Natural Resource Management Agriculture Notes

**Agriculture has been successful in meeting a growing demand for food in the later half of the 20^th^ century** - Yields per acre increased dramatically, food prices declined, the rate of increase in food production generally exceeded the rate of population growth, and chronic hunger dim...

**Agriculture has been successful in meeting a growing demand for food in the later half of the 20^th^ century** - Yields per acre increased dramatically, food prices declined, the rate of increase in food production generally exceeded the rate of population growth, and chronic hunger diminished - This was due to: the development of new plant varieties, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, technological advances and expansion of irrigation Conventional Agriculture - An agricultural system that emerged in the 20^th^ century built around two related goals: the maximization of production and the maximization of profit - Conventional agriculture rests on 7 basic principles - Intensive tillage - The practice of cultivating the soil deeply and consistently that is done to loosen the soil structure to allow better drainage, faster root growth, aeration, ease sowing of seed, and to control weeds - **Negative Issues:** leaves soil bare exposing it to erosion and nutrient leaching, reduces organic matter, results in compaction from machinery, destroys soil as a complex habitat - Monoculture - The shift towards industrial specialization resulting in the growing of only one or two crops at a large scale - Negative Issues: ecology of monoculture is highly susceptible to disturbance, pest and disease, reduces financial stability, farmer becomes a technician - Irrigation - Application of water to expand farming into arid areas or boost production - Negative Issues: coupled with other demands on water irrigation has had dramatically altered regional hydrology, may require large irrigation infrastructure, can lead to ground water mining and leaching - Inorganic fertilizer - Inorganic or synthetic chemical fertilizers were in large part developed and widely adopted following the technological and industrial developments of WW1 - Negative Issues: off farm industrial processes relying on fossil fuels and mining, treats ecosystem process as an industrial process, reduces organic matter and degrades soil ecology, leaches and leads to water pollution (Eutrophication and Dead Zones) - Chemical pest control - Pesticides, fungicides, herbicides etc. Were also a byproduct of WWII technological and industrial developments - Negative Issues: broadly damage ecology, tend to create spikes in pest populations when beneficial insects are also killed, hazardous to humans - Genetic manipulation of domesticated plants and animals - Humans have been selecting preferred genetics for tens of thousands of years, (selection and hybridization) - Negative Issues: hybrid or GM organisms are often better at one or more things and weaker at others. Ex. Require more nutrients, they create reliance on seed companies, diminish biodiversity, genetic migration - Factory farming of animals (CAFO) - Animals are stocked at extremely high rates in unsanitary conditions in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) - Negative Issues: raises Negative Issues around animal cruelty, higher diseases pressure, encourages GM animals, serious environmental impact Negative Issues relating to animal waste Sustainable Agriculture - A means of equitably producing and distributing adequate amounts of high-quality affordable food while protecting and enhancing the systems essential to agricultural production. - Agriculture as ecological land use system - Sustainable agricultural rests long practiced principles - Minimal smart tillage and mulching - Perennial polyculture - Minimal irrigation via appropriate tech - Localized organic fertility systems - Integrated pest management - A science-based approach that combines a variety of techniques. By studying their life cycles and how pests interact with the environment, IPM can manage pests with the most current methods - Selection of locally adapted plants and animals - In the million years humans have existed, we have succeeded in domesticating only about 80 species of plants. Three crops -- wheat, rice, and corn-accounting for well over 50% of the world\'s cropland. - Localized food systems - Closed nutrient systems - Local place-based knowledge - Eat lower on the food/energy period - New food sources include algae fungi and yeast, and insects.