Activity 3.1 – Agriculture 101

  1. History of Agriculture


  • Pre-modern Agriculture

  • Humans need basic nutrients

A.proteins

B. carbohydrates

C. fats 

D. vitamins

  • Nomadic lifestyle

  • First Domesticated crops in 9500 BC

  • Emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley,peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax seeds

  • Fertile crescent (Persian Gulf and Nile River) and China developed fertile lands 

  • Began domesticating animals

  1. Sheep

  2. Goats

  3. Ox

  • During 3000-2700 BC in South America Maize was growing along with 

  1. Potato

  2. Pepper

  3. Squash

  4. Several types of beans

  • Development of armies needed to protect crops and resources from other people

  • Multiple types of agriculture improvements had been made 

  1. Crop rotation

  2. Manure

  3. Cattle plowing

  4. Irrigation systems

  5. Terraced rice fields 

  • Explorers helped spread and develop food diversity however used slavery as a means to speed up the process\

  • Expansion of breeding techniques increased through the use of

  1. Greenhouses

  2. Storage silos

  3. Grain elevators

  4. tractors

  • Phosphorus and nitrogen were needed to make effective fertilizers


2. Moving Towards Modern Agriculture: The Green Revolution

  • Modern Agriculture Revolution

  • Green Revolution occurred because of WWII and caused an increase of cereal- grain crops 

  • Agroscience was the result of the green revolution and set a precedent of how we produce food

  • Animal containment 

  • Antibiotics

  • Vitamins

  • Chemicals

  • Genetic engineering

  • Industrial Agriculture involves 

  • Politics

  • Technoscience

  • economics

  • Increased production is stalled because of 

  • Land degradation

  •  Social and political conflicts

  • Economic volatility

  • “Silent Spring”

  • Racheal Carson started US's Environmental Protection Agency and Canada's Environment Canada to protect the environment and  to make sure there were legal policies there to enforce the protection of said environment


Issues of Modern Agriculture 

  • Water Pollution from Fertilizers

  1. Nitrates are found both naturally and chemically

  • It is water soluble which means that it can be carried away by moving bodies of water i.e rivers, lakes, streams, oceans and groundwater

  • Nitrates can be consumed through water or animals which causes blue baby syndrome

  1. Blue baby syndrome affects babies by decreasing the amount of oxygen in their blood making it harder for them to breathe and can result in death 

                 B. Phosphorus

  • Can be made naturally and chemically/ used mostly for fertilizer

  • Not as soluble in water and is moved with soil

  • Mass accumulation of phosphorus causes an excess of algae in large bodies of water and contributes to eutrophication

  1. Algae growth makes water undrinkable and unsuitable for life


Pesticides and pesticide resistance

  •  Plants face many challenges including

  • Insects

  • Competition for resources

  • weeds

  • Weeds are controlled through the use of pesticides (herbicides)

  • Different types of herbicides are used to combat specific problems

  1. Glyphosate 

  • Used for a wide range of weeds

  • Applied during early growth of weeds

  • However weeds have become resistant towards it so farmers combine different types of chemicals to yield results

  1. Insecticides 

  • Used to kill insects

  • Applied to seeds before or during growth 

  • Depending on the chemical makeup affects the efficiency of the insecticide

  1. Most used Insecticide : Neonicotinoide

  •  Used internationally

  • Its being found in waterways and in high doses can kill necessary insects (bees)

  • Contaminated nectar and water is killing the bee population

Climate Change 

  • Greenhouse gas causes

  1. Cultivation of soil

  2. Nitrogen fertilizers

  3. Methane 

  4. Cow manure

  • Some plants absorb some of these emissions and create a “sink” 


  • Climate change effects

  1. Positive

  • Longer growing season create more flexibility in crop growth

  • Greater productivity for specific crops

  1. negative

  • Increases amount of insects

  • Increase in diseases

  • Severe weather

  • Increase in droughts

  • Higher temperatures


Agriculture in a changing climate

  • Increase in droughts

  • Low soil moisture


Soil Loss

  • Benefits of soil

  • Holds nutrients and water

  • Anchors plants

  • Holds beneficial organisms and bacteria

  • Protects against flooding

  • Reasons for soil loss

  •  tillage

  1. Breaks up the topsoil in order to encourage new growth and move the dry soil

  2. Increases mycorrhizal fungi growth


  • Field Fallow

  1. Reduces weed

  2. Reduce crop disease

  3. Creates ideal soil conditions


  • Removing plant materials

  1. Plants hold down the soil and slow down erosion

  2. Holds snow to keep in soil moisture for spring


3. What is sustainable agriculture?

  • Industrial agriculture: very large production (chemically) of a singular crop or house large animal productions

  • Sustainable agriculture: produces food sustainably and values environmental health over mass production


  • Defining Sustainable Agriculture?

  • Sustainable agriculture entails

  • Nutrient cycling

  • Biodiversity

  • Evolution

(This includes all life forms like microorganisms)

  • Benefits of sustainable agriculture

  1. Maintaining soil health

  2. Reducing pests and weed issues

  3. Promotes biodiversity

  • Subsistence: a type of farming that aims to produce crops for a person's family and not mass production


Food Security and Food Safety

  • FAO : Food and Agriculture Organization

  1. Defines food security as “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (Environmental Sustainability in Practice: Case Study: But What About Fertilizers?, n.d.)

  2. Food insecurity: is when there is not enough food to support someone 

  3. Food Sovereignty: The right to have healthy and sustainable food 


  • Food Safety

  1. People want healthier food options and to make sure the GMOs that are used are necessary as well as safe

Complexity of the Agricultural and Food Production System


  • Multi-glomerates: a company that owns multiple companies


Global Markets and Farmers Market

  • Cargill is a company that operates in 70 countries and provides

  1. Financial support

  2. Food

  3. Beverages

  4.  Animal nutritional products

  5. Industrial products

  6. Bio industrial products

  • Greenpiece suggests consumers are aware of how many corporations actually own the produce market

  • There are ten main companies that control most of the worlds food supply

  1. Nestle, Pepsico, Coca-cola, General mills, Danone, Kelloggs, Mars, Unilever, Mondelez, and associated British Foods

-Supporting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) can help them support their local economies and are able to know who/where their food is from 


Decreasing Number of Farms , and Migrant Workers

  • Increase in individual farms and decrease in large farms 

  1. High input costs

  2. Free trade agreements

  3. Neolibral policies 

  4. Globalization

  5. Hard to pass on the farm


Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP)

  • Workers are hired for 8 months

  • Sent home after the contract ends


Women In Farming

  • Many women around the world work on farms and help support their families by also helping with housework

  • More women currently work on farms now than any other time in history


4.Practices in Sustainable Agriculture

  • Integrated Pest Management

  • An environmentally friendly way to get rid of pests

  • Prevents pest arrival

- Strategies are based on 

  1. Inspection

  2. Monitoring

  3.  reporting


  • Farmers use techniques such as 

  1. Yellow sticky traps

  2. Pheromones

  3. Removing causes for infestation

  4. heat/cold treatments

  5. physical/mechanical removals


  • Organic Farming through intercropping

  • Intercropping: “ management of plant interactions to maximize crop yield” “Environmental Sustainability in Practice: Case Study: But What About Fertilizers?, n.d.)

  1. Creates an ecosystem where its able to sustain itself with little outside help through the use of water and soil

  • Two types of intercropping

  1. Temporal Intercropping: grows two different crops at the same time, but each crop grows at different rates so there is always something that is growing and something that is waiting to be harvested

  2. Spatial Intercropping: arrangement of crops that depends on the factors of each farm

  • Intercropping has many benefits

  1. Better use of land

  2. Yield stability

  3. Reduced crop losses due to pests, disease

  4. Erosion control

  5. Reduced leaching of soil nutrients

  6. Higher economic returns

  • Organic Certification and Legislation in Canada

  • Many difficulties for farmers in canada

  1. Inspections

  2. Certifications

  3. Annual applications

  4. No use of non permitted substances

  5. Thoroughly clean equipment and storage areas

  6. Most be approved by Canadian Organic Standards in order to be exported

  • Enhancing Biodiversity in Agroecosystems 

  • Biodiversity importance

  1. Withstand environmental stress

  2. Improve crop system

  3. Resistance from pests

  • Ways to increase Biodiversity

  1. Not using only one type of crop

  2. Intercropping

  3. Polyculture

  4. Cover crops

  • More biodiversity increases an ecosystems services

  1. Provisioning

  2. supporting/regulating

  3. cultural


  • New Trends: Diversified Agroecological Farming

  • Diversification: “the practices that enhance biodiversity on the farm through pesticide-use reduction, the deployment of field-boundary structures (e.g. hedgerows, wildflower strips), and increasing diversity of crops through intercropping and polyculture.” (Environmental Sustainability in Practice: Case Study: But What About Fertilizers?, n.d.)

  • Agroecology: “a science that uses the concepts and principles of ecology to promote a more sustainable food production system.” (Environmental Sustainability in Practice: Case Study: But What About Fertilizers?, n.d.)

  • Characteristics of a Agroecology include

  1. Temporal Diversification

  2. Use of a wide range of species

  3. Natural synergies

  4. More labor intensive systems 

  5. Maximization of multiple outputs

  6. Low external inputs

  7. Production of wide range of different products


  • Reduction of agrochemical inputs soil health because reducing the amount increases the amount of natural fertilizers


  • Case Study : Drinking Tea in a Healthier Environment

  • Tea is usually healthy; however after being grown in an environment that has pesticides, how many chemicals are actually in our tea?

  • Many organizations have set certain standards on tea imports

  • China ( big producer of tea) modified how tea should be grown and harvested so that it passes the inspections for countries importing the tea leaves

  • Ways that they have modified is by increasing biodiversity and using volatiles


  • Case Study: But What about Fertilizers?

  • Chemical Fertilizers: inorganic fertilizers made of petroleum or rocks

  1. Pro of using chemical fertilizers

  • Carries nutrients like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus 

  1. cons

  • Pollutes water systems


  • Organic Fertilizers 

  • Usually made of manure and compost

  1. Made of organic matter, which is easier for the earth to break down

  2. Little to no risk of toxic build up

  3. Organic matter helps plants retain water better

  • Cons

  1. Microorganisms are needed to make organic fertilizers effective 

Agrominerals

  • Natural fertilizer 

  • Has nutrients like

  1. Potassium

  2. Phosphorus

  3. Silicates

  4. Carbonate rock

  5. Clay

  6. Zeolites

  7. And volcanic materials


Reflection: The main idea behind this reading is to look at how human influence can alter an environment. Anything from chemical fertilizers, biodiversity, and human interactions can negatively alter the way an ecosystem can sustain itself. In the past humans and the environment had a more sustainable relationship. Originally we only took what we needed and used everything we did take was used to its fullest capacity, however, as our society has drastically changed so has our relationship with our environment. We now drain our environment of all of its natural resources and do nothing to help repair it or convert it back to its original status. The main way we could help ourselves and our environment are through sustainability. Sustainability is what will help our environments thrive and learning how to be more sustainable and self-sufficient will help take some of the stress that we put on our environment off. The recent spike in our population has put extreme stress on our planet so if we collectively started farming for ourselves we would gain a sense of independence as well as force large corporations to produce and sustain food in a more eco-conscious way. There are many ways we can start helping environments like shopping locally, using organic fertilizers, composting our food, or creating our own farms. These smaller changes can cause massive effects on both our everyday lives and the health of our environment. Besides changing our lifestyles, another way we can help our environment is by educating ourselves on what is going on in our government and the policies they plan on pushing to either help or harm the environment. The government could either help or devastate our environment which is why it is so important to stay informed. Another way we could use education as a way to save the environment is by teaching farmers more sustainable and effective ways to farm. Using natural or organic fertilizers, different growing patterns and biodiversity could greatly improve the way they farm. Biodiversity could not only be used on plants but also on surrounding animals. To completely help an environment, we have to study how all the organisms interact with each other. From microorganisms to soil, to plants, and even manure, everything has a key role in how successful an environment can become. Everything depends on each other and by studying those relationships we can then have the knowledge it takes to properly help the Earth.







REFERENCES: Environmental Sustainability in Practice: New Trends: Diversified Agroecological Farming. (n.d.-b). Environmental Sustainability in Practice. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from http://brockuesrc.ca/environmental-sustainability-in-practice/new-trend-diversified-agroecological-farming?path=practices-in-sustainable-agriculture

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