Agriculture

What does agriculture provide?

  1. Food

  2. Fiber (for fabric)

  3. Fodder (grain for livestock production)

  4. Energy

How has agriculture changed?

In the history of food collection, humans were hunters and gatherers who traveled to hunt and collect their food source. About 10,000 years ago, they discovered how to grow their own food, thus farming emerged. This allowed for humans to remain more or less in one area. There was no need to move around anymore. Subsequently, towns and cities developed around these farming communities, and world population began to increase. After a long history of traditional farming practices using plow animals and simpler tools, a new phase of agriculture began. No longer were men and women at the mercy of bad weather, unpredictable plant diseases, insects, and limiting tools. This phase was called the Green Revolution. Mechanized farm machines, chemical pesticides and fertilizers were introduced. Higher yields and more secure crops were realized, but with long term environmental impacts. More land use, energy consumption, soil erosion, pollution, and water consumption have made agriculture unsustainable.

Did you know that?

  1. According to Diet for a New America, over a billion people could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock every year.

  2. To produce 1 pound of beef, we need 16 pounds of grain and soybeans, 2500 gallons of water, and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. To produce one serving of chicken, 408 gallons of water is required.

  3. Twenty-four billion tons of agricultural topsoil wash or blow away each year.

  4. Forests cover 31 percent of the land, about 25 percent is pasture or rangeland, and 11 percent is planted with crops. This productive land is shrinking in size. The remaining 33 percent is either wasteland or land that is paved over or built on. This land is expanding.

  5. In most countries, chemical fertilizers and pesticides used on crops deposit poisons on the land that will infect future plant growth. Four billion pounds of pesticide are used in the world each year.

How can students be more sustainable?

  1. Encourage your parents to buy pesticide free, organically grown produce at the grocery store or at local farmer's markets.

  2. Eat low on the food chain--eat more grains and vegetables.

  3. Encourage your community to begin a dehydration center which peels, dices, steams and dries tons of discarded produce to supply food for the needy.

  4. Plant flowers, trees and shrubs that are native to the climate where you live. They will do well with less water than non-native plants.

For additional information, see From The Ground Up, which is a lesson guide on sustainable agriculture.

---------------

* Return to ELSI Home Page