No-Till FarmingNo-Till Farming

What is it? Leaving the old crop and just

cutting a strip to plant the seed

ECONOMIC: Saves time and labor in land preparation and largely eliminates the fuel costs associated with plowing.

ENVIRONMENT: improved soil structure, less compaction and the maintenance of ground cover, which reduce soil erosion and water run-off. This enhances soil fertility and helps prevent flooding and the silting up of rivers.

http://www.syngenta.com/en/social_responsibility/cip_brazil.aspx

Food & PopulationFood & PopulationSoils, Is there enough?, Genetically-Modified Food, Sustaining

Soil ErosionSoil Erosion

Worldwide, 5-7 million hectares of land valuable to agriculture are lost every year through erosion and degradation

1 hectare = 2.47 acres1 acre is slightly less than a football field

(1.33 acres and 0.535 hectare)

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/U8480E/U8480E0D.HTM

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/U8480E/U8480E0D.HTM

Soil DegradationSoil Degradation

Impacts of Soil ErosionImpacts of Soil Erosion

1. Deforestation2. Steep land being cultivated down the

slope3. Monocrops grown over large areas4. Landslide blocks road5. Fish catch reduced in shallow waters6. Siltation cuts hydroelectric plant's

lifespan7. Gully erosion eats into crop land

8. Mud banks reduce navigability of rivers9. Urban slums grow as rural population

migrates to the city10. Bridge destroyed by floods11. Crops grown on large unprotected

fields12. Wind erosion affects badly managed

pasture13. Frequently flooded village is deserted 

Major Causes of Soil ErosionMajor Causes of Soil Erosion

Major causes of soil degradationPercentages

                                     

Mostly caused by no vegetation to protect the soil from being washed or blown away.

Clearing forests, growing crops on steep

slopes or on large fields without protection,

ploughing too deeply, failing to rotate crops, planting crops up and

down hills rather than along their contours

grazing too many animals on one piece of land

Soil degradation by area and type

                                                                                             

Combating Soil ErosionCombating Soil Erosion

1. Reforested land2. Gully erosion halted by check dams and trees planted on gully banks3. Steep land is bench-terraced4. Contour cultivation practiced on lower land5. Bunds are built to control surface runoff

6. New reservoir supplies power to nearby villages7. Shelter belts reduce wind erosion, pastures are improved or upgraded8. Crop rotation practiced in strips along contours9. Tree crops grown on eyebrow terraces on steep land10. Forested slopes prevent siltation of reservoirs

In 2003 was there enough In 2003 was there enough food?food?

800-850 million people are malnourished More than 200 million of these are children,

many of whom will never reach their full intellectual and physical potential.

Another 1-1.5 billion humans have only marginally better access to food and often do not consume balanced diets containing sufficient quantities of all required nutrients.

Green RevolutionGreen Revolution

High-yield crops Irrigation & controlled water supply Fertilizers & pesticides Farmers’ management skills

Norman Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on high-yield crops. It was his vision to get more food out of each hectare of soil.

first high-yielding semidwarf rice variety that matured early and had high milling yields

wheat plants with short, stiff straw and heavy seed heads caught the eye of ARS agronomist S. Cecil Salmon who was with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in 1946 helping assess Japan's postwar agricultural problems.

Salmon acquired seeds of 16 different strains—including one named Norin No. 10—for the World Small Grain Collection in Beltsville, Md.

In a year processed and distributed the seeds to various U.S. wheat breeders. ARS-Washington State University breeders in Pullman. The Pullman team, led by ARS plant

breeder Orville Vogel, analyzed the seeds' initial progeny for strengths and weaknesses. Over the next 13 years the scientists made many hybrid crosses and selections. One of the wheat varieties that came out of these efforts was the famed short-strawed Gaines.

While hybridization was underway, Norman E. Borlaug of the International Maize and Wheat Research Centre, Mexico, visited Pullman and was impressed with the short-stalked wheat's potential. The group shared germplasm with Borlaug who, in turn, crossed it with Mexico's best wheats.

In 1963 Borlaug responded to an urgent request from the government of India to tour its major wheat-growing regions and provide breeders with lines containing Norin No. 10 dwarfing genes.

The tall native wheats had encountered an insurmountable yield barrier. When heavily fertilized with nitrogen, they grew too high, became top-heavy, and lodged.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/green.htm

Green RevolutionGreen Revolution

The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s helped India and China and other Asian countries become agriculturally self-sufficient net exporters of food in the last three decades.

Green RevolutionGreen Revolution

Since 1961 food per capita has increased

Grain per person, however has dropped by 11 % since 1984 (Lomborg F 50 – FAO data)

Is Japanese rice & American wheat production at a plateau? (Lomborg F 52)

Green RevolutionGreen Revolution

The green revolution’s impact on land and other resources has some people concerned.1. land degradation2. energy input3. pesticides4. genetically uniform crops5. government policies

Arable LandArable Land

Out of the total area of the earth, 11% is used for crops, 24% pastures, 31% forests.

Arable land is concentrated in US, Europe, India, and China.

It is estimated the amount of arable land will increase by about 5.5% from 1993 to 2020.

(note hectare is about 2.5 acres)

BiomassBiomass

How much of the Earths net primary production (NPP) is actually consumed by people? NPP=energy remaining in an ecosystem after

autotrophs have metabolized 1986 research indicated either direct

consumption or indirect eating meats it was about 3.9% of the terrestrial biomass

How much land do we take up How much land do we take up for our lifestylefor our lifestyle

We cannot grow crops in asphalt parking lots.About 38.9% of land is used by people in

1986 – would a doubling of the population from 1986 mean that 80% of the terrestrial land would be used by people?

Food supply: Calories per Food supply: Calories per capita per day capita per day

Food supply: Calories per Food supply: Calories per capita per day capita per day

http://humandevelopment.bu.edu/dev_indicators/show_info.cfm?index_id=1153&data_type=1

United Nations. 2001. Statistical Yearbook: Forty-fifth issue, CD-ROM. New York: United Nations.

FOOD SUPPLY Somalia 1531 calories per capita per

day Haiti 1876 China 2972 US 3757

Estimate of chronically undernourished in developing

regions 1990-92

                                              

                               

Daily Intake of Calories per Daily Intake of Calories per CapitaCapita

Between 1971 and 2000, US women's daily intake of calories rose by 22%, while men increased their daily intake by 7%.

Graph of Daily intake of caloriesGraph of Daily intake of calories

Page 61 graph in Lomborg (F 23) data from FAO. In all cases it has increased For the developed world caloric intake around 3000 For the develping about 2500 calories per day World average is about 2700 calories per day

F 24 is the proportion of starving by region from 1970 to 2010. In all cases it is declining, but not very rapidly in Subsaharan Africa and Asia

Problem AreasProblem Areas

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region where growth in agricultural production has not kept pace with expanding need. The region has some of the poorest and most depleted

agricultural soils. Only 4 percent of the farmed land is irrigated. Significant areas of agricultural land are at risk of

becoming desert while in some parts of the region excessive humidity and high temperatures contribute to a high incidence of disease and pests.

Weeds such as Striga stifle yields. Droughts are commonplace in some parts of the region. Outright crop failure is common and poor yields are

endemic.

Practices that make the Green Practices that make the Green Revolution more sustainableRevolution more sustainable

1. crop rotation to mitigate weeds, disease and insects

2. planting legumes to increase nitrogen content in the soil

3. minimum tillage to reduce erosion4. mulching soil to conserve water5. integrated pest management, using

biological rather than chemical sprays6. using genetically improved crops that are

resistant to insects and disease

On BiotechnologyOn Biotechnology

Molecular biology and genomics greatly enhance the plant breeder's capacity to introduce new traits into plants.

Commercial applications of agricultural biotechnology have already produced crops such as Bt-maize, rice, potatoes, cotton and sweet corn (sweet maize) that can protect themselves against insects; virus-resistant papaya, squash and potatoes; and herbicide-tolerant crops such as wheat, maize, sugar cane, rice, onions and beets that allow more effective weed management.

By Bruce Chassy Professor and Executive Associate Director of the Biotechnology Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 9/2003

http://www.colostate.edu/programs/lifesciences/TransgenicCrops/current.html

Millions of Acres planted in Millions of Acres planted in transgenic crops (2000)transgenic crops (2000)

USA-74.8 (soybean, corn, cotton, canola) Argentina-24.7(soybean, corn, cotton) Canada-7.4(soybean, corn, canola) China-1.2(cotton) South Africa-0.5(corn, cotton) Australia-0.4(cotton) Mexico, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany,

France, Uruguay- minimal

Herbicide tolerantHerbicide tolerant

Weed control –poorly controlled weeds drastically reduce crop yield and quality.

Many herbicides on the market control only certain types of weeds, and are approved for use only on certain crops at specific growth stages.

Residues of some herbicides remain in the soil for a year or more, so that farmers must pay close attention to the herbicide history of a field when planning what to plant there.

Herbicide tolerant crops resolve many of those problems because they include transgenes providing tolerance to the herbicides Farmer can apply a single herbicide to his fields of herbicide

tolerant crops -- enable less complicated, more flexible weed control.

Bt Insect Resistant CropsBt Insect Resistant Crops

"Bt" is short for Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium whose spores contain a crystalline (Cry) protein. In the insect gut, the protein breaks down to release a toxin,

known as a delta-endotoxin. This toxin binds to and creates pores in the intestinal lining,

resulting in ion imbalance, paralysis of the digestive system, and after a few days, insect death.

Different versions of the Cry genes, also known as "Bt genes", have been identified. They are effective against different orders of insects, or affect the insect gut in slightly different ways.

The use of Bt to control insect pests is not new. Insecticides containing Bt and its toxins (e.g., Dipel, Thuricide, Vectobac) have been sold for many years. Bt-based insecticides are considered safe for mammals and birds, and safer for non-target insects than conventional products. What is new in Bt crops is that a modified version of the bacterial Cry gene has been incorporated into the plant's own DNA,

Is Genetically-modified food ok?Is Genetically-modified food ok?

The United States offered food aid that included substantial shipments of maize.

The maize supply in the United States is approximately 30-35 percent insect-protected Bt-maize developed through biotechnology. This variety of maize had been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as safe for consumption as food and feed.

It was commingled with conventional maize in the U.S. commodity system. However, since the intended recipient nations did not use biotech seed varieties

and imported few commodities such as maize, they for the most part lacked specific laws and regulatory systems with respect to foods produced through biotechnology.

Genetically modified (GM) maize was an unapproved food in their regulatory systems. In light of the global scare campaign against GM foods, several countries hesitated to accept the aid.

Ultimately, intensive international consultation and fact-finding satisfied all of these countries save Zambia, which continued to refuse GM food aid.

Tilman et al, "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, 8 August 2002, pp. 671-677

Dimensions of Need, Copyright (c) 1995 by FAOISBN 92-5-103737-XM-66 V8480E/1/9.95/6000

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/U8480E/U8480E0D.HTM