food resources

Food Resources

IB syllabus:

AP syllabus

Ch 13

Video – How to save the world, Food Inc

Syllabus Statements

• 3.5.1: Outline the issues involved in the imbalance in global food supply

• 3.5.2: Compare and contrast the efficiency of terrestrial and aquatic food production systems

• 3.5.3: Compare and contrast the inputs of materials and energy (energy efficiency), the system characteristics, and evaluate the relative environmental impacts of two named food production systems

• 3.5.4: Discuss the links that exist between social systems and food production systems

• http://www.worldometers.info/

Unequal food resources

• The methods of food production differ around the world

• Government policy and the climate of the area influence what is grown

• The type used depends on relative availability of land, labor, capital, and fossil fuels

Production Methods

Developed Countries– Industrialized agriculture depends heavily on

capital and fossil fuels

Developing Countries– Intensive traditional agriculture depends

heavily on labor– Shifting cultivation in tropical forests depends

heavily on land availability no fossil fuels– Nomadic herding depends heavily on land

Industrialized agriculture

Shifting cultivation

Plantation agriculture

Nomadic herding

Intensive traditional agriculture

No agriculture

Industrialized agriculturein developed countries

Intensive traditional agriculturein developing countries

Land

Labor

Capital

Fossil fuelenergy

Land

Labor

Capital

Fossil fuel energy

Shifting cultivation in tropicalforests in developing countries

Nomadic herding indeveloping countries

Land

Labor

Capital

Land

Labor

Capital

Distribution of food

• Enough food produced in the world for entire population to have 2,720 kcal per day

• Many areas no land to grow food or money to purchase it

• 982 million people living in poverty – actually a decrease in 20% from 1990’s

• ¼ of the world population consumes ¾ of the food

Population distribution in poverty

Region % in  $1 a day poverty

Population (millions)

Pop. in $1 a day poverty (millions)

East Asia and Pacific 9.07 1,885.0 170.0

Latin America and the Caribbean  8.63 549.0 47.0

South Asia 31.08 1,470.0 456.0

Sub-Saharan Africa 41.09 753.0 309.0

  Total Developing countries     982.0

Europe and Central Asia 0.95 460.0 1.0

Middle East and North Africa 1.47 306.0 4.0

Total     987

Influence of Ecology

• Developed countries in temperate areas – plants and soils conducive to growth of high yield cereal crops and livestock

• Soil fertility poor in tropical areas

• Livestock native to temperate areas in most cases as well

Influence of Socio-political factors

• Poverty is a self sustaining positive feedback process

• Governments in LDCs focus on exploitation of resources – Bananas in Costa Rica

• Governments in developed nations subsidize fossil fuels

• Support use of high yield green revolution crops• Research on and use of GMOs

Poverty MalnutritionDecreasedresistanceto disease

High deathrate forchildren

Decreasedenergy

Decreasedability

to learn

Decreasedability

to work

Shortenedlife

expectancy

Feedback loop

Food Type Kilocalories of fossil fuel input per kilocalorie of protein output

Feed lot beef 20-78

Pigs

Broiler chicken

Rangeland Beef

Sheep

Vegetables

35

22

10

10

2-4

First green revolution(developed countries)

Second green revolution(developing countries)

Major international agriculturalresearch centers and seed banks

DO NOT POST TO INTERNET

Crop

Cross breeding

Desired trait(color)

ApplePear

Offspring

Cross breeding

Best results

Newoffspring

Desiredresult

Selective breedingWe used to breed species for desired

traitsTakes multiple

generations

Now we just change the genes and create

GMOs

Phase 1Make Modified Gene

Identify and extractgene with desired trait

Identify and removeportion of DNAwith desired trait

Remove plasmidfrom DNA of E. coli

Insert extracted DNA(step 2) into plasmid(step3)

Insert modifiedplasmid into E. coli

Grow in tissueculture tomake copies

cell

gene

DNA

Plasmid

E. coliDNA

Geneticallymodifiedplasmid

plasmid

Phase 2Make Transgenic Cell

Transfer plasmidcopies to a carrier

agrobacterium

Agrobacteriuminserts foreignDNA into plantcell to yieldtransgenic cell

Transfer plasmidto surfacemicroscopic metalparticle

Use gene gunto inject DNAinto plant cell

A. tumefaciens(agrobacterium)

Plant cell

Nucleus

Host DNA

Foreign DNA

Phase 3Grow Genetically Engineered Plant

Transgenic cellfrom Phase 2

Cell division oftransgenic cells

Culture cellsto form plantlets

Transgenic plantswith new traits

ProjectedAdvantages

ProjectedDisadvantages

Need less fertilizer

Need less water

More resistant toinsects, plant disease, frost, anddrought

Faster growth

Can grow in slightlysalty soils

Less spoilage

Better flavor

Less use of con-ventional pesticides

Tolerate higherlevels of herbicideuse

Irreversible andunpredictablegenetic and eco-logical effects

Harmful toxins infood from possibleplant cell mutations

New allergensin food

Lower nutrition

Increased evolutionof pesticide-resistant insectsand plant diseases

Creation of herbicide-resistant weeds

Harm beneficialinsects

Lower geneticdiversity

Use of GMOs

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

Gra

in p

rod

uct

ion

(mill

ion

s o

f to

ns)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Total World Grain Production

Year

Global Trend in Food Production

400

350

300

250

150

Per

cap

ita

gra

in p

rod

uct

ion

(kilo

gra

ms

per

per

son

)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

World Grain Production per Capita

200

Year

But… what does this show?

In use

Not usable

Arid land6%

Tropicalforest

8%

Cultivated

10%

Grazed

11%

Forests,arid

lands

14%

51%

Ice, snow, desertsmountains

© 2004 Brooks/Cole – Thomson Learning

Terrestrial vs. Aquatic Differences

Terrestrial

• Most food at low trophic levels

• Producers or Herbivores• Less energy loss

between initial input and level of harvest

Aquatic• Most food harvested at higher

trophic levels• Makes total energy storages

smaller• Due to tastes for fish / particularly

large predatory ones• Energy conversion in this system

is more efficient – sizes and lack of structural material in low trophic levels

• Initial amount of sunlight fixed is less efficient because of reflection and absorbtion by water

Systems of Production

1. Croplands- grains, 76% of worlds food

2. Rangelands- grazing meat production, 17% worlds food

3. Oceanic fisheries- 7% world food

Growth in production b/c technology

Challenge providing for future population

Food Production Systems

• There are many food production systems around the world

• They vary depending on the geography, sociopolitical dimensions, culture, needs of the area

• They also vary based on the characteristics of the food being produced

• We will look at a comparison of two of these many systems

• Many areas of the world are dependent on fisheries for food

100

80

60

40

20

01950 1960 1970 1980 1990

2000

Year

Total World Fish Catch

Cat

ch(m

illio

ns

of

met

ric

ton

s)

25

20

15

10

5

01950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Year

World Fish Catch per Person

Per

cap

ita

catc

h(k

ilog

ram

s p

er p

erso

n)

800

600

400

200

01960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Year

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

Har

vest

(th

ou

san

ds

of

met

ric

ton

s)

Ab

un

dan

ce(k

ilog

ram

s/to

w)

Abundance

Harvest

Demersal (mostly bottom dwelling)

Hake

Haddock

Cod

Pelagic(surface dwelling)

Crustaceans Mollusks

Sardine Anchovy

Herring

Mackerel

Tuna

Krill

Shrimp

Lobster

Crab

Oyster Clam

Octopus

Squid

Fish Shellfish

Major Targets of Marine Fisheries worldwide

Spotter airplane

Fish farmingin cage

Trawlerfishing

Purse-seinefishing

sonartrawl flap

trawllines

trawl bag

Long line fishing

lines withhooks

Drift-net fishing

Fish caughtby gills

float buoy

fish school

Now we farm fish

• Fish is a major component of the human diet

• Some countries almost exclusively based on seafood – Japan

• With wild stocks being increasingly depleted, we are turning to fish farming for various reasons as an alternative

Figure 13-

31Page 303

Seafood type Kilocalories of fossil fuel input per kilocalorie of protein output

Marine Fisheries

Shrimp

Salmon

Cod

Ocean Aquaculture

Salmon cageculture

Salmon ranching

Seaweed

3-98

18-52

20

50

7-12

1

Advantages

Highly efficient

High yield in smallvolume of water

Increased yieldsthroughcrossbreedingand geneticengineering

Can reduceoverharvestingof conventionalfisheries

Little use of fuel

Profit not tired toprice of oil

High profits

Disadvantages

Large inputs ofland, feed, andwater needed

Produces largeand concentratedoutputs of waste

Destroysmangrove forests

Increased grainproductionneeded to feedsome species

Fish can be killedby pesticide runofffrom nearbycropland

Dense populationsvulnerable todisease

Tanks toocontaminated touse after about5 years

System 1: Rice-Fish Farming - China

• Fish farming in wet rice fields• In China, Han Dynasty plate (2000 years old)

shows fish swimming from pond to field• Ecological symbiosis in the system – fish

provides fertilizer to rice, regulates micro-climatic conditions, softens the soil, disturbs the water, and eats larvae and weeds in the flooded fields; rice provides shade and food for fish.

• Provides balanced food, reduced costs and labor, less use of chemicals in the environment

www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y1187E/y1187e18.htm

• Inputs – All fish food is in the system, small fish left behind as stock for next year rice requires input of small amounts of urea, N,P,K and optional lime or manure

• System Characteristics – uses native fish, polyculture using natural principles of ecosystem interaction, sustainable

• Socio-cultural - tenant farmers improve income, in china industrialization threatens its continued use

• Environmental Impacts – may use pesticides but generally less than alternatives, reducing CH4 emissions compared to normal systems

• Outputs – fish and rice, 2 rice crops per year

Norwegian Salmon Farms

• Norway and Chile produce 2/3 of the world’s farmed salmon

• 60% of world’s salmon is farmed

• High input system of penned fish in ocean areas or on land – depends on pellet food derived from wild caught fish

• High density high waste systems

Norwegian Salmon farms

• Inputs – need pellets for feed made from fishing for smaller fish in the ocean,

• System characteristics – monoculture – disease susceptible so antibiotics used, may selectively breed stocks, human manipulated

• Socio-cultural – farming operations provide local jobs, if effecting local fisheries that effects jobs as well

• Environmental Impacts – 100,000’s escape cultivation & threaten native fish, farmed fish less effective reproducers than natural but their offspring are more successful

• Outputs – antibiotics, nutrients causing eutrophication,

Fish change form

Fish enter riversand head forspawning areas

Grow to smoltand enter the ocean...

Grow to maturityin Pacific Oceanin 1-2 years

Eggs and young arecared for in the hatchery

Fry hatch in the spring...

Fingerlings migrate downstream

In the fall spawning salmondeposit eggs in gravel nests and die

NormalLifeCycle

Fingerlingsare released into river

And grow in the streamfor 1-2 years

Human capture

Salmonprocessingplant

Eggs are taken from adultfemales and fertilized withsperm “milked” from males

ModifiedLifeCycle

To hatchery

Food Production Systems are linked to social systems

• Modern US – Developed, high tech, high fossil fuel input– Value speed and convenience– Capitalism based revenue generation– Removed from food production so don’t see

negative results– We are willing to compromise environmental

health for the benefits now from pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, machine harvest etc.

Cropland

Irrigated farm land

Rangeland

Pasture

Forest

Barren land

Wetland

Urban area

4% 2% 6% 5%

17% of totalcommercialenergy use

Crops Livestock Food processing Food distribution and preparation

Food production

Think back to the rice-fish system

• Tied to asian cultures as a historical practice

• But asian culture is changing more cosmopolitan more movement to cities

• Could threaten this model system

• It is a form that keeps soil fertility high in areas with high population density this can be used on the outskirts to maximize production per area.

Can the green movement

• Swing our culture to sustainable food production?

• People interested in organic foods

• Green production – boutique types of grocers and restaurants

• Benefits the planet and trendy

Increase

High-yield polyculture

Organic fertilizers

Biological pestcontrol

Integrated pestmanagement

Irrigation efficiency

Perennial crops

Crop rotation

Use of more water-efficient crops

Soil conservation

Subsidies for more sustainablefarming and fishing

Decrease

Soil erosion

Soil salinization

Aquifer depletion

Overgrazing

Overfishing

Loss of biodiversity

Loss of primecropland

Food waste

Subsidies forunsustainable farming and fishing

Population growth

Poverty

Croplands

• Help maintain water flow and soil infiltration

• Provide partial erosion protection • Can build soil organic matter

• Store atmospheric carbon

• Provide wildlife habitat for some species

Ecological Services Economic Services

• Food crops

• Fiber crops

• Crop genetic resources

• Jobs

© 2004 Brooks/Cole – Thomson Learning

Done the right wayCropland can be very beneficial

And don’t forget the global trend in food production…

1950 1970 1990 2010 2030 2050

Year

0.20

0.25

0.15

0.10

0.05

Gra

in a

rea

per

per

son

(h

ecta

res)

• http://www.fao.org/nr/giahs/pilot-systems

• Food and agriculture organization of the UN