IE 116 1st Edition Lecture 4Outline of Current Lecture I. US agricultureII. How do we feed a GROWING world?a. Population Increaseb. Land lossc. Crowded areasCurrent LectureI. US Agriculture- In the Early 1800s there were about 1.5 million farms and people.- In the Early 1900s there were about 7 million farms and around 27 million people o each farm could feed 19 people- Today there are over 2 million farms and around 316 million people o Each farm must feed 155 peopleII. How do we feed a GROWING world?a) “Population is likely to increase by 3 billion people by the end of the century”- Classically bred crops have hit a steady yield production and are no longer increasing, which can’t sustain the population growth.- We are also losing more land and we can’t keep yield on an increase without the land to do so.- Transgenic crops can feed the population because they can grow in unfavorable places, which cannot be done with classical breeding.- We just want to protect the diversity of plants and preserve the genetic lines just in case something goes wrong. We must encourage germplasm conservation. (Seed Banks).b) “Throughout the world, over 80% of land that is suitable for raising crops are in use”- Introducing Precision Agriculture – It is high tech ag. A satellite/drone/etc gathers a bunch of data points and maps out what needs to be done for every inch of a cropland. It can point out if there is a specific spot or corner of the field that needs a special fertilizer or where the insects are gathering to put down insecticide just in that spot.- This is much better because it can reduce the amount of money spent of chemicals by only doing it to spots that need it versus the entire field.- Drones can sense via thermal and other ways to gather data in 20 minutes that would take hoursand hours via farmer to go out and measure by hand. Fertilizer prescriptions, pest scanning, weed ID, what is the weed, where is it and how do we get rid of it, resistant weed assessment, yield estimation. AGROBITIX for example: made in boulder.c) “By the year 2050 80% of the population will reside in urban areas.”- This is very cost inefficient and wasteful because it’d be more difficult to get the food to the population and not fast enough.- URBAN AGRICULTURE SOLUTIONSo Community Gardens! A real and watchable source of food for communities.o Community supported Agriculture (CSA farms) A set of people that legally support and cover costs of a farm to share in the risks and the benefits. Gas, salary, fossil fuels, seeds, etc. They receivefood or money from selling the crops, but they also risk losing money from a weather problem or a low yield production.o Can be taken to an extreme – a man and family bought two houses, is completely self-sustained in the middle of inner-city California.- VERTICAL FARMSo Cultivate edible/medicinal plants in skyscraper greenhouses or other inclined surfaces.o Advantages: Increased crop production, year-round, Conservation of resources (grow where you buy), protection from “weather events”, and is potentially more “organic”o “Chicken moat”- have lines of chickens on outside to pick off the insects and produce eggs.o Disadvantages: economically feasibility issues (heat or power), Can be expensive to buildvertical farm, energy consumption (supplemental light), pollution.- World’s largest vertical farm is located in Pennsylvania, United States. Bulilt in abandoned warehouses and built up from there. Less water consumption through internal recycling.- Almost a billion people in the world are malnourished; however, so much food is lost and wasted. For us to buy it, it MUST BE PERFECT, meaning there is a lot of waste.- Lobster and shellfish, eat the goo, the gross, and the poop at the bottom of the sea floor and is LOVED by people. - Thus, insects are the same!! People are pushing insects to reduce other waste, but it’s wrong! Insects will feed the world!! Very nutritious. Caterpillars have more protein than beef comparing