An introduction to the Green Revolution and industrial agriculture.

1. 4/18/13
No Article Review this week
Energy plan due next Friday
Homework: Read 11.4 and 11.5

2. Reading Quiz
Tomorrow we will have a quiz over tonight’s reading. Be able to
do the following
Explain soil degradation, slash and burn agriculture, and
desertification.
Describe the benefits and drawbacks of sustainable farming
practices, no-till agriculture, and integrated pest management.
Discuss organic agriculture.
Understand CAFOs, impacts of fish harvesting, and aquaculture

3. Review
Compare and contrast the various forms of
malnutrition.
Discuss factors that contribute to malnutrition.
Relate the concept of energy subsidy to the concept
of ecological footprint.
Describe the Green Revolution.

4. Objectives
Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of industrial
farming practices.
Debate using genetically modified organisms in
agriculture.

5. Questions
How has farming changed in the last 75 years?

6. Do The Math
Before we get into it, work through this math
problem.
Help those at your table.
Don’t give answers, give help

7. Do The Math
On farms in the midwestern United States, a hectare of
land yields roughly 370 bushels of corn (equivalent to 150
bushels per acre). A bushel of consists of 1,250 ears of
corn, and each ear typically contains 80 kilocalories.
Assume that a person eats only corn and requires 2,000
kilocalories per day.
How many calories does a person require in a year?
2,000 kilocalories/day X 365 days/year = 730,000
kilocalories.year

8. Do The Math
On farms in the midwestern United States, a hectare of land
yields roughly 370 bushels of corn (equivalent to 150 bushels
per acre). A bushel of consists of 1,250 ears of corn, and each
ear typically contains 80 kilocalories. Assume that a person
eats only corn and requires 2,000 kilocalories per day.
How many calories does a hectare of corn produce?
370 bushels/hectare X 1250 ears/bushel X 80 kilocalories/ear
= 37,000,000 kilocalories/hectare

9. Do The Math
If a person were to eat only corn, how many hectares of land
would it take to support the person?
730,000 kilocalories/year ÷ 37,000,000 kilocalories/hectare =
.02 hectares of land

10. Do The Math
What if the person ate only beef? 20 kg of grain are needed
to produce 1 kg of beef. So it would take 20 times as much
land to feed a person who only at beef. How much land
would it take to support that person?
0.02 X 20 = 0.4 hectares

11. Do The Math
If the Earth has about 1.5 billion hectares of land suitable for
growing food, is there sufficient land on Earth to feed all the
inhabitants of the planet if they only ate beef?
7 billion people X 0.4 ha/person = 2.8 billion ha needed

12. Do The Math
How many people eating a beef-only diet could Earth
support?
1.5 billion ha land X (1 person/0.4 ha) = 3.75 billion people

13. Green Revolution
What are the major
components of the Green
Revolution?
Mechanization
Irrigation
Fertilization
Monocropping
Pesticides

14. Mechanization
How do labor costs drive
the use of mechanization?
What is an economy of
scale?
With regard to farm size
and crop diversity, what
are the consequences of
mechanization?

15. Irrigation
What are the benefits of
irrigation?
What are the
consequences?
Aquifer damage
Waterlogging
Salinization

16. Fertilizers
Why does industrial
agriculture make fertilizer
use necessary?
What are the primary
nutrients in fertilizer?
What are the two
categories of fertilizer?

17. Fertilizers
How are synthetic
fertilizers produced?
What are their benefits
and drawbacks?
What are the benefits and
drawbacks of organic
fertilizers

18. Monocropping
What is monocropping?
What are the benefits and
drawbacks of
monocropping?

19. Pesticides
How does monocropping
make pesticide use more
prevalent?
What is the difference
between insecticide and
herbicide?
Selective and broad-
spectrum?
What are the benefits and
drawbacks?

20. Pesticides
Talk to me about DDT and
bioaccumulation?
What is pesticide
persistence?
How does pesticide use
lead to resistance?
What is the pesticide
treadmill?

21. GMO
Take 5 minutes and discuss
GMO with your table
What do you know?
Are you in favor?
What questions do you
have?
Have someone take notes
to report to class

22. GMO
How does a genetically
modified organism come to
be?
What are the benefits?
Crop yield
Changes in pesticides
Increased profit

23. GMO
What are the drawbacks?
Safety concerns
Effects on Biodiversity
Regulation

24. AP Practice
Which of the following describes a fundamental characteristic of the Green
Revolution in food resources?
A. The application of higher levels of organic fertilizers to increase rice
production
B. Deforestation to provide field crops with increased sunlight for photosynthesis
C. The addition of calorie, fat, and fiber percentages to the information provided
on food package labels
D. The development of new strains of crops with higher yields
E. The discovery that chlorophyll adds nutritional value to wheat, rice, and
sorghum