Chapter 9The Production andDistribution of Food

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Prentice Hall, Inc.

9.1 - Traditional Farming

Modern Farming

U.S. Crop Yields

Major Patterns of Food Production: Past 40 Years and

Next 40 Years?• Bringing additional land into cultivation• Increasing use of fertilizers• Increasing use of chemical pesticides• Increasing use of irrigation

Major Patterns of Food Production: Past 40 Years and

Next 40 Years?• Substituting new genetic varieties• Rotating crops• Growing many different kinds of crops• Recycling animal wastes• Grain over animal production

The Green Revolution

• Temporarily closed the gap between food production and need in some countries.

• Heavy reliance on irrigation and fertilizers.

• Negative impact on small farmers and culturally specific crops.

Subsistence Farming: More or Less?

• Labor intensive• Technologically based• Use of marginal lands• Clearing of tropical rainforests• Environmental degradation

Animal Farming

Animal Farming and Its Consequences

• Loss of 70% of grain crops in U.S.• Overgrazing• Mismanagement of animal manure• Most widespread source of water pollution• Source of 3% of greenhouse gases• Disease transmission, e.g., avian flu• Conversion of tropical rainforest into cattle

pasture• Heifer Project International ☺

Grains supply the world with most of our nutrients and calories (corn, wheat, and rice).

Prospects for Increasing Food Production

• Over last 30 years, food production has surpassed population growth

• World food consumption to increase 50% by 2020

• Agricultural sustainability is highly dependent on soil and water conservation

• Global climate changes

40% Increase in Food Production Needed Over Next

Two Decades• Eat lower on the food chain, less meat• Convert cash crops to food • Eat less• Increase crop yields • Double Green Revolution!

40% Increase in Food Production Needed Over Next

Two Decades• Convert animal farms to grain farms• Develop alternative foods• Convert pet food production to human

food production• The promise of biotechnology

9.2 - Biotech Crops in the United States

The Promise: Transgenic Crops

• GMO = Genetically Modified Organism• Bt in cotton; Roundup resistant soybeans

• Crossbreeds of genetically different plants

• Incorporation of desired traits into crop lines and animals

• Cloning of domestic animals

The Objectives of Genomics

• Disease resistance• Drought tolerance• Improved nutritional value• Incorporate human vaccines -

pharmacrops

Environmental Problems

• Pest resistance to genetically engineered toxin

• Broad spectrum impact on non-target species

• “Super weeds” or “Super pests”

Food Safety

• Proteins cause allergic responses• Antibiotic resistance to human

pathogens• Plant produces new toxic substances

Other Problems with Genomics

• Access to new technologies• profit driven• affordability in developing countries• terminator technology: seed sterility

• Consumer acceptance• “Frankenfoods”• Precautionary Principle

9.3 - Patterns in Food Trade

• Major changes in net importers and exporters of grain over the last six decades (next slide)

• North America is the world’s “bread basket” or “meat market”

• Direct relationship between import levels and population growth

Food Security

9.4 - Nutrition vs. Hunger

• Hunger: lack of basic food for energy and meeting nutritional needs• Malnutrition: lack of essential nutrients

(amino acids, vitamins, and minerals)• Undernourishment: lack of adequate food

energy (Calories)

• One quarter of U.S. population is obese

Malnourished Children

On the Other Hand

• 100 million children in southern Asia are underweight because of lack of food

• 11 million children <5 years old die each year in developing countries – half due to hunger and malnutrition

Root Cause of Hunger

• The root cause of hunger is poverty • 20% of the people on Earth suffer from the

effects of hunger and malnutrition• Children are most at risk• It is more likely that a pet cat will be fed

than an undernourished child• Food production linked to economics, not

nutritional needs of humans

Causes of Famine and Hunger Hotspots

• Civil Wars• Drought• Government

Incompetence

Food Aid

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for lifetime."

--Old Chinese Saying

Food Aid: True or False

• Alleviates chronic hunger• Helps local agriculture• Disrupts local economy• Contributes to ecological deterioration• Postpones the day of reckoning

False

False

True

True

True

Closing Thoughts• “The United States needs to make the

elimination of hunger the primary focus of its relations with the developing world.”• (1980 Presidential Commission on World

Hunger)