WORLD FOOD RESOURCES

1. WORLD FOOD RESOURCES Part I

2. Food Resources • Approximately 15 plant and 8 animal species. • Three main cash crops: 1. wheat 2. rice 3. corn Grown by Industrialized agricultural methods (developed nations) and Traditional methods including subsistence and intensive (developing nations)

3. Wheat and corn (industrial agriculture) Rice (Intensive agriculture)

4. Livestock • Cattle – beef = affluence • Horses • Oxen • Sheep • Chicken • hogs

5. Cattle Ranching Beef Cows Dairy Cows

6. Types of Agriculture • Industrialized Agriculture – “Agribusiness” • Developed countries • Land – moderate amount • Labor – low • Capital Costs – high (use a lot of fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation systems) • Energy Use (fossil fuels) – high • Environmental Impacts - high

7. Industrialized Agriculture

8. Types of Agriculture • Intensive Traditional (Rice fields, China, Thailand) • Developing countries • Capital Costs – low (use fertilizer and will divert water for irrigation through dams on occasion) • Energy use (fossil fuels) – low • Environmental Impacts (low-moderate)

9. Intensive AgricultureRice Paddies

10. Types of Agriculture • Shifting Cultivation • Developing countries • Land – large tracts of tropical forests cleared and used for agriculture • Labor – low-moderate • Capital Costs – low (rarely use fertilizer) • Energy use – low to none • Shift agricultural plots of land until nutrients are restored to land. • Environmental Impacts (moderate)

11. Types of Agriculture • Nomadic Herding • Developing countries • Land – large tracts • Labor – low • Capital Costs – low • Energy use (fossil fuels) – none • Yak in Tibet (Snow Leopard Video)

12. Plantation agriculture Intensive traditional agriculture Industrialized agriculture Nomadic herding No agriculture Shifting cultivation

13. Pre-Green revolution • 1912 – German chemist Fritz Haber developed a process for synthesizing ammonia directly from nitrogen and hydrogen. “The Haber Process” • At the start of World War I, in 1914, Germany was dependent on nitrate deposits in Chile for nitrogen containing compounds needed to manufacture explosives. • The Allied naval blockade of South America cut off this supply. • By fixing nitrogen from the air, Germany was able to continue explosives production. • From this incident and the development of the Haber process, scientists have continued to fix nitrogen to manufacture fertilizers that have increased crop yields. • Approximately 50 billion pounds of ammonia are manufactured annually in the USA = BIG BUSINESS! • The decision to award Fritz Haber the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1918 was the subject of considerable controversy since he served as chief of Germany’s Chemical Warfare Service and developed chlorine as a poison gas-weapon later used in Nazi Germany concentration camps. • He was awarded the Nobel Prize because it was believed that “the world would never go hungry again”. • The ultimate irony came in 1933 when Haber was expelled from Germany because he was Jewish!

14. Haber Process

15. Green Revolution (1950-1970) • Plant monocultures to obtain high yields. • Input pesticides and fertilizers to obtain high yields. • Increase frequency and intensity of cropping to obtain high yields. • Was all of this done to “feed the world” or make high profits?

16. Trade-Offs Inorganic Commercial Fertilizers Disadvantages Advantages Easy to transport Easy to store Easy to apply Inexpensive to produce Help feed one of every three people in the world Without commercial inorganic fertilizers, world food output could drop by 40% Do not add humus to soil Reduce organic matter in soil Reduce ability of soil to hold water Lower oxygen content of soil Require large amounts of energy to produce, transport, and apply Release the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) Runoff can overfertilize nearby lakes and kill fish

17. 2nd Green Revolution • Introduction of genetically modified crops to obtain high yields. • New herbicides introduced.

18. New Green Revolution • “Sasakawa Global 2000” • Ryoichi Sasakawa, Norman Bourlag & Jimmy Carter • Goal: Obtain high yields in an environmentally friendly way by introducing • Integrated Management Plans (IPM’s) • Terracing • Intercropping.

19. Terracing – Coffee Plantation Form of Contour Plowing

20. Economics of Agriculture • AGRICULTURE MAKES UP 20% OF USA’S GNP! = BIG BUSINESS • High input = high output (high yields) • Industrial Agriculture uses: 1. tremendous amounts of energy (fossil fuels) 2. Moderate amount of land 3. fertilizers and pesticides Food costs/salary have decreased by 50% since 1940 due to “relatively” cheap energy (subsidies), mass growing and processing. ALL leading to environmental degradation. Environmental degradation costs billions of dollars to attempt to repair structure and function losses of ecosystems. Restoration of habitats usually will NOT replace the originally lost structure, function and values of ecosystems.

21. Economics of the Hamburger • 1 acre of forest supports 800,000 pounds of plants and animals. • 1 acre = 43, 560 square feet • 1 bovine = 200 pounds of actual beef • 200 pounds of beef = (800) 4 ounce hamburgers • 1 hamburger = ½ ton (1000 pounds) of forest products • 1 hamburger = 55 square feet of forest • Two 4oz. Hamburgers will fill 45-50 bowls with cooked cereal grains for undernutrition/malnutritioned children in the USA. • 2.1 million children under the age of 3 live in poverty in the USA!

22. Environmental Degradation

23. Environmental Degradation

24. Runoff From Slaughter Houses

26. Compaction and Salinization of Soils

27. Effects of Soil Compaction

28. Agricultural Methods • Polyvarietal Cultures – a plot is planted with several species of the same crop. Example. Rice Type A = normal strain Type B = drought-resistant strain Type C = nutrient-deficient strain Multi-strains ensure that a crop will bring a profit under varying conditions, since annual weather is unpredictable.

29. Polyvarietal Strains

30. Agricultural methods • Intercropping – two or more different crops are grown at the same time on a single plot. Example, carbohydrate rich grains such as corn next to protein-rich legumes such as alfalfa that fixes nitrogen in the soils due to Rhizobium sp.

31. Intercropping

32. Agricultural Methods • Agroforestry – crops and trees planted together. This may include plantation trees. Trees provide shading to promote moisture-retention in soils. Example, fruit-bearing trees planted with a grain and/or legume.

33. Agroforestry

34. (c) Alley cropping

35. Agricultural Methods • Polyculture – a complex form of intercropping. Many different species/varieties of plants will mature at different times. This ensures year-round crop production and habitat for pests and wildlife. • Produces high sustainable yields. • Provides medicine, fuel, natural pesticides and natural fertilizers. • Reduces environmental degradation from pesticides and irrigation and reduces crop losses overall.

36. Polyculture

37. Agricultural Methods • Organic Farming – Does not apply inorganically manufactured fertilizers (or sludge-product), pesticides, genetically modified varieties, nor adds hormones or uses antibiotics (in meats and poultry).

38. Success of Organic Farming • provides a healthier way of life (no bioaccummulation of chemicals), • Reduces environmental degradation, • Allows for maintenance or increases to biodiversity by reducing nutrient and toxicity loading to environment. • Allows for safe working conditions for farmers and employees.

39. Failures of Organic Farming • Unfavorable climate reduces cash crop because there are no genetically modified varieties used (drives the consumer cost up) • Global warming and increased deforestation of rain forests are reducing precipitation in critical areas, thereby requiring increased irrigation use (drives consumer cost up) • No fertilizers/pesticides used so the crop is more susceptible to damage and disease (drives consumer cost up) • Basic Economics – if demand is low, prices are high! • Winds carry genetically modified seed and pesticides onto “organically farmed” lands (Monsanto).

40. 1990 Organic Food Protection Act • Designed to develop uniform national standards for being “organic”. USDA states that any food: • Genetically engineered/modified; • Fertilized with municipal sludge; • Zapped with radiation …IS NOT ORGANIC!

41. Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2003Rider • A rider was inserted into appropriations legislation that would have allowed producers to use the organic label for their meat and dairy products even if they did not meet the National Organic Standards (NOS).  This loophole, reportedly created at the request of a single livestock producer in Georgia, would have allowed any livestock producer to skirt the requirement that “organic” livestock be fed only organically-produced food.  This rider would have effectively gutted the organic standards, negating the hard-won consensus reached by stakeholders over the last ten years.  • Why is this allowed? • Chemical and Agribusiness Industries are HUGE BUSINESS! • Who really makes the laws?

42. Organic Restoration Act • Tremendous pressure was placed on Congress by consumers …”I mean voters” Constituents from the 4th District and across the country voiced their concern about this loophole. David Price was an original cosponsor of The repeal was ultimately included in HR 1559, which was signed into law on April 16, 2003.   

43. Pros of Food Subsidies • Farmers stay in business during low production years. • Food production is encouraged. • Low interest loans provided for new farmers.

44. Cons of Food Subsidies 1. More food = overproduction which decreases profits and depresses global prices. 2. Surplus becomes food aid, which is believed by most scientists, economists and politicians to reduce the incentive for recipients of food aid to grow their own. 3. Farm Bill1990, 1996, 2002 – provides subsidies to farmers for overproduction and/or crop losses due to weather conditions. ONLY govt. assistance that reimburses business for “Act of God”

45. Payment Limitations (Cont.) • Adjusted Gross Income Limitation • Defined as: the 3 year average of the adjusted gross income or comparable measure of the individual or entity over the 3 preceding years • Begins in 2003 • $2.5 million limit • Unless not less than 75% of AGI comes from farming, ranching, or forestry operations • An individual or entity shall not be eligible to receive any benefit (direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, and marketing loan gains/LDPs) • Certification: An individual or entity shall provide to the Secretary • Certification from a CPA or another third party • Information and documentation through other procedures established by the Secretary • Creates a new commission to study and make recommendations regarding payment limits

46. Distribution of Government SupportExample: Grain Sorghum Reflects payments not on full production(payment acres = .85 x base acres) Revenue per Bushel Target Price – $2.54 Decoupled (do not have to produce to receive payment) CCP } Fixed payment – $0.35 Loan Rate – $1.98 MLG/LDP Coupled (do have to produce to receive benefits from marketing loans gains or LDPs) Market Price Market Receipts

47. “Life Boat Ethics” Garrett Hardin • Food relief goes to developing countries helping to ensure population increase (increases fitness). • Population increase will “sink the boat”. It discourages governments of developing nations in investing in sustainable intensive agriculture. • Relief seldom reaches target population.

48. American Indian Saying • “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day” • Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime”

49. Environmental Degradation From Terrestrial Food Production Transpiration Evaporation Waterlogging Less permeable clay layer

50. Environmental Degradation From Terrestrial Food Production Consequences Causes Overgrazing Deforestation Erosion Salinization Soil compaction Natural climate change Worsening drought Famine Economic losses Lower living standards Environmental refugees