Food Sufficiency and Deficiency

IB Geography II

Objective

• By the end of this lesson students will be able to explain reasons why the availability of food has increased in some areas.

Let’s translate objectives into possible exam question:

• By the end of this lesson students will be able to explain reasons why the availability of food has increased in some areas. • Explain two reasons why the availability of food

has increased in some areas.

Opener: Mark Bittman: What’s Wrong with What We Eat

• http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share

Starting Activity:

• Essential Question to think about: – What impacts the food decisions you make?

• Take 2 minutes to jot down a list.

The Green Revolution Review: Mini Activity

• The Green Revolution is the name given to the approach that was developed by Norman Borlaug and others to increase the productivity of agricultural land in key countries of the world by educating farmers and introducing new technologies. – Saw success in Mexico and India especially

Green Revolution Vocabulary

• High Yielding Varieties (HYVs): genetically engineered stale crops such as wheat, maize, and rice. Allowed for greater productivity with several harvests in one year.

• Artificial Fertilizers: nitrates and phosphates that were needed with HYVs in order to maintain the yield.

• Pesticides: destroy competitors such as insects, fungi, and weeds; they were needed because HYVs were more prone to disease and pests.

• Irrigation: Is essential for maximum yield in HYVs. Has allowed agriculture to develop in areas that are arid and semi-arid.

The Green Revolution: Strengths and Weaknesses

• Strengths– Use of technology – Using hybrid grain seeds

(mainly rice, wheat and corn). Shorter stalks, so you grew more

– These HYVs were produced by genetic engineering and allowed for multiple harvests.

• Weaknesses– Artificial fertilizers and pesticides

were needed– Costs were higher as there were

fees for these artificial additions to the farm system.

– Farmers in these areas found it difficult to access loans and additional funding, and didn’t want to get into debt.

– Some crops also needed improved irrigation. In areas of water scarcity this was not always easy to guarantee.

Close Reading Activity

• Take the next 12 minutes to close read and annotate: “The Limits of a Green Revolution?” by Mark Doyle, BBC News

In your notebooks, answer the following questions (8 minutes): – What is Doyle’s argument? – Is there a need for a second Green Revolution? If

there was, what might be done differently the second time around?

– Analyze the quote from the passage, “In the old days we practiced subsistence agriculture and we felt a sense of control.” What does Papra mean? Would going back to subsistence agriculture be backwards thinking? Could it somehow be part of the solution?

Main Notes: Food Sufficiency and Deficiency

Essential Question that will Guide our Work

• There are a number of factors which affect the nature of food sufficiency, or can lead to food deficiency if they are not sufficiently developed.

• Is hunger more a factor of politics and economics than the success of agriculture in an area?

Factors that Affect Food Sufficiency

• Changes in Agricultural Systems

• Scientific and Technological Innovations

• Expansion of the area under agriculture

• The growth of Agribusiness

Changes in Agricultural Systems

• Farming is about inputs, processes, and outputs.

• Agriculture needs investment. Many countries have put other areas as priority before agriculture. Only a small percentage of foreign aid is spent on agricultural projects.

Scientific and Technological Innovations

• Farmers have always looked to improve their practice in order to save time and work more efficiently.

• Early innovations included the seed drill which enabled a farmer to complete an important job in a faster time.

• What is there today?

Scientific and Technological Innovations

• Remote sensing can also be used to produce data across an entire farm, and target interventions by the farmer.

• The image shows that some fields have crops which are ‘stressed’ through lack of water. These fields could then be targeted for irrigation, thereby saving water, and ensuring that yields didn’t suffer.

Expansion of the Area Under Agriculture

• An easy way to increase food production would seem to be to allot more land for agriculture.

• There are several issues with doing this: – The most farmable land may be already being

used for agriculture – Many areas that are urbanized cannot be used– There may be very little land available

The Growth of Agribusiness

• Agribusiness is the name given to the aggregation of farmland under the control of a single business.

• Increasing the scale of operations (by bringing together fragmented landholdings) forms more manageable and productive land areas with less cost.

• Biotechnology: made possible through the research and development of large-scale companies (agribusinesses)

What is the future of sustainable farming?

• Watch the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhgk2mZ3f2I

Create a Pros and Cons Chart in your notebook to prepare to answer the question: What’s better? Agribusiness or Small Farms?

Pros Cons

Agribusiness

Small Farms

Factors that Affect Food Deficiency

• There are a number of geographic factors that cause food shortages around the world. Some are: – Soaring Oil and Energy Prices– Rising Demand – Natural Hazards – Biofuels – Underinvestment in Agriculture – Climate Change

Soaring Oil and Energy Prices • Can push up the cost of food production • In 2007, rising oil prices cause fertilizer prices to

increase by 70% and fuel for tractors and farm machinery by 30%

Rising Demand

• Results from global population growth and from people in emerging economies using their increasing affluence to buy more meat, eggs and dairy products

• Over 30% of the world’s grain now goes to feeding animals rather than people.

Natural Hazards

• Drought, floods, etc. • Can severely disrupt agricultural production.

Biofuels

• Biofuels are competing with food for arable land, especially in the US and EU.

• Since 2008, about 30% of the US corn crop has been diverted to biofuels.

Underinvestment in Agriculture

• In 1986, 20% of foreign aid to developing countries was devoted to agriculture.

• By 2006, it was less than 3%. • African governments, who are more

influenced by their richer urban residents, now spend less than 5% of their budgets on agriculture, even through farming communities are where 2/3 of their residents live.

Climate Change

• With climate change, some areas will be drier and face water shortages, while others may experience extreme weather conditions.

• One estimate is that by 2050, half the arable land in the world might not be suitable for production. By then the global population will be over 9 billion.

Ending Activity

• Return to essential question: What impacts the food choices you make?

• Take 2 minutes to add to this list, considering the factors that contribute to food sufficiency and deficiency. What may impact the food choices you make in the future?