industrial agriculture, threats to food security, food security

Question 1

extensive agriculture

Answer 1

-swidden: necessitates the slashing, cutting, felling, and burning of forested areas for the planting of impermanent garden plots or agricultural fields

pastoralism: deals with animal livestock

Question 2

intensive agriculture

Answer 2

-capital intensive: require substantial investment in machinery, equipment, infrastructure, and inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides; typically involves large-scale operations with significant financial resources.

-labor intensive: requires large amount of labor for production

Question 3

benefits of industrial agriculture

Answer 3

1) growth of large cities
2) economic growth: allows industry and services to grow
3) purhasing power goes to other goods (infrastructure)
4) high cost of food is extremely harmful for low income people
5) percent spent on food decline

Question 4

success of corn

Answer 4

hybridization

Question 5

key enabler of capital intensive ag

Answer 5

scientific revolution

-selective breeding, gov investment in ag tech

Question 6

corn’s success also caused

Answer 6

political support for ethanol, negative health impacts

Question 7

impact of industrial rev

Answer 7

-global food trade explosion=transportation, refridgeration, canning

-new tech to keep foods fresh and cheap

Question 8

industrializing agriculture also means

Answer 8

mechanization, monocultres, regional sepcialization, pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides

-high tech package that comes from using high yield seeds

Question 9

effeciency vs resiliancy

Answer 9

resilency should be priortized. wothout it, constant conditions are assumed which opens the door for food insecurity

Question 10

industrial ag leads to

Answer 10

-decline of rural areas
-loss of bio and genetic diversity of crops
-dietary changes

Question 11

environmental issues of industrial ag

Answer 11

global food security threats, water, air, land, biodiversity

Question 12

green revolution

Answer 12

moving from substinence farming to large scale industrial farming

-increases short term profitability

Question 13

demographic pressures on food security

Answer 13

1) Feeding almost 10 billion people by 2050
2) Assuming a rise in gobal incomes, we will need more grain for livestock
3) Biofuel growth takes farm land out of human supply

Question 14

cause of food production not rising fast enough

Answer 14

large # of landless people and slow growth in yields cause cuts in the remaining forest and fishery supply

Question 15

what effect does climate change have on agriculture?

Answer 15

1) excessive precipitation, floods and planting difficulties
2) new pests, disease pressures: competetion and crop damage
3) drought, crop failure
4) loss of natural resources, removes habitats
5) excessive heat: water issues, disrupted pollination
6) high temperatures at night during flowering period drastically decreases yield
7) makes it hard to control pests: blight moving to higher altitudes, higher winter survival rate

Question 16

soil mismanagement

Answer 16

priortizing short term soil health, the US has high soil erosion rates

Question 17

what makes agriculture a neglected sector of economic development

Answer 17

insufficiant R and D, especially in vulnerable areas like South Asia and Subsaharan Africa

Question 18

causes of water stress

Answer 18

1) growing demand because of population growth
2) poor price signals and overconsumption
3) water quality is poor due to pollution levels
4) decreasing supply: rainfall patterns changing, depleting aquafirs

Question 19

how much water does ag use worldwide

Answer 19

70%

Question 20

two most important minerals for farming

Answer 20

phosphorous and potassium

Question 21

why is it hard to get phosphourous and pottassium

Answer 21

mostly in western africa, and there are extraction problems

Question 22

threats to marine systems

Answer 22

1) oceans resources under pressure
2) global overfishing
3) decline in major atlantic fish like cod and salmon
4) unsustainable fisheries
5) fish size is decreasing
5) nutrient runoff means that coastal environments are damaged
6) coastal deadzones
7) damage in the gulf: harms midwestern farms

Question 23

coastal hypovia

Answer 23

water conditions where the concentration of oxygen is so low that it is detrimental to organisms and very few organisms can survive in those conditions

Question 24

coastal eutrophication

Answer 24

occurs when the environment becomes enriched with nutrients, increasing the amount of plant and algae growth to estuaries and coastal waters

Question 25

causes of coral reef destruction

Answer 25

warm temperatures, ecological changes, disease, destructive fishing practices, coral mining, ag runoff, increased nutrients or algae, overfishing disrupting the eco balance

Question 26

why are coral reefs essential

Answer 26

protein sources for millions of tropical communities

Question 27

causes of wetland destruction

Answer 27

drainage and filling, dam construction, sea level rise, water pollution, channelization of riverbeds, overexploitation of resources, invasive species

Question 28

ocean acidification

Answer 28

the ongoing decrease in the pH of the ocean
-threat to the entire marine web

Question 29

best way to secure the food supply

Answer 29

increase ag productivity

Question 30

threats to ag productivity

Answer 30

1) lack of pollinators, desertification, salinization of soil, ocean plastic, biodiversity loss, loss of arable land

Question 31

in terms of the future of food security,

Answer 31

we need to deprioritize optimization and prioritize resiliency and make sure we are prepared for disturbances

Question 32

how to frame food security as a individual issue

Answer 32

as a population growth issue rather than a malthusian scenerio

malthusian : theory that population tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence and that unless it is checked by moral restraint or by disease, famine, war, or other disaster

Question 33

neo malthusian

Answer 33

rests on the observation that resources are limited, and that growing populations could rapidly outstrip the provision of resources including land and food

Question 34

risk society

Answer 34

the way society organizes itself in response to risk

Question 35

two types of innovation needed for food security

Answer 35

capital intenive and labor intensive

Question 36

gmo

Answer 36

genetically modified organism: genes from another species

Question 37

pros to gmos

Answer 37

more nutritious, better growth, use nutrients more effectively, require less water, heat resistant, faster than selective breeding

Question 38

cons to gmos

Answer 38

allergens, environmental impacts, regulatory agencies needed, ethics, hysteria with the “GMO” label

Question 39

success of the GMO tech

Answer 39

modest and contreversial: metabolic havoc from switching genes, early choices were purely profit driven

Question 40

CRISPR - Cas 9

Answer 40

initial successes: can edit all 3 alleles which can make bread resistent to mildew and wheat crops resistent to drought, gene editing preserces genetic diversity

Question 41

GECs

Answer 41

precise editing of organisms native genome rather than another species

Question 42

benefits of microbes

Answer 42

1) lock in soil nutrients
2) protect plants from pests
3) plants increase in ressiliance
4) restore degraded ag land

Question 43

types of microbes

Answer 43

bacteria, fungi, virus, protazoa

Question 44

functions of microbes

Answer 44

soil amendment and crop protection

Question 45

formulations of microbes

Answer 45

dry and liquid

Question 46

applications of microbes

Answer 46

soil treatment, folicular spray, seed treatment

Question 47

types of alternative protein

Answer 47

plant-based meat, insects, artificial meat, cellular, precision fermentation

Question 48

urban ag, vertical ag benefits

Answer 48

1) proximity to market
2) reliability
3) no pesticides
4) plant selection can be switched to yield different variables
5) protection from climate
6) high volume with less resources
7) efficient use of space

Question 49

why urban ag now

Answer 49

because of the decrease in price of LEDs

Question 50

promises of urban ag

Answer 50

new crop frontiers and circular agriculture

Question 51

limitations of urban ag

Answer 51

-grains require lots of space
-designing aquaponics to fit the urban environment

Question 52

precision ag

Answer 52

farming managment strategy that uses remote drones and sensors to monitor the farm

Question 53

why precision ag now?

Answer 53

affordable, GIS, remote sensing tech, speed improvements with software

Question 54

difference between GMO and GEC

Answer 54

GECs work within the genome of the original plant

Question 55

synthetic biology

Answer 55

-a more sustainable way to produce things like building materials, flavorings, and biofuels

-using micro organisms that can replace industrial processes

-can make food take up less resources

Question 56

precision fermentation

Answer 56

genetic modification and fermentation of micro-organisms to create organic molecules. important tool in decreasing food insecurity

Question 57

how can labor intensive ag boost food production?

Answer 57

1) good marginal return
2) farmers using nature as a tool to boost production

Question 58

working against labor intesive ag:

Answer 58

1) considered backwards
2) low income countries dont invest a lot in ag
3) high income focus research dollars into capital intensive farms rather than actually enhancing productivity of small farms

Question 59

labor intensive farming in vietnam

Answer 59

improving smaller hold ag in order to slow rural to urban transition

Question 60

agroforestry

Answer 60

the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits

ex) planting forage trees for goats, non traditional animals that can be raised sustainably in a forest

Question 61

alley cropping

Answer 61

an agroforestry practice that places trees within agricultural cropland systems

Question 62

factors working in favor of organic farmers in high income countries

Answer 62

1) consumers in charge
2) fresh produce on the rise
3) health and nutrition = market drivers
4) companies in the food space will be rebranding for health as the antodote to big pharma

Question 63

things organic farmers need to do in order to succeed

Answer 63

1) minimize outside impacts
2) long term soil fertility
3) bee friendly farms and soil microbe farms
4) stagger plantings to extend growing season
5) planting diversity of crops that allow you to better attract and maintain customer base

Question 64

business considerations for organic farmers

Answer 64

1) shortening supply chain by cutting middle man
2) manage soil fertility for long term
3) adding value to produce
4) include agritourism when feasible

Question 65

societal actions to support organic famers

Answer 65

1)strategically placed farmers markets
2) oppurtunities for farmers at park and ride lots
3) fairs, farm tours, other events that celebrate local ag
4) meat processing oppurtunities for independent producers