Food Production and Sustainable Agriculture

Soil formation is slow and complex

soil is formed from eroded rock, lava, volcanic ash weathering - processes that break down rocks to form soil

physical - wind, rain, freezing and thawing chemical - reactions with water, acids, or other materials biological - organisms (such as lichens) break down the rocks

this takes a long time

(Note: see the article on soil in this week's assignment module)

Soil degradation has many causes

soil degradation results from deforestation, agriculture and overgrazing over the past 50 years, soil degradation has reduced global grain production by 13%

Effects of overgrazing
strips land and causes erosion animals trample and compact the soil

decreases fertility

non-native invasive species may move into the area

new vegetation less palatable to livestock new species may out-compete and replace native vegetation

Streamside ecosystem before and after cattle grazing - this is the same location!

Soil erosion is a global problem

desertification - loss of more than 10% productivity humans are primary cause of desertification and erosion is occurring at unnaturally high rates in Africa, erosion over the next 40 years could reduce crop yields by half

Dust Bowl

occurred in 1930s - poor farming practices caused serious erosion problems drought made conditions worse thousands of farmers left their land and had to rely on governmental help dry soil, stripped of its vegetation, blew on wind traveling all the way across the country (people in New York City had houses filled with eroded dust)

Note: I took this photo recently!

Winds carry eroded soil

Erosion of sediments into the Gulf of Mexico (Landsat photo)

light color is the eroded soil in the water

Protecting the soil

shelterbelts (windbreaks)
- rows of trees or other tall, perennial plants that are planted along the edges of fields to slow the wind

Protecting the soil

roots of trees and other plants trap and hold soil particles when vegetation is stripped from an area, wind can blow the soil away and rain can wash soil into rivers and streams

plant cover reduces erosion

Sustainable agriculture

contour farming plowing furrows across a hillside, perpendicular to the slope terraces - level platforms cut into steep hillsides

Monocultures increase production, but cause other problems

monoculture - large expanse of a single crop but:

devastates biodiversity more susceptible to disease and pests

narrows human diet places world food security at risk - 90% of our food comes from only a few crop and animal species

Sustainable agriculture

crop rotation
alternating the crops grown field from one season or year to the next cover crops protect the soil when the main crops arent planted

Sustainable agriculture
intercropping planting different types of crops in alternating bands or other spatially mixed arrangements reduces pest populations and prevents erosion

Result of irrigation in the U.S.

Sustainable agriculture
it's easier and cheaper to prevent salinization than to fix it don't plant waterintensive crops in areas without enough rainfall irrigate efficiently supply only the water the crop requires drip irrigation targets water directly to plants

Fertilizers
inorganic fertilizer use has skyrocketed over-applying fertilizer can ruin the soil and cause water pollution nutrient runoff causes eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems nitrates leach through soil and contaminate groundwater

Fertilizers boost crop yields but cause problems

fertilizer - contains essential nutrients (nitrates, phosphates, and other minerals) inorganic fertilizers - mined or synthetically manufactured organic fertilizers - the remains or wastes of organisms

manure, crop residues, fresh vegetation compost = produced when decomposers break down organic matter

Pesticides cause health and environmental problems

Problems with pesticides

pesticides are expensive and not usually available to subsistence farmers pest populations develop resistance (review: natural selection)

Logic of Natural Selection

Evolution of Pesticide Resistance

pesticide kills most insects, but strains with genetic resistance survive resistant insects pass their genes to next generation percent of resistant insects increases most of population becomes resistant to pesticide

Other problems with pesticides

also kills valuable, non-pest species (such as bees and other pollinators) pesticide residues are passed up through food chains, poisoning upper trophic levels (bioaccumulation)

Bioaccumulation of pesticides

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

IPM uses multiple techniques to suppress pests and minimize use of pesticides
using pesticides that are specific for particular insect pests (and not harmful to predator insects) using pesticides only when absolutely necessary economically beneficial for farmers and helps the environment as well

encourages sustainable practices

decreasing dependence on chemical fertilizers switching to sustainable measures such as crop rotation, encouraging pest-destroying predators, planting soil enriching crops (such as legumes), breeding new pest-resistant crop species, etc.

IPM case study: Indonesia

within 4 years of using IPM in Indonesia, rice yields rose 13%, and $179 million saved by phasing out subsidies what did they do to accomplish this? used several sustainable IPM methods

planted new strains of insect resistant rice since many of their serious insect pests had developed resistance to pesticides, pesticide use was dramatically reduced those pesticides still used killed pests without harming helpful natural predators (such as spiders)

Indonesia continued

other sustainable IPM methods were used

natural predators were introduced to the fields harmful insects were also removed by hand crop rotation helped reduce pest numbers by removing their food source

success of this program depended on extensive farmer education and implementation of methods that were suited to the environmental and social conditions of the country

(Note: the people working in the fields will give you an idea of the size of the fields)

Rice fields

As pesticide use decreased in Indonesia, what happened to rice production?

Sustainable agriculture

organic farming
uses no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides healthier for you and the environment

support local farmers

locally grown foods don't travel as far so you get them when they're fresher uses less fossil fuel for transportation (reduces food costs and helps with global warming too!)

Preserving crop diversity

modern agriculture uses only a few, selectively bred varieties of crops food security - preservation of crop diversity ensures against the loss of an entire crop due to diseases or pests "heirloom" crops have many valuable qualities (resistance to pests and diseases, valuable nutrients, etc.) example: quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa)

a grain that comes from the Andes Mountains of South America origins are truly ancient was one of the three staple foods, along with corn and potatoes, of the Inca civilization contains more protein than any other grain - an average of 16 % compared with 7.5 % for rice and 14 % for wheat some varieties of quinoa are more than 20 percent protein

Quinoa grain

tastes great - email me for a recipe