Transcript Food Issues - Miami University

Food Issues
Are there still “food issues”, or have
we gotten away from the pattern seen
in Green History of the World?
1974 – Henry Kissinger, Sec. State USA
“By 1984, no man, woman, or child will go to bed hungry”.
1996 – World Food Summit, Rome, 186 countries
Goal set to reduce the number of hungry by half by 2015.
1999 – UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Food Summit goal is not likely to be reached because the
“momentum is too slow and the progress too uneven”
2000 - 1.1 billion people are undernourished and underweight
(~20% of global population)
So what are the issues?
• Food
What makes a healthy diet?
What is the composition of world’s food?
Where does it come from?
What is the current status of world food supplies?
What should we expect from future food production?
• Hunger
What is it?
What causes it?
Can we do anything about it?
Should we do anything about it?
#1 What makes a healthy diet?
1992 - USDA
In terms of nutrients:
Carbohydrates = starches and sugars
- used for energy
- gotten from plants
Fats = fats and oils
- used for energy storage, cell membranes, protection
- from animal products and plant oils
Proteins
- contain amino acids – 20 total, 9 essential
- essential = must bet from diet, body can’t make
- complete protein = has all essential amino acids in approx.
proportions needed by human body
- building blocks of most tissues
- from animal products, grains, legumes
Vitamins and minerals
- essential for healthy tissues and functioning
#2 What is the composition of world’s food?
Of thousands of edible
plants and animals in
the world, only
- a dozen seeds and
grains,
- 3 root crops,
- 20 or so fruits and
vegetables,
- 6 mammals,
- 2 domestic fowl,
- a few fish and other
forms of marine life
make up almost all of
the food humans
eat.
Crop
1995 yield
(mil metric tons)
Rice
550
Wheat
541
Maize (corn)
541
Cassava and sweet potato
286
Potatoes
281
Barley and oats
170
Sorghum and millet
84
Pulses (legumes + peas and
beans)
56
Vegetables and fruits
884
Sugar (cane and beet)
119
Vegetable oils
91
Meat and milk
741
Fish and seafood
110
#2 Where in the World Did It Come From?
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Name
Potato
Black walnut
Pinto beans
Winter squash
Oats
Concord grapes
Coffee
Corn
Carrots
Lima beans
Cabbage
Orange
Wheat
Tomato
Blueberry
Rice
Peanuts
Soybeans
Kidney beans
Peas
Cranberry
Apple
Place of Origin
Top 4 food sources (tons)
Where in the World Did It Come From?
And the answers are . . . Any surprises?
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Name
Potato
Black walnut
Pinto beans
Winter squash
Oats
Concord grapes
Coffee
Corn
Carrots
Lima beans
Cabbage
Orange
Wheat
Tomato
Blueberry
Rice
Peanuts
Soybeans
Kidney beans
Peas
Cranberry
Apple
Place of Origin
S.A. (Peru)
N.A. (UA)
S.A.
S.A.
Asia, Africa
N.A.(USA)
Africa (Ethiopia)
Mexico
Africa, Europe, Asia
Tropical America
England, Denmark
Asia (China)
Asia, Africa
S.A.
N.A.(USA)
Asia
S.A. (Brazil)
China, India, Japan
S.A.
Europe, Asia
N.A.(USA)
Europe, Asia
Top 4 food sources (tons)
#4
1995 tons
281
#3
514
#2
541
#1
550
Where does it come from really? –
farming
• Earth’s total free land
= 33.6 B acres (13.6 B ha)
• 11% easily used for crops
• 10% used for grazing
• What about the rest?
Where does it come from really?
– fish and seafood
• Most of ocean is nutrient poor
• Marine catch from 4 main areas
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Estuaries
Continenetal shelf upwellings
Coastal wetlands
Coral reefs
#4 What is the current status of world
food supplies?
grains
1950-1984 - Growth of 3% per year
- 50s and 60s growth exceeded population
WHY?
What is the current status of world food
supplies?
fish
Peak world production in 1989
Since 1989, has decreased by 5%
What should we expect from
future food production?
• Things to consider:
– Environmental destruction
– Population
– New technology
Biodiversity loss
- Loss and degradation
of habitat from
clearing, draining, and
overuse
- Fish kills from
pesticide runoff
- Killing of wild
predators to protect
livestock
- Loss of genetic
diversity from
replacing wild crops
with few monoculture
strains
Soil degradation
- Erosion
- Loss of fertility
- Salinization
- Waterlogging
- Desertification
Air pollution
- Greenhouse gases
from fossil fuel use
- Other fossil fuel
pollutants
- Pollution from
pesticide and herbicide
sprays
Water
- Aquifer depletion
- Increased runoff and
flooding from clearing
land
- Sediment pollution
- Fish kills from pesticide
runoff
- Surface and groundwater
pollution from pesticides
and fertilizers
- Overfertilization of lakes
and rivers from fertilizers,
livestock wastes, and food
processing
Human Health
- Nitrates in drinking
water
- Pesticides in drinking
water, food, and air
- Contamination of
drinking and
swimming water with
disease organisms from
livestock wastes
- Bacterial
contamination of meat
Population effect on per capita production
grain
Population effect on per capita production
fish
• Estimates of
human
population
carrying
capacity with
maximum use
of available land
and varying
inputs of water,
fertilizer, and
energy.
#5 Hunger - What is it?
Premature death
- 40 mil/year die from hunger and hunger-related
diseases
- Starvation = suffering and death from too little
nourishment
- Famine = widespread starvation
Emotions?
- Anguish, grief, fear
- Powerlessness
Malnutrition = too little of specific nutrients
Marasmus =
not enough of
either
Kwashiorkor =
enough
calories, not
enough
protein
#6 Hunger - What causes it?
• All hungry people have one characteristic in
common – they are poor.
• Hunger exists because people lack the
political and economic power to fight it.
• The root cause of hunger isn’t scarcity of
food or land; it’s a scarcity of democracy.
Interactions of poverty, malnutrition and disease
# 7 Can we do anything about it?
Should we do anything about it?