The Production and Distribution of Food

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The Production and Distribution of Food

• APES CH 9

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Crops and Animals Major patterns of Food
Production

• 12000 years ago, agriculture and animal husbandry
  were introduced to the human way of life.
• This led to the rise of civilization as we know
  it.
• Virtually all major crop plants and domestic
  animals were established in the first thousand
  years of agriculture.
• Betweeb 1450 and 1700, exploration and discovery
  led to exchanges of food between cultures

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The Development Of Modern Industrialized
Agriculture

• Since the mid 1930s the number of farms has
  decreased by two thirds
• The size of the farm has grown fourfold
• This has been possible because of the shift from
  manual labor with the use of farm animals to the
  use of very specialized machinery
• It has made us more dependent on fossil fuels
• As the price of oil rises, so does the cost of
  food production

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• The use of farm machinery, the increase in crop
  yields, consistent crop surpluses have enabled
  farmers to take erosion-prone land out of
  production.
• The Conservation Reserve Program
• Reimburses farmers for retiring erosion prone
  land and planting it with trees or grasses.
• All good cropland in the US is not under
  cultivation or held in shrot term reserve.
• This does come at the expense of forests and
  wetlands.

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The Conundrum of Fertilizers

• Farmers knew that manure and organic supplements
  could increase their crop yields
• When chemical fertilizers came on the marked they
  also enabled greater yields
• Fertilizers were convenient
• More available than manure
• When first employed, 15-20 additional tons of
  grain were gained from each ton of fertilizer used

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• Use of fertilizer increased 10 fold between 1950
  and 1990
• There is an optimal level of fertilizer
• Too much causes pollution of groundwater and
  surface water.
• Chemical Pesticides
• Provide control over insect and plant pests
• Due to natural selection, pests have become
  resistant.
• Pesticide use has tripled since 1970.
• Cause side effects to human and environmental
  health.
• Lots of residue found on apples, imported
  peaches, pears, grapes and spinach

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Irrigation

• Irrigated acreage has increased 2.6 times from
  1950-1990
• Expanding at a much slower pace because of limits
  on water
• Irrigation represents 70 of all water use.
• Current irrigation is unsustainable

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The Green Revolution

• High Yielding Varieties of Plants
• Varieties of grain plants that produce double to
  triple that of traditional varieties
• Selecting strains that diverted more of the
  plants photosynthate to the seed and away from
  the stem, leaves and roots.
• In 1943 efforts were made to take new ag
  technology to Mexico to improve traditional crops
  grown in Mexico.
• A hybrid wheat was bred that had a large head and
  thick stalk, and did well in subtropical climate.
• Wheat production tripled. Mexico began to export
  wheat.

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• This was extended to other countries
• Indias wheat production tripled
• The green revolution has probably done more than
  any other single scientific or other achievement
  to prevent hunger and malnutrition.
• These high yielding varieties have become the
  basis of food production in China, Latin America,
  the Middle East, southern Asia nad the
  industrialized nations.
• Because of GR, deforestation has been held back.

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• -More water is required to raise the
  high-yielding grain
• More land under irrigation
• Causes water shortage
• Modern varieties require fertilizers, pesticides,
  and mechanized labor
• GR benefits larger landholders. This has
  displaced many farm laborers and small
  landholders.

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Subsistence AgricultureIn The Developing World

• Subsistence farmers raise most of the plants and
  animals in the developing world.
• Usually done on marginal land
• Crop residues are fed to livestock
• Manure is used as fertilizer
• Familys nutrition is adequate
• Usually in areas that have the most rapid
  population growth

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• Problems with subsistence farming
• Pressures of population lead to practices that
  are often unsustainable.
• Forests and woodlands are cleared for more
  agriculture land, firewood and animal fodder
• Leaves soil susceptible to erosion
• Erosion-prone land good only for producing grass
  or trees
• Leads farmers to burn animal dung for cooking and
  heat
• This diverts nutrients from the land
• Good land forced to produce multiple crops

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• Land never lies fallow
• All these factors act to increases the poverty.
• Successes
• Farming practices consistent with the local
  climate
• Slash and burn agriculture is sustainable
• This includes land that supports trees and crops
• Land that was degraded in Machakos (Kenya) has
  been recovered, agriculture has diversified, soil
  and water conservation practices are being used.

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Animal Farming and its Consequences

• 70 of the grain crop in the US goes to feeding
  cattle.
• Lots of people enjoy eating meat and dairy
  products
• In the developed world livestock is raised in
  large herds under factory-like conditions
• In rural societies in the developing world,
  livestock raised on family farms or by
  subsistence farmers

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• Rangeland is subject to overgrazing (grazing land
  is dry grassland)
• Management of animal manure
• A cow produces about 80 lbs of manure a day.
• In developing countries manure is used to renew
  the fertility of the soil.
• In our country (for the most part) it is a wasted
  resource.
• Mostly managed by animal waste lagoons.
• These leak into surface water and contribute to
  die-offs of fish and proliferation of algae.

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• In Latin America more than 49 million acres of
  tropical rain forests have been converted to
  cattle pasture
• Deforestation has led to a release of 1.6 billion
  tons of carbon to the atmosphere.
• Cows and other ruminant animals eliminate 100
  million tons of methane.
• Methane is a greenhouse gas.
• Anaerobic decomposition of manure leads to 30
  million tons of methane per year.
• This makes up about 3 of the gases causing
  global warming.

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• The positive side of animal farming
• It is often one of the most important kinds of
  sustainable development aid to rural families in
  developing countries.
• Heifer Project International distributes large
  animals, beehives, chickens and fish to families
  for raising. The families commit to donating
  offspring of their livestock to other needy
  people.
• Their lives are tied to the animals they raise.

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Increasing Food Production

• Over the last 30 years, grain harvests and meat
  production have outpaced population growth
• Raising incomes in the developing world.
• Demand for meat is shifting production of grains
  for human consumption to feed grains
• Increases in yields for grains have been slowing
  down.
• Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest need to
  increase crop yields
• Yields would have to increase 2.5 annually to
  keep up with population growth

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• An extension service proposed by Jimmy Carter,
  Ethiopia harvested record crops in 1995-95.
• Showed a 32 increase in production 15 increase
  in yield in one year.
• Due to a simple fertilizer providing N and P to
  the soil
• Less meat?
• 70 of the domestic grain produced in the US goes
  to feed livestock.
• Sub-Saharan Africa and India use only 2 to feed
  their livestock
• If hunger becomes critical, more people would
  have to eat lower on the food chain.

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Greener Revolution

• Genetically altered foods
• Possibility to incorporate desired traits into
  crop lines and animals production of transgenic
  breeds
• Also used to clone cows and goats
• GM organisms under intense research and
  development.

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The Promises

• First genetically altered products to be marketed
• Flavr Savr - tomato that can be vine ripened
  and kept fresh longer than ordinary tomatoes
• Cotton plants with build in resistance to insects
  that comes from genes taken from Bt (Bacillus
  thuringiensis)
• Crop plants resistant to Roundup, allowing no
  till techniques

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• Newer plants
• Sorghum resistant to witchweed
• Potatoes and cotton resistant to insects
• Rice resistant to bacterial blight
• New animals
• Salmon that grow very fast
• Goats that produce spider silk
• ¾ of all soybeans, cotton and 1/3 of the corn
  acreage in the US are planted with transgenic
  breeds

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• The rice genome has been sequences
• This will allow engendered resistance to diseases
• Increase tolerance to environmental conditions
  such as drought and high salt leve.
• Improve nutritional value of comonly eaten crops
• Incorporate vaccines against major human disease
  into the cells of commonly eaten plants.
• Bt cotton uses much less pesticide, saves money,
  time and own health in the process

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The Problems

• Environmental problems
• If a crop plant is pest-resistant, it is possible
  that the pest will develop its own resistance to
  the toxin more rapidly and render it ineffective
• Ecological impact of the crop
• Pollen from Bt corn resistant to the corn borer,
  dispersers in the wind and spreads to adjacent
  natural areas where beneficial insects can pick
  it up and be killed by the toxin.
• Farmers are required to plant at least 20 of the
  conventional varieties to slow the development of
  pest resistance.
• Another environmental concern, is genetically
  altered pollen blown by the wind picked up by
  beneficial insects, ingested and be killed by the
  toxin.

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• Another concern pollen can spread to wild
  relatives of crop plants and possibly create
  super weeds. The actual gene flow is not great
  but the concern is valid.

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• Food safety
• Transgenic crops contain proteins from different
  organisms that might trigger an allergic response
  in people who consume the food.
• A Brazil nut gene was incorporated into soybeans
  and induced an allergic response in individuals
  allergic to Brazil nuts
• Antibiotic resistance genes are sometimes
  incorporated into transgenic organisms to provide
  a way to trace cells that have been transformed.
  This resistance could be transferred to pathogens
  in human systems or the product could prevent an
  antibiotic from being successful in a person who
  consumed the plant

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• Corn for aid
• A load of corn designated for Zambia was rejected
  by the government because it had been stored in a
  building with some Bt corn. Concerns about the
  wholesomeness of the corn led Zambians to believe
  that the corn was toxic, and even that it could
  cause AIDS and infertility.

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• Access to new techniques
• Almost all new genetically modified organisms
  were developed by large ag-ind farms. Profit was
  their primary motive.
• Most of the crops required purchasing seed yearly
• Most farmers are forbidden to propagate the
  organism.
• Farmers in the developing countries are unable to
  afford the seed annually.
• Some companies made a build in terminator
  technology

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• Terminator technology renders the any seeds from
  the crops sterile.
• Development of Golden Rice was done primarily to
  increase the nutrient value of rice eaten in many
  countries whose diets consists of large portions
  of rice.
• It was genetically altered to have a gene that
  produces ß-carotene

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• Thus far there is no evidence that GM foods cause
  any harm or are unsafe to eat.

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Food Distribution and Trade

• For centuries the focus on most countries was
  self sufficiency.
• Now some nations (the US and Canada) produce more
  food than the home population needs.
• Some developing countries produce special
  commodities such as coffee, sugar, fruit, spices,
  cocoa, etc.
• Helps the exporter that allows importing nations
  to enjoy foods they are unable to raise
  themselves.

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• Grain has become the most important commodity
  traded. It is imported by high and middle income
  countries to satisfy the increased demand for
  animal protein.
• Asia, Latin America, and Africa are becoming
  increasingly dependent on imported grain.
• Projections show that developing countries will
  need twice the amount of grain by 2020.
• These countries will either have to increases
  domestic production or use less grain.

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• Currently there is enough food produced to feed
  all people in the world includng the animals.
• Why are people starving?
• Who is responsible for feeding the hungry and
  malnourished?

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• Three major levels for food security
• Family
• Nation
• Global community
• In a market economy, food flows in the direction
  of economic demand
• Need not taken into consideration
• Food will go to hungry cats if the cats owners
  have money and people with hungry children do not.

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• Family Level
• The goal at this level is to meet the nutritional
  needs of everyone in the family.
• Provides freedom from hunger and malnutrition.
• Four options,
• Raise the food
• Purchase the food
• Gather it from natural ecosystems
• Have it provided by someone
• Another possibility or safety net needs to be in
  place if these fail, a food stamp policy, or some
  sort of welfare measure.

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• National Level
• Recently a push to remove people on welfare from
  public assistance to independence.
• 50 were taken off welfare and joined the
  workforce. This happened in economically good
  times, a rise in the caseloads mopst recently
• Americas Second Harvest volunteer food banks
  throughout the country, a voluntary safety net.
  Serves the working poor and elderly people who
  often have to choose between food and medication.

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• Developing countries
• The goal is self sufficiency in food
• The nation can either produce alll the food its
  people needs or buy the food
• Many nations are not self sufficient in food and
  turn to the global community for food aid.
• Outsourcing clothing manufacture has helped
  developing countries.
• Even if the pay is below what workers in
  developed countries receive it is often enough to
  help workers improve their living conditions and
  their diets.

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Hunger Malnutrition and Famine

• Hunger lack of food required for energy and for
  meeting nutritional needs
• Malnutrition lack of essential nutrients such
  as amino acids, vitamins and minerals
• Undernourishment lack of adequate food energy
• Overnourishment consuming too much food which
  can lead to heart disease and diabetes.
• Consequences of Hunger
• Almost 2/3 of the undernourished live in Asia and
  the Pacific.
• India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Southeast Asia.
• Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of
  undernourished 1/3 of the population affected
• The effects are greatest in children, preventing
  normal growth and leaving them mentally and
  physically impaired.
• Next greatest are women

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• Sickness and death come from inadequate food
• Hunger is often a seasonal phenomenon
• Hunger is caused from grinding deeply rooted
  poverty
• 1.2 billion people live on less than 1 per day.
• Most reside in rural villages, are illiterate,
  spend more than half of their income on food
• Represent races tribes or religions that suffer
  discrimination.

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• Famine is a severe shortage of food accompanied
  by a significant increase in the death rate
• Two causes drought
• Responsible for the famine between 1968 -84 and
  again1984-85 that struck the Sahel, drylands
  south of the Sahara desert.
• These people practice subsistence farming.
• Rainfall is seasonal and undependable
• People left their farms and migrated to the urban
  areas. They were put in refugee camps.
• These were unsanitary. Many died of dysentery and
  cholera. Over a million deaths in Ethiopia.

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• Conflict
• Famines that are caused by war.
• Civil wars disrupt the farmers normal planting
  and harvesting.
• Governments maintain control over the food and
  relief supplies
• The war in Afghanistan and Iraq have triggered
  food shortages.
• Famines from drought and ware are preventable and
  can even lead to accelerating peace processes.

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Hunger Hot Spots

• Sub-Saharan Africa
• 25 countries face food emergencies
• Zimbabwe, Ethopia and Sudan are especially
  vulnerable
• North Korea lacks a centrally planned agriculture
  policy. Perhaps two million have died and
  millions are believe to be close to starvation.
• Food Aid
• World Food Program of the UN,
• Most donations from the US, Canada, Australia and
  the EU.
• Food is distributed all over the world not just
  to countries where famine is prevalent.

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• The Food aid from the US and Canada
• Purchased from farmers
• Represents a subsidy
• This may be the worst thing we do.
• People will ot pay more than they have to for
  food.
• Very cheap or free food undercuts the local
  market. When they cannot earn a profit they
  abandon producing and join the ranks of the poor.

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• No new science or technology is needed to
  alleviate hunger
• The solution is in the realm of political and
  social action at all levels of responsibility.

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