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Food, Soil, and Pest

Management
Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-1

WHAT IS FOOD SECURITY AND WHY


IS IT DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Many people suffer from chronic


health and malnutrition

Food security means having daily access to enough


nutritious food to live an active and healthy life.
One of every six people in less-developed countries
is not getting enough to eat, facing food insecurity
living with chronic hunger and poor nutrition, which
threatens their ability to lead healthy and
productive lives.
The root cause of food insecurity is poverty.
Other obstacles to food security are political upheaval,
war, corruption, and bad weather, including prolonged
drought, flooding, and heat waves.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Many people suffer from chronic


health and malnutrition

To maintain good health and resist disease, individuals


need fairly large amounts of macronutrients, such as
carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and smaller amounts of
micronutrientsvitamins and minerals.
People who cannot grow or buy enough food to meet their
basic energy needs suffer from chronic undernutrition, or
hunger.
Many suffer from chronic malnutritiona deficiency of
protein and other key nutrients, which weakens them,
makes them more vulnerable to disease, and hinders the
normal development of children.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Starving children collecting ants in


Sudan, Africa

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Many people do not get enough


vitamins and minerals

Deficiency of one or more vitamins and minerals, usually


vitamin A, iron, and iodine.
Some 250,000500,000 children younger than age 6 go
blind each year from a lack of vitamin A, and within a
year, more than half of them die.
Lack of iron causes anemia which causes fatigue, makes
infection more likely, and increases a womans chances of
dying from hemorrhage in childbirth.
1/5 people in the world suffers from iron deficiency.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Many people do not get enough


vitamins and minerals

Chronic lack of iodine can cause


stunted growth, mental
retardation, and goiter.
Almost one-third of the worlds
people do not get enough iodine
in their food and water.
According to the FAO and the
WHO, eliminating this serious
health problem would cost the
equivalent of only 23 cents per
year for every person in the
world.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Many people have health problems


from eating too much

Overnutrition occurs when food energy intake exceeds energy use,


causing excess body fat.
Face similar health problems as those under: lower life expectancy,
greater susceptibility to disease and illness, and lower productivity
and life quality.
Globally about 925 million people have health problems because
they do not get enough to eat, and about 1.1 billion people face
health problems from eating too much.
About 68% of American adults are overweight and half of those
people are obese.
Obesity plays a role in four of the top ten causes of death in the
United Statesheart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and some
forms of cancer.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-2

HOW IS FOOD PRODUCED?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Food production has increased


dramatically

About 10,000 years ago, humans began to shift from


hunting for and gathering their food to growing it and
raising animals for food and labor.
Today, three systems supply most of our food.
Croplands produce mostly grains.
Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots produce meat.
Fisheries and aquaculture provide us with seafood.

About 66% of the worlds people survive primarily by


eating rice, wheat, and corn.
Only a few species of mammals and fish provide most of the
worlds meat and seafood.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Food production has increased


dramatically

Since 1960, there has been an increase in global


food production from all three of the major food
production systems because of technological
advances.
Tractors, farm machinery and high-tech fishing equipment.
Irrigation.
Inorganic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, high-yield grain
varieties, and industrialized production of livestock and
fish.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized crop production


relies on high-input monocultures

Agriculture used to grow crops can be divided


roughly into two types:
Industrialized agriculture, or high-input agriculture, uses
heavy equipment and large amounts of financial capital,
fossil fuel, water, commercial inorganic fertilizers, and
pesticides to produce single crops, or monocultures.
Major goal of industrialized agriculture is to increase yield,
the amount of food produced per unit of land.
Used on about 25% of the worlds cropland, mostly in moredeveloped countries, and produces about 80% of the worlds
food.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized crop production


relies on high-input monocultures

Plantation agriculture is a form of industrialized agriculture used


primarily in tropical less-developed countries.
Grows cash crops such as bananas, soybeans, sugarcane, coffee, palm
oil, and vegetables.
Crops are grown on large monoculture plantations, mostly for export
to more-developed countries.

Modern industrialized agriculture violates the three principles of


sustainability by relying heavily on fossil fuels, reducing natural
and crop biodiversity, and neglecting the conservation and
recycling of nutrients in topsoil.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Oil palm plantation once covered


with tropical rain forest

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Traditional agriculture often relies


on low-input polycultures

Traditional agriculture provides about 20% of the worlds


food crops on about 75% of its cultivated land, mostly in
less-developed countries.
There are two main types of traditional agriculture.
Traditional subsistence agriculture supplements energy from the
sun with the labor of humans and draft animals to produce enough
crops for a farm familys survival, with little left over to sell or
store as a reserve for hard times.
In traditional intensive agriculture, farmers increase their inputs of
human and draft-animal labor, animal manure for fertilizer, and
water to obtain higher crop yields, some of which can be sold for
income.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Traditional agriculture often relies


on low-input polycultures

Many traditional farmers grow several crops on the same


plot simultaneously, a practice known as polyculture.
Crop diversity reduces the chance of losing most or all of the
years food supply to pests, bad weather, and other misfortunes.
Crops mature at different times, provide food throughout the
year, reduce the input of human labor, and keep the soil covered
to reduce erosion from wind and water.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Traditional agriculture often relies


on low-input polycultures

Lessens need for fertilizer and water, because root systems at


different depths in the soil capture nutrients and moisture
efficiently.
Insecticides and herbicides are rarely needed because multiple
habitats are created for natural predators of crop-eating insects,
and weeds have trouble competing with the multitude of crop
plants.
On average, such low-input polyculture produces higher yields
than does high-input monoculture.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

A closer look at industrialized crop


production

Farmers can produce more food by increasing their


land or their yields per acre.
Since 1950, about 88% of the increase in global food
production has come from using high-input
industrialized agriculture to increase yields in a
process called the green revolution.
Three steps of the green revolution:
First, develop and plant monocultures of selectively bred
or genetically engineered high-yield varieties of key crops
such as rice, wheat, and corn.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

A closer look at industrialized crop


production

Second, produce high yields by using large inputs of water


and synthetic inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides.
Third, increase the number of crops grown per year on a
plot of land through multiple cropping.

The first green revolution used high-input


agriculture to dramatically increase crop yields in
most of the worlds more-developed countries,
especially the United States, between 1950 and
1970.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

A closer look at industrialized crop


production

A second green revolution has been taking place


since 1967. Fast-growing varieties of rice and
wheat, specially bred for tropical and subtropical
climates, have been introduced into middle-income,
less-developed countries such as India, China, and
Brazil.
Producing more food on less land has helped to protect
some biodiversity by preserving large areas of forests,
grasslands, wetlands, and easily eroded mountain terrain
that might otherwise be used for farming.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

A closer look at industrialized crop


production

Largely because of the two green revolutions, world


grain production tripled between 1961 and 2009.
People directly consume about 48% of the worlds
grain production. About 35% is used to feed livestock
and indirectly consumed by people who eat meat
and meat products. The remaining 17% (mostly corn)
is used to make biofuels such as ethanol for cars and
other vehicles.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Growth in global grain production of wheat,


corn, and rice between 1961-2010

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

A closer look at industrialized crop


production

In the U.S., industrialized farming has evolved into agribusiness, as


a small number of giant multinational corporations increasingly
control the growing, processing, distribution, and sale of food in
U.S. and global markets.
Since 1950 U.S. industrialized agriculture has more than doubled
the yields of key crops such as wheat, corn, and soybeans without
cultivating more land.
Americans spend only about 13% of their disposable income on food,
compared to the percentages up to 50% that people in China and
India and most other less-developed countries have to pay for food.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Crossbreeding and genetic engineering


produce varieties of crops and livestock

Crossbreeding through artificial selection has been used


for centuries by farmers and scientists to develop
genetically improved varieties of crops and livestock
animals.
Such selective breeding in this first gene revolution has yielded
amazing results; ancient ears of corn were about the size of your
little finger, and wild tomatoes were once the size of grapes.
Typically takes 15 years or more to produce a commercially
valuable new crop variety, and it can combine traits only from
genetically similar species.
Typically, resulting varieties remain useful for only 510 years
before pests and diseases reduce their efficacy.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Crossbreeding and genetic engineering


produce varieties of crops and livestock

Modern scientists are creating a second gene revolution by


using genetic engineering to develop genetically improved
strains of crops and livestock.
Alters an organisms genetic material through adding, deleting, or
changing segments of its DNA to produce desirable traits or to
eliminate undesirable ones (gene splicing); resulting organisms are
called genetically modified organisms.
Developing a new crop variety through gene splicing is faster
selective breeding, usually costs less, and allows for the insertion
of genes from almost any other organism into crop cells.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Crossbreeding and genetic engineering


produce varieties of crops and livestock

Currently, at least 70% of the food products on U.S. supermarket


shelves contain some form of genetically engineered food or
ingredients, but no law requires the labeling of GM products.
Certified organic food, which is labeled as makes no use of
genetically modified seeds or ingredients.
Bioengineers plan to develop new GM varieties of crops that are
resistant to heat, cold, herbicides, insect pests, parasites, viral
diseases, drought, and salty or acidic soil. They also hope to
develop crop plants that can grow faster and survive with little or
no irrigation and with less fertilizer and pesticides.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Meat production has grown steadily

Meat and animal products such as eggs and milk are good sources of
high-quality protein and represent the worlds second major foodproducing system.
Between 1961 and 2010, world meat productionmostly beef, pork,
and poultryincreased more than fourfold and average meat
consumption per person more than doubled.
Global meat production is likely to more than double again by 2050
as affluence rises and more middle-income people begin consuming
more meat and animal products in rapidly developing countries such
as China and India.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Meat production has grown steadily

About half of the worlds meat comes from livestock


grazing on grass in unfenced rangelands and enclosed
pastures.
The other half is produced through an industrialized
system in which animals are raised mostly in densely
packed feedlots and concentrated animal feeding
operations (CAFOs), where they are fed grain, fish meal,
or fish oil, which are usually doctored with growth
hormones and antibiotics.
Feedlots and CAFOs, and the animal wastes and runoff
associated with them, create serious environmental
impacts on the air and water.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Fish and shellfish production have


increased dramatically

The worlds third major food-producing system


consists of fisheries and aquaculture.
A fishery is a concentration of particular aquatic
species suitable for commercial harvesting in a given
ocean area or inland body of water.
Industrial fishing fleets harvest most of the worlds
marine catch of wild fish.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Fish and shellfish production have


increased dramatically

Fish and shellfish are also produced through


aquaculturethe practice of raising marine and
freshwater fish in freshwater ponds and rice
paddies or in underwater cages in coastal waters
or in deeper ocean waters.
Some fishery scientists warn that unless we
reduce overfishing and ocean pollution, and slow
projected climate change, most of the worlds
major commercial ocean fisheries could collapse
by 2050.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Global seafood production, 1950-2008

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized food production


requires huge inputs of energy

The industrialization of food production has been


made possible by the availability of energy, mostly
from nonrenewable oil and natural gas.
Energy is needed to run farm machinery, irrigate
crops, and produce synthetic pesticides and synthetic
inorganic fertilizers, as well as to process food and
transport it long distances within and between
countries.
As a result, producing, processing, transporting, and
consuming industrialized food result in a large net
energy loss.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-3

WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS


ARISE FROM INDUSTRIALIZED FOOD
PRODUCTION?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Food productions harmful


environmental effects

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Producing food has major


environmental impacts

Spectacular increases in the worlds food


production since 1950. The bad news is the
harmful environmental effects associated
with such production increases.
According to many analysts, agriculture has a
greater total harmful environmental impact
than any human activity.
These environmental effects may limit future
food production and make it unsustainable.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Topsoil erosion is a serious


problem in parts of the world

Soil erosion is the movement of soil components,


especially surface litter and topsoil from one place
to another by the actions of wind and water.
Erosion of topsoil has two major harmful effects.

Loss of soil fertility through depletion of plant nutrients in


topsoil.
Water pollution in nearby surface waters, where eroded
topsoil ends up as sediment. This can kill fish and shellfish
and clog irrigation ditches, boat channels, reservoirs, and
lakes.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Topsoil erosion is a serious


problem in parts of the world

By removing vital plant nutrients from topsoil


and adding excess plant nutrients to aquatic
systems, we degrade the topsoil and pollute the
water, and thus alter the carbon, nitrogen, and
phosphorus cycles.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Topsoil erosion is a serious problem in some


parts of the world

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Drought and human activities are


degrading drylands

Desertification in arid and semiarid parts of the world


threatens livestock and crop contributions to the worlds
food supply.
Desertification occurs when the productive potential of
topsoil falls by 10% or more because of a combination of
prolonged drought and human activities that expose topsoil
to erosion.
The FAOs 2007 report on the Status of the Worlds Forests
estimated that some 70% of worlds arid and semiarid lands
used for agriculture are degraded and threatened by
desertification.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Sand dunes threaten to take over


an oasis in West Africa

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Variation in desertification in arid


and semiarid lands, 2007

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Excessive irrigation has serious


consequences

Irrigation boosts productivity of farms; roughly 20% of


the worlds cropland that is irrigated produces about
45% of the worlds food.
Most irrigation water is a dilute solution of various
salts that are picked up as the water flows over or
through soil and rocks.
Repeated annual applications of irrigation water in dry
climates lead to the gradual accumulation of salts in
the upper soil layersa soil degradation process called
salinization that stunts crop growth, lowers crop
yields, and can eventually kill plants and ruin the land.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Excessive irrigation has serious


consequences

Severe salinization has reduced yields on at least 10%


of the worlds irrigated cropland, and almost 25% of
irrigated cropland in the United States, especially in
western states
Irrigation can cause waterlogging, in which water
accumulates underground and gradually raises the
water table; at least one-tenth of the worlds
irrigated land suffers from waterlogging, and the
problem is getting worse.
Excessive irrigation contributes to depletion of
groundwater and surface water supplies.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Agriculture contributes to air pollution


and projected climate change

Agricultural activities create a lot of air pollution.


Account for more than 25% of the human-generated
emissions of carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases.
Industrialized livestock production alone generates about
18% of the worlds greenhouse gases; cattle and dairy cows
release the greenhouse gas methane and methane is
generated by liquid animal manure stored in waste lagoons.
Nitrous oxide, with about 300 times the warming capacity
of CO2 per molecule, is released in huge quantities by
synthetic inorganic fertilizers as well as by livestock
manure.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Genetically modified crops and foods


have advantages and disadvantages

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Food and biofuel production systems have


caused major losses of biodiversity

Natural biodiversity and some ecological services are


threatened when forests are cleared and grasslands are
plowed up and replaced with croplands used to produce food
or biofuels, such as ethanol.
There is increasing loss of agrobiodiversity, the worlds genetic
variety of animal and plant species.
In the United States, about 97% of the food plant varieties that
were available to farmers in the 1940s no longer exist, except
perhaps in small amounts in seed banks and in the backyards
of a few gardeners.
The worlds genetic library, which is critical for increasing
food yields, is rapidly shrinking.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There is controversy over


genetically engineered foods

Controversy has arisen over the use of genetically


modified (GM) food and other products of genetic
engineering.
Its producers and investors see GM food as a potentially
sustainable way to solve world hunger problems and
improve human health.
Some critics consider it potentially dangerous
Frankenfood.
Recognize the potential benefits of GM crops.
Warn that we know too little about the long-term potential harm
to human health and ecosystems from the widespread use of such
crops.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There is controversy over


genetically engineered foods

Warn that GM organisms released into the environment may


cause some unintended harmful genetic and ecological
effects.
Genes in plant pollen from GM crops can spread among
nonengineered species. The new strains can then form
hybrids with wild crop varieties, which could reduce the
natural genetic biodiversity of wild strains.
Most scientists and economists who have evaluated the
genetic engineering of crops believe that its potential
benefits will eventually outweigh its risks.
Others have serious doubts about the ability of GM crops to
increase food security compared to other more effective and
sustainable alternative solutions.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There are limits to expansion of


the green revolution

Factors that have limited the current and


future success of the green revolution:
Without huge inputs of inorganic fertilizer,
pesticides, and water, most green revolution and
genetically engineered crop varieties produce
yields that are no higher (and are sometimes
lower) than those from traditional strains.
High inputs cost too much for most subsistence
farmers in less-developed countries.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There are limits to expansion of


the green revolution

Scientists point out that continuing to increase these


inputs eventually produces no additional increase in
crop yields.
Since 1978, the amount of irrigated land per person has
been declining, due to population growth, wasteful use
of irrigation water, soil salinization, and depletion of
both aquifers and surface water, and the fact that most
of the worlds farmers do not have enough money to
irrigate their crops.
We can get more crops per drop of irrigation water by
using known methods and technologies to greatly
improve the efficiency of irrigation.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There are limits to expansion of


the green revolution

Clearing tropical forests and irrigating arid land could more than
double the worlds cropland, but much of this land has poor soil
fertility, steep slopes, or both.
Cultivating such land usually is expensive, is unlikely to be
sustainable, and reduces biodiversity by degrading and destroying
wildlife habitats
During this century, fertile croplands in coastal areas are likely to
be flooded by rising sea levels resulting from projected climate
change.
Food production could drop sharply in some major food-producing
areas because of increased drought and longer and more intense
heat waves, also resulting from projected climate change.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized meat production has


harmful environmental consequences

Producing meat by using feedlots and other confined


animal production facilities increases meat
production, reduces overgrazing, and yields higher
profits.
Such systems use large amounts of energy (mostly
fossil fuels) and water and produce huge amounts of
animal waste that sometimes pollute surface water
and groundwater and saturate the air with their
odors and emitting large quantities of climatechanging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized meat production has


harmful environmental consequences

Meat produced by industrialized agriculture is artificially


cheap harmful environmental and health costs are not
included in the prices.
Overgrazing and soil compaction and erosion by livestock
have degraded about 20% of the worlds grasslands and
pastures.
Rangeland grazing and industrialized livestock production
cause about 55% of all topsoil erosion and sediment
pollution, and 33% of the water pollution that results from
runoff from excessive inputs of synthetic fertilizers.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized meat production has


harmful environmental consequences

The use of fossil fuels energy pollutes the air and water,
and emits greenhouse gases.
Use of antibiotics is widespread in industrialized livestock
production facilities.
70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are added to
animal feed to prevent the spread of diseases in crowded feedlots
and CAFOs and to make the livestock animals grow faster.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Industrialized meat production has harmful


environmental consequences

Widespread antibiotic use in livestock is an important factor in the rise of


genetic resistance among many disease-causing microbes.
Reduces the effectiveness of some antibiotics used to treat infectious diseases
in humans.
Promotes the development of new and aggressive disease organisms that are
resistant to all but a very few antibiotics currently available.

Animal waste produced by U.S. meat is


roughly 130 times that of its human
population.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Animal feedlots and


confined animal feeding
operations have
advantages and
disadvantages

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Aquaculture has advantages and


disadvantages

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-4

HOW CAN WE PROTECT CROPS


FROM PESTS MORE SUSTAINABLY?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Nature controls the populations of


most pests

A pest is any species that interferes with human


welfare by competing with us for food, invading
homes, lawns and gardens, destroying building
materials, spreading disease, invading ecosystems,
or simply being a nuisance.
Worldwide, only about 100 species of plants
(weeds), animals (mostly insects), fungi, and
microbes cause most of the damage to the crops we
grow.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Nature controls the populations of


most pests

In natural ecosystems and many polyculture


agroecosystems, natural enemies (predators,
parasites, and disease organisms) control the
populations of most potential pest species.
Spiders kill far more crop-eating insects every year than
humans do by using chemicals.

When we clear forests and grasslands, plant


monoculture crops, and douse fields with chemicals
that kill pests, we upset many of these natural
population checks and balances that help to
maintain biodiversity.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

We use pesticides to help control


pest populations

Development of a variety of synthetic pesticideschemicals used to


kill/control populations of organisms that we consider undesirable
such as insects, weeds, and mice.
Common types of pesticides include insecticides (insect killers),
herbicides (weed killers), fungicides (fungus killers), and rodenticides
(rat and mouse killers).
Plants produce chemicals called biopesticides to ward off, deceive,
or poison the insects and herbivores that feed on them.
Since 1950, pesticide use has increased more than 50-fold, and most
of todays pesticides are 10100 times more toxic than those used in
the 1950s.
Use of biopesticides is on the rise.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

We use pesticides to help control


pest populations

Broad-spectrum agents are toxic to many pests,


but also to beneficial species. Examples are
chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds, such as DDT,
and organophosphate compounds, such as
malathion and parathion.
Selective, or narrow spectrum, agents are
effective against a narrowly defined group of
organisms. Examples are algaecides for algae and
fungicides for fungi.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

We use pesticides to help control


pest populations

Pesticides vary in their persistence, the length of time


they remain deadly in the environment.
DDT and related compounds remain in the environment for years
and can be biologically magnified in food chains and webs.
Organophosphates are active for days or weeks and are not
biologically magnified but can be highly toxic to humans.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

We use pesticides to help control


pest populations

In the United States, about 25% of pesticide use is on


houses, gardens, lawns, parks, playing fields, swimming
pools, and golf courses, with the average lawn receiving
ten times more synthetic pesticides per unit of land area
than an equivalent amount of cropland.
In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson warned against relying
primarily on synthetic organic chemicals to kill insects
and other species we regard as pests.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Synthetic pesticides: advantages


and disadvantages

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

You can reduce your exposure to


pesticides

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Pesticide use has not reduced U.S.


crop losses to pests

Synthetic pesticide use has not reduced U.S.


crop losses to pests, mostly because of
genetic resistance and reduction of natural
predators.
Three conclusions from a study that
evaluated data from more than 300
agricultural scientists and economists:

Between 1942 and 1997, estimated crop losses from insects almost doubled from 7%
to 13%, despite a 10-fold increase in the use of synthetic insecticides.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Pesticide use has not reduced U.S.


crop losses to pests

The estimated environmental, health, and social costs of


pesticide use in the United States are $510 in damages for
every dollar spent on pesticides.
Alternative pest management practices could cut the use
of synthetic pesticides by half on 40 major U.S. crops
without reducing crop yields

The pesticide industry disputes these findings.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

CASE STUDY: Ecological Surprises: The


Law of Unintended Consequences

In the 1950s, dieldrin (a DDT relative) was used to


eliminate malaria in North Borneo. This started an
unexpected chain of negative effects.
Small insect-eating lizards that lived in the houses
died after eating dieldrin-contaminated insects.
Cats died after feeding on the lizards. Rats
flourished and villagers became threatened by
plague carried by rat fleas.
The WHO successfully parachuted healthy cats onto
the island to help control the rats.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

CASE STUDY: Ecological Surprises: The


Law of Unintended Consequences

The villagers roofs fell in. The dieldrin had killed


wasps and other insects that fed on a type of
caterpillar that was not affected by the insecticide.
The caterpillar population exploded, and ate the
leaves used to thatch roofs.
Ultimately, both malaria and the unexpected effects
of the spraying program were brought under control.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Laws and treaties can help to protect us


from the harmful effects of pesticides

In the U.S., three federal agencies, the EPA, the


USDA, and the FDA regulate the sale and use of
pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), first passed in 1947 and
amended in 1972.
Under FIFRA, the EPA was supposed to assess the
health risks of the active ingredients in synthetic
pesticide products already in use.
After more than 30 years, less than 10% of the active
ingredients in pesticide products have been tested for
chronic health effects, due to lack of funding.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Laws and treaties can help to protect us


from the harmful effects of pesticides

In 1996, Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act,


due to growing scientific evidence and citizen pressure
concerning the effects of small amounts of pesticides on
children.
Act requires the EPA to reduce the allowed levels of pesticide
residues in food by a factor of 10 when there is inadequate
information on the potentially harmful effects on children.

Between 1972 and 2010, the EPA used FIFRA to ban or


severely restrict the use of 64 active pesticide
ingredients, including DDT and most other chlorinated
hydrocarbon insecticides.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Laws and treaties can help to protect us from


the harmful effects of pesticides

Up to 98% of the potential risk of developing cancer from


pesticide residues on food grown in the U.S. would be
eliminated if EPA standards were as strict for pre-1972
pesticides as they are for later ones.
Banned/unregistered pesticides may be manufactured in
one country and exported to other countries.
In what environmental scientists call a circle of poison,
or the boomerang effect, residues of some banned or
unapproved chemicals used in synthetic pesticides
exported to other countries can return to the exporting
countries on imported food.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Laws and treaties can help to


protect us from the harmful effects
of pesticides

The wind can also carry persistent pesticides from one


country to another.
In 1998, more than 50 countries developed an
international treaty that requires exporting countries to
have informed consent from importing counties for
exports of 22 synthetic pesticides and 5 industrial
chemicals.
In 2000, more than 100 countries developed an
international agreement to ban or phase out the use of
12 especially hazardous persistent organic pollutants.
The U.S. has not signed.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There are alternatives to synthetic


pesticides

Many scientists believe we should greatly increase


the use of biological, ecological, and other
alternative methods for controlling pests and
diseases that affect crops and human health. Here
are some of these alternatives:
Fool the pest. A variety of cultivation practices can be used
to fake out pests.
Provide homes for pest enemies.
Implant genetic resistance.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

There are alternatives to synthetic


pesticides

Bring in natural enemies. Use biological control


by importing natural predators, parasites, and
disease-causing bacteria and viruses.
Use insect perfumes.
Bring in the hormones.
Reduce use of synthetic herbicides to control
weeds.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Integrated pest management is a component


of more sustainable agriculture

Many pest control experts and farmers believe the best way to
control crop pests is a carefully designed integrated pest
management (IPM) program.
Farmers develop a carefully designed control program that
uses a combination of cultivation, biological, and chemical
tools and techniques.
The overall aim of IPM is to reduce crop damage to an
economically tolerable level.
Farmers first use biological methods (natural predators,
parasites, and disease organisms) and cultivation controls
(such as rotating crops, altering planting time, and using large
machines to vacuum up harmful bugs).

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Integrated pest management is a component


of more sustainable agriculture

They apply small amounts of insecticidesmostly based on


those naturally produced by plantsonly when insect or weed
populations reach a threshold where the potential cost of pest
damage to crops outweighs the cost of applying the pesticide.
Broad-spectrum, long-lived pesticides are not used, and
different chemicals are used alternately to slow the
development of genetic resistance and to avoid killing
predators of pest species.
A well-designed IPM program can reduce synthetic pesticide
use and pest control costs by 5065%, without reducing crop
yields and food quality.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Integrated pest management is a component


of more sustainable agriculture

IPM can also reduce inputs of fertilizer and irrigation


water, and slow the development of genetic
resistance, because pests are attacked less often
and with lower doses of pesticides.
Disadvantages of IPM:
It requires expert knowledge about each pest situation and
takes more time than does using conventional pesticides.
Methods developed for a crop in one area might not apply
to areas with even slightly different growing conditions.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Integrated pest management is a component


of more sustainable agriculture

Initial costs may be higher, although long-term costs


typically are lower than those of using conventional
pesticides.
Widespread use of IPM is hindered in the United States
and a number of other countries by government
subsidies for using synthetic chemical pesticides, as
well as by opposition from pesticide manufacturers,
and a shortage of IPM experts.

The USDA could promote IPM three ways:


First, add a 2% sales tax on synthetic pesticides and
use the revenue to fund IPM research and education.

Integrated pest
management is a
component of more
sustainable
Second, set up a federally supported IPM
agriculture
demonstration project on at least one
farm in
Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

every county in the United States.


Third, train USDA field personnel and county farm
agents in IPM so they can help farmers use this
alternative.
Because these measures would reduce its profits,
the pesticide industry has vigorously, and
successfully, opposed them.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-5

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE FOOD


SECURITY?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Use government policies to improve food


production and security

Agriculture is a financially risky business because farmers have a good


or bad year depending on factors over which they have little control:
weather, crop prices, crop pests and diseases, loan interest rates, and
global markets.
Governments use two main approaches to influence food production:

Control prices.
Provide subsidies.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Use government policies to improve food


production and security

To improve food security, some analysts urge governments to establish


special programs focused on saving children from the harmful health effects
of poverty.

Immunizing more children against childhood diseases.


Preventing dehydration from diarrhea by giving infants a mixture of sugar and salt
in water.
Preventing blindness by giving children an inexpensive vitamin A capsule twice a
year.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Section 10-6

HOW CAN WE PRODUCE FOOD


MORE SUSTAINABLY?

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Reduce soil erosion

Soil conservation involves using a variety of ways to


reduce soil erosion and restore soil fertility, mostly
by keeping the soil covered with vegetation.
Some of the methods farmers can use to reduce soil
erosion:
Terracing and contour planting are ways to grow food on
steep slopes without depleting topsoil.
Strip cropping involves planting alternating strips of a
row crop and another crop that completely covers the
soil, called a cover crop.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Reduce soil erosion

Alley cropping, or agroforestry involves one or more


crops planted together in strips or alleys between
trees and shrubs, which provide shade.
Farmers can establish windbreaks, or shelterbelts, of
trees around crop fields to reduce wind erosion.
Conservation tillage farming by using special tillers
and planting machines that drill seeds directly
through crop residues into the undisturbed soil.
Retire the estimated one-tenth of the worlds
marginal cropland that is highly erodible and accounts
for the majority of the worlds topsoil erosion.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Reduce soil erosion

Soil erosion in the United States.


A third of the countrys original topsoil is gone and much of
the rest is degraded.
In 1935, the United States passed the Soil Erosion Act, which
established the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as part of the
USDA.
Now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service

Farmers and ranchers were given technical assistance to set


up soil conservation programs.
U.S. farmers are sharply reducing some of their topsoil
losses through a combination of conservation-tillage farming
and government-sponsored soil conservation programs.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Soil conservation methods

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Restore soil fertility

Topsoil conservation is the best way to maintain soil


fertility, with restoring some of the lost plant nutrients
being the next option.
Organic fertilizer from plant and animal materials.
Animal manure: the waste of cattle, horses, poultry, and other
farm animals adding organic nitrogen, stimulating the growth of
beneficial soil bacteria and fungi.
Green manure: consists of freshly cut or growing green
vegetation that is plowed into the topsoil to increase the organic
matter and humus available to the next crop.
Compost is produced when microorganisms in soil break down
organic matter in the presence of oxygen.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Restore soil fertility

Organic agriculture uses only organic fertilizers and


crop rotation to replenish the nutrients.
Synthetic inorganic fertilizers are usually inorganic
compounds that contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potassium.
Inorganic fertilizer use has grown more than 900% since 1950;
now about one-fourth of the worlds crops.
Fertilizer runoff can pollute nearby bodies of water and
coastal estuaries where rivers empty into the sea.
They do not replace organic matter. To completely restore
nutrients to topsoil, both inorganic and organic fertilizers
should be used.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Reduce soil salinization and


desertification

One way to prevent and deal with soil salinization


is to reduce the amount of water that is put onto
crop fields through use of modern efficient
irrigation.
Drip, or trickle irrigation, also called microirrigation,
is the most efficient way to deliver small amounts of
freshwater to crops precisely.
These systems drastically reduce freshwater waste
because 9095% of the water input reaches the crops.
By using less freshwater, they also reduce the amount
of harmful salt that irrigation water leaves in the soil.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Reduce soil salinization and


desertification

Reducing desertification is not easy because we cant


control the timing and location of prolonged droughts
caused by changes in weather patterns.
We can reduce population growth, overgrazing,
deforestation, and destructive forms of planting, irrigation,
and mining, which have left much land vulnerable to soil
erosion and thus desertification.
Work to decrease the human contribution to projected
climate change, which is expected to increase severe and
prolonged droughts in larger areas of the world during this
century.
Restoration via planting trees.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Three types of systems commonly


used to irrigate crops

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Center pivot
(efficiency 80% with low-pressure
sprinkler and 9095% with LEPA
Gravity fow
sprinkler)
(efficiency 60% and 80% with surge valves)
Water usually pumped from
underground and sprayed
Water usually comes from an aqueduct
from mobile boom with
system or a nearby river.
sprinklers.

Drip irrigation
(efficiency 9095%)
Above- or below-ground
pipes or tubes deliver
water to individual plant
roots.
Fig. 10-24, p. 229

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Ways to prevent soil salinization


and ways to clean it up

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Practice more sustainable


aquaculture

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Produce meat more efficiently and


eat less meat

Meat production and consumption account for the largest contribution


to the ecological footprints of most individuals in affluent nations.
If everyone in the world today was on the average U.S. meat-based
diet, the current annual global grain harvest could sustainably feed
only about one-third of the worlds current population.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Produce meat more efficiently and


eat less meat

More sustainable meat production and


consumption involves shifting from less grainefficient forms of animal protein, (beef,
carnivorous fish), to more grain-efficient
forms (poultry, herbivorous farmed fish).
Eating less meat by having one meatless day
per week.
Healthier to eat less meat.
Replace meat with a balanced vegetarian diet.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

The efficiency of converting grain


into animal protein varies

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Shift to more sustainable food


production

Industrialized agriculture produces large amounts of food at


reasonable prices, but is unsustainable because it:

Relies heavily on fossil fuels.


Reduces biodiversity and agrobiodiversity.
Reduces the recycling of plant nutrients back to topsoil.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

More sustainable,
low-input food
production has a
number of major
components

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Shift to more sustainable food


production

More sustainable, low-input agriculture has a number of major components.

Organic farming.
Sharply reduces the harmful environmental effects of industrialized farming and our
exposure to pesticides.
Encourages more humane treatment of animals used for food and is a more economically
just system for farm workers and farmers.
Requires more human labor than industrial farming.
Yields can be lower but farmers do not have to pay for expensive synthetic pesticides,
herbicides, and fertilizers; typically get higher prices for their crops.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Major advantages of organic


farming over conventional

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Shift to more sustainable food


production

Organic polyculture.
A diversity of organic crops is grown on the same plot.
Use polyculture to grow perennial cropscrops that grow back year after year on their
own.
Helps to conserve and replenish topsoil, requires and wastes less water, and reduces the
need for fertilizers and pesticides.
Reduces the air and water pollution associated with conventional industrialized
agriculture.

Shift from using imported fossil fuel to relying more on solar energy for food
production.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Shift to more sustainable food


production

Five major strategies to help farmers and consumers


make the transition to more sustainable agriculture:
1. Greatly increase research on more sustainable organic
farming and perennial polyculture, and on improving
human nutrition.
2. Establish education and training programs in more
sustainable agriculture for students, farmers, and
government agricultural officials.
3. Set up an international fund to give farmers in poor
countries access to various types of more sustainable
agriculture.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Shift to more sustainable food


production

4. Replace government subsidies for environmentally


harmful forms of industrialized agriculture with
subsidies that encourage more sustainable
agriculture.
5. Mount a massive program to educate consumers
about the true environmental and health costs of the
food they buy. This would help them understand why
the current system is unsustainable, and it would
help build political support for including the harmful
costs of food production in the market prices of food.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Ways you can eat more sustainably

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Three big ideas

About 925 million people have health problems


because they do not get enough to eat and 1.1 billion
people face health problems from eating too much.
Modern industrialized agriculture has a greater
harmful impact on the environment than any other
human activity.
More sustainable forms of food production will
greatly reduce the harmful environmental impacts of
industrialized food production systems while likely
increasing food security.

Environmental Science
Por: Carlos Sanlley
UNIBE

Muchas gracias
Nombre profesor(a)
Profesor(a)

SANTO DOMINGO, D.N.

Mes, Ao

Esta ha sido una presentacin


para la asignatura de
de la Escuela de
Universidad Iberoamericana - UNIBE

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