Agriculture
Modern Commercial Agriculture
The Third Agricultural Revolution
• Third Agricultural
Revolution began in 19th
century North America
– Saw the globalization of
industrialized
agriculture and new
technologies that
increased the food
supply
– Three phases:
• Mechanization
• Chemical farming
• Globally widespread
food manufacturing
• 3rd Revolution distributed
mechanized farming
technology and chemical
fertilizers on a global level
• During 3rd Revolution,
farming and food
processing were
completed at different
sites
The Industrialization of the
Farming Process
• After 3rd Revolution it became
common for commercial farmers to
harvest their crops and ship them
off to food processing sites to be
packaged for marketing and
distribution
• Food production increasingly
became “industrialized”
– Different parts of process
completed by different departments
• Example
•
Purity dairies in Nashville,
Tennessee
• Subcontracts with local farms
to buy unprocessed milk that
is shipped to Nashville, near
the market
• At the city-based factory, the
milk is processed, packaged,
and distributed within the
milkshed
Agribusiness
• Definition
– Combination of the pieces of
the food-production industry,
including the farms,
processing plants, packagers,
fertilizer laboratories,
distributors, and advertizing
agencies
– Like a corporate entity
• Modern system of foodproduction involving everything
from the development of seeds
to the marketing and sale of
food products at the market
– Led by TNCs (trans-national
corporations)
•
While % of farmers in U.S.
workforce has declined, the # of
workers involved in agribusiness
shows that food production is still
an integral part of the U.S. and
global economy
• Examples:
• A graphic designer
drawing images for a
child’s lunchbox is part of
the complex agribusiness
system
•
Farming process has become
divided on a global level
Agribusiness
• Food supply chain
– Five central and connected sectors
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Inputs
Production
Processing
Distribution
Consumption
– Four external mediating forces
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State
International trade
Physical environment
Credit/finance
The Green Revolution
• Began in the 1940s, 1950s
– Was a phase of the 3rd Revolution
– Really implemented in 1970s,
1980s
• New strains of hybrid seeds and
fertilizers were invented and
dramatically increased crop output
– Began with agricultural
experiments in the U.S. to find
ways to improve Mexico’s wheat
production capabilities
• Scientists found new hybrid
strains of wheat, maize, and
rice that were higher-yielding,
capable of producing more
food at a faster pace
•
Scientists also developed new
fertilizers and pesticides that
supported the higher-yielding
seeds
• Required special
fertilizers
• Increased protection from
diseases and pest
infestations
The Green Revolution
•
Scientist Norman Borlaug won a
Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his
work to increase world peace
through spreading hunger-reducing
technology to poorer regions of the
world
–
“miracle wheat seed”
•
The “miracle” of the Green
Revolution was in global diffusion
of higher-yielding crops
• Globally grain production
increased 45% between 19451990
• Food production outpaced
population growth
• Asia was able to increase its
rice production by 66% by
1985
• India was able to supply its
own wheat and rice by the
1980s
• Not able to completely
eradicate hunger
• Issue of transportation
Economic downside to GR
• GR reduced the amount of
human labor needed on the
farm in some areas
• Higher-yielding crop strains are
more prone to viruses and pest
infestations
• Many of the higher-yielding
crops are not farmable in the
dryer regions of Africa
• Some analysts argue that the
GR has increased economic
inequality in peripheral
countries
• Local farmers in peripheral
countries often have a
difficult time purchasing
more expensive GR seeds
and technologies
•
Example: Nitrogen fertilizer
Environmental Downsides to GR
• GR pesticides have arguably
cause pollution and soilcontamination problems
• Workers who are frequently
exposed to these chemicals
have suffered health problems
from poisoning
• GR crop require more watering
which has led to water
resources being strained
• Because GR seeds are being
adopted so widely ,the genetic
diversity in seeds is rapidly
reducing, and local strains are
being phased out
• GR farming often requires more
mechanized farming techniques
that need expensive fuels to
power farm machines, which
increase pollution and fossil
fuel consumption
Food Movements
•
Conventional farming
– Approach uses chemicals in the
form of plant protectants and
fertilizers
– Uses intensive, hormone-based
practices to breed and raise
animals
•
Organic farming
–
Describes farming or animal husbandry that
occurs without the use of commercial
fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, or growth
hormones
•
Local food
• Usually organically grown
• Usually within a 100-mile radius
• Called “locavores”
• Has been linked to increase of
“family farms” within local “food
shed”
• Also connected to “urban”
agriculture
• Food trucks
•
Fast food
• Born in the U.S. as a product of
WWII
• Utilized assembly-line
production
• McDonald’s first franchise
Biotechnology
• Agricultural biotechnology is
using living organisms to
produce or change plant or
animal products
• Genetic modification is a form
of biotechnology that uses
scientific, genetic manipulation
of crop and animal products to
improve productivity and
products
– Ex.
• Reorganizing plant and animal
DNA
• Tissue culturing
•
Recent innovations in biotech have
led to plant and animal cloning as
well as “super-plants” that grow at
much faster rates
• Crops that are droughtresistant
• Animals cloned to produce
more output
• “super-chicken”
•
Extension of scientific innovation to
all crops and animal products
called the biorevolution
Biotechnology
• Positives
– Can help reduce agricultural
production costs
– Can serve as type of resource
management
– Impressive response to
problems
• Biopharming
– Genes of other life forms
inserted into host plants
– Resulted in “pharma crops”
» Drugs for cancer, AIDs,
Alzheimer's, etc.
» Still experimental
• Negatives
• Cloned plants more susceptible
to disease
•
Leads to increase need of
chemical treatment
• Has led to plants being able to
be grown out of their native
environments
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Has hurt less developed
countries
Trend of farmer suicides
Challenges to Commercial Farmers
• Overproduction in
Commercial farming
– Commercial farmers suffer from low
incomes because they are capable
of producing much more food than
is demanded by consumers
– U.S. has policies that are supposed
to address excess productive
capacity
– Government policies point out irony
in world agricultural practices
• MDCs encourage farmers to grow less
• LDCs struggle to increase food
production to match population growth
• Sustainable agriculture
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Some farmers are transitioning
too
• Less income, but less costs
Popular form is organic farming
Three factors distinguish
sustainable agriculture from
conventional:
• Sensitive land management
• Use of ridge tillage
• Limited use of chemicals
• Limited herbicides
• Better integration of crops
and livestock
Challenges for Subsistence Farmers
• Population growth
– Population growth influences the
distribution of types of subsistence
farmers
– Subsistence farmers increase food
supply two ways”
• New farming methods
• Land is left to fallow for shorter
periods
• International Trade
– Sale of export crops brings foreign
currency into LDCs
• Can be used to buy supplies
– To expand production, subs.
Farmers need higher-yield seeds,
fertilizer, pesticides, and machinery
• Have to import them
• Drug Crops
• Export crops chosen in
LDCs (Latin America and
Asia) are often crops that
can be converted to drugs
• Marijuana
• Cocaine
• Heroin
• U.N estimated in 1998 that
4 million people were
dependent on poppy or
coca leaf
Drug Crops
Emerging Problems in the
Global Food System
Hunger and the Food Supply
• Undernutrition is defined
as not getting enough
calories or nutrients
• Famine is mass starvation
resulting from prolonged
undernutrition in a region
during a certain period
Hunger and the Food Supply
• Solving World Hunger
– Causes of world hunger exist
largely in distribution and
people’s ability to access
food supplies
– Social and economic
structure inherent in
inequality cause foodsecurity issues,
undernutrition, and famine
– Solution to ending world
hunger is not just growing
enough food but empowering
people with the ability to
obtain food or crop
production that can be
maintained over time
Hunger and the Food Supply
• Ester Boserup Theory
– Believed subsistence
farmers want the most
leisure time they can have,
so they farm in ways that
will allow them to feed their
families and maximize free
time
– In theory, she asserts that
subsistence farmers will
change their approach if the
population increases and
more food is needed
• Boserup considered the food
supply to be dependent on
human approaches
• Contrasted Thomas
Malthus theory
• Most evidence show’s theory to
be true in a subsistence
economy
• Not in a technologicallyadvanced industrialized
society
Environmental Issues
• Soil Erosion
– Due to population
pressure, farmers in
many regions are trying
to grow food at faster
rates
• Don’t allow field to fallow
• Leads to soil erosion
– Estimated 7% of world’s
topsoil being depleted
each decade
• Desertification
– Loss of habitable land to
the expansion of deserts
• Related to human
overuse of land
• Example
– Sahara Desert
• Deforestation
• Loss of forested areas
• Caused by humans
chopping down forests at
rates so fast, forests cannot
regenerate
• Some experts think the
rainforest centered
around the equator will
be completely
destroyed within a
century
Debt-for-Nature Swaps
• In trying to save land
resources, governments and
organizations have
organized debt-for-nature
swaps
– Forgives international debts
owed by developing countries
in exchange for these countries
protecting valuable, natural
land resources from human
destruction
Strategies to increase the
food supply
• Expanding Agricultural land
– Today few scientists believe that
further expansion of agricultural land
can feed the growing population
– Threats
• Desertification
• Excessive water
• Urbanization
• New food sources
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• Increasing productivity
– Population grew at the fastest rate in
human history b/w 1950-2000
– Green Revolution playing important
role
Cultivating oceans
• Cover 3/4ths of Earth
High-protein cereals
• People in LDCs generally
rely on wheat, corn and
rice which lack protein
Improving palatability of rarely
consumed foods
• Example in U.S. =
Soybean
• krill
• Increasing trade
•
Export more food from
countries that have surpluses
GMOs
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Genetically modified organisms
– Organism that has had its DNA
•
modified in a laboratory rather than
in cross-pollination
Critics
– Worry there will be unintended
effects on human health
Supporters
– Allows for great advances in
agriculture
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United States
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Europe
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Legal
No labeling requirements
Deemed safe until proved otherwise
U.S. concerned with economic impact of
labeling
Deemed unsafe until proved otherwise
Will not accept food from U.S. with GMOs
Worldwide
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Europe, Parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America,
Canada, and Mexico are devising regulations
to control entry of GMOs into food system