3- Environmental issues and economics in food production Flashcards
What chemical contributes to the majority of air pollution?
N2O = Nitrous oxide (65%)
Why is there little incentive to be efficient with water?
Water is often cheap & available so people don’t have the incentive to look after it.
What environmental impact does soil pollution have?
Soil compaction = Reduces biodiversity as vertebrates can’t borrow
Veterinary medicines = ^ Water run off = Antibiotics
Pathogens = Erosion = affects survival in compacted soil
What % of fresh water is used for agriculture?
70%
What is energy production heavily dependent on?
Fossil fuels
What are the risk to human/animal health from a reduction of biodiversity?
Extinction of potentially beneficial species
Reliance on monocultures increases susceptibility to pests/disease
Fluctuations in feed/food supply
Encourages emergence of new pathogens
Types of zoonotic pathogens in manure?
E.coli
Salmonella
Listeria
Campylobacter
Cryptosporidium
Giardia intestinal
Name 3 options for dealing with manure
Spread on own land
Process for sale as fertiliser
Transport & store off site
If manure is stored off site which ABP category storing facility does it go in?
Category 2
What approval do you need if manure Is processed for sale as a fertiliser?
APHA
What is the risk of the use of poultry manure as a fertiliser or bedding?
Lead to C.botulism outbreak
In sheep/cattle = High mortality
Define ‘Negative externality’
A cost that is suffered by a third party due to an economic transaction
Impacts on productivity, product quality and consumption
Define ‘Public Good’
Good when supplied to one individual is immediately available to others at no charge
96% of the public agree with the need to safeguard food but what still influences the choice to buy this food?
Price sensitivity- a lot more expensive
what are some disadvantaged of industrialised farming practices
more vulnerable to animal and human disease outbreaks
overwhelms capacity of local ecosystem to process waste
poorer welfare of animals??
adverse physical, economic, mental and social health in rural communities
