FARMING PROCESSES Key Concepts Methods of producing food Increasing food production Environmental effects of food production Increasing sustainability How Is Food Produced? Sources of food Primary plants: wheat, corn, and rice Primary animals:
beef, pork, and chicken Major Types of Agriculture Traditional subsistence Traditional intensive Plantation Industrialized (high-input) World Food Production Industrialized Industrialized agriculture agriculture
Plantation Plantation agriculture agriculture Nomadic Nomadic herding herding Shifting Shifting cultivation cultivation Intensive Intensive traditional
traditional agriculture agriculture No No agriculture agriculture Producing Food by GreenRevolution Techniques High-input monoculture Selectively bred or genetically-engineered crops High inputs of fertilizer Extensive use of pesticides High inputs of water
Increased intensity and frequency of cropping Green Revolutions Fig. 13-6 p. 282 First Second First green green revolution revolution Second green green revolution
revolution (developed (developing (developed countries) countries) (developing countries) countries) Major Major International International agricultural agricultural research research centers
centers and and seed seed banks banks Producing Food by Traditional Techniques Intercropping Polyvarietal cultivation Agroforestry (alley cropping) Polyculture like
like aa home home garden garden Food Production Rapidly increasing Prices decreasing Shortages in developing countries Approaching limits on meat production Nutrition Undernutrition Malnutrition
Overnutrition Refer to Fig. 13-11 p. 286 Refer to Solutions p. 289 Environmental Effects of Food Production Biodiversity loss Soil Air pollution Water Human health See Fig. 13-13 p. 288
Increasing World Crop Production Crossbreeding and artificial selection Genetic engineering (gene splicing) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) Continued Green Revolution techniques Introducing new foods Working more land See Fig. 13-16 p. 291 Producing More Meat Rangeland
Pasture Efficiency Kilograms Kilograms of of grain grain needed needed per per kilogram kilogram of of body
body weight weight Beef Beef cattle cattle 77 Pigs Pigs Chicken Chicken
Fish Fish (catfish (catfish or or carp) carp) 44 2.2 22 Adaptations of rangeland plants
Fig. 13-25 p. 298 Range condition and management Environmental consequences (Connections p. 299) CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) Farm Water Use Drip Center Pivot
Sprinkler Catching and Raising More Fish Fisheries Fishing methods (See Fig. 13-30 p. 303) Sustainable yield Overfishing Commercial extinction Aquiculture Fish farming and ranching Aquaculture Farms (marine
cages) raise and cultivate fish and harvest when reach desired age or size. Ranch raise juveniles, then release to grow to adulthood in wild waters, then recapture when return to spawn (ex: salmon) *farm raised vs wild caught. (uncommon) Government Agricultural Policy Artificially low prices Subsidies
Elimination of price controls Food aid Solutions: Sustainable Agriculture Low-input agriculture Organic farming See Fig. 13-36 p. 308 More benefits to the poor Increasing funding for research in sustainable techniques
Solutions: Soil Conservation Conventional-tillage All topsoil topsoil is is turned turned under and exposed to to erosion erosion and and the the elements.
elements. Conservation tillage Minimum Minimum or or no-till no-till either either loosely break the the surface surface or
or use use special planting planting equipment equipment to to put put seeds seeds into into earth earth without without exposing exposing topsoil.
topsoil. Refer to Fig. 10-26 p. 224 Solutions Cont.d Cropping methods Strip Contour Terrace Windbreaks Land Classification
Soil Restoration Organic fertilizer Animal manure Green manure Compost Crop rotation Commercial inorganic fertilizer Soil Conservation 1985 Farm Act strategy to reduce soil erosion in the US Reduce erosion & restore fertile land
Conservation tilling disturb soil as little as possible Terracing reduce erosion on slopes Contour farming plant along contours of gentle slopes Strip cropping planting alternate strips of crops Alley cropping planting between shrubs and trees Wind breaks planting a row of trees or shrubs on perimeters
Gully reclamation fast growing vines and shrubs
