Challenges of Producing More Crop and Livestock

1
Challenges of Producing More Crop and Livestock

• Domestication and Genetic Diversity
• Domestication of crops and livestock causes a
  loss of genetic diversity
• Farmer selects and propagates animals with
  desirable agricultural characteristics

• Many high yielding crops are genetically uniform
• High likelihood that bacteria, fungi, viruses,
  etc. will attack and destroy entire crop

2
Challenges of Producing More Crop and Livestock

• Increasing Crop Yield

• Food production increased in developed countries
  (wheat (left)
• Pesticides
• Selective breeding

3
Case-In-Point Green Revolution

• High Yielding Rice Varieties

4
Core Case Study Golden Rice -Grains of Hope or
an Illusion?

• Golden rice is a new genetically engineered
  strain of rice containing beta-carotene.
• Can inexpensively supply vitamin A to
  malnourished.

Figure 13-1
5
Core Case Study Golden Rice -Grains of Hope or
an Illusion?

• Critics contend that there are quicker and
  cheaper ways to supply vitamin A.
• Scientist call for more evidence that the
  beta-carotene will be converted to vitamin A by
  the body.

Figure 13-1
6
Challenges of Producing More Crop and Livestock

• Increasing Livestock Yields
• Hormone supplements
• US and Canada do this
• Europe does not citing human health concerns
• Antibiotics
• 40 of antibiotics produced in US are used in
  livestock operations
• Problems with increased bacteria resistance

7
Antibiotic Use and Resistance
8
Genetic Engineering

• Manipulation of genes by taking specific gene
  from a cell of one species and placing it into
  the cell of an unrelated species

9
Issue with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

• Determined to be safe for human consumption
• Concerns about GMO seed or pollen spreading in
  wild
• Backlash against GMOs
• GMOs are not currently labeled
• FDA finds it would be counterproductive and
  expensive to label

10
Environmental Impacts of Agriculture

• High use of fossil fuels and pesticides
• Air pollution
• Untreated animal wastes and agricultural
  chemicals
• Water pollution
• Harms fisheries
• Insects, weeds, and disease-causing organisms
  developing resistance to pesticides
• Contaminate food supply

11
Environmental Impact of Agriculture

• Land degradation
• Decreases future ability of land to support crops
  or livestock
• Habitat fragmentation
• Breakup of large areas of habitat into small,
  isolated patches
• Cultivating marginal lands
• Irrigating dry land
• Cultivating land prone to erosion

12
Solutions to Agricultural Problems- Sustainable
Agriculture
13
Sustainable Agriculture

• Examples
• Natural Predator-prey relationships instead of
  pesticides
• Crop selection
• Crop rotation and conservation tillage
• Supplying nitrogen with legumes
• Organic agriculture
• Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
• Limited use of pesticides with sustainable
  agriculture practices

14
Fisheries of the World- Problems

• No nation lays claim to open ocean
• Resource susceptible to overuse and degradation
• Overharvesting
• Many species are at point of severe depletion
• Cod (right)
• 62 of worlds fish stock are in need of
  management action

15
Fisheries of the World- Problems

• Overharvesting (continued)
• Sophisticated fishing equipment
• Bycatch killed off
• Magnuson Fisheries Conservation Act

16
Fisheries of the World- Problems

• Ocean Pollution - dumping ground
• Oil
• Heavy metals
• Deliberate litter dumping
• Stormwater runoff from cities and agricultural
  areas
• Aquaculture
• Growing of aquatic organisms for human
  consumption
• Great potential to supply food

17
Fisheries of the World- Problems

• Aquaculture (continued)
• Locations of fisheries may hurt natural habitats
• Produce waste that pollutes adjacent water

18
Aquaculture Aquatic Feedlots

• Raising large numbers of fish and shellfish in
  ponds and cages is worlds fastest growing type
  of food production.
• Fish farming involves cultivating fish in a
  controlled environment and harvesting them in
  captivity.
• Fish ranching involves holding anadromous species
  that live part of their lives in freshwater and
  part in saltwater.
• Fish are held for the first few years, released,
  and then harvested when they return to spawn.

19

Trade-Offs
Aquaculture
Advantages
Disadvantages
Fig. 13-24, p. 292
20

Solutions
More Sustainable Aquaculture
Use less fishmeal feed to reduce depletion of
other fish
Improve management of aquaculture wastes
Reduce escape of aquaculture species into the
wild
Restrict location of fish farms to reduce loss
of mangrove forests and estuaries
Farm some aquaculture species in deeply
submerged cages to protect them from wave action
and predators and allow dilution of wastes into
the ocean
Certify sustainable forms of aquaculture
Fig. 13-25, p. 293
21
SOLUTIONS MOVING TOWARD GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

• People in urban areas could save money by growing
  more of their food.
• Urban gardens provide about 15 of the worlds
  food supply.
• Up to 90 of the worlds food is wasted.

Figure 13-26
22
Government Policies and Food Production

• Governments use three main approaches to
  influence food production
• Control prices to keep prices artificially low.
• Provide subsidies to keep farmers in business.
• Let the marketplace decide rather that
  implementing price controls.

23
Solutions Steps Toward More Sustainable Food
Production

• We can increase food security by
• slowing populations growth
• sharply reducing poverty
• slowing environmental degradation of the worlds
  soils and croplands.