Modern Commercial Agriculture Part 2: Organic, Local,

Environmental Impacts, and the Global Food Crisis

AP HUG

Organic Agriculture

• A farming system that promotes sustainable and biodiverse ecosystems and relies on natural ecological processes and cycles, as opposed to synthetic inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers

Bell Ringer: Map Analysis

• Where are the farms located in the United States?

• Where are the organic farms located?• Describe the differences and similarities in

their location.• Why do you think the differences exist?

Spatial Distribution of American Farms

Spatial Distribution of Organic Farms

• Look at the map of Median Income• What pattern(s) do you see in the relationship

of the location of organic farms.

• Look at the obesity maps provided.

• What do you see when you compare the Organic Farms, Median Income, and Obesity maps with on another?

Obesity Trends Among Adults

Elbow Partner Analysis

• What is the pattern? • Why does the pattern exist? • Why is the pattern important?

™ The Dirty Dozen™ and

The Clean Fifteen• The Dirty Dozen™ • Of the 12 most contaminated foods, 7 are fruits: peaches, strawberries,

apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, cherries and imported grapes.• Celery, sweet bell peppers, spinach, kale, collard greens and potatoes are

the vegetables most likely to retain pesticide contamination: • The Clean Fifteen™ • The vegetables least likely to test positive for pesticides are onions, sweet

corn, sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant and sweet potatoes. • The fruits least likely to test positive for pesticide residues are avocados,

pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit and honeydew.

• http://www.foodnews.org/

Global Food Crisis

• A sustained condition of food insecurity worldwide in scope and significance

Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in Africa – more than 300 million Africans depend

on it as their main food source.

Thikhala Chilembwe, 14, from Malawi. PHOTO: CAMERON MCNEE/MISSIONMALAWI//ACTIONAID

Margret David harvests a healthy crop from her garden in Malawi.PHOTO: ACTIONAID

Why has this maize crop dried up? Can you think of three reasons?

The Yaa family's failed maize crop in Langobaya, Kenya.PHOTO: DES WILLIE/ACTIONAID

The Yaa family’s maize crop has failed due to recurrent drought.

As a result, the family have only 5kg of beans and 5kg of rice to eat for the next three weeks.

Karisa, Mariam and Karembo Yaa at home in Langobaya, Kenya.PHOTO: DES WILLIE/ACTIONAID

• Desertification: the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert

Desertification

• One of the most serious threats facing humanity

• Affects 1/5 of the world’s population in more than 100 countries

• Poverty is a cause and a consequence• Leads to forced migration (rural to urban)

Desertification Vulnerability

Soil Erosion

• The physical loss and reduction in quality of topsoil associated with nutrient decline and contamination.

Food Miles

• The distance that food travels from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

• A way of indicating the environmental impact of the food we eat

Biofuels: fossil fuel substitutes that can be made from a range of agricultural crop materials including oilseeds, wheat, corn

and sugar

Advantages• It is a renewable form of

energy as long as people replant crops.

• It is cheap and the resources can be grown locally

Disadvantages • It can still release

greenhouse gases.• Areas can be deforested to

grow crops for energy generation.

• If crops are used for energy production it can lead to an increase in food prices

Deforestation

• Deforestation: the process of destroying a forest and replacing it with something else

Irrigation

• The process of directing water from nearby water sources to cropland.

Urban Agriculture• The use of vacant lots, rooftops, balconies, or

other urban spaces to raise food for metropolitan households or neighborhoods.

Conservation

• Conservation agriculture provides knowledge and tools to enable farmers to achieve acceptable profits from high and sustained crop production levels while, at the same time, conserving resources and protecting the environment.

Sustainable Agriculture• This term refers to the ability of a farm to

produce food indefinitely, without causing irreversible damage to ecosystems.

• Sustainable farming reduces or prevents environmental degradation (depletion of vegetation loss of biodiversity, soil and water)

Key Ideas with Sustainable Agriculture

• Conservation and soil health• Nutrient recycling e.g. animal waste being

used for fertilizer• Biodiversity – this is helped through a minimal

use of chemicals on the land• Animal welfare – more care taken with

animals, and different diets perhaps• Fair wages and treatment for workforce –

farm is part of the rural community

Ted Talk Active Viewing “One Seed At a Time”

• http://www.ted.com/talks/cary_fowler_one_seed_at_a_time_protecting_the_future_of_food.html

• As you watch, answer these questions in your notebooks: – How does climate change threaten the diversity of

the crops we eat? – What are the solutions the speaker talks about?