Agriculture and food production

Food security
Food security is the condition
under which people have daily
access to enough food.
What are some factors that
may contribute to food
insecurity?
Food insecurity can lead to
undernutrition or
malnutrition.
Overnutrition can be a
problem too.

Increasing food security

Some politcal-economic thoughts:
Monetarists believe that government
intervention causes the badly misallocated
distribution of food
Structuralists believe that the low
productivity of the land tenure system is to
blame

What can we do to increase food security?

How is food produced?

Three food systems supply most of our
food:
Croplands
Rangelands/pastures and feedlots
Fisheries and aquaculture

2/3 of the worlds people survive on wheat,

rice, or corn
Meat production and aquaculture are
growing

Crop production I
Two basic types of agricultural food
production:
Industrialized agriculture (agribusiness)
Subsistence agriculture

Crop production II
Traditional agriculture
Agrodiversity in action
Intercropping
Agroforestry (alley
cropping)
Polyculture

Crop production III

The growth of industrialized food
production
First green revolution (~1950 1970)
Second green revolution (late 1960s)
There have been several successes and
failures associated with the spread of the
green revolutions

Do we produce enough food?

We produce more than enough food to
feed everyone. However, food is not
distributed equally (relative scarcity)
Poverty continues to produce hunger and
malnutrition even in developed countries

Gene revolutions
First gene revolution involved crossbreeding
(or artificial selection)
Second gene revolution involves genetic
engineering and results in genetically modified
food (GMOs)
What are some possible advantages and
disadvantages of GM crops?

Is increasing crop yields the answer?

Can we expand
biotechnology and the
green revolution
technologies to new parts
of the world?

Environmental problems associated with agriculture I

Soil erosion is the movement of soil

components from one place to another.
There are two main types of erosion:
Geological erosion
Accelerated erosion

There are two main soil erosion

processes:
Overland flow erosion
Wind erosion

Environmental problems associated with agriculture II

Extreme overland flow may
result in rill or gulley
erosion
Desertification (drying out
of the soil) may result from
prolonged drought and/or
human activities
Salinization may result from
excessive irrigation

Some soil conservation techniques

Terracing
Contour farming
Windbreaks
Strip cropping
Conservation tillage

Agricultural pests
A pest in any species that we think
competes with us
In natural ecosystems or polyculture
agroecosystems many pest species are
kept in check
Pest become a problem when we simplify
ecosystems

Pests and pesticides

Common pesticides include insecticides,
herbicides, fungicides, nematocides, and
rodenticides.
Some pesticides are broad-spectrum
agents, while others are narrow
spectrum (or selective) agents.
All pesticides vary in their persistence.

What is the case for pesticides?

Pesticides have saved human lives
Pesticides increase food supplies and
lower food costs
Pesticides work better and faster than
alternatives
Health risks are insignificant compared to
benefits
Many new pesticides are used at very low
rates per unit area

What is the case against pesticides?

Genetic resistance
Broad-spectrum insecticides kill natural
predators and parasites of pests
Wiping out predators can unleash new pests
Pesticides do not stay put
Some pesticides can harm wildlife
Pesticides can also threaten human health
Bioaccumulation and biomagnification

What are other ways to control pests?

Cultivation practices
Genetically resistant crops
Biological control
Biopesticides (botanicals)
Microbes
Hormones
Pheromones
Integrated Pest Management
(IPM)

Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers

Animal manure
Guano
Human waste
Green manure

Inorganic fertilizers
Nitrogen fertilizers
Balanced (mixed)
fertilizers

Disadvantages of synthetic fertilizers

Intensive use of energy
Reduction in soil oxygen
Water pollution
Human illness

Organic agriculture
A low-input agricultural system
Can improve and maintain soil fertility, be
more profitable, and help poor families
Organic food tends to cost more because
it is more labor intensive, but what would
food cost if we factor in the environmental
and health effects of food production?