Section 5: Food Production, Nutrition

and Environmental Effects

• How much has food production increased?

• How serious is undernutrition and

malnutrition?

• How serious of a problem is overnutrition?

• What are the environmental impacts of our

food choices?

• Can China’s population be fed?

Food Production

Tripled between 1950 -1985,

since then it has leveled off

• Africa, former Soviet Union

and China seen biggest drops

World produced enough food to

meet basic needs, but still 1 in

6 do not get enough to meet

nutritional needs

Poverty, inequality, war, famine,

corruption

Human Needs Large amounts of macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats)

Small amounts of micronutrients (A, C, E, iron, iodine, calcium)

• Chronic under nutrition: disease increase, stunted growth etc.

• Malnutrition: can not get enough protein mainly eating corn, rice, wheat

• Huge childhood problem

Malnutrition UN Estimates:

• 5.5 million each year die

prematurely due to effects of

under nutrition.

• Each day 15,100 people ---

80% of which are children

• In U.S. estimates are 11 million

do not have access to enough

food

World Food Production

Malnutrition vs. Under nutrition

Shortages in developing countries

Fig. 14-16 p. 287

Avg.

male

needs

about

2,500 cal

per day

Over nutrition

Food intake exceeds energy use and causes body fat

• Too many calories not enough exercise

• Lower life expectancy, heart disease, lower productivity and quality of life

• In developed countries it is 2nd leading preventable cause of death after smoking

Environmental Effects of Food

Production

Biodiversity loss

Soil degradation

Air pollution

Water shortages and erosion

Human health

See Fig. 14-18 p. 290

Enviro

impacts of

food

production

Need to

know these

page 290

How it used to be done

Section 6: Increasing Crop

Production

• What is the gene revolution?

• What is genetically modified food?

• Can we continue to increase food supplies? If

so, how?

Increasing World Crop Production

Crossbreeding and artificial selection

Genetic engineering (gene splicing)

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Continued Green Revolution techniques

Introducing new foods

Working more land

Cross Breading and Artificial Selection

• Done for

centuries to

produce

“improved” crops

• Bigger corn and

tomatoes

• Slow process

Genetic Engineering

• Slicing the DNA of one

species into another

• Quicker

• More cost efficient

• Allows insertion of almost

any species

• More than 2/3 of foods in

U.S. have GE ingredients

• Resistant to heat, drought,

pests, salty soil, less

fertilizer………

Genetic Engineering

• Example: Citrus trees

normally take 6 years to

produce fruit yield in only 1

• Rice crops that contain

more protein or more iron

or that can be grown with

far less water

• Focus so far more on needs

of developed countries vs.

developing country needs

($$$)

Study these pros

and cons page

292

Frankenfoods or Savior• Considerable controversy

over GMOs, GMF, GE

Foods

• What are the unintended

consequences?

• Can these new species be

recalled if there are

problems?

• “Massive uncontrolled

experiment?”

• Critics say move slowly

• Require labeling of GMF

Can We Continue to Produce MORE

• Lack of resources such as

water, fertile soil and

environmental factors may

limit our ability to continue

to yield more crops.

• Can we just spread the

“Green Revolution” around

the world to produce more?

• Will GE uniformity lead to

more vulnerable crops to

pests, diseases, harsh

weather?

Can We Continue to Produce MORE

• Will people be willing to try

new foods? (superfoods)

• Fried ants or toasted butterflies

anyone?

• Is irrigating more land the

answer?

• Is cultivating more land the

answer?

• Can we grow more food in

urban areas?

• Why not just waste less food?

70% currently wasted

Mmmm, bacon!!!

Section 7: Producing More Meat

• How are rangelands used to produce meat?

• Is producing more meat the answer to the

world’s food problems?

• What are the effects of overgrazing?

• How can meat be produced more sustainable?

Rangelands

• Many feel need to

increase meat

production to feed

population

• As incomes rise so

does meat

consumption

RangelandsAre grasslands in

temperate and tropical

climates that provide

foraging and browsing

areas for animals

• Cattle, Sheep, goats

are on 42% of

rangeland

• Pastures are managed

grasslands

• Renewable resource

Producing More Meat• Meat products good

source of protein

• Per capita meat

production doubled

since 1950

Feedlots: animals are

fattened for slaughter in

densely populated

confined areas

CAFOs = 43% world beef

Factory Farms

• Cattle, pigs, poultry

• As many as 100,000 cattle,

10,000 hogs shoulder to

shoulder

• What to do with waste?

• Open Lagoons?

• Consume large amount of

grain and fish instead of

feeding on grass

• Antibiotics and steroid use

See page 295 box

OvergrazingOccurs when too many

animals graze for too long and exceed the carrying capacity of the grassland area

• Kills vegetation

• Reduces grass cover

• Causes erosion

• Compacts soil

• Damages watershed

• Desertification

Overgrazing: Solutions

• Control numbers by

figuring out carrying

capacity

• Move from riparian zones

and locate watering hole

away from sensitive zones

• Move animals around

• Replant overgrazed areas

and/or use fertilizers

Producing More Meat

Feedlots

Rangelands

Improved rangeland management

Efficiency

Environmental consequences (Connections p. 295)

Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight

Beef cattle 7

Pigs 4

Chicken 2.2

Fish (catfish

or carp)2

Fig. 14-22 p. 297

What is this?

Section 8: More Fish?

• Where do we get our fish and shellfish?

• What are the impacts of over fishing?

• What is aquaculture?

Catching and Raising More Fish

Fisheries

Fishing methods (See Fig. 14-24 p. 299)

Overfishing

Commercial extinction

Aquiculture

Fish farming and ranching

Where do we get fish and shellfish?

Fisheries: concentrations of

aquatic species suitable for

harvesting from a body of

water

• 55% from the ocean

• Fish and shellfish supply 7%

of world’s food

• Mostly from coastal zones

• Primary source of protein

for more than 1 billion

(mostly developing

countries)

Where do we get fish and shellfish?

Aquaculture: using feedlot

management to raise

marine and freshwater fish.

• using cages and nets

• Rivers, lakes and oceans

• China the world’s leader

• 1/3rd of world’s marine fish

harvest is used for animal

feed, fishmeal and oil

Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight

Beef cattle 7

Pigs 4

Chicken 2.2

Fish (catfish

or carp) 2

Efficiency of converting grain to animal

protein

How are fish harvested?

High Tech Global

Fishing Fleets Roam

World

• Sonar, GPS, spotter

planes, huge nets, long

fishing lines

• Large factory ships

catch, process and

freeze product

How are fish harvested?

Trawling: dragging a funnel

shaped net along bottom of

sea

• Used to catch bottom

dwellers

• Shrimp, cod, flounder,

scallops

• Scrapes up everything on

bottom leaving it bare

• Clear cutting ocean floor

Bycatch thrown back

How are fish harvested?

Purse-Seine Fishing:

Surrounding schools of fish

with boats and a huge net

to capture entire school

• Net drawn in tighter and

tighter

• Tuna, herring, mackerel

• Uses spotter planes often

• Led to huge dolphin kills

How are fish harvested?

Long lining: putting out

lines up to 80 miles long

with thousands of hooks

• Swordfish, tuna, shark,

halibut, cod

• Huge bycatch

• Endanger turtles,

dolphins, whales etc.

How are fish harvested?

Drift netting: using huge nets

to trap fish

• Huge bycatch

• Kill many unwanted

species

• Danger to marine mamals

• Since 1992 UN ban

driftnets over 1.6 miles in

international water

(voluntary compliance)

Over fishing• Tragedy of Commons

• Not a new problem, but

becoming global and tech

driven

• Commercial Extinction

• Adding to the problem are

development along the coasts,

wetland and estuary pollution,

coral reef and mangrove forest

destruction

• New high demand for “healthy”

fish

Aquaculture

Raising fish and

shellfish for food,

like crops

• World’s fastest

growing food

production

• What do you think

are pros and cons of

this technique?

Section 9-10 : Government Ag

Policy and Sustainable Farming

• How do governments influence agriculture?

• How can the world become more sustainable

with agriculture?

Government Agricultural Policy

Artificially low prices

Subsidies

Elimination of price controls

Food aid

Solutions: Sustainable Agriculture

Low-input agriculture

Organic farming

Profitable

Increasing funding for research in

sustainable techniques

See Fig. 14-29 p. 302

mmm…chicken for dinner