Food and Agriculture

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Food and Agriculture
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Food and Agriculture

• I. Food to Eat
• A. Chronically Undernourished
• 1. A person whose diet doesnt contain the 2,200
  kcal per day considered necessary for a healthy
  productive life

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. In 1960, 60 of the population in developing
  countries was chronically undernourished
• a. During past 40 years world pop growth increase
  averaged 1.7/yr, while food production increased
  2.2/yr.

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Food and Agriculture

• b. Since 1960, the population in developing
  countries has doubled, though chronically
  undernourished has decreased to less then 14

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. If the worlds food supply was equally
  distributed, each person would have 2,800 kcal
  per day.
• 4. By 2030, the FAO predicts there will be 3,050
  kcal per person per day.

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Food and Agriculture
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Food and Agriculture

• 5. 850 million people are currently chronically
  undernourished
• a. 95 are from developing countries sub-Saharan
  Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of
  Latin America

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Food and Agriculture

• 6. Food Security ability to obtain sufficient
  food on a day-to-day basis
• a. 1.5 billion people live on less than 1 a day
• b. 6 million kids under 5 years old die from
  hunger yearly

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Food and Agriculture

• 7. India has the largest number of
  undernourished, while Central Africa has the
  largest proportion of undernourished

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Famine large-scale food shortage, massive
  starvation, social disruption, and economic chaos
• 1. Famine often leads to a worse situation as
  individuals struggle to survive

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Food and Agriculture

• a. Grain to be used as seed is eaten
• b. Breeding animals are slaughtered for food
• c. Individuals are to weak or sick to work on
  growing more food.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Potential Causes of Famine
• a. Drought, Earthquake, Severe Storms, Politics,
  and Economics
• b. Bad weather and insect infestations can cause
  crop failure, but normally they are not prolonged

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Food and Agriculture

• C. Malnourishment having sufficient daily
  intake of calories, but lacking proteins,
  vitamins, and/or certain trace minerals.
• 1. Can lead to stunted growth, developmental
  abnormalities, reduced mental capacity, or death

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Anemia most common nutritional problem in
  the world
• a. Caused by low hemoglobin levels in the blood
  as a direct result from an iron deficiency
• b. Causes chronic bleeding, vitamin deficiency,
  hormone deficiency, kidney disease, lupus

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Food and Agriculture

• c. Effects worse in women, especially pregnant
  women. Can cause maternal death during
  childbirth.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Iodine deficiency
• a. Used in the synthesis of an endocrine hormone
  that regulates metabolism and brain development
• b. Can cause goiter and reduced mental ability

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Food and Agriculture

• c. Addition of iodine to our salt nearly
  eliminates problems in developed countries

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Food and Agriculture

• D. General Deficiency
• 1. Starchy foods that make up the bulk of the
  worlds diet (wheat, rice, and manioc cassava)
• a. Lack essential vitamins and minerals
• b. Wider array of nutrients needed
• c. Meat provides these in developed countries

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Kwashiorkor
• a. Protein deficiency
• 3. Marasmus
• a. Protein deficiency
• b. Calorie deficiency

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Food and Agriculture

• E. Obese Body mass greater than 30 pounds above
  the normal average person
• 1. 62 of adult Americans are overweight, up from
  40 a decade ago
• 2. 1/3 are obese

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. 300,000 Americans die every year from
  illnesses related to obesity
• a. Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart Attacks, Stroke,
  Gallbladder Disease, Osteoarthritis, Respiratory
  Problems

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Food and Agriculture

• II. Balanced Diet
• A. Americans were advised to eat daily servings
  of meat, dairy, grains, fruit and vegetable
• 1. Revised in 1992 to reduce the intake of meat,
  dairy, fats, and sweets.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Unsaturated plant oils should make up 30-40
  of dietary calories
• 3. Trans fat is not recommended at all

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Key Food Sources
• 1. Very few species used to feed the human
  population
• a. 12 seeds and grains, 3 root crops, 20 fruits
  and vegetables, 6 mammals, 2 domestic fowl, a few
  fish, and a couple of other marine life forms

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. 3 main grains feed the world wheat, rice, and
  maize (corn)
• a. 1,900 million metric tons
• b. Wheat and rice are the staple for 5.5 billion
  people and supply 60 of calories consumed by
  humans

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Base staple varies by region
• a. Northern Europe and Northern Asia
• i. Potatoes, Barely, Oats, Rye
• b. Amazonia, Africa, South Pacific
• ii. Cassava, Sweet Potato

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Food and Agriculture

• 4. Meat and Dairy
• a. Meat consumption has risen from 10kg per
  person/yr in 1960 to 26kg currently and estimated
  40kg in 2030

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Year Chicken Turkey Veal Lamb Beef Pork Total
(retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person) (retail cut equiv./ lb. per person)
1950 21 3 7 4 44 65 144
1955 21 4 9 4 56 62 156
1960 28 5 5 4 59 59 161
1965 33 6 4 3 70 52 169
1970 40 6 2 3 82 55 189
1975 39 7 3 2 85 43 178
1980 47 8 2 1 75 57 190
1985 52 9 2 1 77 51 194
1990 61 14 1 1 66 49 193
1995 69 14 1 1 65 51 202
2000 77 14 1 1 67 51 211
2001 77 14 1 1 65 50 208
2002 81 14 1 1 67 51 215
2003 82 14 1 1 64 52 213
2004 85 13 0 1 65 51 216
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Food and Agriculture

• i. Increase demand could be meet by South
  American production and genetic engineering of
  livestock
• ii. Acres devoted to Soy production in Brazil has
  increased 20x in the past 40 years and yield per
  acre has doubled
• iii. Clearing forested land for agricultural uses

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Food and Agriculture

• b. North American (U.S.) livestock approach
• i. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)
• a. Large yards where animals are feed grain,
  oils, and protein to produce a market ready
  animal quickly

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Food and Agriculture
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Food and Agriculture

• b. More than 1/3 of the worlds maize, soy, and
  coarse grain feed to livestock yearly
• c. In the U.S. livestock produce 25x the waste as
  humans
• d. U.S. livestock consume 8x (25 million pounds)
  as much antibiotics as humans

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Food and Agriculture

• e. U.S. livestock production is very much an
  industrialized process

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Food and Agriculture

• 5. Seafood
• a. Currently harvest 85 million metric ton of
  wild seafood per yr
• b. We utilize 2/3 directly, remaining 1/3 feed
  captive raised aquatic species, Aquaculture
• i. Aquaculture accounts for ½ the seafood we eat

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Food and Agriculture

• c. Main animal protein for 1.5 billion people
• d. Since 1989, 13 of 17 marine fisheries have
  declined below commercially sustainable levels
• e. Estimated that the oceans will be exhausted by
  2048

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Food and Agriculture

• i. Marine Reserves
• f. Mixed aquaculture systems or polyculture, are
  being experimented with to decrease negative
  effects of aquaculture such as disease, waste,
  uneaten food, and other pollutants

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Food and Agriculture

• III. Farm Policy
• A. Subsidies
• 1. Farmers in developed countries often receive
  more in subsidies than the total made by farmers
  in undeveloped countries.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Subsidies allow farmers from wealthy countries
  to sell their products in poorer countries for
  less than the cost of production. This makes it
  difficult for a farmer from a poor country to
  make a profit farming and thus dependent upon the
  wealthy countries for food.

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
• 1. Farmers are paid subsidies to not farm highly
  erodible land, thus conserving soil and not
  polluting waterways

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Subsidies for some rowcrops are much greater
  than CRP subsidies
• 3. CRP provides millions of acres of wildlife
  habitat throughout the midwest.
• 4. Hundreds of thousands of acres did not get
  relisted in CRP this past year due to the high
  commodity value of corn.

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Food and Agriculture

• i. The high commodity value of corn was mainly
  due to the increased production of ethanol from
  corn

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Food and Agriculture

• IV. Soil
• A. Living mixture of decaying organic matter,
  weathered minerals (rocks), and living organisms.
• 1. Soil can be lost to wind and rain as well as
  having the nutrients drained.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Can suffer extremely long-term damage from a
  very intense fire. If the fire is hot enough it
  can bake the soil and kill all living organisms
  contained within. Moderate temperature fires can
  be good for the soil by helping to breakdown
  large pieces of organic matter.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Topsoil can accumulate by up to 1mm per year
  under best circumstances. It can very easily be
  lost at a much higher rate however.
• a. No-till agriculture is one example in which
  soil (especially topsoil) can be conserved.

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Particles of Soil
• 1. Sand (2mm 0.05mm)
• a. Allows water to drain from soil, thus not
  swamping plants. But is also more prone to
  drying out quickly without rain. Is least
  effective in holding mineral ions.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Silt (0.05mm 0.02mm)
• a. Very fine and powdery feeling between fingers.
  Ability to hold water and ions between sand and
  clay.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Clay (lt0.02mm)
• a. Extremely fine power. Normally feels as if
  its one unit because it sticks together so
  tightly. Can be impermeable to water and hold
  mineral ions so tightly that plants can not
  uptake them for utilization.

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Food and Agriculture

• 4. 40-40-20 composition of sand, silt and clay is
  termed loam.
• (Sidenote) Rough estimates for the composition
  of a soil can be made by rubbing the soil between
  your thumb and fingers with a small bit of water.
  The coarseness of sand can be easily felt, while
  clay will allow for you to form a ribbon or band
  with the soil.

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Food and Agriculture

• 5. Humus
• a. Partially decomposed organic matter. Very
  effective at holding nutrients and water, both of
  which are readily available to growing plants
• b. Farmers normally till under the residue of
  crops in the fall so that decomposers, such as
  earthworms, can begin adding it back to the humus
  layer

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Food and Agriculture

• C. Living Organisms
• 1. Soil contains billions of individual organisms
  every hectare.
• a. Just as we found numerous microscopic
  organisms in our water samples, the same would be
  found in soil.
• b. Algae, bacteria, fungi, and numerous
  invertebrates

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Food and Agriculture

• i. All responsible for constant recycling of
  topsoil.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Symbiotic Relationships
• a. Mycorrhizal - Roots of certain plant species
  form a symbiotic relationship with specific
  fungi. The plant provides the fungi with organic
  compounds (mainly sugars) while the fungi
  provides the plant with inorganic compounds and
  some water by means of their long thin mycelium
  (much like a root, but thinner).

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Food and Agriculture

• b. Rhizobium bacteria and the roots of legume
  plants. Again the plant provides the bacteria
  with the products of photosynthesis and the
  bacteria provides the plant with added surface
  area for absorption. But, in association the
  bacteria is able to fix nitrogen for the plants
  use. The bacteria is unable to fix nitrogen
  without the association with the legume root.

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Food and Agriculture

• i. Legumes are used in rotation with other crops
  to replenish the soil nitrogen. Less fertilizer
  is needed because of this rotation.

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Food and Agriculture

• D. Soil Profile
• 1. Unique composition of multiple soil horizons.
  A soil horizon is a distinct layer of soil
  characterized by its color and texture.
• 2. Normally the top two soil horizons are the
  litter layer or horizon O (decomposing organic
  matter) and topsoil or horizon A.

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Food and Agriculture

• i. Almost all living organisms and organic matter
  in the soil are located in these two horizons
• 3. E Horizon is often present below the A
  Horizon. The layer lacks soluble nutrients as
  rainwater has washed them downward.

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Food and Agriculture

• 4. B Horizon or subsoil is often next.
  Accumulation of nutrients washed from the E
  Horizon. Can form a hardpan layer which holds
  water close to the surface for plants.

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Food and Agriculture

• 5. C Horizon is partially broken rock fragments
  of the parent material. Most of the parent
  material in the U.S. was deposited by glaciers

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Food and Agriculture

• V. Soil Use and Abuse
• A. Approximately 12.5 of the Earths land mass
  is currently used for agriculture. It is
  believed that 4x that amount could be used, but
  is of lower quality, serves as a biological
  resource, or would be a high erosion area.

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Less U.S. land is currently in agriculture
  production than 100 years ago and less than 600
  years ago in Europe.
• 1. Increased production per acre is mainly due to
  improved crop varieties, fertilization,
  irrigation, and improved pesticides

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Largest increase in agricultural acres in
  production during the past 30 years have come
  from South America and Oceania

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Food and Agriculture

• C. Land Degradation
• 1. Loss of agricultural land per year
• a. 7.4 million acres ruined by erosion
• b. 9.9 million acres turned to desert
• c. 19.7 million acres converted to
  non-agricultural uses roads, homes, industry,
  Northville

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. During the past 50 years 4.7 billion acres of
  ag. land have been degraded to some extent
• a. 22 million acres of former ag. land are so
  degraded that they will no longer support ag.
  production

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Food and Agriculture

• b. Degradation of soil could be a result of
  erosion, nutrient depletion, salinization, and
  compaction
• i. 25 billion metric tons of topsoil are lost to
  erosion annually, or about 1 of ag. land in
  production. It disrupts streams and rivers,
  wetlands, and coral reefs.

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Food and Agriculture

• ii. Mississippi river carriers enough topsoil and
  fertilizer into the Gulf of Mexico that it
  creates a 57,000km2 dead zone. The fertilizer
  and topsoil decrease the available D.O. to a
  level that is lethal to marine life.

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Food and Agriculture

• iii. In a true rainforest, mineral nutrients
  quickly leach out of the soil, while farming, due
  to the excessive rainfall. Native trees normally
  uptake the nutrients as organic matter rapidly
  decomposes. But in a rowcrop setting, the
  nutrients leach out between crops. So areas need
  to be abandoned and more forest cut down.

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Food and Agriculture

• D. Erosion can be caused by both wind and water
  when plant cover is absent. U.S. department of
  Ag. estimates that 170 million acres of ag. land
  have erosion rates higher than what can form
  under normal conditions.

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Food and Agriculture

• 1. Sheet Erosion thin layer of surface topsoil
  lost.
• 2. Rill erosion small channel that cuts into
  the soil due to surface water runoff.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Gully erosion when a rill enlarges to the
  point than normal plowing cant remove.

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Food and Agriculture

• E. Desertification advancement of desert due to
  land use practices in areas bordering deserts.
  Arid regions which are used to intensively and
  result in a loss of cover plants.
• 1. China is trying to replant a massive forest,
  the size of Germany, to stop the advancement of
  the Gobi Desert

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Food and Agriculture

• VI. Resources used by Agriculture
• A. Water
• 1. Ag. is the largest user of water. 2/3 of all
  fresh water withdrawn from lake, river, and
  groundwater is for irrigation.
• 2. The bulk of the world irrigates with open
  ditches, resulting in up to 80 water lost before
  it ever reaches the plants.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Excessive irrigation can result in
  waterlogging, when soil is saturated with water
  to the point that plant roots die from a lack of
  oxygen.
• 4. Salinization mineral salts accumulate in the
  soil to a lethal level for the plants. More come
  where saline water is used for irrigation.

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Food and Agriculture

• B. Fertilizer
• 1. Nitrogen and phosphate runoff from ag. fields
  and animal feedlots are a major source of aquatic
  pollution. In some areas Nitrate levels in
  drinking water are unhealthy, especially for
  younger children.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Major reason for the dramatic increase in ag.
  production during the past few decades.
• a. N, P, and K are the major fertilizers
• b. More fertilizer doesnt mean more yields,
  there is a limit and it can become dangerous to
  plants.

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Food and Agriculture

• 3. Large scale U.S. farms are now using GPS
  technology on their tractors to dispense
  fertilizer. A farm field can be composed of
  different soil types and different moisture
  levels so different needs. Soil information is
  entered into an onboard computer that adjusts the
  rate at which the fertilizer is dispensed. It
  saves the farmer money and pollutes less.

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Food and Agriculture

• 4. Alternatives to fertilizer.
• a. Manure and Green Manure (crops grown to add
  nutrients to soil and then tilled under)
• b. Interplanting with crops capable of fixing
  nitrogen, mainly legumes.

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Food and Agriculture

• C. Energy consumed farming
• 1. Energy used for tractors, fertilizers,
  pesticides, and transport of the product.
• a. Average distance that food travels to reach
  the consumer in the U.S. is close to 1,500 miles

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Food and Agriculture

• b. Distribution can use as much as 5x the energy
  needed to produce the crop.
• c. Farming and distribution consume 16 of the
  total energy use in the U.S.
• d. How about local grown produce? How could this
  reduce the total energy demands of the U.S.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Biofuels Ethanol from corn has been meet
  with mixed reviews. Other plants, such as switch
  grass or cattails may be tried.

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Food and Agriculture

• VII. Genetic Engineering
• A. Traditional crops have limitations due to
  drought, pests, moisture levels, infertile soil,
  and length of growing season.
• 1. Other less well known species may hold the key
  to increased production. By selecting genes from
  other species which improve their performance
  overall harvest yields could and have increased.

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Food and Agriculture

• a. The new varieties are called genetically
  modified organisms (GMOs)
• i. Some plants are being developed that actually
  grow some sort of vaccine in the crop.
• b. In the early 1900s U.S. corn averaged about
  25 bushels per acre. We currently average around
  130 bushels per acre and have seen yields as high
  as 250 bushels per acre.

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Food and Agriculture

• c. Green Revolution Increased yields from new
  varieties of plants.
• d. Problem with the green revolution is that they
  only perform under optimal conditions. Otherwise
  the production is less than traditional
  varieties. Poor farmers and poor countries are
  unable to reap the benefits from these new
  altered varieties.

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Food and Agriculture

• e. Estimated that GMOs are in 60 of all
  processed food sold in the U.S.

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Food and Agriculture

• B. GMOs and pest resistance
• 1. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) a bacterium
  that makes toxins lethal to Lepidoptera
  (Butterfly Family) and Coleoptera (Beetle Family)
• a. Genes for those toxins have been spliced into
  corn, cotton, potato, and even golf course grasses

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Food and Agriculture

• b. Farmers have been able to reduce their
  pesticide spraying by 80-100 with the use of Bt
  modified plants
• c. Risk of creating pests resistant to Bt if
  other methods are not used
• i. Occasional spraying or mixed Bt infused seed
  with regular seed.

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Round-Up Ready
• a. The company that produces Round-Up, Monsanto,
  has developed seed which is resistant to
  Round-Up, a Glyphosate that kills almost all
  plants.
• b. Allows farmers to control weeds even after
  crop is growing without tilling and thus reducing
  erosion.

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Food and Agriculture

• VIII. Sustainable Agriculture
• A. Contour Plowing plowing with the slope or
  contour of the farm field
• B. Strip Farming planting different crops in
  alternating rows within one field. Helps to keep
  crop in the soil for a longer period of time and
  thus reduce erosion

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Food and Agriculture

• C. Terracing shaping the land to create
  shelves, instead of one slope.
• D. Perennial species planting species that grow
  for at least 2 years at a time coffee and tea

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Food and Agriculture

• E. Cover Crops Planted after crop is harvested
  to hold the soil throughout fall and spring. The
  cover crop is often plowed under as a green
  manure
• F. Mulch protective ground cover such as straw,
  wood chips, grass clippings.

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Food and Agriculture

• G. Reduced Tillage attempting to minimize the
  number of times a farmer disturbs the soil
• 1. Conserve-till and No-till are similar methods
  in which no soil is disturbed or only a small
  amount in order to plant the seed. Helps to slow
  erosion

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Food and Agriculture

• 2. Problem with reduced tillage is that often
  times more chemicals are needed to control for
  weeds and insects.

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Food and Agriculture

• H. Low-Input and Local Farms