© 2010 pearson education canada 8 agriculture, food, and biotechnology powerpoint ® slides...

© 2010 Pearson Education Canada

8Agriculture, Food, and Biotechnology

PowerPoint® Slides prepared by Stephen Turnbull

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc.

8-1



Housekeeping Items

•Any reactions to the film “Food Fight”?•Did anyone go to the water talk on Monday night? There are other events as part of International Development Week – last night they showed “Food Security: It’s In Your Hands” and “Voices of the River” from 6 to 9 in Building 200, Room 203.•Caitlyn was asking about difference in soils near where her parents live. I’ll pass around a book, “Soil Landscapes of BC,” with a few pages marked. The predominant soils in this part of the Island are humo-ferric podzols that result from the interaction between the glacial till (sand and gravel) and the organic matter shed by the dominant vegetation (Western hemlock, Douglas fir, and various shrubs).



Housekeeping Items•Cameron was asking about the “R” horizon of soil. It is a transitional zone of partially weathered bedrock.•Someone else asked about the flooding of Nile. It has largely ceased in the upper portion due to the Aswan Dam.•The VIU Sustainability Committee now has some cash for projects on campus; if you have ideas let me know.

•Career Day: The Geography Department is hosting a Career Day! All students are welcome to attend. It will take place today from 1 to 2 in this room.

•Anyone who is working on a major paper who would also like practice in presenting is welcome to present at the pre-WDCAG session on Friday, Feb. 22 from 11:30 to 2:30. Just notify Jeff Lewis.•If you haven’t turned in or e-mailed your outlines please do so today.•We’ll briefly go through the agriculture slides (also review on your own).



Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to:

• Outline the historical development of agriculture and the transition to industrialized agriculture

• Explain the challenge of feeding a growing human population

• Identify the main approaches and summarize the environmental impacts of the Green Revolution

• Summarize the strategies and impacts of pest management and the importance of pollination

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Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to (cont’d):

• Describe the science and evaluate the controversies associated with genetically modified food

• State the importance of crop diversity and some approaches to preservation

• Assess the positive and negative aspects of feedlots and aquaculture for raising animals for food

• Summarize the main goals of sustainable agriculture

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Central Case: GM maize and Roundup-Ready Canola

“Worrying about starving future generations won’t feed them. Food biotechnology will…At Monsanto, we now believe food biotechnology is a better way forward.”

– Monsanto company advertisement

“I never put those plants on my land. The question is, where do Monsanto’s rights end and mine begin?”

– Percy Schmeiser

8-7

See also the film, “The World According to Monsanto”



Central Case: GM maize and Roundup-Ready Canola (cont’d)

• Schmeiser charged with reusing or growing patented seed without a contract

• Schmeiser claimed the seeds blew onto his field from the neighbor’s adjacent field

• The courts sided with Monsanto for a patent violation, a fine of $238 000

• An appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the violation but exempted the fine because the farmer had not benefitted from the seeds

• Canada was the first nation to prohibit patents on higher organisms (e.g. mice)

8-8



The Race to Feed the World

8-9



The Race to Feed the World

• World’s population will swell to 9 billion by the middle of this century

• Agricultural land covers 38% of Earth’s land surface

• Agriculture: practice of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption

• Cropland: land used to raise plants for human use

• Rangeland: land used for grazing livestock

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Agriculture first appeared around 10,000 years ago• Agriculture was invented independently by different cultures

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Agriculture first appeared around 10,000 years ago (cont’d)

• Agriculture is a form of intensification – a way to increase the productivity and carrying capacity of a given unit of land

• Traditional agriculture = biologically powered agriculture, using human and animal muscle power

- Subsistence agriculture = families produce only enough food for themselves

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Industrialized agriculture is more recent

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• Industrialized agriculture = using large-scale mechanization and fossil fuels to boost yields• Vast fields of single types of crops –

monoculture• Occupies about 25% of the world’s croplands



Traditional vs. Industrial agriculture

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We are producing more food per person

• Food security = the guarantee of an adequate, reliable, and available food supply to all people at all times

• No guarantee that agricultural production will continue to outpace population growth- Since 1985, world grain production per person has fallen

by 9%

- World’s soils are in decline

- A significant portion of the planet’s arable land has already been brought into production

- Countries like China and Saudi Arabia are buying up arable land in Africa to help provide for their own food security at the possible expense of those who live in those nations

8-15



We face undernourishment, overnutrition, and malnutrition

• Undernourishment = people receive less than 90% of their daily caloric needs

- Mainly in developing countries

• Overnutrition = receiving too many calories each day

- In Canada, 48% of adults exceed their healthy weight and 14% are obese

• Malnutrition = a shortage of nutrients the body needs

- The diet lacks adequate vitamins and minerals

8-16



Impacts of the Green Revolution

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The Green Revolution led to dramatic increases in agricultural productivity• Green revolution = increases in agricultural

productivity during mid- to late twentieth century- Increased food production

- Devoting more energy

- Greatly increasing use of irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides

• Extensification = bringing more land into production

• Intensification = better productivity per unit of land

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The green revolution has had both positive and negative impacts

• Positive effects on natural resources

- Reduced pressure to convert natural lands

- Prevented deforestation and habitat conversion

• Negative effects on natural resources

- Intensive use of water, fossil fuels, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides

- Pollution

- Erosion

- Salinization

- Desertification

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The green revolution has had both positive and negative impacts (cont’d)

• Fertilizer Impacts

- Inorganic – or industrial fertilizers are mined or synthetically manufactured mineral supplements (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium)

- Organic – natural materials such as animal manure, crop residues, fresh vegetation, compost

- Runoffs can lead to phytoplankton blooms and pose human health risks

8-20




• Irrigation Impacts

- Agriculture main reason for extraction and use of fresh water worldwide

- Efficiency is quite low as only 43% of the water applied gets used by plants

- Can lead to waterlogging and salinization of soils

- Drip irrigation is one possible solution

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• Monoculture Impacts

- Large expanse of a single crop

- More efficient, increases output

- Devastates biodiversity

- Susceptible to disease and pests

- Contributes to a narrowing of human diet: 90% of our food comes from 15 crop species and 8 livestock species

8-22



Pests and Pollinators

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Pests and Pollinators

• Insects, fungi, viruses, rodents, and weeds that eat or compete with our crops have taken advantage of the ways we cluster food plants into agricultural fields

• Pest = any organism that damages valuable crops

- Bigger problem in monoculture

• Weed = any plant that competes with crops

8-24



What a pest!

Compare the concept of a pest or weed species with that of alien and invasive species.

• At what point should a species be considered a pest?

• Does it have to cause damage to human interests?

• What if it causes harm only to natural ecosystems?

• How should pest species be managed?

weighing

the issues

8-25



Thousands of chemical pesticides have been developed

• Pesticides = poisons that target pest organisms

- Insecticides = target insects

- Herbicides = target plants

- Fungicides = target fungi

• 91% of pesticide sales are for agricultural purposes

• 85% of pesticides sold in Canada are herbicides

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Pests evolve resistance to pesticides

• Usefulness tends to decline with time as pests evolve resistance to pesticides

• Small fraction of insects and microbes have genes that confer some degree of immunity to a given pesticide

• If an insect survives pesticide, resistance is passed through their genes to insect offspring

• Evolutionary arms race: chemists increase chemical toxicity to compete with resistant pests

8-27



Insecticide applications over time

8-28



Biological control pits one organism against another• Biological control (Bio-control) = uses a pest’s natural

predators to control the pest

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Biocontrol agents themselves may become pests

• No one can predict the effects of an introduced species

• The agent may have “non-target” effects on the environment and surrounding economies

• Removing a bio-control agent is harder than halting pesticide use

- Due to potential problems, proposed bio-control use must be carefully planned and regulated

8-30



IPM combines biocontrol and chemical methods• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) uses multiple

techniques to suppress pests

- Biocontrol

- Chemicals, when necessary

- Population monitoring

- Habitat alteration

- Crop rotation and transgenic crops

- Alternative tillage methods

- Mechanical pest removal

8-31



We depend on insects to pollinate crops

• Pollination = male plant sex cells fertilize female sex cells

• Value of insect pollination services in Canada is $1.2 billion

• Globally one mouthful in three requires insect pollination

• Bees pollinate 73% ofcultivars

Flowers are evolutionary adaptations to attract pollinators

8-32



Conservation of pollinators is vital• Bees devastated by

parasites and Colony Collapse Disorder

• North American farmers regularly hire beekeepers to bring colonies to their fields

• To conserve bees and other pollinators:- Reduce or eliminate

pesticide use - Plant flowering

plants

8-33



Genetically Modified Food

8-34



Genetic modification of organisms depends on recombinant DNA

• Genetic engineering = laboratory manipulation of genetic material

- Creates a genetically modified (GM) organism

• Recombinant DNA = DNA patched together from the DNA of multiple organisms

8-35



Biotechnology is impacting our lives

• Biotechnology = the material application of biological science to create products derived from organisms

• Transgenic organism = an organism that contains DNA from another species

• Transgenes = the genes that have moved between organisms

• Biotechnology has helped us create medicines, clean up pollution, understand the causes of cancer, dissolve blood clots after heart attacks, and make better beer and cheese

8-36



Genetic engineering is like, and unlike, traditional breeding• Similar:

- Both alter gene pools for preferred characteristics

- Both apply to plants and animals

• Different:

- Traditional breeding uses genes from the same species

- Selective breeding deals with whole organisms, not just genes

- In traditional breeding, genes come together on their own

8-37



GM foods and you

Have you have ever eaten a food product that contained genetically modified organisms? If you live in North America, the answer is almost certainly “yes.” As much as 70% of the food products on shelves in North American grocery stores contain at least some GM ingredients.

• Check your kitchen cupboards for any foods that contain products or ingredients made from corn, soy, or canola.

•The probability that some of those ingredients came from genetically modified plants is very high. The European Union requires labelling of foods that contain GM ingredients.

•Do you want your food to be labelled?

•Would you choose foods based on whether they are organic or genetically modified?

weighing

the issues

8-38



Biotechnology is transforming the products around us

• Most GM crops today are engineered to resist herbicides, others to resist insects+

• Three-fourths of the world’s soybean plants are transgenic, as are one out of every four corn plants and over half of all cotton plants

• Globally, GM foods grew on 134 million hectares of farmland, producing $10.5 billion worth of crops

8-39



What are the impacts of GM crops?

• As GM crops expanded, scientists, citizens, and policy makers became concerned

- Dangerous to human health

- Escaping transgenes could pollute ecosystems and damage nontarget organisms

- Pests could evolve resistance

- Could ruin the integrity of native ancestral races

- Interbreed with closely related wild plants

- Critics argue that we should adopt the precautionary principle

8-40



Debate over GM foods involves more than science

• Ethical issues play a large role

- People don’t like “tinkering” with “natural” foods

- With increasing use, people are forced to use GM products, or go to special effort to avoid them

- Multinational corporations threaten the small farmer

- Research is funded by corporations that will profit if GM foods are approved for use

- Crops that benefit small, poor farmers are not widely commercialized

8-41



Debate over GM foods involves more than science (cont’d)

• The future of GM foods seems likely to hinge on social, economic, legal, and political factors as well as scientific ones

• Transnational spats will surely affect the future direction of agriculture, but consumers and the government’s of the world’s developing nations could exert the most influence in the end

- India and Brazil approve of GM crops

- China is expanding use of transgenic crops

8-42



Preserving Crop Diversity

8-43



Crop diversity provides insurance against failure

• Preserving native variants protects against crop failure

- Monocultures are vulnerable, so wild relatives contain genes that could provide resistance to disease and pests

• We have already lost a great deal of genetic diversity in crops

- Wheat varieties in China dropped from 10,000 (1949) to 1,000 (1970s)

- Mexico’s famed maize varieties number only 30% of what it was in the 1930s

• Market forces discourage diversity in food’s appearance

- Consumers prefer uniform, standardized food

8-44



Seed banks are living museums for seeds

• Seed banks = preserve seed types as a living museum of genetic diversity

- Seeds are collected and preserved, and periodically planted

- Hand pollination preserves genetic distinctiveness

- The Royal Botanic Garden’s Millennium Seed Bank in Britain aims to bank 20% of the world’s plants by 2020

- Norway has started a “doomsday vault” seed bank

8-45



Raising Animals For Food

8-46



Raising animals for food

• Most people eat animal products

• People don’t need to eat meat to live full, active, healthy lives

• As wealth and commerce increase, so does consumption of meat, milk, and eggs

- Global meat production has increased fivefold since 1950

- Per capita meat consumption has doubled

8-47



Consumption of animals products is growing

8-48



High consumption has let to feedlot agriculture

• Pressure of global population has led to feedlots

• Feedlots = Huge warehouses deliver energy-rich food to animals living at extremely high densities

- Also known as “factory farms” or CAFOs

- Necessary to keep up with meat consumption in Canada and the United States

- Over ½ of the world’s pork and most of the poultry come from feedlots

8-49



High consumption has let to feedlot agriculture (cont’d)

• Benefits of feedlots:

- Greater production of food

- Keeps up with high meat consumption

- Reduces the impact of livestock on land (use less space)

• Drawbacks of feedlots:

- Contribute to water and air pollution

- Poor waste containment may cause human disease

- Cattle: steroids used to stimulate growth

- Heavy uses of antibiotics to control disease8-50



Feedlots and Animal Rights

Animal rights activists decry factory farming because they say it mistreats animals. Chickens, pigs, and cattle are kept in crowded pens, fattened up, and slaughtered.

• Do you think animal rights concerns should be given weight as we determine how best to raise our food?

• Should we concern ourselves with the quality of life – and death – of the animals that constitute part of our diet?

weighing

the issues

8-51



Our food choices are also energy choices• 90% of energy is lost

every time energy moves from one trophic level to the next

• The lower on the food chain from which we take our food sources, the more people the Earth can support

8-52



Environmental ramifications of eating meat

• Land and water are needed to raise food for livestock

• Producing eggs and chicken meat requires the least space and water; beef requires the most

When we choose what to eat, we also choose how we use resources8-53



We also raise fish on “farms”

• Aquaculture = raising aquatic organisms for food in a controlled environment

- open-water pens or land-based ponds

• The fastest-growing type of food production- Provides a third of the

world’s fish for human consumption

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Aquaculture has benefits and drawbacks• Benefits:

- A reliable protein source

- Sustainable

- Reduces fishing pressure on overharvested wild fish stocks

- Energy efficient

• Drawbacks:

- Diseases can occur, requiring expensive antibiotics

- Reduces food security

- Large amounts of waste

- Farmed fish may escape and introduce disease into the wild

8-55



Sustainable Agriculture

8-56



Sustainable Agriculture

• Sustainable agriculture = does not deplete soil, pollute water, or decrease genetic diversity

• No-till agriculture = depth and frequency of ploughing and tilling are kept to a minimum to protect soil moisture and compaction

• Low-input agriculture = uses smaller amounts of pesticide, fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuel energy than industrial agriculture

• Organic agriculture = Uses no synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides

- Relies on biological approaches (composting and biocontrol)

8-57



As population and consumption increase, soils are being degraded

• Many lands unsuitable for farming are being farmed, causing considerable environmental damage

• Soil degradation = damage to or loss of soil

- Forest removal, cropland agriculture, overgrazing, industrial contamination

- Has reduced potential rates of global grain production by 13% on cropland

8-58



Organic agriculture is on the increase

• 2006: Organic Products Regulations establishes national standards for organic products

• Multi-ingredient products must be 95% organic ingredients

• Organic certification logo

• Market for organic foods is on the increase (20% annually)

• More than 500,000 ha are used to grow organic products in Canada

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Organic agriculture is on the increase (cont’d)

• For farmers:

- Lower input costs, enhanced income from higher-value products, reduced chemical costs and pollution

- Obstacles include the risks and costs of switching to new farming methods and less market infrastructure

• For consumers:

- Concern about pesticide’s health risks

- A desire to improve environmental quality

- Obstacles include the added expense and less aesthetically appealing appearance of the product

8-60



Locally supported agriculture is growing

• In developed nations, farmers and consumers are supporting local small-scale agriculture

- Fresh, local produce in season

• Community-supported agriculture = consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield

- Consumers get fresh food

- Farmers get a guaranteed income

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Organic agriculture can even succeed in cities

• Community gardens = areas where residents can grow their own food

• In Cuba, over 30,000 people work in Havana’s gardens, which cover 30% of the city’s land

- 1996-97: The Cuban people produced record yields for 10 crops

8-62



Conclusion• Intensive commercial agriculture has substantial negative

environmental impacts• If our planet will be able to support 9 billion humans, we must

shift to sustainable agriculture- Biological pest control- Organic agriculture- Pollinator protection- Preservation of native crop diversity- Aquaculture - Careful, responsible genetic modification of food

8-63

Resources: Dr. Evan Fraser of the University of Guelph wrote the cover story of the December 2012 Walrus magazine on the topic of "Feeding Nine Billion." The text is available on-line <http://thewalrus.ca/how-to-feed-nine-billion/>. In addition, hedid an animated YouTube video that can be seen on YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raSHAqV8K9c>



QUESTION: Review

Why has our production of food increased, despite the growing population?

a) We have become more sustainable in food production

b) We have converted much more land to agricultural production

c) Technology in the form of fossil fuels, pesticides, and fertilizers have increased production

d) We have not produced more food in the past several decades

8-64



QUESTION: Review

Which term means “a shortage of nutrients the body needs”?

a) Undernourishmentb) Overnutritionc) Food securityd) Malnutrition

8-65



QUESTION: Review

Which of the following is NOT correct about monocultures?

a) They are an efficient way to produce foodb) They increase biodiversityc) They make crops more susceptible to diseasesd) They narrow human diets

8-66



QUESTION: Review

Which of the following is not a part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM)?

a) No-till farmingb) Biocontrolc) Some chemical used) All are part of IPM

8-67



QUESTION: Review

How does GM food production differ from traditional, selective breeding?

a) It does not differb) It uses genes from different speciesc) It involves more fieldworkd) It works better in developing countries

8-68



QUESTION: Review

What is a “seed bank”?

a) An institution that preserves seed types for their genetic diversity

b) A form of banking in developing countries, where people can put their excess seeds up as collateral for a loan

c) A form of genetically modified organismd) An area where livestock are fed high-quality grains

8-69



QUESTION: Review

Which of the following is the fastest growing type of agriculture?

a) Concentrated animal feeding operationsb) Sustainable agriculturec) Aquacultured) Monocultures

8-70



QUESTION: Weighing the Issues

Given that the green revolution has increased crop yields, but only by using increased fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and hybrid seed, do you consider it a success?

a) Yes, because more people were fed, regardless of the price

b) Yes, because industrialized countries can help through education and technology

c) No, we will have to eventually pay the environmental costs of producing food in this way

d) It does not matter; I can buy food whenever I want

8-71



QUESTION: Weighing the IssuesFactory farming allows us to have high consumption of meat products. However, many people are troubled by the conditions that animals are kept in. Should the quality of the animals’ lives be considered when we decide how to raise food?

a) Yes, the quality of an animal’s life is important, toob) Yes, but only if it does not interfere with access to meatc) No, animals have no right to a quality of lifed) I don’t care; I’m not particularly fond of cows or

chickens

8-72



QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data

If the average person eats 3 kg of meat per week, how many kg of grain are required if the meat came from a cow?

a) 60 kgb) 22 kgc) 3 kgd) 12 kg

8-73

© 2010 pearson education canada 8 agriculture, food, and biotechnology powerpoint ® slides...

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