Transcript Food Solutions - Liberty Union High School District

Solutions to Environmental
Problems Associated with Food
Production
Tuesday, November 1st, 2016
BUT, I’m HUNGRY!
What can we do?
Answer:
1. Adopt sustainable agriculture (low input
practices that cost less and are less damaging)
2. Change Food Subsidies
3. Coupled with genetic engineering.
3. Eat new foods
#1. What is sustainable
agriculture?
Two major ways to increase world’s food
production:
1. Increase crop yields
2. Increase the amount of land used
Sustainable Agriculture
Method of growing crops and raising
livestock based on organic fertilizers, soil
conservation, water conservation,
biological pest control, and minimal use of
nonrenewable fossil fuel energy.
Solutions
More Sustainable Agriculture
More
Less
High-yield polyculture
Soil erosion
Soil salinization
Organic fertilizers
Biological pest
control
Integrated pest
management
Efficient irrigation
Perennial crops
Crop rotation
Water-efficient crops
Soil conservation
Subsidies for
sustainable farming
Water pollution
Aquifer depletion
Overgrazing
Overfishing
Loss of biodiversity and
agrobiodiversity
Fossil fuel use
Greenhouse gas
emissions
Subsidies for
unsustainable
farming
Fig. 12-34, p. 310
Organic Food
• Produced without synthetic pesticides,
herbicides, & fungicides
• No GMFs
Organic meat/dairy
- 100% organically grown feed
- Outdoor pasture
- No hormones/antibiotics
Produce Meat More Efficiently and
Humanely
• Shift to more grainefficient forms of
protein
• Beef from
rangelands &
pastures, not
feedlots
• Develop meat
substitutes;
Efficiency of Converting Grain
eat less meat
into Animal Protein
Sustainable Practices
A. Diversifying products
1. Crop rotation
2. Conservation tillage
3. Contour plowing
B. Low input farming with water/energy
conservation
C. Natural predator/prey relationships over
chemical pesticides
D. Natural fertilizers from manure vs.
commercial fertilizers
#2. Government Agriculture Policy
Government
Assistance
– Keep food prices
artificially low
– Give farmers
subsidies
– Eliminate most or
all price controls
and subsidies and
let farmers/fishers
respond to market
demand
Environmentalists think…
Use subsidies to reward farmers/fishers/ranchers who:
- Protect the soil
- Conserve water
- Reforest degraded land
- Protect and restore wetlands
- Conserve wildlife
- Practice more sustainable
agriculture/fishing/ranching
#3 Genetic Engineering
• Crossbreeding and artificial selection
• Genetic engineering (gene splicing)
• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
What are Genetically Modified
Foods? *
Genetically Modified Organisms
• To increase crop yields, we can mix the
genes of similar types of organisms and
mix the genes of different organisms.
– Artificial selection has been used for
centuries to develop genetically improved
varieties of crops.
– Genetic engineering develops improved
strains at an exponential pace compared to
artificial selection.
Genetically Modified Organisms
• GMO- scientists directly alter the genes
of organisms including crop plants and
livestock
• GM crops are modified to be– Herbicide resistant so farmers can spray
herbicide on weeds w/o killing their crops
– Pest resistant
– Ice resistant (strawberries)
Genetic engineering is like, and
unlike, traditional breeding
• Traditional breeding changes organisms
through selective breeding of the same or
similar species
– Works with entire organisms in the field
– Genes come together on their own
– Uses the process of selection
• Genetic engineering mixes genes of
different species
– Works with genetic material in the lab
– Directly creates novel combinations of genes
– Resembles the process of mutation
Genetically Modified Organisms
Controversy has arisen
over the use of
genetically modified
food (GMF).
– Critics fear that we know
too little about the longterm potential harm to
human and ecosystem
health.
There is controversy
over legal ownership of
genetically modified
crop varieties and
whether GMFs should
be labeled.
Genetic Engineering
• Wild plants/animals genetic diversity
• Domesticated plants/animals genetic
diversity as certain characteristics are
selected for
• Genetic diversity means species are
more susceptible to new strains of
disease, increasing risk of total species
loss.
Phase 1
Make Modified Gene
cell
Identify and extract
gene with desired trait
Identify and remove
portion of DNA
with desired trait
gene
DNA
Plasmid
Remove plasmid
from DNA of E. coli
E. coli
DNA
Insert extracted DNA
(step 2) into plasmid
(step3)
Genetically
modified
plasmid
plasmid
Insert modified
plasmid into E. coli
Grow in tissue
culture to
make copies
Phase 2
Make Transgenic Cell
Transfer plasmid
copies to a carrier
agrobacterium
A. tumefaciens
(agrobacterium)
Agrobacterium
inserts foreign
DNA into plant
cell to yield
transgenic cell
Plant cell
Nucleus
Host DNA
Foreign DNA
Transfer plasmid
to surface
microscopic metal
particle
Use gene gun
to inject DNA
into plant cell
Phase 3
Grow Genetically Engineered Plant
1) Half the time as
conventional
crossbreeding
2) Cuts costs
3) Allows insertion
of genes from
almost any other
organism
Transgenic cell
from Phase 2
Cell division of
transgenic cells
Culture cells
to form plantlets
Transgenic plants
with new traits
Trade-Offs
Genetically Modified
Crops and Foods
Advantages
Disadvantages
Need less fertilizer
Unpredictable
genetic and
ecological effects
Need less water
More resistant to
insects, disease,
frost, and drought
Grow faster
May need less
pesticides or tolerate
higher levels of
herbicides
May reduce energy
needs
Harmful toxins and new
allergens in food
No increase in yields
More pesticide-resistant
insects and herbicide-resistant
weeds
Could disrupt seed
market
Lower genetic
diversity
Fig. 12-18, p. 294
Advantages vs. Disadvantages
• May produce food plants that are more
nutritious
• Develop crops resistant to
pests/disease/drought/hot/cold/herbicides/a
cidic-basic soils
• Develop disease resistant vaccines for
livestock
• DID YOU KNOW … 2/3 of food products in US
markets contain GM crops!
#4 Try New Foods
Ant Larvae, waterbugs, caterpillers,
cockroaches, butterflies, fried ants
I DON’T WANT TO EAT BUGS…
Can we cultivate more land instead?
Not really – most land is marginal land
with poor fertility/steep slopes and would
require high inputs of
fertilizer/water/energy which are
expensive.
How can we increase crop/stock
yields?
• In developed countries:
– Fertilizer
– Pesticides
– Selective breeding
– Machinery
GREEN REVOLUTION: increase food
production per acre
Increase Livestock Yields by:
hormone and antibiotic injections.
European Union (EU) banned use due to
health concerns BUT US/Canada still use
practice
Should we continue Green
Revolution techniques?
– Without fertilizer, water, and pesticides green
revolution varieties are no more productive
than traditional varieties
– Green revolution varieties and their needed
inputs cost too much for subsistence farming.
– Grain yields are increasing at a much slower
pace.
– Actual gains from green and gene revolutions
may be overstated.
– Crop yield may start dropping for a number of
environmental reasons.
– Increased loss of biodiversity can limit genetic
raw material.
Tools to reduce hunger
& malnutrition
• Slow population growth
• Reduce poverty
• Sustainable agriculture