Transcript PP1(Ch18-29)Growing More

Chapter 18
Food
Resources:
A Challenge for
Agriculture
Hunter
Gatherer
Farmers
Important Molecules
1. Carbohydrates - sugars, starches = energy (ATP)
2. Proteins - 20 amino acids (essential amino acids)
3. Lipids - fats & oil (energy, membrane, hormones)
4. Minerals - inorganic salts - iron, calcium, iodine
5. Vitamins - regulation of metabolic processes - rickets
12 Primary Food Species of Plant
Cereals: wheat, corn,
rice, barley, sorghum,
and soybeans
Roots: potatoes, manioc
and sweet potatoes
Sugars: sugar cane,
sugar beets, and
bananas
Available Plants
30,000 known species
of flowering plants
12 account for over
80% of the worlds
crops
Why So Few Plants
Indigestible
Poisonous
Low Nutritional Value
Tedious to Prepare
Difficult to Gather
Domestication of Plants
What makes a plant a good domestic candidate?
Domestication of
Plants
1. Size
2. Mutant Pods & seed heads did not pop or drop
3. Earliest to ripen - at same
time
4. Self Pollinating
5. Quick to grow
6. Least care
Domestication of Animals
What makes an animal a good domestic candidate?
Domestication of Animals
Animals:
1. Diet - readily available
2. Rapid Growth Rate
3. Captive Breeding
4. Disposition Reasonable
5. Low Panic Levels
6. Social structure & hierarchy
?
?
Diversity & Heirloom (Heritage) Species
vs. GMO
Heirloom Plants: Openly pollinated that produce
most of the parent characteristics.
Heritage Breeds: traditionally raised prior to
industrial era of farming
 Reliance upon modern varieties of rice caused
more than 1,500 local rice varieties in Indonesia
to become extinct.
 Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable
varieties available in 1903 are now extinct.
World Food Problems
Malnourished – poor diet
Undernourished - too few
calories
Famine - crisis of food
supply
Famine
 1983-1985: Drought 1.5
million deaths in
Ethiopia and Sudan
 1993 – civil unrest &
drought 2 million
starving Somalis
 1990’s – flooding and
drought 2 million
deaths in North Korea
Primary causes of Famine:
1. Political Unrest
2. Drought
3. Ecological Distress 
?
Kwashiorkor - malnutrition causing fluid retention
Marasmus - low caloric and protein intake
Kwashiorkor
Marasmus
Grain Production
Grain Stocks
U.N. estimates that
carryover stocks
should not fall below 70
days from start of the
next harvest.
Each year the world demand for grain climbs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
80 Million more people each year
3 billion people are trying to move up the food chain
Ethanol distilleries to produce fuel for cars
Feeding Livestock
The First Green Revolution
1940’s -1970 – began in Mexico
• High yield varieties – domesticated plants
bred specifically to respond to fertilizers
• Increasing the amount of calories produced
per acre of agriculture
The First Green Revolution
1. Inorganic fertilizers
2. Irrigation
3. Pesticides + other
“cides”
4. Monocultures
5. Aquaculture
6. Machine replaces
human and animal
labor
7. Oil Dependent
 Soil Erosion
 Pollution – water & air
 Lack of Water due to
irrigation
 Overgrazing by
Livestock desertification
 Overfishing – stock
reductions
 Loss of Ecological
Services
LiFe on CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation)
• Fed Grains not grass
• Antibiotics in feedstuff
• Hormone supplementation
Bucolic?
Veal
Second Green Revolution? - GMO’s
Issues with Genetic Engineering:
1. Safety or Playing GOD
2. Fear of Unknown Vs. Reality – Frankenfoods
3. Labeling? - Right to Know
Examples:
1.Human hormone Producing plants
2.Roundup Ready Corn, Soybeans, Cotton
3.Bt Corn & Potatoes – insect dies of septicemia
4.Arctic Char gene in strawberries – antifreeze
5.Rapid growing fish
What does it mean to be organic?
Certified USDA organic = 95% organic or better
Certified Organic = 70% organic
http://www.extension.org/article/18735
Is it worth the money?
Going Organic - going back?
Sustainable Agriculture
Keene Family Farm
Walnut Acres
1. Fertilizer = animal and plant waste
2. Integrated pest management
3. Crop Rotations
4. Crop choice for soil fertility (immune system)
5. Cover Crop (alfalfa & clover)
6. Soil Rest
Certified Organic - 3 years no inorganic fertilizers
or pesticides
USDA Organic - animals fed certified organic feed
More $ = more labor / smaller quantities
Agricultures Future
CUD = http://vimeo.com/6177004