Agriculture and Food Supply 2

Lecture 20
Dr. Rob Spencer

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Overview

• An Ecological Perspective on Agriculture

• Can We Feed the World?
• What We Grow on the Land
• Soils
• Controlling Pests
• Genetically Modified Food: Biotechnology,
Farming and the Environment
• Aquaculture

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 Soils
• Soils are not just dirt
– Key to life on land

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Soils
• Earth modified over time by physical, chemical
and biological processes into a series of layers
called horizons
– O horizon: organic layer on
top of soil
– A (& E in some soils) horizon:
upper horizon
– B horizon: zone of
accumulation
– C horizon: most similar to
parent material
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Soils

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 Soils
• Soil fertility
– Capacity of soil to supply nutrients necessary for
plant growth
– Geologically younger soils are typically more fertile
• Soil drainage
– Soils with high clay content hold water well
– Soils with high sand content drain very well

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Soils
• Erosion is the transport of soil from one location
to another by wind or water
– Agriculture can accelerate erosion by 100x per year
– Case study: The Great American Dust Bowl
• Combination of plowing prairie with intense drought
loosened soil over vast areas
• In the prairie the grasses root deep leading to a heavy
organic layer a meter or more that protects the soil from
erosive forces
• Once this layer was plowed over it became exposed to the
elements, particularly the wind

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Soils
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTek7ipD4U&list=PLzkQfVIJun2Kl_ZEVTYA-qXlloRYQP3kv&index=11

• The Dust Bowl

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Soils
• Erosion in the western U.S.
– Wind can equal or exceed water as an erosive force
especially in a dry climate and on flat land

Is grazing (beef
production) a
sustainable use of
this landscape?

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Soils
• Desertification: conversion of productive lands
to desert

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Soils
• Problem: land stretched to the limit
– Most productive land is already being used – not
much room (except may be in Africa)
– Wealthy productive nations are actually removing
land from agriculture
– Eating meat puts more marginal land into
agriculture and risks desertification

– Alternative: intensification (e.g. centralization in

meat production)

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Soils – reducing impacts
• Centralization in meat production – one
example of the impacts of industrial agriculture

Feed lots – used

to rapidly add
weight to animals
prior to slaughter

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Soils – reducing impacts
• Centralization in meat production – one
example of the impacts of industrial agriculture
Grass: harder to digest
but cows are specialized
for this
Vs.
Corn: easier to digest but
cause bacterial growth in
the rumen

Grass fed beef (or free range) will usually have lower
concentrations (or no) antibiotics in the meat 13
Soils – reducing impacts
• New diseases
– BSE = Bovine spongiform encephalitis (‘Mad Cow’)
– Origins are not fully understood. Thought to be
passed on by a prion (protein). Disease is passed on
by eating infected meat and particularly brain or
spinal cord material
– Symptoms are lesions in brain – fatal within 2 to 6
months after symptoms start but animal can be a
carrier for 2 to 8 years before showing signs
– Can be passed to humans (CJD)

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Soils – reducing impacts
• The U.K. Example
– Sick animals found in 1987
– By 1996 at least 10 people had died in the U.K. from
BSE transferred from infected meat
– 1996: massive slaughter of cattle in the U.K.
(150,000)
– Adoption of new rules regarding use of high risk
tissues
– Also found in the US and another 30 countries

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Soils – reducing impacts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgB9sg5dy8w

• Mad Cow Disease

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Soils – reducing impacts
• Other examples
– Avian and Swine flus: emerge from crowded
facilities containing poultry or pigs
– Other zoonotic diseases, e.g. Coronavirus infections
– E. Coli outbreaks

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Soils – reducing impacts

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Soils – reducing impacts

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Soils – reducing impacts

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Controlling Pests

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Controlling Pests

• The industrial revolution brought major changes

in agricultural pest control (4 stages)
– Stage 1: broad spectrum inorganic toxins
• Search for chemicals that would reduce the abundance of
pests
• Goal was narrow-spectrum (species-specific) but most
were broad spectrum
• Example: arsenic, toxic to all life
• Killed pest and beneficial organisms

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Controlling Pests

– Stage 2: petroleum based sprays and natural plant

chemicals
• 1930s forward
• Example: nicotine
• Not as effective as hoped
– Stage 3: artificial organic compounds
• DDT, broad spectrum
• Bioaccumulate
• Toxic to humans, has been found in breast milk
• Pests develop resistance over time

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Controlling Pests

– Stage 4: return to biological and ecological

knowledge
• IPM – integrated pest management: goal is to reduce use
of artificial pesticides
• Biological control – use of biological predators, sex
pheromones to bait traps
• Selective breeding to develop resistance to pest attack
• Modern pesticides engineered to specifically target pests

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Controlling Pests

Organochlorine – target sodium

ion channels in nerve cells of
insects

Organophosphate – block
electrical transmissions across
nerve cells

Associated health effects

especially in farm workers /
people living in communities

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Controlling Pests

• Massive increase in pesticides over last 50 years

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Genetically Modified Food

• So how are we going to feed all the people on

the planet, and not destroy the environment?
– Genetically modified organisms will likely be
involved
– All breeding is about genetic change: the issues are
the tools involved and the degree to which humans
are creating truly novel genomes

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Genetically Modified Food
• Deliberate genetic modification has been
around for a long time …
– It is possible to breed organisms to select for
desirable traits
– This has been the main way of improving
agricultural crops

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Genetically Modified Food
• Plant breeding is a continuum

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Genetically Modified Food
• How does plant breeding increase agricultural
productivity?
– Develop plant characteristics that increase the
amount of food that can be grown
Conventional breeding:

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Genetically Modified Food
• Polygenic traits and selection
– Polygenic traits. Grain yield is
controlled by many genes, each of
which contributes a small amount
to the end result
– Such traits respond well to
selection. This works by using the
best seeds to start the next generation.
If done consistently the crop slowly
improves over many generations
Genetic revolution has speed up this process – can screen for
certain genes or gene changes – target those seeds 31
Genetically Modified Food
• When we are dealing with traits determined by
one single gene, mutations can make a big
difference

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 Genetically Modified Food
• Single gene traits:
– Many useful traits are controlled by a single gene.
When mutations occur they can sometimes have
large effects
– Example: sweet corn – one gene mutation leads to
much sweeter corn
– One way to accelerate mutations is to expose seeds
to radiation or chemicals that induce mutations –
then test for rare positive outcomes

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Genetically Modified Food
• How do you make sure the new plant gets the
gene you want?

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 Genetically Modified Food
• Marker assisted selection:
– This is a technique to let you know if the gene you
want is present
– Example: disease tolerant rice

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Genetically Modified Food
• Genetically modified organisms (GMO’s):
– Organisms that have had their genome altered
through modern technology

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Genetically Modified Food
• Genes are ‘turned’ on and off naturally in
organisms, but we can use this to get the results
we want in crops

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Genetically Modified Food
• Now we are talking about transgenic organisms

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Genetically Modified Food
• Transgenic organisms
– Directly modifies genes through molecular biology:
combines genes of two different species
Arctic flounder

Frost resistant
tomato

– Any organism that has had genes moved via

modern molecular biological techniques
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Genetically Modified Food
• How are new genes put into plants?
– A particle gun is used to shoot
small bits of metal coated with
the gene into the plant
Or ….
– Agrobacterium that normally
infects plants with disease is
used to infect plant with gene
of interest

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Genetically Modified Food
• Why would we want to put new genes in
plants?

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Genetically Modified Food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G-yUuiqIZ0

• How are GMO’s created?

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Genetically Modified Food
• Prevalence of GM foods
– Genetic engineering is already transforming the U.S.
food supply
– Two-thirds of U.S. soybeans, corn and cotton are
now genetically modified strains

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Genetically Modified Food
• Benefit of GMO’s
– Environmental
– Potentially reduced use of herbicides and chemicals
in farming

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Genetically Modified Food
• Benefit of GMO’s
– Humanitarian

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Genetically Modified Food

• Scientific concerns about GMO’s

– Are there health risks for people?
– Can transgenes escape, pollute ecosystems, and
harm organisms?
– Can pests evolve resistance to GM crops just as they
can to pesticides?
– Can transgenes jump from crops to weeds and make
them into “superweeds”?
– Can transgenes get into traditional native crop races
with unintended negative impacts?

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Genetically Modified Food
• Potential harm to ecosystems

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Genetically Modified Food
• Can transgenes get into wild plants?
– Concerns: ‘superweeds’, new genes hurt wild plants

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Genetically Modified Food
• Why transgenes will likely not persist in wild
plants or weeds
– Nearby plants must be genetically similar
– Many traits of crops are not beneficial to wild plants

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Genetically Modified Food
• Stages for preventing transgenes from getting
into other plants

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Genetically Modified Food
• Preventing transgenes from getting into other
plants
– Prevent cross pollination:
• Male sterility
• Flowering time
• Removal of transgene from pollen

– Decrease chance of survival:

• Coupling of transgene with mitigating gene (dwarfism)
• Selectively terminable transgenic lines (terminator gene)
• Means farmers have to buy seed every year from
corporations

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Genetically Modified Food
• Scientific concerns about GM organisms
– These questions are not fully answered yet
– In the meantime …

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Genetically Modified Food
• Europe vs. America
– Europe has followed the precautionary principle in
approach to Genetically Engineered foods
– US: GM foods were introduced and accepted with
relatively little public debate
• Control of agriculture by major corporations
– Monsanto’s Roundup Ready line of seeds,
terminator seeds

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Organic Agriculture
• USDA Regulations for Organic Crops
– Non-industrial fertilizers (manure or other animal
by-products). Breakdown slowly: more nutrients
absorbed by plants
– No synthetic pesticides (integrated pest
management, rotate crops, biological controls, pest
trapping)
– No genetic engineering
– Follow above standard for 3 years

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Organic Agriculture
• Organic Agriculture
– Advantages:
• Much lower environmental impacts
• Possibly better nutrition

– Disadvantages:
• Higher cost
• Lower yield in most economically developed countries

– But organic agriculture is increasing …

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Organic Agriculture
• Organic Agriculture

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 Organic Agriculture
• Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World?

But is is not just a matter of maintaining – we have to produce

more food !
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Organic Agriculture
• Organic Agriculture vs. Natural?
– Natural has no regulated definition in the U.S.

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Aquaculture
• Currently most marine and freshwater food
obtained from fishing
– Not sustainable
• Aquaculture – farming of food in aquatic
habitats
– Important protein source
– No shortage of space
– Extremely productive on a per area basis
– Continuing growth globally

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Aquaculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oi9GARr-Xc

• U.S. Aquaculture

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Aquaculture
• Environmental concerns
– Fishponds and marine fish kept in shallow
enclosures
– Wastes from fish and chemicals such as pesticides
can pollute local aquatic environments
• Potential to damage local biological diversity
– Escaped fish compete with
indigenous fish for habitat and
resources
– Alien species
– Marine mammal deaths
(trapped in nets / cages) 61