Feeding the World

Feeding the World

Eco-Log: Think & WriteWhy do you think it is so difficult to

provide adequate food for all of the world’s people?

What are some limitations?

What can be done to increase production?

How do farmers keep insects from destroying crops?

A Balanced Dietvs. malnutrition

Nutrient FunctionMajor Food Sources

Carbohydrates

Supplies Energy Bread, Cereals, Potatoes, Beans

Proteins Used to build and maintain the body

Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, Dairy, Beans

Lipids (fats and solids)

Used to build membranes and some hormones. May help store energy.

Butter, Vegetable Oils, Animal Fats

Due to global warming, there are projections that in

the near future, there could be a massive die-off of

crops due to a warmer or more aggressive climate

and increasing droughts.

Southern Africa could lose more than 30% of its

main crop, maize, by 2030.

In South Asia, losses of many regional crops, such

as rice, millet and maize could top 10%

This is problematic for areas that are already short

of food.

Long-term Effects

Due to massive die-off of crops and the world population rising by the day, long-term effects could be a worldwide food struggle, killing off thousands and impoverishing millions and starving millions more.

A food riot in Mozambique (Africa)

Food Riot in Algeria

Democratic Republic of Congo 2010

Somalia 2011

One week of food in Chad

In Somalia – Jihad Uber Alles

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/17/in-somalia-jihad-uber-alles/

The drought in the Horn of Africa that began in 2009 is the worst in 60 years. But humanitarian aid from the UN, the USA and other countries has prevented mass starvation in the nations of that region, except one.  In Somalia that drought soon turned into a famine of unprecedented proportions.  To date almost 30,000 children under the age of 5 have died of starvation, according to U.S. estimates.  The UN fears that at least 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished:  a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children could rise to as many as 800,000!  More than one million Somalis have fled to Ethiopia and Kenya, where makeshift refugee camps house hundreds of thousands.[1]

One might expect that all Somali leaders and political parties would join forces to help their people survive this enormous tragedy; but one would be wrong. The Somali Muslim terrorists known as al-Shabaab have worked for the past two years to prevent any foreign aid from reaching their Muslim Somali co-religionists, even as tens of thousands of Somali Muslim children die of starvation and hundreds of thousands of starving Muslim families flee al-Shabaab’s reach to find food and water in nearby Kenya and Ethiopia.

Green RevolutionAsia & Latin America ~ 1950-1970

ProsThe introduction of

new grains and new farming techniques allowed for a much

greater “yield”.

ConsNew varieties of

grain did not grow well without the right fertilizer, pesticides or enough water.

Farming Challenges

Arable Land decreased 1/5 from 1985 to 2000.

Over ½ of the fertile U.S. “TopSoil” has been lost in past 200 years

Desertification

Beneficial Organisms suffer from chemicals.

Pest Control

Agricultural Effects on the Climate

From Farming in general……

CO2 releases linked to deforestation

Methane releases from rice farming

Methane releases from feces fermenting from cattle

Nitrous oxide releases from fertilizer application

From livestock……

9% of global Carbon dioxide emissions

35–40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to fecal fermentation and Manure)

64% of global nitrous oxide emissions emissions (chiefly due to fertilizer use

Farming Solutions

Soil-Conservation (preventing erosion)

Sustainable Agriculture

Preventing Salinization

Organic Pest Control Companion Planting Lady Bugs Soapy water

Other Food Issues

Processing

Packaging

Shipping (Non-local)

GMOsGenetically Modified Organisms

Pest resistance

Herbicide tolerance

Disease resistance

Cold tolerance

Drought tolerance

Salinity tolerance

Nutrition

Pharmaceuticals

Environmental hazards

Harm to other organisms

Reduced effectiveness of pesticides

Gene transfer to non-target species

Human health risks

Allergens

Steroids & Hormones

Antibiotics lose effectivenesshttp://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

All-Mighty Corn!