Agriculture lecture

In the past 30 years food production has increased faster than the human population.
• 61% increase in food production • 45% increase in population

12,00 years ago, introduced agriculture and animal husbandry.

The practice of preparing soil, irrigation, and planting and harvesting crops.

The practice of breeding, rearing, and caring for domesticated livestock

The formation of human civilizations.
• Most food crops and animals were established in the first 1,000 years of the neolithic revolution.

People who live on small parcels of land that produce household food and some cash crops.

• Labor intensive
• Neutral to global food production
• Marginally productive land
• Still common in developing countries
• Feeds about 2 billion people

• Live on the edge
• Limited by:
• Size of usable land plots
• Availability of crops or animals
• Usable tools
• Climate - Annual Rainfall
• Pests
• Financial Vulnerability

The industrial revolution of the 1800's saw new farming machinery introduced that changed farming.

• Fewer people needed for more land yields
• Increased non-agricultural workforce
• Greater focus on education and invention

• Tilling
• Seeding
• Irrigation
• Weeding
• Harvesting

• Farm to Market Roads
• Electricity
• Irrigation Plumbing
• University Agriculture programs
• Farming Credit Unions
• Insurance

Agricultural University studies and introduction of industrialized equipment to the developing world.

• Agricultural Yields growth
• Global food trade was introduced

Livestock has also gone from subsistence to industrialized farming.

• Ranches to Concentrated Herds
• Machinery for feeding, watering, and harvesting
• Increased academic understanding of genetics
This growth has come at a cost.

• Academic research identified crops that would yield larger or more robust harvests
• Introduction to non-native lands required chemical intervention
• Encouraged monocultural practices

Mexican Wheat in 1960's

An agricultural plot used for production of a single crop.

• Increases pest populations
• Increases disease evolution
• Reduces Genetic Diversity

Cavendish Bananas

Different plants and animals have different genetics that were adapted to their locale, called heritage or heirloom breeds.

• Extinction of locally sustainable varieties
• Once diversity is lost, adaptions to changes become limited.

190 breeds of farm animals have gone extinct in the last 15 years.

80% of all antibiotics in the united states are used for animal husbandry.

• Less illness in livestock
• More rapid evolution of resistant bacteria
• Increased varieties that can infect humans

Chicken eggs injected with antibiotics developed resistant salmonella.

Genetic engineering has made it possible to select preferable characteristics from multiple breeds of crops, called genetically modified organisms (GMO's).

• Pest resistance
• Drought resistance
• Chemical resistance

Crops for Developing Countries:
• Greater Yields
• Tolerant to a variety of conditions
• Improved Nutrition

Pharma Crops:
• Crops with additional health benefits
• Usable for humans or livestock

Corn modified with natural antibiotics for pigs in Iowa.

Unknown sources of genetic modifications.
• Soybeans modified with Brazil-nuts trigger nut allergy responses.

• Resistant pests
• Superweeds
• Biodiversity loss

• Most GM crops are developed with a profit motive
• Developing country affordability does not align with a for-profit structure.
• Wealthier countries dominate global trade of products.

"Frankenfoods" have mixed reactions from protestors and activists
• Some EU countries have banned GM crops
• US is more accepting of GM crops
• Profit motivation has eliminated 67% of all subsistence farms in the US.

Generation of plant variants via physical/chemical mutagenesis (variation breeding)
• Pre-green revolution era

Production of high-yielding crop plants via hybridization techniques, modern irrigation system and the use of pesticide and synthetic fertilizer.
• Green revolution era

Introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops via genetic engineering.

Discovery of nucleotide editing via SSN-based tools
• Gene revolution era

Production and commercialization of transgene-free crops.

Any organism that interferes with another organism's endeavors.

• Insects
• Weeds
• Molds
• Animals
• Pathogens

A scientific category, and a pest for humans is not a pest for other organisms.

5 states declared a national emergency
• Ohio petitioned EPA to use chemicals harmful to children
• Other states requested military grade pest control from

DoD CDC research identified the new bedbug breed to be immune to traditional foggers.
• 2 years later diatomaceous earth and a vacuum cleaner were determined to be the best solution

Organisms that feed on agricultural crops.

Plants that compete with agricultural crops for light and nutrients, or poison livestock.

Pros:
• Strong pollinator
• Dense animal shelter

Cons:
• Invasive
• Allergenic
• Unpalatable
• Unappealing

Caused by fungal pathogens in the genus Phakopsora.
• Can spread rapidly under favorable environmental conditions.
• Premature defoliation
• Reduced yields
• Increased production costs for farmers.

Organisms that affect livestock animals.

• Screwworm Fly
• Fleas
• Ticks
• Mites
• Mosquitos

• Massive food source
• Pollinators
• Aquatic nutrient cycling

• Transmit diseases
• Rapid evolution?

• A fly that lays its eggs in open wounds and body openings such as the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth.

• Eggs hatch into parasitic maggots that burrow into and feed on living tissue or flesh.

Destroy living trees and wood products.

• Pine Beetle
• Woolly Adelgid
• Spongy Moth

• Food Source
• Minimal Harm
• Self Population Control

• Aesthetic Damage

An invasive wood-boring beetle from Asia, is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees in North America.

Organisms that disrupt human health

Organisms that destroy stored and processed foods

Organisms that disrupt aquatic environments

Chemicals that kill animals and insects thought to be pests

Chemicals that kill plants thought to be pests

• ~1.2 billion pounds of pest control chemicals were used at a cost of \$12.5 Billion in the US.

• ~5.9 billion pounds of pest control chemicals were used at a cost of \$39 Billion in the world.

1 way of controlling pest outbreaks.
• More Effective
• Creates dependency
• Risks resistant mutations

2nd way of controlling pest outbreaks.
• Ecological
• Long-lasting sustainability
• Less effective

The combined approach for controlling pests with both chemical and alternative treatments.

Kill insects

Kills rodents

Kills fungi

Kills plants

Target a specific organism and often have unintended consequences to other organisms

Introduced toxic heavy metals to the environment
• Lead
• Arsenic
• Mercury

Would accumulate in the soil, harming future crops.
• Insects built resistances

Paul Muller discovers trace amounts of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane(DDT) killed flies in his laboratory.

• Inexpensive
• Toxic to insects
• Nontoxic to humans
• DDT doesn't breakdown in nature, making it persistent treatment.

It was used in WWII to kill body lice.
• First war with fewer people dying from wounds than typhus
• Paul Muller is awarded Nobel Peace Prize for DDT discovery

• Mosquitos
• Dutch Elm Beetles
• Budworms

Nearly all crop insect pests were controlled by DDT leading to a boon in crop harvest yields.

Banned by the US in 1972, and currently only used for malaria control worldwide.

• Probable Carcinogen
• Reproductive interference
• Massive ecologic declines

Long term use of chemical pesticides leached chemicals into water systems.

A broad-spectrum herbicide.

• Most state and local governments banned glyphosate use
• 2026 executive order has declared glyphosate as critical to national security, overriding these decisions

• Nausea
• Pain
• Respiratory Failure
• Possible Carcinogen

Banned in the US in 1979, but still detected in groundwater today.

• Brain Damage
• Nerve Damage
• Male sterility
• Birth Defects

Seek to manipulate natural factors so that crops are protected without jeopardizing the environment.

The natural life cycle of all living organisms introduces vulnerabilities.
• These provide opportunities for disruptions that may have lower impacts on ecosystems

• Cultural Control
• Natural Enemies
• Genetic Control
• Natural Chemical Control

A non-chemical alteration of the environment that makes the environment unsuitable for pests.

Labor and knowledge intensive, often requiring very specific timing and long-term plans.

• Crop Rotations
• Planting Design
• Trap Crops
• Soil Management

Managing populations of pests by introducing natural enemies of the pests.

Finding one that disrupts the pests without disrupting the remaining environment.

• Predators
• Parasitoids
• Pathogens

Most pests are specific in their targets, indicating a genetic connectivity between them.

Monocultures and rapid evolution of resistant pests

• Biotechnology
• Reproductive Interference
• Natural Mutation

Native chemical compounds used in increased concentrations to alter pest behaviors and survivability.

Degrade quickly and require active uses.

• Hormones
• Pheromones

Global trade and refrigeration have drastically changed how and what foods a country can have.

Countries that can grow luxury crops can export excess crops with land.

Export gains can be used to import non-native food items.

Colombia can export excess coffee and bring in year-round supplies of grains with gains.

The most important food crops on the global trade market.

• Animal feed for an increasing meat demand is greatest driver of food trade.
• Grain = Food Source
• Oilseeds = Protein Supplement

• Wheat
• Rice
• Corn

• Canola
• Soybean
• Flax

The U.S.

• Top exports are corn and wheat
• Nicknamed "the world's breadbasket"

Cornered the global market for oilseed exports.
• Soybeans and Canola
• Primary importer is China

Most world countries set a standard of 70 days worth of grain in storage, some require up to 120 days

Governments storing their food products can be used to attempt manipulation of food costs in their favor.

• Store more and export less increases global demand
• Can benefit small farmers
• This can also backfire

Stored 18 million tons of rice
• Bought from farmers at increased value
• Hoped market value would increase in time to sell

Filled the gap and actually lowered prices.
• Protests and threats of a military coup resulted

Sold at a reduced cost
• 70% of that rice degraded
• 20% was inedible

The assured access for every person to enough nutritious food to sustain an active and healthy life.

• At each of these levels, food flows in the direction of economic demand, and need is not considered.

• Family
• National
• Global

• Families purchase, raise and gather food from local ecosystem or economy.

• Safety-net policies and programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

• Ensuring enough food available for the nutrition of the entire population.

• Move food from wealthier countries to food-poor countries.
• Tariffs and Subsidies that regulate the flow of food sources to places in greatest need.

A lack of basic food required to provide energy and meet nutritional needs to lead a healthy life.

The lack of adequate food energy.

The lack of essential nutrients in the food source.

A condition of eating too much
• This modern epidemic is amplifying other conditions.

Nearly 66% of undernourished people live in Asia.

In all countries, preschool children.
• Second greatest impact affects women
• The root cause of all global hunger is poverty, at all levels of responsibility.

• Some countries just can't grow more
• Others can grow more, but can't affordably export

• Open diets to wider range of food sources

• Less crops to secondary sources
• Animal Food
• Biofuels

• More locally derived diets
• Locavores are people who try to purchase and grow locally sustainable foods

• Eliminate Wasted Food

- ~80% of agriculture goes to livestock