Transcript Modern Commercial Agriculture Part 2

Modern Commercial Agriculture
Part 2: Organic, Local, Environmental
Impacts, and the Global Food Crisis
AP HUG
Organic Agriculture
• A farming system that promotes sustainable
and biodiverse ecosystems and relies on
natural ecological processes and cycles, as
opposed to synthetic inputs such as pesticides
and fertilizers
Bell Ringer: Map Analysis
• Where are the farms located in the United
States?
• Where are the organic farms located?
• Describe the differences and similarities in
their location.
• Why do you think the differences exist?
Spatial Distribution of American Farms
Spatial Distribution of Organic Farms
• Look at the map of Median Income
• What pattern(s) do you see in the relationship
of the location of organic farms.
• Look at the obesity maps provided.
• What do you see when you compare the
Organic Farms, Median Income, and Obesity
maps with on another?
Obesity Trends Among Adults
Elbow Partner Analysis
• What is the pattern?
• Why does the pattern exist?
• Why is the pattern important?
™
The Dirty Dozen™ and
The Dirty Dozen™
The Clean Fifteen
•
• Of the 12 most contaminated foods, 7 are fruits: peaches, strawberries,
apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, cherries and imported grapes.
• Celery, sweet bell peppers, spinach, kale, collard greens and potatoes are
the vegetables most likely to retain pesticide contamination:
• The Clean Fifteen™
• The vegetables least likely to test positive for pesticides are onions, sweet
corn, sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant and sweet potatoes.
• The fruits least likely to test positive for pesticide residues are avocados,
pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit
and honeydew.
•
http://www.foodnews.org/
Global Food Crisis
• A sustained condition of food insecurity
worldwide in scope and significance
Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in
Africa – more than 300 million Africans depend
on it as their main food source.
Thikhala Chilembwe, 14, from
Malawi.
Margret David harvests a healthy
crop from her garden in Malawi.
PHOTO: CAMERON MCNEE/MISSIONMALAWI//ACTIONAID
PHOTO: ACTIONAID
Why has this maize crop dried up?
Can you think of three reasons?
The Yaa family's failed maize crop in
Langobaya, Kenya.
PHOTO: DES WILLIE/ACTIONAID
The Yaa family’s
maize crop has failed
due to recurrent
drought.
As a result, the family
have only 5kg of
beans and 5kg of rice
to eat for the next
three weeks.
Karisa, Mariam and Karembo
Yaa at home in Langobaya,
Kenya.
PHOTO: DES WILLIE/ACTIONAID
• Desertification: the gradual transformation of
habitable land into desert
Desertification
• One of the most serious threats facing
humanity
• Affects 1/5 of the world’s population in more
than 100 countries
• Poverty is a cause and a consequence
• Leads to forced migration (rural to urban)
Desertification Vulnerability
Soil Erosion
• The physical loss and reduction in quality
of topsoil associated with nutrient decline
and contamination.
Food Miles
• The distance that food
travels from where it
is produced to where
it is consumed.
• A way of indicating the
environmental impact
of the food we eat
Biofuels: fossil fuel substitutes that can be made from a range
of agricultural crop materials including oilseeds, wheat, corn
and sugar
Advantages
• It is a renewable form of
energy as long as people
replant crops.
• It is cheap and the
resources can be grown
locally
Disadvantages
• It can still release
greenhouse gases.
• Areas can be deforested to
grow crops for energy
generation.
• If crops are used for energy
production it can lead to an
increase in food prices
Deforestation
• Deforestation: the
process of
destroying a
forest and
replacing it with
something else
Irrigation
• The process of
directing water from
nearby water sources
to cropland.
Urban Agriculture
• The use of vacant lots, rooftops, balconies, or
other urban spaces to raise food for
metropolitan households or neighborhoods.
Conservation
• Conservation agriculture provides knowledge
and tools to enable farmers to achieve
acceptable profits from high and sustained
crop production levels while, at the same
time, conserving resources and protecting the
environment.
Sustainable Agriculture
• This term refers to the ability of a farm to
produce food indefinitely, without causing
irreversible damage to ecosystems.
• Sustainable farming reduces or prevents
environmental degradation (depletion of
vegetation loss of biodiversity, soil and water)
Key Ideas with Sustainable Agriculture
• Conservation and soil health
• Nutrient recycling e.g. animal waste being
used for fertilizer
• Biodiversity – this is helped through a minimal
use of chemicals on the land
• Animal welfare – more care taken with
animals, and different diets perhaps
• Fair wages and treatment for workforce – farm
is part of the rural community
Ted Talk Active Viewing “One Seed
At a Time”
• http://www.ted.com/talks/cary_fowler_one_s
eed_at_a_time_protecting_the_future_of_foo
d.html
• As you watch, answer these questions in your
notebooks:
– How does climate change threaten the diversity of
the crops we eat?
– What are the solutions the speaker talks about?