantages High efficiency Needs large inputs of land, feed, and water High yield in small volume of water Large waste output Can destroy mangrove forests and estuaries Can reduce overharvesting of fisheries Figure 12.18 Advantages and disadvantages of aquaculture. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why? Uses grain to feed some species Low fuel use Dense populations vulnerable to disease High profits Fig. 12-18, p. 293

Animation: Land use

12-4 How Can We Protect Crops from Pests More Sustainably? Concept 12-4 We can sharply cut pesticide use without decreasing crop yields by using a mix of cultivation techniques, biological pest controls, and small amounts of selected chemical pesticides as a last resort (integrated pest management).

Nature Controls the Populations of Most Pests What is a pest? What is a weed? Natural enemies—predators, parasites, disease organisms—control pests In natural ecosystems In many polyculture agroecosystems

Natural Capital: Spiders are Important Insect Predators

The ideal Pesticide and the Nightmare Insect Pest The ideal pest-killing chemical has these qualities: Kill only target pest. Not cause genetic resistance in the target organism. Disappear or break down into harmless chemicals after doing its job. Be more cost-effective than doing nothing.

How do pesticides work? Click for EPA page Click here for Na. Pesticide Info Center

Individuals Matter: Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring which introduced the U.S. to the dangers of the pesticide DDT and related compounds to the environment.

Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have Several Disadvantages David Pimentel: Pesticide use has not reduced U.S. crop loss to pests Loss of crops is about 31%, even with 33-fold increase in pesticide use High environmental, health, and social costs with use Use alternative pest management practices Pesticide industry refutes these findings

TRADE-OFFS Conventional Chemical Pesticides Advantages Disadvantages Save lives Promote genetic resistance Increase food supplies Kill natural pest enemies Profitable Figure 12.20 Advantages and disadvantages of conventional chemical pesticides. Question: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important? Why? Pollute the environment Work fast Can harm wildlife and people Safe if used properly Are expensive for farmers Fig. 12-20, p. 295

Pesticide Protection Laws in the U.S. Government regulation has banned a number of harmful pesticides but some scientists call for strengthening pesticide laws. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate the sales of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The EPA has only evaluated the health effects of 10% of the active ingredients of all pesticides. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation controls pesticide use in California.

Pesticides in California Click here for pesticide use data

What Can You Do? Reducing Exposure to Pesticides

Other Ways to Control Pests: There are cultivation, biological, and ecological alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. Integrated Pest Management Fool the pest through cultivation practices. Provide homes for the pest enemies. Implant genetic resistance. Bring in natural enemies. Use pheromones to lure pests into traps. Use hormones to disrupt life cycles.

Natural Capital: Biological Pest Control

Case Study: integrated Pest Management: A Component of Sustainable Agriculture Many scientists urge the USDA to use three strategies to promote IPM in the U.S.: Add a 2% sales tax on pesticides. Establish federally supported IPM demonstration project for farmers. Train USDA personnel and county farm agents in IPM. The pesticide industry opposes such measures.

Integrated Pest Management in California Click for UC Davis IMP page Click for Cal Poly SLO Sustainable Ag Resource Consortium

12-5 How Can We Improve Food Security? Concept 12-5 We can improve food security by creating programs to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition, relying more on locally grown food, and cutting food waste.

Use Government Policies to Improve Food Production and Security (2) United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) suggests these measures Immunizing children against childhood diseases Encourage breast-feeding Prevent dehydration in infants and children Provide family planning services Increase education for women

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (1) Concept 12-6A Sustainable food production will require reducing topsoil erosion, eliminating overgrazing and overfishing, irrigating more efficiently, using integrated pest management, promoting agrobiodiversity, and providing government subsidies for more sustainable farming, fishing, and aquaculture.

12-6 How Can We Produce Food More Sustainably? (2) Concept 12-6B Producing enough food to feed the rapidly growing human population will require growing crops in a mix of monocultures and polycultures and decreasing the enormous environmental impacts of industrialized food production.

Reduce Soil Erosion Soil conservation, some methods Terracing Contour planting Strip cropping with cover crop Alley cropping, agroforestry Windbreaks or shelterbeds Conservation-tillage farming No-till Minimum tillage Identify erosion hotspots

Soil Conservation Methods

(b) Contour planting and strip cropping (a) Terracing (b) Contour planting and strip cropping (c) Alley cropping (d) Windbreaks Figure 12.24 Soil conservation methods include (a) terracing, (b) contour planting and strip cropping, (c) alley cropping, and (d) windbreaks (Concept 12-6A). Stepped Art Fig. 12-24, p. 302

Natural Capital Degradation: Dust Storm, Driven by Wind Blowing across Eroded Soil

Restore Soil Fertility Organic fertilizer Animal manure Green manure Compost Commercial inorganic fertilizer active ingredients Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium

Reduce Soil Salinization and Desertification Prevention Clean-up Desertification, reduce Population growth Overgrazing Deforestation Destructive forms of planting, irrigation, and mining

SOLUTIONS Soil Salinization Prevention Cleanup Flush soil (expensive and wastes water) Reduce irrigation Stop growing crops for 2–5 years Figure 12.28 Methods for preventing and cleaning up soil salinization (Concept 12-6A). Question: Which two of these solutions do you think are the most important? Why? Switch to salt-tolerant crops (such as barley, cotton, and sugar beet) Install underground drainage systems (expensive) Fig. 12-28, p. 305

Solutions: More Sustainable Aquaculture

Produce Meat More Efficiently and Humanely Shift to more grain-efficient forms of protein Shift to farmed herbivorous fish Develop meat substitutes; eat less meat Whole Food Markets: more humane treatment of animals

Efficiency of Converting Grain into Animal Protein

Shift to More Sustainable Agriculture Strategies for more sustainable agriculture Research on organic agriculture with human nutrition in mind Show farmers how organic agricultural systems work Subsidies and foreign aid Training programs; college curricula

SOLUTIONS Sustainable Organic Agriculture More Less High-yield polyculture Soil erosion Aquifer depletion Organic fertilizers Overgrazing Biological pest control Overfishing Integrated pest management Loss of biodiversity Efficient irrigation Food waste Subsidies for unsustainable farming and fishing Perennial crops Figure 12.31 Major components of more sustainable, low-throughput agriculture based mostly on mimicking and working with nature (Concept 12-6B). Question: Which two solutions do you think are the most important? Why? Crop rotation Water-efficient crops Soil salinization Soil conservation Population growth Subsidies for sustainable farming and fishing Poverty Fig. 12-31, p. 307

Solutions: Organic Farming

Science Focus: Sustainable Polycultures of Perennial Crops Wes Jackson: natural systems agriculture benefits No need to plow soil and replant each year Reduces soil erosion and water pollution Deeper roots – less irrigation needed Less fertilizer and pesticides needed

Buy Locally Grown Food Supports local economies Reduces environmental impact on food production Community-supported agriculture. Click for Ventura County Farm Bureau link Click for Ag Futures Alliance Ventura County

What Can You Do? Sustainable Organic Agriculture