Chapter 9 Food
How Humans Impact Land
Farming
Why People Go Hungry
Starvation
Lack of calories/ people usually die from
disease
Malnutrition
Lack of an essential nutrient in diet such as
protein
1 in 3 people in world are malnourished
20,000 people die every day
Why People Go Hungry?
There is enough food for everyone in
the world but what is the problem?
1. Political troubles- civil war, food stolen
2. Transportation- lack infrastructure or food distribution
network
Roads and rail lines broken and need repair
3. Droughts – periods rainfall less than average
4. Famines – food shortage that lasts a long time and
causes malnutrition in people
Agriculture and Soil Chapter 9.2
•
•
•
•
Describe fertile soil
Describe methods to prevent soil erosion
Describe desertification
Compare low input and conventional farming
Fertile soil- soil that can support rapid growth of
healthy plants
Soil erosion- wearing away of topsoil by wind and
water.
Desertification- fertile soil is lost and land becomes
desert-like
Low in put farming- farming without a lot of energy,
pesticides, fertilizer, and water
Conventional farming- farming with a lot of energy,
pesticides, fertilizer, and water
Conventional
Not sustainable
Low Input
Sustainable
Uses lots of :
Water
Fuel
Pesticides
Fertilizers
Uses less:
Water
Fuel
Pesticides
Fertilizers
Pivot irrigation
Drip irrigation
mulch
pesticides
Was there ever a time in U.S. when people
were starving?
Yes- !930s Dust Bowl or Dirty Thirties
• Severe drought and windstorm covered midwest states
during 1930s
• Deep plowing of virgin topsoil of Great Plains
• Removed native, deep-rooted grasses that
trapped soil
• No plants covering ground plus a major drought
and windstorm
http://www.history.com/topics/dust-bowl
The Dust Bowl
After the Dust Bowl
• Began age of modern farming
• Methods to prevent erosion and conserve soil
1. contour plowing- plowing along contour
of land, across the slope
2. No-till farming- seeds of new crop are
planted into slits cut into previous crop
3. Crop rotation-growing different
kinds of crops in succession on the
same land
4. Biological Pest Control
also called Integrated Pest Management
(IPM)- control pests with beneficial
insects