Food and

Agriculture
 History and Types of
Agriculture
Demand-based agriculture - production determined by
economic demand and limited by classical economic
supply and demand theory. This approach became
common during the industrial revolution.
Resource-based agriculture - production determined
by resource availability; economic demand usually
exceeds production. This approach was the original
type of farming 10,000 years ago. Modern
approaches are very high tech and somewhat more
expensive.
 Plant Food Sources
250,000 plant species
3000 tried as crops
300 grown for food
100 species used on large scale for food
15 to 20 species provide vast majority (90%)
of mans food needs
It takes about 16 pounds of grain to produce
one pound of edible meat
Largest crop volumes provided by: wheat,
rice, corn, potatoes, barley
Wheat and rice supply ~60% of human
caloric intake
 Other Plant Food Sources
1. Potatoes 10. Millet 20. Peanut
2. Barley 11. Banana 21. Watermelon
3. Sweet Potato 12. Tomato 22. Cabbage
4. Cassava 13. Sugar Beet 23. Onion
(source of 14. Rye 24. Bean
tapioca) 15. Orange 25. Pea
5. Grape 16. Coconut 26. Sunflower
6. Soybean 17. Cottonseed Seed
7. Oats 18. Apple 27. Mango
8. Sorghum 19. Yam
9. Sugarcane
 Types of Crops

Cash crops vs. subsistence

crops
cash crops may provide non-
food products (latex)
provide products which do
not make up our primary
nutrition (tea, coffee)
 Agroecosystems
Ecosystem created by agricultural
practices
characterized by low
Genetic diversity
Species diversity
Habitat diversity
 Agroecosystems
Agroecosystems differ from natural ecosystems in
five major ways:
1.Farming attempts to stop ecological succession
2.Species diversity is low
a.farmers usually practice monoculture
b.monoculture tends to soil fertility
3.Farmers plant species (crops) in an orderly fashion
- this can make pest control more difficult
4.Food chains are far more simple in agroecosystems
5.Plowing is like no other natural disturbance
a.plowing can erosion
b.cause more nutrient loss (which is replaced by
fertilizer)
World Food Supply and the Environment

Our current food problem is the

result of our human population
Food production depends upon
favorable environmental conditions
Agriculture changes the environment
- such changes can be detrimental
Food supply can be adversely
affected by social unrest that
influence agriculture
 Grain Production
Grain production increased from 631 to 1780 million
metric tons from 1950 to 1990.
Has leveled off since then
Top five countries in order of producing the most
amount of grain are:
1. China
2. United States
3. India
4. Canada
5. Ukraine
 Livestock
domesticated livestock (sheep, pigs,
chickens, cattle) are an important food
source for humans
ruminants (four-chambered stomachs)
contain bacteria that can convert plant
tissue to animal protein/fat hence,
plant material originally unusable for
man is converted into food sources that
can be ingested by man
Wilkes, Angela. My first word board book. (1999) DK Publishing, NY.
 Meat Sources
About 90% of all meat and milk are consumed by
United States, Europe and Japan which constitute only
20% of world population
About 90% of the grain grown in the United States is
used for animal feed
16 kg of grain 1 kg of meat
By eating grain instead would get 20 times the
calories and 8 times the protein
 Malnutrition and Famines
One quarter of the human population is malnourished
Sub-Saharan Africa (~225 million)
East and Southeast Asia (~275 million)
South Asia (~250 million)
Parts of Latin America
 Malnutrition/Famines
Stem from not enough calories per day in addition to not
getting the necessary amounts of carbohydrates, proteins,
lipids (fats), minerals, and vitamins
Generally diets are high in starches
Famine conditions
Major droughts -- Political instability
Population sizes -- Land Seizures
Massive immigration -- Pestilence
Floods -- Distribution breakdown
Wars --Panic buying
Chaos in economy -- Hoarding
Limits on Food Production
arable land
precipitation
temperature
global warming (ice age temp was
only 5o C less than now!)
 Methods to Increase Food Supply
Improved irrigation and utilization of water
Drip irrigation
Increasing arable land
Difficult because of precipitation and
temperature
Eating lower on the food chain
Most rangeland is not arable and humans
cannot utilize grass/hay as food;
therefore, this argument is not
considered valid
 Methods to Increase Food Supply
Food distribution modification
Today distribution of food is a major
problem in Africa/Asia
Best solution: teach locals how to
best utilize their land with
appropriate technology so they can
attempt to support themselves and
not rely on others.
New vs. Old
Agriculture
 Soil Resources

What is Soil?
Ways We Use and Abuse Soil
Erosion
How much Land
is Arable?
Pests and
Pesticides
 The problem with chemicals
Groundwater contamination
Effects of low concentrations?
Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification
 Pesticides Pro and Con
Kill unwanted pests that carry
disease (rats, mosquitoes,
Tse-Tse flies)
Increase food supplies
More food means food is less
expensive
Effective and fast-acting
Newer pesticides are safer,
more specific
Reduces labor costs on farms
Food looks better
Agriculture is more profitable
Accumulate in food chain
Pests develop resistance
500 species so far
Resistance creates pesticide
treadmill
Estimates are $5-10 in
damage done for $1 spent on
pesticide
Pesticide runoff
Destroy bees - $200 million
Threaten endangered species
Affect egg shell of birds
5% actually reach pest
~20,000 human deaths/year
 Types of Pesticides
Biological Ladybugs, parasitic wasps, etc.
Carbamates effect nervous system of pests more water
soluble than chlorinated hydrocarbons
Aldicarb, aminocarb, carbaryl (Sevin), carbofuran,
Mirex
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons affect nervous system
Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, lindane and
paradichlorobenzene
Fumigants are used to sterilize soil and prevent grain
infestation
 Types of Pesticides
Inorganic arsenic, copper, lead, mercury
Highly toxic and bioaccumulation
Organic or natural derived from plants such as
tobacco and chrysanthemum
Organophosphates extremely toxic, low persistence
Malathion, parthion, chlophyrifos, acepate,
propetamphos and trichlofon
 Integrated Pest Management
Some practices for preventing pest damage may
include
inspecting crops and monitoring crops for damage
using mechanical trapping devices
natural predators (e.g., insects that eat other insects)
insect growth regulators
mating disruption substances (pheromones)
if necessary, chemical pesticides
 Parts of IPM
Polyculture instead of monoculture
Intercropping alternate rows of crops that have different
pests
Planting pest-repellent crops
Mulch to control weeds
Natural insect predators ladybugs, preying mantis, birds
Rotating crops to disrupt insect cycles
Using Pheromones to attract insects to traps
Releasing sterilized insects