Sustainable Agricultural Systems

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Sustainable Agricultural Systems

• Some Thoughts about Sustainability
• The spiritual danger of not owning a farm is
  supposing that
• breakfast comes from the grocery Aldo Leopold
• How can the growing Human Population produce and
  
• distribute enough food to meet everyones basic
  nutritional
• needs without degrading the soil, air, water and
  biodiversity
• that support all food production? G. Tyler
  Miller
• Global Food Production consumes more resources
  and causes
• more pollution and environmental damage than any
  other
• human activity. G. Tyler Miller
• Farmers have one foot in the unpredictable
  natural world and
• one foot in the business world. The
  Philadelphia Inquirer

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• II. General Background Information
• What is the Green Revolution?
• A huge _________ in world food production from
  1950 to 2000!
• Food output has _______________ due to modern
  industrialized
• agriculture!
• How important is agriculture and food
  production?
• _____________________ is the 1 business in Pa.
  And the U.S.!
• ______ of all U.S. jobs are employed in food
  production,
• processing and distribution!
• ______ of U.S. GNP!
• Less than ___ of the U.S. population actually
  work on the farm
• and are involved in food production!

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• What plants and animals feed the world?
• Estimate There are 30,000 different, edible
  plant species in
• the world.
• Reality ___ plant species and ____ animal
  species produce 90 of our food.
• 2/3 of all grain production come from 3 plant
  species-
• ______________, ______________ and
  ______________.

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• Most of the worlds meat production comes from 3
  different animal species.
• _____________, _______________ and
  _______________.

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III. The Environmental Side Effects of
Agriculture 1. The negative side-effects from the
use of pesticides. 2. Soil erosion,
soil degradation and desertification. 3. Water
pollution from soil erosion, fertilizers, manure
and pesticides. 4. Loss of Biodiversity. Ex
Clearing forests and filling wetlands
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• What are the characteristics of Modern
  Industrialized
• Agriculture? (A.K.A. High-input Agriculture or
  monoculture)
• Huge farms that raise ________crops or _______
  types of livestock!
• Ex Corn in the Midwest
• Ex Chicken Farms in Delaware
• Requires vast amounts of _____________ (fossil
  fuels)!
• 17 of U.S. Energy Consumption!
• 10 units of energy are used to put 1 energy
• unit of food on the table!

• Requires large amounts of _______ for
  irrigation!
• Ex Farms in the deserts of Southern California
• Ex Wheat fields in West Kansas

• Requires large amounts of synthetic, commercial
• ________________!

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• Requires large amounts of synthetic, commercial
  _____________.

• Livestock production occurs in huge ____________
  ____________!
• Ex
  Hogs in North Carolina

Consumes ½ of world grain production! Most of the
manure is not returned to the soil and becomes a
pollution problem!
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• What are the characteristics of Low-input or
  Organic Agriculture?
• Agrodiversity or Polyculture
• Ex Many __________ crops and livestock are
  raised on one farm!
• Natural Methods of fertilization are used!
• Ex Crop ______________, Livestock
  __________________ and
• Green Manure like clover!

• Minimizes the need for ___________________.
  Maximizing organics in the soil improves water
  retention and minimizes irrigation.
• Year round plant cover reduces soil
  ____________________.
• Use natural methods of ________________ Control!
• Organic Farmers base their success on the
  condition of their
• soil, their most important resource.

Healthy Soil Healthy Food Healthy People!
The Rodale Institute
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What is organically grown food? (FDA Approved)

• Food grown without the use of synthetic__________
  _____, synthetic
• ____________________________, anti-biotics or
  growth hormones!
• Also, no biosolids/sludge, no irradiation, no
  genetic modification.
• U.S. Sales of organically grown food
• 1980- 78 Million
• 1998- 4 Billion (less than 1 of U.S. farms)
• 2008- Projection of 14 Billion
• Consumer Choices are Powerful!
• Ex Tomato production in Mexico versus
  Organically
• grown tomatoes.

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What is the best way to control pests?

• What is a pest? Activity What are your top 5
  pests?
• A pest is any species that causes annoyance or
  ___________ that
• affects our lives.
• What is Integrated Pest Management?
• A step-wise approach to pest management that
  emphasizes
• prevention, physical and biological control and
  minimizes
• the use of synthetic ____________________.
• What are the 6 steps to IPM?
• 1. Identify the cause of the problem.
• 2. Learning about pest biology.
• 3. Scout and sample the pest population.
• 4. Determine when intervention is necessary.

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5. Choose the best combination of tactics to
use. 6. Evaluate your results. Is it working?

• What is the IPM Pyramid of Tactics?

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• Level One Cultural Methods
• Level Two Physical Methods

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• Level Three Biological Methods
• Natural Predators or Parasites
• Genetic Methods
• Level Four Conventional Chemical Methods

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Can we increase world food production?

• Preserving Biodiversity is the key!
• We need to preserve _________ species to
  insure that we have the
• potential to unlock new ________________
  sources in the future.
• Ex Wild species of corn/Central America/Virus
  Resistance
• Ex World Seed Banks
• Ex Bees and natural pollinators
• Will people try new foods?
• Ex 30,000 known edible _______________ species
• Organic Ag and Community Supported Ag promote
• crop diversity.
• Ex Micro-livestock/insects

• Can we increase land cultivation?
• 33 of the worlds land is now farmed. What land
  is
• left is largely ____________________.
• Could we grow more food in abandoned
  ______________?
• Ex Community Supported Farms in Phila.

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• Can we get more food from the worlds oceans?
• Most of the worlds major fisheries are in
  ____________ due to
• over ______________________ from industrial
  fishing.
• Solution Marine sanctuaries for species
  recovery.
• Ex New Zealand
• What about aquaculture or fish farming?
• Good news Over _____ of the worlds fish
  production comes
• from aquaculture.
• Bad news Current production methods are
  producing large
• amounts of water ___________ and hurting natural
  ecosystems.
• So, what can you and I do to help? Be a smart
  _____________ !

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Is genetically engineering and genetically
modified food the answer?

• What is genetically modified food (GMOs)?
• Plant or animal species that have been
  ____________ engineered
• to increase _________________
  production.
• Pros associated with the use of GMOs
• Ex Tomatoes that are ___________ resistant
• Ex Plants that are resistant to pests/need
  __________ pesticides ex (Bt corn)
• Ex Round up resistant crops that reduce soil
  erosion.
• Ex Salmon that grow _______________
• Ex _______________ resistant crops
• Ex Plants with _______________ nutritional
  value
• Cons concerning the use of GMOs
• Ex Pests could develop immunity to GMO
  resistance
• Ex Possible spread of ___________ to
  wildlife/Monarch Butterfly
• Ex Genetic resistance spreading and creating
  super __________.
• Ex Allergic _________________ to GMOs

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• Final Notes
• National Academy of Science Study GMOs are well
  tested by the
• EPA, FDA and the USDA. However
• a) Coordination between each agency needs to
  improve.
• b) Monitoring of the environment to ensure that
  GMOs do not
• damage natural ecosystems needs to improve.
• 2. A quandary for farmers! What should I plant?
• 3. U.N. Resolution that was heavily influenced by
  the LDCs
• We want GMOs to help to feed our growing
  population!

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Countries Producing GM Crops In the Year 2000
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The Cartenega Protocol

• Lack of scientific evidence due to insufficient
  data shall not prevent
• a country from making a decision on the use of
  GMOs.
• This is an international application of the
  Precautionary Principle
• that states that scientific uncertainty should
  not prevent action when
• the environment is threatened.

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Major Issues of GM Crops

• Innocent creatures will be hurt by insecticides
  built into many GM crops
• Example Monarch Butterflies
• Health risks
• Example Food allergies
• Super weeds will arise as genes that give crops
  the ability to kill insect pests or
• withstand herbicides find their way into weeds
• GM crops will suddenly fail because insect pests
  will evolve tolerance to built-in
• insecticides and because weeds will evolve
  immunity to herbicides sprayed over
• fields of herbicide tolerant GM plants
• Developing countries who really need the food are
  not receiving it because
• biotechnology costs too much money