ENST 201 1st Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I Modern Pastoralism Animals II Antibiotics III Relationship between Rural Areas and Cities IV Corn Outline of Current Lecture I Innovations of 19th century II Industrial Agriculture III Trade Offs of Industrial Agriculture Current Lecture I II Innovations of 19th century a Fast transportation before this innovation only foods that were light weight and had long shelf lives could be shipped b Cooling allowed foods to be stored for a long time without spoiling c Canning Easier and more efficient storing of foods d Before these innovations alcohol spices and tobacco were about the only things that could be shipped long distances Industrial Agriculture a Farmers selectively breed high yielding crops i More and more people only plant these high yielding crops for profit 1 This cuts down the plant diversity in an area 2 These plants typically have stunted roots a They need people to provide water and nutrients to them because their roots are ineffective in doing so themselves b Farmers like these stunted roots because it allows them to pack the plants together more densely 3 This tendency to plant one type of crop leads to many monocultures a Since plants are all the same it leads to more susceptibility to pests i Large populations of pests are in the area and pesticides are used Since the population is so These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III large there is a higher chance of resistance building up ii pesticide treadmill once you start using pesticides you have to keep using an increasing amount of pesticides and keep increasing the strength of the pesticides iii One upside to the use of pesticides is that newer pesticides have been developed to break down in the environment easier Trade offs of Industrial Agriculture a Run out of arable land due to soil degradation and erosion b Distribution of food is skewed because people with less money are more sensitive to food price increases c Loss of biodiversity this is due to more and more land being taken up by agriculture which pushes many species out of their natural habitats d Obesity and heart problems have been on the rise because of the abundance of cheap processed foods e Water shortages
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