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Agricultural Land and Water

Agricultural Land and Water. Text extracted from The World Food Problem Leathers & Foster, 2004. ttp://www.amazon.com/World-Food-Problem-Toward-Undernutrition/dp/1588266389. Agricultural Land Use. Source: NASA. http://lcluc.umd.edu/images/Science_Themes/Foley1-large.jpg. Land Availability.

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Agricultural Land and Water

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  1. Agricultural Land and Water Text extracted from The World Food Problem Leathers & Foster, 2004 ttp://www.amazon.com/World-Food-Problem-Toward-Undernutrition/dp/1588266389

  2. Agricultural Land Use Source: NASA http://lcluc.umd.edu/images/Science_Themes/Foley1-large.jpg

  3. Land Availability • Ag land has increased slowly • 2.8% 1960s • 2.3% 1970s • 3.7% 1980s • 2.1% 1990s • Most increases in pasture land Grazing cattle, Brazil http://www.ypte.org.uk/docs/factsheets/env_facts/env_images/brazil_cattle.jpg

  4. Land with Crop Potential • 2.57 billion hectares of land with crop potential • Excluding china • Only using < 1 billion • Problems with most unused potential land • Hilly • Poor soil • Poor drainage • Could increase ag land • 30% China http://www.agapetea.com/store/images/common/about_blacktea3.jpg

  5. Potential arable land

  6. Agricultural Intensity HANPP: Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production http://www.eoearth.org/upload/thumb/4/45/HANPP_Figure_3.jpg/625px-HANPP_Figure_3.jpg

  7. Land lost to Ag production • Urban expansion • Small effect worldwide • Global warming may flood coastal areas • Soil degradation • 1/3 cropland worldwide abandoned due to erosion http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Erosion.jpg/397px-Erosion.jpg

  8. Irrigation • World Water Use: • Agriculture 69% • Domestic 8% • Industry 23% • Irrigated crops provide 40% of food worldwide • Yields with irrigation increase 2-3X

  9. Irrigated land http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Irrigated_land_world_map.png

  10. Water withdrawals for irrigation http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_feeding_the_world/img/3.jpg

  11. Sandra Postel • “Water use tripled between 1950 and 1990 • as world population soared by some 2.7 billion… • Worldwide demand for water cannot triple again • without causing severe shortages for • crop irrigation, • industrial use, • basic household needs and • critical life-supporting ecosystems” http://www.hipco-ne.com/images/gated.gif http://www.globalwaterpolicy.org/images/sandrapostel1_19.jpg

  12. Conserving Ag water • Water harvesting • Collecting and saving runoff • Drip irrigation • Drought tolerant varieties Drip irrigation http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/irrigation-drip.jpg

  13. Colorado River • River is drained dry • before it reaches the ocean • Heavy irrigation use • Colorado • Arizona • California • Mexico • City water supply • Las Vegas • Phoenix • Tucson California irrigation from the Colorado River http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/irrigation-_2-by-bor-pfs.jpg

  14. Irrigation in China • Yellow river used for irrigation • River ran dry in 1972 • For 15 days • Since 1986 runs dry every year • In 1997, dry for 227 days Yellow River

  15. India River Interlink Plan • $200 billion plan • to bring water to south India • Will link 36 rivers with canals • Completed in 2016 • Potential benefits • Reduce flooding • Hydroelectric power • Irrigation http://www.ben-center.org/riverMaps/RiverLinkingMainMap.jpg

  16. Vandana Shiva • Industrial ag requires 5x water of indigenous ag • wheat and rice • Pumping groundwater not the solution • Aquifers depleted • Big dams not the solution • benefit cities, investors • Ecologically destructive • Displaces poor farmers • Many small dams better Small dam, India http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2397775485_c4fce43d8d_m.jpg http://www.netradiomeeting.it/public/foto/SHIVA_VANDANA.jpg

  17. Aswan Dam, Egypt • Benefits • Controls flooding of Nile River • Hydroelectric power • Problems • Fertile silt not deposited • Farmers must use fertilizer • Schistosomiasis increase • Nile delta receding • Increased salinity http://www.2travel2egypt.com/sightseeing/images/aswandam.jpg

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