Dr Deirdre McKay, Keele University, [email protected] C-Change in GEES: People and the Environment – Agricultural Resources C-Change in GEES People

Dr Deirdre McKay, Keele University, [email protected]

C-Change in GEES: People and the Environment – Agricultural Resources

C-Change in GEES

People and the Environment

Session 4Session 4: Agricultural Resources:

The Food System



How to use the teaching slides

These slides are not intended to form a complete lecture on the session topic.

These resources are designed to suggest a framework to help tutors develop their own lecture material

The resource slides comprise where appropriate; key points, case studies, images, references and further resources.

There are limited case studies included. Students can develop their own portfolio of case studies as part of coursework activities

These resources may be used for educational purposes only, for other uses please contact the author

These slides were last updated in January 2010



Disclaimer

Links within this presentation may lead to other sites. These are provided for convenience only. We do not sponsor, endorse or otherwise approve of any information or statements appearing in those sites. The author is not responsible for the availability of, or the content located on or through, any such external site. While every effort and care has been taken in preparing the content of this presentation, the author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy of the information in any of the content. The author also (to the extent permitted by law) shall not be liable for any losses or damages arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information. The author is also not liable for any losses or damages arising from the use of, or reliance on sites linked to this site, or the internet generally.Pictures, photographs and diagrams within this presentation have been produced by the author unless otherwise stipulatedNo content within this resource is knowingly an infringement of copyright. Any infringement can be immediately rectified on notification of the author of the resource



Learning Objectives

• to be able to describe the food system

• to understand how the food system links developed and developing countries

• to be familiar with the resource demands of modern agriculture

• to be able to describe processes of production, distribution, consumption and disposal of food and some of the environmental problems produced by each



Lecture Outline

1) Geography of crop diversity

2) The ‘food system’

Production in modern agriculture

Distribution

Consumption

3) Towards sustainability

4) Public policy reform

5) Summary

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dey/97507223/



1) Agrodiversity: A Global Geography

Wheat: comes from the Middle-East - and is grown in Canada and Australia, Coffee: comes from Ethiopia – and is grown in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

The diversity of DNA fractions have been used to study diversity of crop species.

These studies have not confirmed Vavilov's theory that the centres of origin are the areas of greatest diversity. They have identified centres of diversity, but these are often not the centres of origin.

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/css/330/two/



Coffee: from Africa to ASDA

• originates in the highlands of Ethiopia

• grown across the developing world

• sold as a commodity for export, primarily to the developed world

• ‘simple commodity production’ – farmer sells raw beans for money used to buy groceries, often including instant coffee!

VIETNAM• Coffee exports increased more than tenfold between the mid-eighties and today. • Now the second biggest coffee producing country. • Between 2000 and 2003, 500,000 jobs were lost in Mexico and Central America, while at

the same time, employment in the coffee sector increased from 300,000 to between 4 and 5 million in Vietnam.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73416633@N00/4228215843/



2) The Food System

Farm- based producers

Processors

Agricultural co-ops and producers organisatio

ns

Wholesalers Multiple-

retailers

Consumers

Pick-your-own

Farmer’s markets

Farm shops

Box schemes

‘Loca

l’ Food

Robinson G (2004) ‘Geographies of Agriculture: Globalisation, restructuring and sustainability’ Harlow: Pearson (p.74)



Food ProductionAgriculture:

• Covers 1/3rd of land surface• Employs 45% of working population, but

this is falling... (in the US it is about 2%)

Problem:Per capita agricultural production has outpaced population growth – today there is an extra 25% more food compared with the figure for 1960.

But regional variability: In Africa food production today is 10% less per person today than in 1960

Still 800 million people hungry and lacking adequate access to food (but less than in 1970) (Pretty, 2005)

Aerial photograph of fields in western Kansas

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djof/147222315/



Making Agriculture Industrial

‘… the English farmer has been more involved in the ‘rat race’ that goes on all around …Every year, s/he looks a little less like a farmer, a

little more like an industrialist…to maximize output from a steadily increasing volume of resources employed. In searching for labour-

saving and time-saving systems, s/he streamlines cropping, intensifies livestock husbandry…burns straw, steps up reliance on chemical

fertilizers and pesticides, and so far as nature will allow, specialises in mass-production’

(Beresford, 1975: 143).

The 'Technocratic Labor' Thesis: a Critique, Arena, No. 39, 1975



Modern Agriculture

Barrow, C.J. (2005) ‘Environmental Management and Development’ Routledge

• Concentrated - fewer but larger farming units

• Specialized - fewer farm products from each farm, region and country

• Intensified - higher yields are obtained using less land area through more inputs such as artificial nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides; through the mechanisation and automation of production processes and through the application of developments in biotechnology

• Largely dependent on fossil fuels!

(Robinson, 2004: 62)

‘Green Revolutions’ in developing countries – without general social or economic reform. Have brought environmental problems…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noiseburst/3916412442/



Modern Agriculture: Irrigation

Irrigation has three benefits: 1) It allows for the cultivation of land

where rainfall is insufficient for any crop growth such as in Egypt and Pakistan;

2) It is an important supplement in regions where rainfall in the growing season is variable, and

3) It allows water to be stored in the wet season and used in the dry season, allowing two crops to be obtained in the same year (Grigg, 1995:95).

Whilst irrigation improves crop productivity and can extend cultivated areas significantly, it can cause water-logging and salinisation (Goudie 2006).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/28243236/

ISSUES

Water-logging

Salinization

Competition with domestic uses



Modern Agriculture: Fertilisers

Nitrogen Fertilisers

– Massive increases in use since 1960s

– Improve crop yields

– Leach into water systems causing eutrophication

Eutrophication is the enrichment of waters by nutrients that leads to

excessive growths of algae; when the algae dies there may be a serious depletion of oxygen as it decays,

leading to the death of fish. (Goudie, 2006)

http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/global-trends-in-cereal-and-meat-production-total-use-of-nitrogen-and-phosphorus-fertilizers-increas



Modern Agriculture: Pesticides

Problems

• Effects of organochlorides on wildlife and human health

• Death of birds and other predators

• Deleterious effect on health of workers

• Questions about the effects of cumulative exposure on health of consumers – the ‘cocktail’ effecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cropduster_spraying_pesticides.jpg

Global use: 2.56 billion kg/yrGlobal market: $25 billion/yr

Contain organochlorides



Modern Agriculture: Carbon Budget

Agriculture was responsible for 13.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2004

Share of different sectors in total anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2004 in terms of CO2-equivalent

[Table TS.2b] IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.



Climate Change and Agriculture: Uncertainties

Changes in rainfall and temperature will impact on:

– Location of crops

– Yield of crops

The vast Indo-Gangetic plain produces about 15% of the world's wheat - but the area suitable for growing is forecast to shrink by about half over the next 50 years

We will need "climate-proof" crop varieties: flood-tolerant rice, drought-tolerant maize etc. Source: Map of shifting wheat growing regions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6200114.stm



2) Food Distribution

Changes:– Globalisation of the food

industry– Wider distribution patterns– Just-in-time transport

‘Food miles’:– The distance food travels

between the farmer and the consumer

– Environmental concerns:– CO2 emissions– air pollution– congestion and noise

http://www.flickr.com/photos/t0msk/3879017800/sizes/l/



Supermarkets and Retailing• Supermarkets control 80% of all food

sales in the UK (Robinson, 2004:58).

• Concerns over the environmental and social impacts of their operations are increasingly being articulated.

• Retailer-controlled contracts dominate farming (Robinson, 2004:79). Supermarkets can increasingly dictate what is grown where and to what quality.

• Increased food miles: delivery patterns and shopping by car

• Approximately 70% of primary packaging is used for food and drink which is often discarded in a dirty state and contaminated by residues of the original contents.

Lawrence F (2004) ‘Not on the label: What really goes into the food

on your plate’ London: Penguin

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fredmeyer.jpg



3) Food Consumption: Security?

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs

and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

FAO (2003)

• Currently there are 852 million food insecure people in the world. Famine and hunger are the result of food insecurity.

• The Rome Declaration on World Food security acknowledged that ‘Food supplies have increased substantially, but constraints on access to food and continuing inadequacy of household and national incomes to purchase food, instability of supply and demand, as well as natural and man-made disasters, prevent basic food needs from being fulfilled

• Poverty, conflict, terrorism, corruption and environmental degradation all contribute significantly to food insecurity

TRADE REFORMS AND FOOD SECURITYhttp://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4671e/y4671e00.htm#Contents



4) Towards Sustainability

• Sustainable food – Fair trade – Organic – Local

• Integrated Pest Management

• Genetically Modified crops

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swisscan/3967789546/sizes/l/



Sustainable Food Production

• Integrates natural processes such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixing, soil regeneration and natural enemies of pests into food production processes

• Minimises the use of non-renewable inputs that damage the environment or harm human health

• Makes use of farmers’ knowledge and skills.

• Helps people work together to solve common agricultural and natural resource problems (Pretty, 2005:2)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bee721/3154825477/sizes/o/



‘Fair Trade’

Small farmers and co-operatives:Fair-price for their products – often cocoa and coffee beans

Plantation and factory workers:Fair wages and decent living conditions

Two sets of generic producer standards:• small farmers – small holders organised

in cooperatives or other organisations with a democratic, participatory structure

• workers on plantations and factory- organised workers, whose employers pay decent wages, guarantee the right to join trade unions and provide good housing when relevant.



Organic Food and Farming

• One of the success stories of food production in recent years has been that of organics.

• Globally, organic food has shown very rapid growth in sales over the last fifteen years.

• Retail sales in organic food in the UK were worth £1.12 billion in 2004 which is a 10-fold increase from £100 million in 1993.

• The area of land in organic management has also shown similar trends with 60 thousand hectares in organic management or under-conversion in 1997, increasing to 686 thousand hectares by 2004.

• Organic land is now 4% of total agricultural land in the UK

Soil Association (2007) ‘Organic Market Report’http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=phLTvTUYrbg%3d&tabid=116



‘Local’ Food

• Food consumed near to its production:– Reducing food miles– Seasonality– Connecting consumers with

producers– Economic benefits to farmers

• Farm shops / ‘Pick-your-own’

• 500 UK Farmer’s markets

• Box schemeshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dantaylor/151042738/



Integrated Pest Management

‘The careful integration of a number of available pest control techniques that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and safe

for human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption of agro-ecosystems, thereby encouraging natural pest control mechanisms.’

FAO (website)

• New strategies to reduce conventional agriculture’s reliance on pesticides

• Being widely used in the developed and the developing world

http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/core-themes/theme/pests/ipm/en/



Farm Assurance Schemes

• LEAF Marque (www.leafuk.org)

LEAF doesn’t prevent farmers from using approved pesticides. It does, however, require them to be used with care and only as part of an integrated pest management strategy

• Freedom Foods (www.rspca.org.uk)

Is an animal-specific assurance scheme covering dairy, laying hens, salmon, beef, pork, lamb and poultry meat). It is a welfare-focused farm assurance scheme

• Red Tractor Scheme (www.redtractor.org.uk)

A logo which indicates that food can be traced back to farms producing under an Assured Food Standards licence. The standards for crops cover all aspects of the production process including cultivations, plant health, harvesting and storage



‘GM’ Crops

• Genetically-engineered plants have:• Herbicide tolerance • Insect resistance• Temperature tolerance• Drought tolerance

• Uncertainties!• Ignorance – of all possible impacts• Indeterminacy – how will

plants/products actually be used? Will GM produce food security?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnone/3329363570/



Public Policy: Climate Change Solutions

– Make more efficient use of nitrogen fertilizers

– Stop burning crop residues

– Cut down on ‘food miles’ to save fuel

– Cut down on packaging

– Provide consumers with information geared to change their preferences to local and low-impact products



4) Public Policy Reform

Europe:– Recognising the

environmental impacts of over-production through new ‘agri-environment’ schemes:

– UK - Entry and Higher Level Environmental Stewardship schemes

– On-going support for organic farmers

http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2006_2



UK Policy Reform

– Policy Commission on Food and Farming (2002) (‘the Curry Report’)

– Government’s response: ‘Strategy for Sustainable Food and Farming’ (2002)

– Rise of agenda for ‘Sustainable’ food and farming in the UK

• e.g. Miliband (2006) ‘ One planet farming’

https://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/publications/auk/seminar/SFFS_Ind.pdf



Learning Summary

• The ‘food system’ connects producers and consumers around the globe

• The environmental, social, and economic impacts of the food system require transport, retailing and consumption to be examined alongside cultivation and production

• Agricultural diversity is an important resource for future food security



ReferencesBarrow, C.J. (2005) ‘Environmental Management and Development’ Routledge

Beresford, M. (1975) ‘The 'Technocratic Labor' Thesis: a Critique’ Arena, No. 39

Goudie, A.S. (2006) ‘The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present and Future’ Oxford: Blackwell

Grigg, D. (1995) ‘An Introduction to Agricultural Geography’ London: Routledge

Lawrence, F. (2004) ‘Not on the label: What really goes into the food on your plate’ London: Penguin

Pretty, J. (2005) ‘Sustainability in Agriculture: Recent Progress and Emergent Challenges’ Issues in Environmental Science and Technology, No. 21. Sustainability in Agriculture The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2005

Robinson, G. (2004) ‘Geographies of Agriculture: Globalisation, restructuring and sustainability’ Harlow: Pearson

This resource was created by the University of Keele and released as an open educational resource through the 'C-change in GEES' project exploring the open licensing of climate change and sustainability resources in the Geography, Earth and

Environmental Sciences. The C-change in GEES project was funded by HEFCE as part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER programme and coordinated by the GEES Subject Centre.

This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).

However the resource, where specified below, contains other 3rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below:

1. Slide 20: The Fair Trade logo and the Fair Trade Organisation logo are registered trademarks

2. Slide 22: The Freedom Food logo is a registered trademark of the RSPCA charity, and the Assured Food Standards logo is a registered trademark

3. The name of Keele University and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources.

4. The JISC logo, the C-change logo and the logo of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license

Author Dr Deirdre McKay

Stephen Whitfield

Institute – Owner Keele University, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences

Title Agricultural Resources: The Food System PowerPoint Presentation

Date Created January 2010

Description Agricultural Resources: The Food System - PowerPoint Presentation – Part Four of People and the Environment

Educational Level 1

Keywords (Primary keywords – UKOER & GEESOER)

UKOER, GEESOER, crop diversity, sustainability, public policy, production, agriculture, agrodiversity, organic, GMOs

Creative Commons License Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales

Item Metadata

Documents

Dr Deirdre McKay, Keele University, [email protected] C-Change in GEES: People and the Environment – Agricultural Resources C-Change in GEES People