Food Production and

The Environment
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, the students will be
able to:
• Identify the problems arising from
industrialized food production;
• Determine ways on how to protect crops from
pests more sustainably;
• Evaluate different ways on how to improve
food security and produce food more
sustainably.
• In less developed countries, people suffer
from health problems associated with not
getting enough to eat
• In more developed countries, others
suffer health problems from having too
much to eat
 FOOD SECURITY
• Condition under which every person in a
given area has daily access to enough
nutritious food to have an active and
healthy life
To maintain good health and resist
diseases, individual needs:
MACRONUTRIENTS- carbohydrates,
proteins and fats
MICRONUTRIENTS- vitamins (A,C,E) and
minerals ( iron, iodine, calcium)
 FOOD INSECURITY
• Condition under which people live with
chronic undernutrition or hunger and
malnutrition that threatens their ability to
lead healthy and productive lives
 MALNUTRITION
• Deficiencies of proteins and other key
nutrients
• Almost 2 billion people suffer from a
deficiency of micronutrients (vitamin A, iron,
and iodine)
• Low income, less developed countries:
diets center on high carbohydrate grains
and very little protein
• Food deserts (no access to fresh food) in
developed countries: diets high in fat, sugar,
salt, and little protein
 Factors influencing food supply

• Poverty
• Corruption
• War / Political upheaval
• Bad weather
• Climate change
• Harmful environmental effects of
industrialized food production
 Where does our food
come from?
• Croplands (mostly grain)
– provide 77% of the world’s
food
• Rangelands (meat) supply
16%
• Oceanic fisheries (fish and
shellfish) – 7%
Sources of Food

• Primary plants: Wheat,

corn, and rice
• Primary animals:
fish, beef, pork, and
chicken
• 14 plant and 8 animal
species provide 90% of
the global food calories
How is Food Produced?
AGRICULTURE
• Cultivation of animals, plants and fungi for
food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and
other products used to sustain and
enhance human life
TYPES OF AGRICULTURE
Traditional – low input
Industrialized- high input
Traditional

Industrialized
Traditional Agriculture
• Low input agriculture -Uses solar energy and
human labor to grow a crop that will feed a
family
Traditional Agriculture
• Polyculture: growing several crops

• Traditional subsistence agriculture

– Produce only enough for the family
• Traditional intensive agriculture
– Increase outputs for profit
Producing Food by Traditional Techniques

Interplanting – simultaneously grow several crops

on the same ground. Reduces chance of
losing year’s crop to pests, bad weather, etc.
Types of Interplanting

Polyvarietal cultivation –
planting several varieties of
the same crop

Intercropping – grow two or

more different crops at the
same time (grain+nitrogen
fixing plant)
Types of Interplanting
Agroforestry (alley cropping)
– crops and trees are grown
together

Polyculture – many different

types of plants that mature
at different times are grown
together
Industrialized Agriculture
• High input agriculture - Large amounts of fossil
fuel, water, fertilizer, and pesticides to produce
monoculture crops or livestock animals
• Plantation - Form of agriculture
that involves concentrated
ownership of land with the
means of production in the
hands of one family or
corporation, the use of hired
labor, and mono-crop
production for sale.

• Cash crops mostly for sale in

developed countries
• Bananas, coffee, soybeans
Industrialized Agricultural Wastes and
Land Pollution
• Animal Confinement
– Waste runoff
• Overgrazing
– Increases soil erosion
• Sedimentation
• Nutrient application
• Irrigation
• Pesticides
Waste runoff increases nutrients
and pathogens in streams
Runoff carries sediments, nutrients and
pesticides into streams that damages
fish habitat
Overgrazing typically strips the land of
any natural protection and leaves the soil
very susceptible to erosion
Agriculture alters native habitats
and reduces native biodiversity
World Food Production

Industrialized

Traditional
Producing Food by
Green-Revolution Techniques

• Since 1950, increase in global food

production has come from increased
yields per unit area of crop land.
Green Revolutions

First green revolution Second green revolution

(developed countries) (developing countries)
Major International agricultural
research centers and seed banks
Green-Revolution Techniques
Green revolution involves three steps:
1. High-input monoculture using selectively
bred or genetically-engineered crops
2. High yields using high inputs of fertilizer,
extensive use of pesticides and high
inputs of water
3. Multiple cropping – increase the number
of crops grown per year on a plot of land.
Organic Agriculture
• crops grown without the use of
synthetic pesticides and
inorganic fertilizers, or genetic
engineering
The increasing demand for food is being met
by increases in production:

– New and hardier crop varieties are being

developed by second gene revolution
methodology (gene splicing)
– Meat production now uses feedlots as well
as rangelands and pastures
– Aquaculture produces more fish and is the
world’s fastest growing type of food
production
• Large inputs of energy are needed to
grow, store, process, package,
transport, refrigerate, and cook plants
and animals

• Industrialized food production is

dependent on fossil fuel, resulting in a
net energy loss
While industrialized agriculture has allowed
farmers to use less land to produce more food, it
is environmentally and economically
unsustainable

– Industrialized agriculture:
• Removes 70% of fresh water from surface
sources and aquifers
• Uses 38% of the world’s ice-free land
• Emits 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions
• Produces 60% of all water pollution
SOIL
SOIL

• Soil is part of the regolith that supports

the growth of plants.
• Complex mixture of inorganic minerals
(clay, silt, pebbles and sand), decaying
organic matter, water, air and living
organisms
Composition by Volume of
Good-Quality Soil
Soil varies in composition, texture,
structure, and color at different depths.
Soil horizons are zones or layers of soil.
A soil profile is a vertical section through
all the soil horizons.
Soil Profile
• Topsoil (the fertile top layer of many
soils), is a significant natural capital
component because it stores water
and nutrients needed by plants
• Topsoil renewal is one of the earth’s
most important ecosystem services
• Topsoil nutrients recycle endlessly as
long as they are not removed faster
than natural processes replace them
SOIL EROSION

• Movement of soil components, usually

topsoil, from one place to another, usually
by wind, flowing water or both
• This natural process can be greatly
accelerated by human activities that
remove vegetation from soil
Causes of Soil Erosion

• Flowing water (the largest cause of soil

erosion) carries away soil loosened by
rainfall
• Wind loosens and blows away topsoil
particles – from flat land in dry climates
• Farming, deforestation, and overgrazing
exposes land and hastens soil erosion
 Harmful Effect of Soil Erosion
• Loss of soil fertility through the depletion of
plant nutrients in topsoil
• Topsoil pollution of surface waters can kill
fish and clog reservoirs and lakes
– Increased if it contains pesticide residues
– biomagnified through food webs
• Erosion releases the soil’s carbon
content, which alters the carbon cycle,
adding to atmospheric levels of CO2
Soil erosion in a wheat field
Global Soil Erosion

Areas of serious concern

Areas of some concern
Stable or nonvegetative areas
Soil Degradation on Irrigated Land

• Salinization
Evaporation Evaporation
• Waterlogging Transpiration

Waterlogging

Less permeable
clay layer
Reducing and Cleaning Up
Salinization

• Reduce irrigation
• Switch to salt-tolerant crops
• Flush soils
• Not growing crops for 2-5 years
• Install underground drainage
Saltwater and drainage is a continual problem
for lowland agriculture near Puget Sound.
Tidegate – lets water out, but not back in.
Solutions: Soil Conservation
Soil conservation

• Method used to reduce soil erosion,

prevent depletion of soil nutrients, restore
nutrients previously lost by erosion,
leaching or excessive crop harvesting
Soil Restoration

• Organic fertilizer
• Animal manure
• Green manure – fresh cut vegetation
• Compost
• Crop rotation – legume crops add
nitrogen to soil
• Commercial inorganic fertilizer
 Environmental Consequences
of Agricultural Activities
• Irrigation boosts/lowers farm productivity
– 20% of the world’s irrigated crop land produces
about 40% of the world’s food
– Irrigation water has a variety of salts, which
leads to soil salinization
• Livestock production generates 18% of all
greenhouse gas
• Fertilizer use releases nitrous oxide, increasing
atmospheric temperatures
Biodiversity Loss During Food Production
• Clearing and burning forests leads to the
loss of natural biodiversity
• Deforestation in the Amazon Basin and
clearing of grasslands for cattle ranching
and plantation farming (sugar cane)
decreases biodiversity
– As fewer varieties of plant and animal
species are used in farming, agrobiodiversity
decreases
Catching and Raising More Fish

• Commercial Fishing
- harvesting of wild fish
• Fishing methods

Problems:
- Overfishing
- Commercial extinction
Aquaculture
• less commonly spelled
aquiculture
• also known as aquafarming
• farming of fish,
crustaceans, mollusks,
aquatic plants, algae, and
other organisms.
• involves cultivating
freshwater and saltwater
populations under controlled
conditions
Environmental Effect of Aquaculture

• Fishmeal and fish oil, food sources for

farmed fish (often contaminated with
toxins), come from wild fish caught from
the oceans – biomagnified in human food
web; depletes wild fish populations
PEST MANAGEMENT
How can we protect crops from pest
more sustainably?
• Using a mix of cultivation techniques,
biological pest controls, and selective
chemical pesticides (as a last resort) will
enable farmers to sharply decrease
pesticide use without decreasing crop
yields
Natural Pest Control

• Natural enemies control the populations

of most pest species
– This free ecosystem service is an
important part of earth’s natural capital
• Humans upset the checks and balances
of natural pest control when we clear
forests and grasslands, plant monoculture
crops, and use synthetic chemicals to kill
pests
Pesticides: Types

Chemicals that kill undesirable organisms

• Insecticides - insects
• Herbicides - plants
• Fungicides - fungus
• Rodenticides - rodents
Advantages of Synthetic Pesticides

• Human lives have been saved from insect

transmitted disease (especially malaria)
• Food supplies are increased by reducing food
loss due to pests
• Crop yields and farming profits increase
• Newer pesticides are safer, more effective, and
work faster – and when properly used, keep
health risks very low relative to benefits
Disadvantages in Using Synthetic
Pesticides
• The genetic development of pesticide
resistance in pest organisms
• Long term usage diminishes effectiveness
– costing farmers more for less return
• Insecticides kill the pest’s natural enemies
• Inefficient application causes pollution
• Both wildlife and human health are
affected
 Protective Laws and Treaties
• Pesticide usage is regulated by: –
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
and the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) under the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
• Unfortunately adequate funding has not
been provided for effective management
and enforcement of FIFRA
Second Generation Pesticides

• Primarily synthetic organic compounds

• Broad-spectrum agents – toxic to many
species
• Narrow-spectrum agents – toxic to few
species
• Persistence in the environment
Characteristics of an Ideal Pesticide

• Affects only target pests

• Harms no other species
• No genetic resistance
• Breaks down quickly in the environment
• Be more cost-effective than doing nothing
Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification

• Persistent (non-
biodegradable)
toxins build up in
an animal over
time =
bioaccumulation
• Become more
concentrated at
higher trophic
levels =
biomagnification
Alternatives in the Use of Synthetic
Pesticides
• Crop rotation/adjusting planting time starves
pests/allows enemies to eat them
• Polyculture provides homes for pest’s enemies
• Implant genetic resistance
• Biological control: use natural enemies – Natural
pheromones (insect perfume)
-Can lure pests into traps
- Can attracted natural enemies into crop
fields
Other Alternatives
• Disrupt the life cycles of insects by altering
their hormones
– Using insect perfume and hormone alteration
are both time consuming and costly
• Reduce synthetic herbicide usage to control
weeds
• Integrated pest management (IPM) – use of a
coordinated combination of cultivation,
biological and chemical tools
Solutions: Sustainable Agriculture

• Low-input agriculture
• Organic farming
• Profitable
• Increasing funding for research in
sustainable techniques