Transcript What`s for Lunch? - Davis` World Studies Class

What’s for Lunch?
Martha B. Sharma
APHG Workshop
NCGE – Lake Tahoe, NV
October 6-7, 2006
www.rettew.com
V. Agricultural and Rural Land Use
Development and diffusion of agriculture
Major agricultural production regions
Rural land use and settlement patterns
Modern commercial agriculture
Importance of Agriculture
All humans depend on agriculture for food
Urban-industrial societies depend on the base of
food surplus generated by farmers and herders
Without agriculture there could be no cities,
universities, factories, or offices
Today agriculture remains the most important
economic activity in the world
Agriculture employs 45 percent of the working
population
In some parts of Asia and Africa, over 80 percent
of the labor force is engaged in agriculture
Agricultural Revolutions
Agriculture has passed through a series
of revolutionary changes
Not everywhere at the same time
Some places still largely unaffected
Transition from predominantly subsistence
activity to predominantly capital-intensive,
market-oriented commercial agriculture
Three distinct revolutions
First Agricultural Revolution
~12,000 year ago
Replaced hunting and gathering
Involved plant and animal
domestication
Emergence of seed agriculture
(wheat, rice)
Use of the plow
Use of draft animals
Modest population increase and
outmigration
Second Agricultural Revolution
Late Middle Ages
Occurred in tandem with Industrial
Revolution
End of feudal landholding system
Enclosure of individually owned fields
Emergence of urban industrial markets
Modification of subsistence farming practices
Crop rotation
Use of natural and semi-processed fertilizers
New tools and equipment
Dramatic increase in crop and livestock yields
Transportation technology linking farm and
urban commercial food market
Third Agricultural Revolution
Origins in North America
Industrialization of agriculture
Mechanization
Replacement of human labor with machines
Chemical farming
Use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides
Food manufacturing
Addition of economic value through processing,
canning, refining, packaging
Green Revolution
Plant breeding
Biotechnology
Genetic manipulation
Traditional plant breeding
DNA is a strand of genes,
much like a strand of
pearls. Traditional plant
breeding combines many
genes at once.
Traditional donor
Commercial variety
New variety
(many genes are transferred)
X
=
(crosses)
Desired Gene
Desired gene
Plant biotechnology
Using plant biotechnology,
a single gene may be
added to the strand.
Desired gene
Commercial variety New variety
(only desired gene is transferred)
=
(transfers)
Desired gene
Traditional breeding involves exchanging all genetic material
between two related plants.
Genetic engineering usually only involves moving one or two
genes and can cross the species barrier.
Protests at WTO Meetings
Biotechnology
Manipulation and management
of biological organisms
Recombinant DNA techniques
Tissue culture (cloning)
Cell fusion
Embryo transfer
Positive: high yielding, disease
resistant “super” plants
Negative: periphery excluded
by distance and cost + concerns
about safety
Increase in Genetically
Engineered Crops in the U.S.
Source: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/
More than 50 biotech food products
have been approved for commercial
use in the United States
Canola
Corn
Cotton
Papaya
Potato
Soybeans
Squash
Sugarbeets
Sweet corn
Tomato
Four crops accounted for nearly all of
the global biotech crop area in 2002
Soybeans
62%
Corn
21%
Cotton
Canola
12%
5%
Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
Four countries accounted for 99 percent*
of the global biotech crop area in 2002
United States
66%
Argentina
Canada
China
23%
6%
4%
*Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, South
Africa, Spain and Uruguay accounted for the remaining 1 percent of biotech crop acres.
Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
Some
Benefits of
Genetically
Modified
Foods
Some Concerns about Genetically
Modified Foods
Possible adverse effects on human health
Introduction of new allergens
Antibiotic-resistant genes in foods
Production of new toxins
Concentration of toxic metals
Enhancement of toxic fungi
Environmental impacts
Dangers not yet identified
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/
Bringing It Into The
Classroom
“Harvest of Fear”
A Learning Activity
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/
Harvest of Fear -- Synopsis
In "Harvest of Fear," FRONTLINE and NOVA
explore the intensifying debate over geneticallymodified (gm) food crops. Interviewing
scientists, farmers, biotech and food industry
representatives, government regulators, and
critics of biotechnology, this two-hour report
presents both sides of the debate, exploring the
risks and benefits, the hopes and fears, of this
new technology.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/
Eight Main Themes
GM foods: pros and cons
Pests, pesticides, GM capabilities
Conflicts with mixed crops
Pesticide resistance
Attitudes toward GM foods
Intellectual property rights and GM foods
Organic farming
Green Revolution
Using the Class Activity
Student resources provided:
Page 1 – Viewing Guide
Main Themes in the video
Important terms (21) used in the video
Questions to consider while watching the video
Page 2 – Taking a Position
Questions (6) to guide development of a
position statement
Selected web sites to begin research
FOR
AGAINST