Food Issues

Are there still “food issues”, or have we gotten away from the pattern seen in Green History of the World?

1974 – Henry Kissinger, Sec. State USA“By 1984, no man, woman, or child will go to bed hungry”.

1996 – World Food Summit, Rome, 186 countriesGoal set to reduce the number of hungry by half by 2015.

1999 – UN Food and Agriculture OrganizationFood Summit goal is not likely to be reached because the “momentum is too slow and the progress too uneven”

2000 - 1.1 billion people are undernourished and underweight (~20% of global population)

So what are the issues?• Food

What makes a healthy diet?What is the composition of world’s food?Where does it come from?What is the current status of world food supplies?What should we expect from future food production?

• Hunger What is it? What causes it?Can we do anything about it?Should we do anything about it?

#1 What makes a healthy diet?1992 - USDA

In terms of nutrients:Carbohydrates = starches and sugars

- used for energy

- gotten from plants

Fats = fats and oils

- used for energy storage, cell membranes, protection

- from animal products and plant oils

Proteins

- contain amino acids – 20 total, 9 essential

- essential = must bet from diet, body can’t make

- complete protein = has all essential amino acids in approx.

proportions needed by human body

- building blocks of most tissues

- from animal products, grains, legumes

Vitamins and minerals

- essential for healthy tissues and functioning

#2 What is the composition of world’s food?

Of thousands of edible plants and animals in the world, only

- a dozen seeds and grains,

- 3 root crops, - 20 or so fruits and

vegetables,- 6 mammals, - 2 domestic fowl,- a few fish and

other forms of marine life

make up almost all of the food humans eat.

Crop 1995 yield

(mil metric tons)

Rice 550

Wheat 541

Maize (corn) 541

Cassava and sweet potato 286

Potatoes 281

Barley and oats 170

Sorghum and millet 84

Pulses (legumes + peas and beans)

56

Vegetables and fruits 884

Sugar (cane and beet) 119

Vegetable oils 91

Meat and milk 741

Fish and seafood 110

#2 Where in the World Did It Come From?

• Name Place of Origin Top 4 food sources (tons)1. Potato2. Black walnut3. Pinto beans4. Winter squash5. Oats6. Concord grapes7. Coffee8. Corn9. Carrots10. Lima beans11. Cabbage12. Orange13. Wheat14. Tomato15. Blueberry16. Rice17. Peanuts18. Soybeans19. Kidney beans20. Peas21. Cranberry22. Apple

Where in the World Did It Come From?And the answers are . . . Any surprises?

• Name Place of Origin Top 4 food sources (tons) 1995 tons1. Potato S.A. (Peru) #4 2812. Black walnut N.A. (UA)3. Pinto beans S.A.4. Winter squash S.A.5. Oats Asia, Africa6. Concord grapes N.A.(USA)7. Coffee Africa (Ethiopia)8. Corn Mexico #3 5149. Carrots Africa, Europe, Asia10. Lima beans Tropical America11. Cabbage England, Denmark12. Orange Asia (China)13. Wheat Asia, Africa #2 54114. Tomato S.A.15. Blueberry N.A.(USA)16. Rice Asia #1 55017. Peanuts S.A. (Brazil)18. Soybeans China, India, Japan19. Kidney beans S.A.20. Peas Europe, Asia21. Cranberry N.A.(USA)22. Apple Europe, Asia

Where does it come from really? – farming

• Earth’s total free land = 33.6 B acres (13.6 B ha)

• 11% easily used for crops• 10% used for grazing

• What about the rest?

Where does it come from really? – fish and seafood

• Most of ocean is nutrient poor

• Marine catch from 4 main areas– Estuaries– Continenetal shelf upwellings– Coastal wetlands– Coral reefs

#4 What is the current status of world food supplies? grains

1950-1984 - Growth of 3% per year

- 50s and 60s growth exceeded population WHY?

What is the current status of world food supplies? fish

Peak world production in 1989 Since 1989, has decreased by 5%

What should we expect from future food production?

• Things to consider:– Environmental destruction– Population– New technology

Biodiversity loss- Loss and degradation of

habitat from clearing, draining, and overuse

- Fish kills from pesticide runoff

- Killing of wild predators to protect livestock

- Loss of genetic diversity from replacing wild crops with few monoculture strains

Soil degradation- Erosion- Loss of fertility- Salinization- Waterlogging- Desertification

Air pollution- Greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use- Other fossil fuel pollutants- Pollution from pesticide and herbicide sprays

Water- Aquifer depletion- Increased runoff and flooding from clearing land- Sediment pollution- Fish kills from pesticide runoff- Surface and groundwater pollution from pesticides and fertilizers- Overfertilization of lakes and rivers from fertilizers, livestock wastes, and food processing

Human Health- Nitrates in drinking

water

- Pesticides in drinking water, food, and air

- Contamination of drinking and swimming water with disease organisms from livestock wastes

- Bacterial contamination of meat

Population effect on per capita productiongrain

Population effect on per capita productionfish

• Estimates of human population carrying capacity with maximum use of available land and varying inputs of water, fertilizer, and energy.

#5 Hunger - What is it?

Premature death- 40 mil/year die from hunger and hunger-related diseases- Starvation = suffering and death from too little nourishment- Famine = widespread starvation

Emotions?- Anguish, grief, fear- Powerlessness

Malnutrition = too little of specific nutrients

Marasmus = not enough of either

Kwashiorkor = enough calories, not enough protein

#6 Hunger - What causes it?

• All hungry people have one characteristic in common – they are poor.

• Hunger exists because people lack the political and economic power to fight it.

• The root cause of hunger isn’t scarcity of food or land; it’s a scarcity of democracy.

Interactions of poverty, malnutrition and disease

# 7 Can we do anything about it?

Should we do anything about it?