Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Richard T. Wright

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Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable
Future Richard T. Wright
Chapter 9

• The Production and Distribution of Food
• PPT by Clark E. Adams

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The Production and Distribution of Food

• Crops and animals major patterns of food
  production
• New patterns genetically modified foods
• Food distribution and trade
• Hunger, malnutrition, and famine

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Thomas Malthus 1798
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Thomas Malthus

• Did not consider changes in agricultural
  technology and science
• Did not consider dramatic decreases in fertility
  rates in some countries
• Was right, but ahead of his time

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Crops and Animals Major Patterns of Food
Production

• The development of modern industrialized
  agriculture
• The green revolution
• Subsistence agriculture and the developing world
• Animal farming and its consequences
• Prospects for increasing food production

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U.S. Crop Yields
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Major Patterns of Food Production Past 40 Years
and Next 40 Years?

• Bringing additional land into cultivation
• Increasing use of fertilizers
• Increasing use of chemical pesticides
• Increasing use of irrigation

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Major Patterns of Food Production Past 40 Years
and Next 40 Years?

• Substituting new genetic varieties
• Rotating crops
• Growing many different kinds of crops
• Recycling animal wastes
• Grain over animal production

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The Green Revolution

• Temporarily closed the gap between food
  production and need in some countries
• Heavy reliance on irrigation and fertilizers
• Negative impact on small farmers and culturally
  specific crops

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Subsistence Farming More or Less?

• Labor intensive
• Technologically based
• Use of marginal lands
• Clearing of tropical rain forests
• Environmental degradation

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Animal Farming and Its Consequences

• Loss of 70 of grain crops in U.S.
• Overgrazing
• Mismanagement of animal manure
• Most widespread source of water pollution
• Source of 3 of greenhouse gases
• Sustainable on rural farms and with pastoral
  herding

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Global Population and Grain and Meat Consumption
Fig. 9-9 here
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Prospects for Increasing Food Production

• Over last 30 years, food production has surpassed
  population growth
• World food consumption to increase 50 by 2020
• Agricultural sustainability is highly dependent
  on soil and water conservation
• Global climate changes

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40 Increase in Food Production Needed over Next
Two Decades

• Eat lower on the food chain, less meat
• Convert cash crops to food
• Eat less
• Increase crop yields
• Double Green Revolution!

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40 Increase in Food Production Needed over Next
Two Decades

• Convert animal farms to grain farms
• Develop alternative foods
• Convert pet food to human food
• The promise of biotechnology

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New Patterns Genetically Modified Food

• The promise
• The problems
• Policies

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Biotech Crops in the United States
Fig. 9-10 here
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The Promise Transgenic Crops

• Crossbreeds of genetically different plants
• Incorporation of desired traits into crop lines
  and animals
• Cloning of domestic animals

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The Objectives of Genomics

• Disease resistance
• Drought tolerance
• Improved nutritional value
• Incorporate human vaccines

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The Problems with Genomics

• Environmental concerns
• Not considered safe by all consumers
• Not affordable in all countries
• Major player in the future of agriculture
• Might keep food production in pace with
  population growth

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Environmental Problems

• Pest resistance to genetically engineered toxin
• Broad spectrum impact on nontarget species
• Super weeds

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Food Safety

• Proteins cause allergic responses
• Antibiotic resistance to human pathogens
• Plant produces new toxic substances

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Other Problems with Genomics

• Access to new technologies
• profit driven
• affordability in developing countries
• terminator technology seed sterility
• Consumer acceptance

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Food Distribution and Trade

• Patterns in food trade
• Food security

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Patterns in Food Trade

• Major changes in net importers and exporters of
  grain over the last six decades (Table 9-3)
• North America is the worlds bread basket or
  meat market
• Direct relationship between import levels and
  population growth

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Patterns of Global Trade in Grain
Table 9-3 here
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Food Security (see Fig. 9-13)

• Assured access for every person to enough
  nutritious food to sustain an active and healthy
  life
• Family personal and family food security
• Country self-sufficiency in food and nutrition
• Global sustainable food and nutrition for all
  countries

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Hunger, Malnutrition, and Famine

• Nutrition vs. hunger
• Extent and consequences of hunger
• Root cause of hunger
• Famine
• Food aid

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Nutrition vs. Hunger

• Hunger lack of basic food for energy and meeting
  nutritional needs
• Malnutrition lack of essential nutrients (amino
  acids, vitamins, and minerals)
• Undernourishment lack of adequate food energy
  (Calories)
• One-quarter of U.S. population is obese

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The Food Guide Pyramid
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On the Other Hand

• 100 million children in southern Asia are
  underweight because of lack of food
• 11 million children lt5 years old die each year in
  developing countries half due to hunger and
  malnutrition

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Root Cause of Hunger

• The root cause of hunger is poverty
• 20 of the people on Earth suffer from the
  effects of hunger and malnutrition
• Children are most at risk
• It is more likely that a pet cat will be fed than
  an undernourished child

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Causes of Famine and Hunger Hotspots

• Civil Wars
• Drought (FEWS)
• Government Incompetence

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Food Aid
Give a man a fish you have fed him for
today.Teach a man to fish and you have fed him
for lifetime." --Old Chinese Saying
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Food Aid
Fig. 9-19 here
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Food Aid True or False

• Alleviates chronic hunger
• Helps local agriculture
• Disrupts local economy
• Contributes to ecological deterioration
• Postpones the day of reckoning

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Food Aid and Carrying Capacity
N
Time
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End of Chapter 9