How has farming changed?

Cattle Feedlots

Chicken Farms

Tools and TechnologyThen…

Now…

Agriculture Processes

TRADITIONAL• Plows pushed by farmer

or pulled by livestock

• Manure fertilizer

• Ditch Irrigation

• Weeds and pests removed by hand or machines

MODERN• Plows by machines

• Synthetic chemical fertilizer

• Overhead sprinkler irrigation

• Weeds and pests removed by chemicals

Green Revolution 1950-1970

New varieties of crops led to large crop yield – Required use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides

PROS and CONS

• Reduced the price of food

• Benefited large farms, but not family farms– No money for chemicals, can’t use

machines because farms are too small

Traditional or Modern?

1. Use of chemical pesticides

2. Use of horse drawn or human pushed plows

3. Larger crop yields

4. Weeds removed by hand or machines

5. Large farms owned by corporations

6. Use of manure or natural fertilizer

Only 10% of agriculture land is owned and operated by families. Why so little?

From Family to Factory freewrite

• 90% of the food in the grocery store is grown/raised on a factory farm.

– Why have we shifted from small family farms to large factory farms?

– Why doesn’t everyone know this?

Consequences of changes in farming…

Antibiotic Use• 70% of

antibiotics consumed in the US are consumed by farmed animals

Everybody Poops

Everybody Poops

Farm Animal Waste

• Over 1 million tons of waste produced each day

• Manure contains multiple pollutants such as heavy metals, antibiotics, pathogens, nitrogen and phosphorus

• So…where does it go?

Eating up the Earth’s Resources

If everyone ate like the typical American it would take TWO Earth’s to supply our food.

Which has more impact on the environment?

Take a Guess...• What percentage of the world’s forests

and rainforests have been cleared to make room for farm animals or animal feed crops?

LAND• What percentage of the world’s forests and rainforests

have been cleared to make room for farm animals or animal feed crops?

50%

Take a Guess...• If the grains fed to farm animals in the

U.S. were instead fed to people, how many people could be fed each year?

LAND AND ENERGY• If the grains fed to farm animals in the U.S. were

instead fed to people, how many people could be fed each year?

800 Million

Take a Guess...• For the same amount of water it takes to

produce a single hamburger, how many showers could you take?

WATER• For the same amount of water it takes to produce a single hamburger, how many showers could you

take?

Six Months Worth of Showers

The High Cost of A Hamburger

Producing a single hamburger:• uses enough fuel to drive 20

miles• uses 600 gallons of water• uses more than 7 times its

weight in grains like corn and soy

It takes about …

– 5 gallons of water = 1 pound of potatoes

– 10 gallons = 1 slice of bread

– 60 gallons = 1 pound of wheat

– 110 gallons = 1 pound of corn

– 12,000 gallons = 1 pound of meat

A to Z

• Put each letter of the alphabet on a different line of your paper.

• Think back through topics we talked about yesterday and today…– Your group should try to come up with as

many

From Family to Factory Freewrite

• Knowing what you do now…what will go into your decision when buying groceries for your family?

Scrap Recap

• 1 new thing you learned

• 1 thing that surprised you

• 1 question you still have / or want to learn more about