1. Food and Soil Resources
G. Tyler Miller’s
Living in the Environment
14th Edition
Chapter 14

2. Key Concepts Methods of producing food Increasing food production
Soil degradation
Increasing sustainability

3. How Is Food Produced? Sources of food
Primary plants: wheat, corn, and rice
Primary animals: fish, beef, pork, and chicken

4. Major Types of Agriculture
Industrialized agriculture
Plantation
Traditional subsistence agriculture
Traditional intensive agriculture

5. World Food Production
Fig p. 275

6. Producing Food by Green-Revolution Techniques
High-input monoculture
Selectively bred or genetically-engineered crops
High inputs of fertilizer
Extensive use of pesticides
High inputs of water
Multiple cropping

7. Green Revolutions First green revolution (developed countries)
Second green revolution
(developing countries)
Major International agricultural
research centers and seed banks
Fig p. 277

8. Producing Food by Traditional Techniques
Interplanting
Polyvarietal cultivation
Intercropping
Agroforestry (alley cropping)
Polyculture
See Individuals Matter p. 279

9. Causes of Soil Erosion
Wind
Water
People

10. Areas of serious concern Stable or nonvegetative areas
Global Soil Erosion
Areas of serious concern
Areas of some concern
Stable or nonvegetative areas
Fig p. 280

11. Soil Erosion in the US Dust Bowl – 1930s: Fig. 14-5 p. 281
Reductions in erosion since 1987
1985 Food Security Act

12. Causes of Desertification
Overgrazing
Deforestation
Erosion
Salinization
Soil Compaction
Natural Climate Change
Refer to Fig p. 283

13. World Desertification
Fig p. 282

14. Soil Degradation on Irrigated Land
Evaporation
Transpiration
Waterlogging
Less permeable
clay layer
Salinization
Waterlogging
Fig p. 283

15. Reducing and Cleaning Up Salinization
Reduce irrigation
Switch to salt-tolerant crops
Flush soils
Not growing crops for 2-5 years
Install underground drainage
Refer to Fig p. 283

16. Solutions: Soil Conservation
Conventional-tillage
Conservation tillage
Terracing
Refer to Fig p. 285
Contour farming
Strip and alley cropping
Windbreaks
Land Classification

17. Soil Restoration Organic fertilizer Animal manure Green manure Compost
Crop rotation
Commercial inorganic fertilizer

18. World Food Production Now leveling off
Shortages in developing countries
Fig p. 287

19. Nutrition Undernutrition Malnutrition Overnutrition
Refer to Fig p. 288

20. Environmental Effects of Food Production
Biodiversity loss
Soil degradation
Air pollution
See Fig p. 290
Water shortages and erosion
Human health

21. Increasing World Crop Production
Crossbreeding and artificial selection
Genetic engineering (gene splicing)
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
Continued Green Revolution techniques
Introducing new foods
Working more land

22. Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight
Producing More Meat
Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight
Beef cattle 7
Pigs 4
Chicken
2.2
Fish (catfish
or carp) 2
Feedlots
Rangelands
Efficiency
Fig p. 297
Improved rangeland management
Environmental consequences (Connections p. 295)

23. Catching and Raising More Fish
Fisheries
Fishing methods (See Fig p. 299)
Overfishing
Commercial extinction
Aquiculture
Fish farming and ranching

24. Government Agricultural Policy
Artificially low prices
Subsidies
Elimination of price controls
Food aid

25. Solutions: Sustainable Agriculture
Low-input agriculture
Organic farming
See Fig p. 302
Profitable
Increasing funding for research in sustainable techniques