© 2009 delmar, cengage learning chapter 10 agriculture and sustainability

© 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Chapter 10

Agriculture and Sustainability


Today: • You have your chapter 9 Quiz.

• Place all phones in the basket and backpacks up front.

• When you are finished with your quiz, bring it up to me and you will have an article to read/analyze. Follow the instructions at the top of the page and turn it in when you are done.


Bell Work 1/28:

• Place your phones in the basket and answer the following question:

• 1) What does agriculture mean to you?


Objective:

• Distinguish between wild and domestic plants and animals;

• Explain how traits of domesticated plants and animals have diverged from their wild ancestors


Next:

• Get out a piece of paper and something to take notes with.

• You will turn in your notes for points when we are finished.

• Only write the terms in BOLD.



• Agriculture began with humans using wild organisms

• Over time, these organisms have become domesticated and adapted for human use



• Agriculture has changed much over the years with new tools, mechanized labor, and chemicals

• How will agriculture continue to meet the needs of human populations and still provide healthy environments?


Foundation for Agriculture

• Nature was original source of plants and animals–Domestic plants and animals were

obtained from wild populations


Foundation for Agriculture

• Domestic organisms now differ from ancestors–Domestic species selected for ability to

produce meat, fruit, food, etc.• not selected for ability to survive


Next:

• Take 15 minutes and discuss with your partner the following:

• Choose 3 domestic species. • Describe how they are different from species in

the wild. • Describe the purpose they were created.• Discuss whether you agree/disagree if

domesticating animals is a good practice. • Be prepared to share with the class when you

are finished.


Video:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDmzzREXI_g

• After we watch the video, write a one paragraph summary on domesticating dogs and how it has helped human evolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDmzzREXI_g




Tomorrow:

• Meet downstairs in the science lab for class.

• We will be doing a lab on fertilizers.

• Be sure to go on the school website and answer the questions tonight for homework.


Bell Work 2/2:

• Please put your phones away and have a seat and answer the following question prompt:

• Fill in the Venn Diagram on your worksheets and compare and contrast natural environment to agriculture.


Question of the day:

• What can people do to help prevent damage to the environment through agriculture?


Agriculture and the Environment• Some conflict exists between natural

environment and agriculture• 1) Agricultural practices that conflict

with wildlife– soil damage– improper uses of pesticides and agricultural

chemicals– grazing practices on public land– conversion of habitat to fields


Erosion

• 2) Destructive process that occurs to unprotected land– result of forces of flowing water or

strong winds


Erosion

• 3) Erosion is number one source of water pollution–destroys terrestrial habitats

• 4) Soil conservation–practice of protecting soil from wind

and water


Farmers and Ranchers• 5) Stewards of much of land in

United States– private and public

• 6) Most potential farmland now tilled– converted from wild habitat to farmland

• Some organisms have been displaced• Others (e.g., songbirds) have found new habitat


Farmers and Ranchers

• 7) Most farmers are sensitive to responsible management–have most to lose if soil damaged


Next:

• You have 15 minutes to read and analyze the article on wildlife.

• Use the analysis questions on your notes.

• Do not turn them in yet when you finish.


Next:

• Lets go back to our question of the day: • What can people do to prevent damage to

the environment through agriculture?


Homework: • Purpose: To investigate the role of agriculture in providing

food for humans• Background: How important is agriculture to the food you

and your family consume to survive? Agriculture provides food both directly (as with fruits and vegetables) and indirectly (as with beef, which comes from cows that eat plants).

• Procedure: Search your family’s shelves and refrigerator. Identify at least 10 items that come directly from agriculture and 10 items that come indirectly from agriculture. Finally, attempt to find one or more items you eat that do NOT come directly or indirectly from agriculture (contain NO plant or animal products).

•


Homework:

• Record your list of items on a T-chart (one side for foods that come directly from agriculture, one side for items that come indirectly from agriculture). Below your chart, identify the item(s) that do NOT come from agriculture at all. Record the complete list of ingredients for ONE of those items.


Next:

• We are going to go downstairs to the lab so you can make your first observations.

• Make sure and water your plants with the correct concentration of fertilizer!

• They are already made up for you.


Question of the day:

• What are the pros and cons to organic vs. non-organic farming?

• Start by comparing and contrasting the two on the diagram on your paper.


Farmers and Chemicals• 1) Chemicals pose dangers to farm

families– They live on the land– They drink water from farm wells– Their children play in the fields– They eat homegrown food

• Seems reasonable to believe that farmers would not endanger own families


Farmers and Chemicals

• 2) Agricultural chemicals have been carefully tested– safe when applied following manufacturer’s

directions– leftover chemicals = toxic waste

• even containers


Farmers and Chemicals

• 3) Laws describe proper use and disposal of chemicals–must be safely stored between uses–must be taken to toxic waste treatment

center for disposal


Tilling soil

• “Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning.”

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agitation#Noun


Effects of tillage (source: Wikipedia)• Positive

–Loosens and aerates the top layer of soil, which facilitates planting the crop

– Helps mix harvest residue, organic matter (humus), and nutrients evenly into the soil

– Mechanically destroys weeds– Dries the soil before seeding– When done in Fall, helps exposed soil crumble

over winter through frosting and defrosting, which helps prepare a smooth surface for spring planting


Effects: • Negative

– Dries the soil before seeding– Soil loses a lot of nutrients, like nitrogen and fertilizer,

and its ability to store water– Decreases the water infiltration rate of soil (increased

runoff & erosion– dislodging the cohesiveness of the soil particles thereby

inducing erosion– Chemical runoff– Reduces organic matter in the soil– Reduces microbes, earthworms, ants, etc– Can attract slugs, cut worms, army worms, and other

harmful insects to the left over residues– Crop diseases can be harbored in surface residues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrients

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen


Questions:

• 1) When you raided your family fridge, what were some of the foods you found?

• 2) How many of these foods were organic? How many were non-organic (chemically) grown?


Questions:

• 3) Do you personally believe it is better to eat organic or non-organic foods? Do you think it matters?

• 4) As a society, what do you think we could do to encourage more people to eat organic?


Next:

• Instead of reading the article together, we are going to read an article as a class called “our stolen future” and talk about it.

• I will call on you to read paragraphs that will be up on the SMARTBoard.


Next:

• Turn in your notes and your homework if you have it with you and lets go down and water your plants in the lab.


Warm up:

• Answer the first two questions on your paper, then we will get started.


Video Clip:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Q-TnCLLcg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Q-TnCLLcg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Q-TnCLLcg


So…

• What is a rangeland?

• What are these farmers doing to protect it?


Farmers and Fields

• 1) Farmers should avoid certain practices– should not till every piece of soil on farm– should not drain swamps or wetland areas

• 2) Farmers can provide wildlife habitat– plant windbreaks, maintain wooded areas– leave areas of grass and weeds undisturbed– leave patches of nonharvested land


Rangelands

3) Rangelands are public lands managed for multiple uses

–wildlife–domestic cows or sheep–Uses are compatible with each other


Rangelands

• Certain expectations exist for ranchers grazing on public land–must make improvements to range

• add water supplies• increase availability of forage species


Rangelands

• Management of rangelands requires carefully planning–5) grazing period

• graze quickly and then let land recover• graze in spring to provide winter

forage


Rangelands

• Management of rangelands avoids overgrazing–6) domestic livestock harvests plants

beyond recovery


Next:

• Let’s finishing analyzing the article I gave you yesterday.


Our Stolen Future Article:

Greenlee et al. report a strong association between using herbicides and infertility in women. In their study population, women who were infertile were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides in the two years prior to attempting conception than women who were fertile. Other factors, including smoking and exposure to passive smoke, steady weight gain during adult life, and consuming alcoholic beverages were alsoassociated with infertility.


Our Stolen Future Article: • What did they do? Greenlee et al. conducted a

retrospective case-control study examining the association between infertility in women and different risk factors. They recruited infertile women to the study via electronic records of women seeking infertility treatment. Their diagnoses included endometriosis, anovulation, pituitary-hypothalamic dysfunctions, etc. Couples whose sterility was a result of any form of male infertility or surgical intervention, e.g., hysterectomy or vasectomy, were excluded from the analysis.


Our Stolen Future Article:

• The controls were pregnant women from the same population. From the same age range, control women were seeking prenatal care during their first pregnancy, and had conceived in fewer than 12 months of trying. Any controls who reported ever having difficulty conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy, or whose male partner had a questionable history of infertility were also excluded.


Our Stolen Future Article: • Controls were then matched to cases on the

bases of age and date ofclinical service.To determine exposure histories, cases and controls were interviewed abouttheir activities for the 2 years prior to attempting to become pregnant. Thequestionnaire included questions on demographics, occupation, exposures, pesticide use, residency on a farm, tobacco and alcohol use, etc.


Our Stolen Future article: • What did they find? A total of 1,791

potential cases were screened for the study, along with 822 potential controls. After recruitment and screening,322 cases and 322 matched controls participated in the study. Cases and controls were well matched for most variables, including age, household income, smoking status, body mass index, age at menarche, and number of sexual partners in lifetime.


Our Stolen Future Article: • They differed somewhat in schooling (cases more

likely to be a high school graduate; but not more likely to have schooling beyond high school). Cases were somewhat more likely to have exposure to passive smoke, to consume alcohol, and to have steadily gained weight. The odds-ratios for these variables were mostly under 2, with the odds-ratio of infertility rising to 6.7 for women who consumed at least 7 alcoholic drinks per week.


Our stolen future article: • Of several associations that Greenlee et al.

examined between infertility and exposure to agricultural chemicals, two stood out: infertile women were almost 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides (but not insecticides) than fertile women, and 3.3 times more likely to have used fungicides. Both these odds-ratios reflect adjustments for maternal level of education, passive smoke exposure and other variables. Perhaps paradoxically, living on a farm, ranch or in a rural home reduced the likelihood of infertility.


Out stolen future article:

• While the 27-fold increase in risk of infertility associated with having mixed or applied herbicides was very strong, the number of case women who fell in this category, 21, was relatively small. Hence the 95% confidence limits for the estimate of the odds-ratio was quite broad, from 1.9 to 348.


Our stolen Future article: What does it mean? These findings are consistent with a host of previous studies, involving both epidemiological research and laboratory experiments, that have found associations between infertility and agricultural chemicals. The laboratory experiments with animals and cell lines are unambiguous: an array of compounds working through multiple pathways affecting a variety of specific endpoints can suppress fertility in exposed animals. In people, elevated risk of poor sperm quality in Missouri men with relatively high urinary levels of alachlor, atrazine and diazinon, reported recently by Swan et al. in 2003, is the most powerful example to date.


Our stolen future article: The collective weight of evidence is very strong, especially in light of the animal experiments. Taken together, they indicate that fertility of American women and men is being undermined by today's use of agricultural chemicals. Greenlee et al.'s data in this study suggest that precautionary measures to avoid impairing a woman's fertility should include avoiding working with herbicides and fungicides for at least two years prior to attempting to conceive. Swan's results, on the other hand, indicate that sufficient exposure to impair fertility can take place even without working directly with pesticides, and thus that broader measures to reduce exposures will be necessary.


So…

• What is the main point of this artcle?

• What can we do about it?

• How can we prevent this from happening in future generations.


Next:

• Go down to the lab and water your plants and observe if there is any growth.


History of Agriculture

• Most of human history was spent in subsistence farming– producing own food– using draft animals– Human labor maintained crops and cared for livestock


History of Agriculture

• Advances in technology changed agriculture– Advancements began in 1800s and culminated after

World War II– resulted in new tools, new practices, mechanized labor,

and chemicals


Impact of Changes in Agriculture

• Agricultural advancements have had both positive and negative effects– positive

• abundant, relatively safe food supply


Impact of Changes in Agriculture

– negative• contaminated groundwater in some areas• eroded topsoil• loss of family farms• increased farm size to gain productivity• social issues related to immigrant workers


Healthy Environments

• Living environments on Earth will never grow any larger

• Size becomes important to ensure healthy environments– must be capable of supporting healthy populations– must be protected from pollutants



• Establishing and maintaining healthy environments will require conscious effort by humans



• Agricultural production must be maintained or increased– at same time, shared living environments should not be

damaged

• Healthy environments necessary for all organisms



• Humans cannot survive in damaged environments

• Future agricultural practices will face challenges– provide food and shelter to growing humans race– use a declining land base for food production


Sustainable Agriculture

• Requires certain agricultural practices– will not deplete or damage land resources now or for

future generations

• Goal is to meet two needs– needs of growing human populations– maintain safe environment for humans and other

organisms



• Based on compromise and needs of all life forms



• Shift in thinking from previous generations– Government used to encourage unsound practices

through subsidies• encouraged planting every available acre• used policies that rewarded unsound practices



• Time to reverse this trend– Now government should reward environmental

improvements



• One goal of sustainable agriculture is to use less fertilizer and pesticide– can make use of satellite imagery and global

positioning systems• help deliver chemicals only where needed• only apply amount of chemicals needed• minimizes use of fertilizers



• Genetic engineering– giving crops genes that provide natural immunities– minimizes use of pesticides



• Sustainable agriculture will need to implement certain policy changes– Government policies often shape agricultural practices



– Government policies should not reward harmful practices• should support environmentally friendly production methods



• Since World War II, there has been an increase in corporate farms– Family farms are quickly disappearing

• Corporations tend to– focus on efficiency of production– focus on economics instead of environment



• Sustainable agriculture should focus on the environment– use incentives such as tax breaks or commodity

payments to encourage improved farm environments



• Modern farms depend a great deal on seasonal labor– Laborers often live in substandard housing

• a recent issue in discussions about sustainable agriculture• affects way people view “environment”• Substandard housing usually has negative impact



• Benefits of sustainable agriculture– can reduce costs to farmers

• still maintains yields and profitability

– improves environmental health• no excess chemicals in water supplies


Environmental Stewardship

• Stewardship– management of resources belonging to someone else– Each person using natural resources has an obligation

to preserve those resources for future generations


Agriscience

• Science of food production, processing, and distribution– has led to rapid and substantial increases in farm yields– provides 20 percent of jobs in United States– allows developed countries to have high standards of

living


Agriscience

– will help developing countries trying to feed and clothe citizens• Some nations have been slower to implement agriscience• Some concern over initial job losses

© 2009 delmar, cengage learning chapter 10 agriculture and sustainability

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