Chapter 12 – Food Production and the Environment
12.1 and 12.2
Food Security and Nutrition

More than enough food is produced to meet the nutritional needs of everyone on
earth.

1 in 6 people in developing countries does not get enough food.

The root cause of malnutrition and hunger is poverty.
What is food security?
What are the environmental aspects of food security?
What is food insecurity?
What is Chronic Hunger and malnutrition?
What is famine?
Malnutrition is often from lack of proteins, calories and other key nutrients
What results in the following deficiency:
Vitamin A –
Iron –
Iodine – Goiter –
What are the health effects of over nutrition?
Food Production
Three systems
Croplands –
Range and pasture land –
Oceanic fisheries –
Food production has increased drastically since 1960. What technological
advances have allowed this to happen?
What are the big three crops?
Compare industrialized agriculture with plantation agriculture. Make a chart
What is a polyculture and list the reasons why it can be sustainable?
What does it mean to be 100% organic opposed to being labeled just organic?
What is the green revolution and describe the three step?
What is the second green revolution and what has been the result of both
revolutions?
How has biofuel production increased food prices?
Gene Revolution
It is the use of genetic engineering to develop improved stains of crops and livestock.
(bioengineering)
EX.
What are the pros and cons of GFM?
Producing more meat
Meat production has increased six fold in the last 50 years
What are CAFO’s and what problems do they cause?
Fish and shellfish
- 75% of fisheries are harvested at full capacity.
Define Aquaculture –
Define Fish farming –
12.3 – Environmental problems

look at the chart on page 288
Soil is created through weathering and decomposition of organic matter. Over time they
form horizons
O – horizon
A - horizon
B – horizon
C - horizon
Soil erosion – the movement of soil from one place to another by the action of wind and
water. It is a natural process but accelerated by human activities.
The two major effects of erosion are
1) loss of soil fertility and 2) water pollution
Desertification – the process in which productive topsoil falls by 10% or more because of
the combination of prolonged drought and man activities that expose topsoil to erosion.
Waterlogging – when water accumulates underground and gradually raises the water
table. Deprives plants of oxygen.





industrialized livestock production generates about 18% of world’s greenhouse
gases
livestock release methane – 25x stronger greenhouse gas than CO2
loss of tropical grasslands (cerado) in Brazil for use of growing cattle feed and
sugarcane for ethanol
loss of agrobiodiversity (using only a few varieties of crops) – seeds cannot be
stored indefinitely
GMO’s cannot be recalled once used and may hybridized with natural speices (ex
corn)
What are the limits to the Green Revolution? Pg 293





meat produced by industrialized agriculture is artificially cheap because it does
not include environmental or health cost.
Use of antibiotics in livestock may be creating genetic resistance of infectious
diseases to humans
1/3 of wild caught fish are used to make fishmeal and fish oil for farm fed fish
aquaculture has large waste outputs and may spread invasive plants
creating genetically engineered salmon that grows quicker and requires less feed
(what if it escapes?)
12. 4 Pest Management
Pest is any species that competes with us for food, other resources, destroys goods and
services, or is a nuisance.
Natural predators keep most organisms form becoming pests
Pesticides – chemicals to control pests
Plants have always produced natural pesticides (biopesticides)
First generation pesticides - Nicotine sulfate was used by farmers in the 1600’s – also
pyrethrum and rotenone – natural extracts
Second generation pesticides – synthetic chemicals – DDT – invented in 1939
Since the 70’s chemists have returned to many natural chemicals


pesticides have become 10 – 100 times more toxic fold since the 50’s and many
are much more toxic
large amounts of pesticides are used in households – 250,000 people get sick each
year
Make a chart comparing the benefits versus the drawbacks of synthetic pesticides
What chain reaction occurred from spraying dieldrin in Borneo? Pg 298
Pesticides in the U.S. are regulated by the EPA, USDA, and FDA under the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
EPA has banned or severely restricted 64 active pesticide ingredients
Which foods have the highest concentration of pesticides?
What is the circle of poison or boomerang effect?
What is the POPS treaty?
Integrated Pest Management – carefully designed program in which crops and their pests
are evaluated as parts of an ecosystem.
Describe seven alternatives to synthetic pesticides.
What is the three point strategy to promote IPM in the U.S.?
12.5 How can we improve Food Security
Governments use two approaches to influence food production
1) control food prices
2) provide subsidies by giving farmers price supports, tax breaks, and other financial
support to keep them in business to encourage them to increase food production
UNICEF – United Nations children’s fund
Global Crop Diversity Trust is trying to prevent the disappearance of 100,000
varieties of food crops
Locally produced sustainable agriculture increases food security by providing
fresher food and supports the local economy.
Community-supported Agriculture (CSA) programs allow people to
buy shares of a local farmers crops and receive a box of produce each week
People are finding creative ways to produce food in urban environments

Reducing waste could improve food security
1.6 How can we Produce Food more sustainable
Soil conservation – (power point assignment)
Agroforestry or alley Cropping – crops are planted in rows with trees
Hydorponics – growing plants using nutrient rich water instead of soil
Plants and fish can be raised together in a closed-loop system aquaponic system
Topsoil could be conserved by retire the erosion hotspots on the planet
Fertilizer
Synthetic – manufactured inorganic nutrients
Organic
Describe the three types of organic fertilizers
Explain how compost can be multipurpose.
List several ways to reduce soil salinization and Desertification
Describe the following aquaculture options.
-
open-ocean aquaculture.
-
recirculating aquaculture systems
-
polyaquaculture
List several ways to make meat and dairy production more sustainable.

Organic farming is major step toward sustainable agriculture
What are the five major strategies to help farmers and consumers to make the
transition to more sustainable agriculture over the next 50 years?