1. Solutions to Environmental Problems Associated with Food Production
Tuesday, November 1st, 2016

2. BUT, I’m HUNGRY!
What can we do?

3. Answer:
Adopt sustainable agriculture (low input practices that cost less and are less damaging)
2. Change Food Subsidies
3. Coupled with genetic engineering.
3. Eat new foods

4. #1. What is sustainable agriculture?
Two major ways to increase world’s food production:
Increase crop yields
Increase the amount of land used

5. Sustainable Agriculture
Method of growing crops and raising livestock based on organic fertilizers, soil conservation, water conservation, biological pest control, and minimal use of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy.

6. More Sustainable Agriculture
Solutions
More Sustainable Agriculture
More
Less
High-yield polyculture
Soil erosion
Soil salinization
Organic fertilizers
Water pollution
Biological pest control
Aquifer depletion
Overgrazing
Integrated pest management
Overfishing
Loss of biodiversity and agrobiodiversity
Efficient irrigation
Figure 12.34: More sustainable, low-input agriculture based mostly on mimicking and working with nature has a number of major components. (Concept 12-6). Questions: Which two solutions do you think are the most important? Why?
Perennial crops
Fossil fuel use
Crop rotation
Greenhouse gas emissions
Water-efficient crops
Soil conservation
Subsidies for unsustainable farming
Subsidies for sustainable farming
Fig , p. 310

7. Organic Food
Produced without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, & fungicides
No GMFs
Organic meat/dairy
100% organically grown feed
Outdoor pasture
No hormones/antibiotics

8. Produce Meat More Efficiently and Humanely
Shift to more grain-efficient forms of protein
Beef from rangelands & pastures, not feedlots
Develop meat substitutes;
eat less meat
Efficiency of Converting Grain into Animal Protein

9. Sustainable Practices
Diversifying products
Crop rotation
Conservation tillage
Contour plowing
Low input farming with water/energy conservation
Natural predator/prey relationships over chemical pesticides
Natural fertilizers from manure vs. commercial fertilizers
Consevation tillage reduces erosion & maintains soil. No till, ridge till, mulch till

11. #2. Government Agriculture Policy
Government Assistance
Keep food prices artificially low
Give farmers subsidies
Eliminate most or all price controls and subsidies and let farmers/fishers respond to market demand
Farming = risky Need reliable food supply, so gov. provide forms of assistance

12. Environmentalists think…
Use subsidies to reward farmers/fishers/ranchers who:
- Protect the soil
- Conserve water
- Reforest degraded land
- Protect and restore wetlands
- Conserve wildlife
- Practice more sustainable
agriculture/fishing/ranching

13. #3 Genetic Engineering Crossbreeding and artificial selection
Genetic engineering (gene splicing)
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

14. What are Genetically Modified Foods? *

15. Genetically Modified Organisms
To increase crop yields, we can mix the genes of similar types of organisms and mix the genes of different organisms.
Artificial selection has been used for centuries to develop genetically improved varieties of crops.
Genetic engineering develops improved strains at an exponential pace compared to artificial selection.

16. Genetically Modified Organisms
GMO- scientists directly alter the genes of organisms including crop plants and livestock
GM crops are modified to be-
Herbicide resistant so farmers can spray herbicide on weeds w/o killing their crops
Pest resistant
Ice resistant (strawberries)

17. Genetic engineering is like, and unlike, traditional breeding
Traditional breeding changes organisms through selective breeding of the same or similar species
Works with entire organisms in the field
Genes come together on their own
Uses the process of selection
Genetic engineering mixes genes of different species
Works with genetic material in the lab
Directly creates novel combinations of genes
Resembles the process of mutation

18. Genetically Modified Organisms
Controversy has arisen over the use of genetically modified food (GMF).
Critics fear that we know too little about the long-term potential harm to human and ecosystem health.
There is controversy over legal ownership of genetically modified crop varieties and whether GMFs should be labeled.

19. Genetic Engineering Wild plants/animals genetic diversity
Domesticated plants/animals genetic diversity as certain characteristics are selected for
Genetic diversity means species are more susceptible to new strains of disease, increasing risk of total species loss.

20. Phase 1 Make Modified Gene
cell
Identify and extract
gene with desired trait
gene
DNA
Identify and remove
portion of DNA
with desired trait
Plasmid
Remove plasmid
from DNA of E. coli
E. coli
DNA
Insert extracted DNA
(step 2) into plasmid
(step3)
Genetically
modified
plasmid
plasmid
Insert modified
plasmid into E. coli
Grow in tissue
culture to
make copies

21. Phase 2 Make Transgenic Cell
Transfer plasmid
copies to a carrier
agrobacterium
A. tumefaciens
(agrobacterium)
Agrobacterium
inserts foreign
DNA into plant
cell to yield
transgenic cell
Plant cell
Nucleus
Host DNA
Foreign DNA
Transfer plasmid
to surface
microscopic metal
particle
Use gene gun
to inject DNA
into plant cell

22. Grow Genetically Engineered Plant
Phase 3
Grow Genetically Engineered Plant
Transgenic cell
from Phase 2
Cell division of
transgenic cells
Culture cells
to form plantlets
Transgenic plants
with new traits
Half the time as conventional crossbreeding
Cuts costs
Allows insertion of genes from almost any other organism

23. Genetically Modified Crops and Foods
Trade-Offs
Genetically Modified Crops and Foods
Advantages
Disadvantages
Need less fertilizer
Unpredictable genetic and ecological effects
Need less water
More resistant to insects, disease, frost, and drought
Harmful toxins and new allergens in food
No increase in yields
Grow faster
Figure 12.18: Genetically modified crops and foods can have some or all of the advantages and disadvantages listed here. Questions: Which two advantages and which two disadvantages do you think are the most important? Why?
More pesticide-resistant insects and herbicide-resistant weeds
May need less pesticides or tolerate higher levels of herbicides
Could disrupt seed market
May reduce energy needs
Lower genetic diversity
Fig , p. 294

24. Advantages vs. Disadvantages
May produce food plants that are more nutritious
Develop crops resistant to pests/disease/drought/hot/cold/herbicides/acidic-basic soils
Develop disease resistant vaccines for livestock
DID YOU KNOW … 2/3 of food products in US markets contain GM crops!

25. #4 Try New Foods
Ant Larvae, waterbugs, caterpillers, cockroaches, butterflies, fried ants

26. I DON’T WANT TO EAT BUGS…
Can we cultivate more land instead? Not really – most land is marginal land with poor fertility/steep slopes and would require high inputs of fertilizer/water/energy which are expensive.

27. How can we increase crop/stock yields?
In developed countries:
Fertilizer
Pesticides
Selective breeding
Machinery
GREEN REVOLUTION: increase food production per acre
Green Revolution: Created from the desire for greater quantity and quality of food for the growing population
Increased yields and decreased starvation, Developing countries were able to double ,triple or quadruple yields

28. Increase Livestock Yields by:
hormone and antibiotic injections. European Union (EU) banned use due to health concerns BUT US/Canada still use practice

29. Should we continue Green Revolution techniques?
Without fertilizer, water, and pesticides green revolution varieties are no more productive than traditional varieties
Green revolution varieties and their needed inputs cost too much for subsistence farming.
Grain yields are increasing at a much slower pace.
Actual gains from green and gene revolutions may be overstated.
Crop yield may start dropping for a number of environmental reasons.
Increased loss of biodiversity can limit genetic raw material.

30. Tools to reduce hunger & malnutrition
Slow population growth
Reduce poverty
Sustainable agriculture