Food Resources: A Challenge For Agriculture

1. Chapter 19 Food Resources: A Challenge For Agriculture

2. Overview of Chapter 19 • Food and Nutrition • World Food Problems • Principle Types of Agriculture • Challenges of Producing More Crops and Livestock • Environmental Impact of Agriculture • Solutions to Agricultural Problems • Fisheries of the World

3. Food and Nutrition Carbohydrates • Sugars and starches metabolized by cellular respiration to produce energy Proteins • Large, complex molecules composed of amino acids that perform critical roles in body Lipids • Include fats and oils and are metabolized by cellular respiration to produce energy Vitamins and Minerals

4. World Food Problems In 2012: • 66 countries are low-income, food deficient. • Nearly 1 billion people are food deficient • 182 million children severely malnourished and underweight

5. World Food Problems Common diseases due to malnourishment: Marasmus Kwashiorkor

6. Human Foods

7. World Food Problems Feeding a growing population is difficult Annual grain production (left) has increased since 1970 Grain per person has not (right)

8. World Food Problems Famine • Failure of crops caused by drought, flood or catastrophic event • Temporary but severe shortage of food • 1983-1985 – Drought in Africa resulted in 1.5 million deaths in Ethiopia and Sudan • 1993 – civil unrest and drought resulted in 2 million starving Somalis • 1990’s – flooding and drought resulted in 2 million deaths in North Korea

9. World Food Problems Maintaining World Grain Carryover Stockpiles • Amounts of rice, wheat, corn and other grains remaining from previous harvest • Provides measure of food security • Decreased each year since 1987 • UN feels carryover stock should not fall below 70 days

10. World Food Problems Poverty and Food: Making Food Affordable for the Poor • Poverty  Poor nutrition • Malnutrition more common in urban than rural areas in developing countries • Infants, children, and elderly most susceptible to hunger and poverty.

11. World Grain Carryover Stock Why the decline? • Rising temperatures • Falling water tables and droughts • Ethanol production • More grain is going towards feeding livestock

12. World Food Problems Poverty and Food • 1.3 billion people are so poor they cannot afford proper nutrition • More common in • Rural than urban areas • Infants, children and the elderly Economics and Politics • Cost money to store, produce, transport and distribute food • Getting food to those who need it is political

13. Principle Types of Agriculture Industrialized agriculture • Modern agriculture methods that require large capital input, and less land and labor

14. Principle Types of Agriculture Subsistence Agriculture • Traditional agricultural methods, which are dependent on labor and large amounts of land Examples: • Shifting cultivation • Slash and burn agriculture • Nomadic herding • Intercropping

15. 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

16. Challenges of Producing More Crop and Livestock Increasing Crop Yield • Food production increased in developed countries (wheat (left) • Pesticides • Selective breeding

17. Case-In-Point Green Revolution High Yielding Rice Varieties

18. 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

19. Antibiotic Use and Resistance

20. 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

21. Issues 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

22. The Environmental Impacts of Agriculture Most livestock now grown in feedlots Leads to problems like sewage disposal.

23. Environmental Impacts of Agriculture High use of fossil fuels and pesticides • Air pollution Insects, weeds, and disease-causing organisms developing resistance to pesticides • Contaminate food supply

24. 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

25. Solutions to Agricultural Problems- Sustainable Agriculture

26. 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

27. 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 world’s fish stock are in need of management action

28. Fisheries of the World- Problems Major types of seafood:

29. Fisheries of the World Overharvesting is the most serious problem

30. Fisheries of the World- Problems Ocean Pollution - dumping ground we used to think that “dilution is the solution.” 80% of global ocean pollution comes from human activities on land: • Oil • Heavy metals • Deliberate litter dumping • Stormwater runoff from cities and agricultural areas

31. Fisheries of the World- Problems Aquaculture • Growing of aquatic organisms for human consumption • Great potential to supply food • In US: aquaculture accounts for 6% of all seafood consumed; $900 million-a-year industry

32. Fisheries of the World- Problems Aquaculture (continued) • Locations of fisheries may hurt natural habitats • Produce waste that pollutes adjacent water