Ecology Exam 2

3 Looming Public Health Crises

Malnutrition, Diabetes, Antibiotic Resistance

Malnutrition

Individuals experiencing undernutrition or overnutrition

Undernutrition

• Diet lacking calories or nutrients

• Underweight= low weight-for-age

• Stunting= low height for age- outcome of gross undernutrition and persistent infection in first 1000 days of child’s life

• Long-term effects= Diminished cognitive and physical development (skeletal and neurological), reduced productive capacity, poor health (immune system development), increased risk of overweight/obese later in life

• Wasting= low weight-for-height- often indicates severe weight loss

• Micronutrient deficiencies

Overnutrition

• Diet with excess calories

• Overweight/Obesity= abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health

• Overdosing on micronutrients

Types of nations carrying burden of insufficient calories, how do we know this undernutrition is fixable?

• Global South, non-industrial nations

• Almost a billion people are going hungry, while we waste 1/3 of the food we produce

Obesity

• Energy is never destroyed, only converted- excess energy results in obesity

• Rates have risen in every country- today, around 641 million obese

• Increases risk of: Heart disease, cancer, endocrine diseases, hypertension, fatty liver disease, atherosclerosis, Type 2 Diabetes

Obesity and Socioeconomic Status

• In a food insecure nation, the impoverished are more likely to be undernourished, bearing the brunt of stunting and wasting

• In a food secure nation, the impoverished are more likely to be obes

Countries’ Composition of Daily Diet

• Top 5 GDP countries have more sugar, sweeteners, meats milk

• Bottom 5 GDP countries have more cereals and starchy roots

Dual/Triple Burden of Malnutrition

• Coexistence of over and undernutrition at all levels of population

• 1/3 people globally suffer from at least one form of malnutrition: 1 billion undernourished, 2.5 billion overweight/obese, 3 billion micronutrient deficient

Global Diabetes Epidemic

• Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are linked

• Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose (blood sugar) is too high

• Type 1= Pancreas does not produce enough insulin, non-reversible, genetic, not linked w/ obesity

• Type 2= Insulin does not stimulate glucose uptake from blood, reversible, poor diet, obesity, too much sugar, insulin can’t lower it fast enough

• Every 6 seconds, 1 person dies from Type 2

• 3/4 people with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries

Wonder drug- Revolutionized Medicine- Antibiotics

• Antibiotics= common metabolic products of aerobic bacteria and fungi

• Chemicals that can slow/stop growth of bacteria

• Preferentially kill bacteria w/out harming human/animal host

• Target what’s unique about bacterial cells

Natural Selection and Drug Resistance

• Large populations of microbes include drug resistant cells due to prior mutations or transfer of plasmids- no growth advantage until exposed to drug

• If exposed, sensitive cells are inhibited or destroyed while resistance cells will survive and proliferate

• Eventually, population will be resistant- natural selection

• Timeframe of microbe generation- 10-20 minutes

Causes of Antibiotic Resistance

• Over prescribing antibiotics (used against non-bacterial illness)

• Patients not finishing treatments

• Poor infection control at hospitals and clinics

• Lack of hygiene

• Discovery Void- lack of development of new antibiotics

• ***Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture

  • Used as growth promotrs

  • Proactively to stop density dependent infections

  • Rapid increase in AR are directly attributable to rise of CAFOs

• Spread of antibiotic resistance

• Natural Selection

  • Coupled with bacterial short generation times and high genetic variability

Antibiotics sold in the US

• 81%- livestock

• 19%- humans

Global Economic Costs of Malnutrition

• Globally, costs about $3.5 trillion per year

• Undernutrition/micronutrient deficiencies- $2.1 trillion/year

• Obesity/obesity related diseases- $1.4 trillion/year

• GDP was about $85 trillion in 2020, so malnutrition represents about 4.1% of global GDP

Individual Costs of Undernutrition

• Often generational cycle

• Short and long-term causes and consequences

• Short: Mortality, morbidity, disability, (childhood consequences)

• Long: Adult height, cognitive ability, economic productivity, reproductive performance, metabolic and cardiovascular disease (adult consequences

Individual Costs of Overnutrition

• 2/3 adults in US are considered overweight/obese

• Higher risks of:

  • Heart disease and stroke

  • High blood pressure

  • High cholesterol

  • Diabetes

  • Cancer

  • Mental health problems

• Medical costs are 36% higher for obese individuals on average

• In US, annual costs= $2646 for men and $4879 for women- wage discrimination, direct medical, short-term disability, productivity, sick leave, life insurance, disability pension insurance, car gas

High Cost of Diabetes Explained

• Medicare coverage of Kidneys (End-Stage Renal Disease, ESRD) signed into law by Nixon in 1973

• Has saved hundreds of thousands of lives w/ dialysis and kidney transplants BUT when program was designed, they expected the number of patients would plateau at 40,000 (thought diabetes a rare condition)

• However, by 2021, 786,000 have ESRD (71% on dialysis, 29% have received kidney transplant)

• $1/$7 health care dollars is spent treating diabetes and its complications

• Raises questions of aggressively marketed food, government subsidies for processed food ($13.4 billion on food advertising in 2017 vs. $1.2 billion public health CDC budget for all chronic disease prevention and health promotion)

Problems with Antibiotic Resistance

• Effective antibiotics= prerequisite for global developmental goals

  • Poverty

  • Universal health coverage

  • Health inequalities

  • Economic growth

• In US, estimated

  • 8 million additional hospital days

  • 20 billion dollars in direct health care expenses

  • 35 million dollars in lost productivity

  • More annual deaths than all cancers combined

The Discovery Void

• Drug approval is a rigorous process

  • 10-20 years from discovery to approval

  • 95% failure rate

  • 1 billion in research costs before potential product approval

• Why are companies investing less?

  • Duration of antibiotic effectiveness is declining

    • Average length is substantially less than 2 years

    • Cost of R&D no longer profitable

    • Long-term repercussions

Share of food purchased at supermarkets

• Grew quickly after first one opened in 1930

• 1948- 28%, today- almost 100%

• Walmart has market share of grocery food sales equal to 2nd- 8th sized grocery stores combined

Why Supermarkets Expanded

• Agriculture policies put in place and never removed

• US became urban-majority country in 1920s- US gov’t policy wanted to ensure the agriculture sector could feed growing urban population

• USDA invested heavily in research to make food more abundant and cheaper (engineering for productivity-enhancing farm equipment, research into road materials to connect rural and urban areas, more typical agricultural breeding research)

• Subsidies for corn/soy began and have never ended

How supermarkets helped end Cold War

• Exemplified choice for consumers, introducing concept of self-service

• Sept. 1989, Russian president Boris Yeltsin visits US grocery, thought it was staged, realized it was norm which shattered his view of communism- felt “sick with despair for the Soviet people

• Supermarket= end point of US gov’t battle for agricultural abundance against the USSR

• Were the US weapon that helped lead to the fall of communism and global dominance of capitalism

Power of Marketing- Predatory Pricing

• Think- Walmart’s business model: offer cheap prices w/in new community, other mom & pop shops go out of business because they can’t compete, Walmart raises prices

• Squeeze suppliers, making them decrease how much they charge Walmart each year by threatening to break up w/ them since they’re their biggest customer

Power of Marketing- Loss Leader Pricing

• Prime purpose= gain market penetration and attain a customer base

• Mainly targeted to attract customers to the business by using price as a weapon to fight competitors

• Needs to be properly executed, as it may lead to bankruptcy of business

• Main purpose= draw more traffic from competitors and thus generate more sales

• Works best in way of introducing the customer to the cheapest product/service

• Consumers are losers because they think they’re saving a ton, but it’s maximizing sellers’ profits

Power of Marketing- Weaponized Architecture

• Architecture for profits optimization

• Entry & Exit points

  • Impulse/lower-cost items near checkouts and high-traffic areas

• Aisle set-up

  • Products placed at eye level= more likely to be purchased (more expensive, specialty items placed higher)

  • Bottom shelves are generic store brand

  • End caps more likely to be purchased

• Kids dictate

  • Candy/chips/sugary cereals placed on lower level

  • Kids’ gifts/toys placed near checkout to increase contact time

Power of Marketing- Slotting Fees

• Supermarkets charge significant fees before retailers see their products on shelves

  • Large companies buy up enough shelf space they can effectively design store’s layout to maximize product visibility

  • Make it harder for small businesses to compete

• Slotting fees for seasonal features/ promotional displays appear at end of aisles

• Junk food manufacturers have taken over valuable in-store real estate, leading consumers to choose less healthy options

• Came about in mid-80s

  • 80-90% of new products fail

  • Rise of Shop Keeping Unit (barcode)- many vendors were throwing new products up against wall to see if any would stick w/out consumer research

  • Slotting fees became solution to massive influx of new products and space scarcity

Truth about food marketing

• Marketing directly impacts what we eat- food market mostly used for

  • High fat, high sugar, high salt, beer

  • Significant amounts of marketing target children, particularly minority children

    • 3.4 billion food ads on children’s websites in one year, many claiming to promote healthier choices

    • 8/10 food ads seen by Hispanic children on Spanish-language TV promote fast food, candy, sugar drinks, snacks

Is what you eat fully a personal choice?

• Marketing is increasing the cost to the government through healthcare costs (and individuals, via tax dollars)

Global Movement of Sugar Cane

• Origins of SE Asia

• Domesticated in Papua NG around 8000 BC

• Spread Eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans carried by seafarers

• India refined it around 2500 years ago

• Reached Mediterranean in 13th C

• Subtropical plant (wet, humid native regions)

• Early sugar

  • Medieval times- considered exotic spice

  • Medicinal glaze

  • Sweetener for elites- refined sugar was a luxury good

White gold mined w/ black bodies

• Pre-industrialization, harvesting sugar required backbreaking and dangerous labor

• Takes 14-18 months for sugarcane to mature- entire crops mature together and will spoil quickly once maturity is reached

• Once cut, must be ground by hand w/in 24-48 hrs or will rot

• Sugar crystals created via boiling, requiring large amounts of heat, harvesting forests, chopping wood

• Slaves exploited to supply growing demand- sugar slaves life expectancy shorter than cotton slaves, often would “drop dead” after 7 years

Triangle Trade (1501-1867)

• Approx 12,570,000 slaves shipped from Africa to Americas (survivors)

• Estimated 1-2 slaves died and thrown overboard for every slave that reached Americas (terrible human sacrifice to turn luxury good into staple)

• 1720s- 1 of every 2 ships in city’s port carried sugar, sugar products, or enslaved people

• Estimated value of enslaved people represented tens of millions of dollars

• LA led nation in destroying black lives in name of economic efficiency

Atrocities of sugar

• Child labor

• Hot sugar syrup- 3rd degree burns

• Sugar roller grinding- missing limbs/fingers/sepsis

• Continual slave trade needed due to death rates exceeding births

• Modernization found new ways to extract additional wealth from slaves

American independence thanks to sugar

• UK and Euopean nations- more than 3900 sugar plantations around Caribbean- 60% UK’s trade was on plantations or supporting them (rum!)

• UK, FRA, SPA, NED continually at war

• British colonies declared ind. in 1776- Carib sugar industry was more important component of British economy- represented lifeline

• UK had to maintain strong force in Carib during Rev War- likely aided northern colonists in winning- crush unruly teenagers or protect economic livelihood

• Shows how food systems shape geopolitical boundaries

Global sugar production

• 110 countries produce

• Sugar trading hit record level in 2021- 63 million tons, expected to decrease marginally due to artificial sugars

• Sugar used as livestock feed, fiber, energy (biofuel), or electricity generation(bagasse)

• 2 crops: sugar cane- tropical crop (80%), sugar beets- cooler weather crop (20%)

• Top exporters: Brazil (18%), India (17%), EU (11%), China (6%), Thailand (5%), Russia (5%), US (5%)

US Sugar Production

• Dominos produces 120 4-lb bags of sugar every minute of every day (in season)- 8 lbs/second, 9 million tons annually

• Ranked 7th globally- net importer of sugar

• 4 billion in annual subsidies- price supports, guaranteed crop loans, tariffs, imported sugar regulation

• Average citizen eats 77.1 lbs of sugar/year

  • Twice the max. limits of nutritionists

  • High sugary diets are linked to diabetes, obesity, and cancer YET gov’t keeps subsidizing sugar production, leading to an increase in healthcare costs they complain about having to pay for

Sugar and public health

• After industrial revolution, became a necessity for middle class families b/c source of cheap energy

  • Carbs= highest energy source out of macromolecules

  • When we have too much, we need to store it —> obesity

• Responsible for approx. 20% of caloric content of modern diet- largely sugary drinks

• Central to world’s economy

Sugar and rise of dentistry

• Archaeological examination of teeth from ancient burial sites- no deterioration in dental condition/no cavities

• Dental problems initially wealthy problem- stoic royalty

• Cavities= most common non-communicable disease globally AND expensive- 5-10% industrialized nation health care budget spent on treating cavities

Addicting the public to sugar- the Bliss Point

• Hyper-palatability- triggering of pleasure centers in brain causes you to crave more, affects hunger hormones- stimulating you to eat more

• The Bliss Point= optimal ratio of sugar (fat or salt) that stimulates the reward center of brain

Zero calorie sweeteners

• FDA initially rejected in 1980, Hayes broke deadlock but wasn’t in his power to do so, forced out of FDA and got job at General Foods (creator of Aspartame)

• Today- difficult to recall granted approval-

  • aspartame toxicity

  • reports of migraine

  • linked w/ dementia + mental decline

  • increased levels of obesity (training brain to disassociate slowing down eating because you’re used to zero calories/no limits)

  • Considered carcinogen

  • Illegal in Europe

Agricultural Labor Today

• 2 billion people work in food systems

• 50% of global workforce directly work in agriculture

• Poverty for small-medium scale farmers is incredibly high

  • Farmers make up 50-75% of those earning less than $2/day

  • 30% US farmers below national poverty line- make millions in profits for agribusiness, but can’t afford same food they labor to produce

• In US, 10.3% of labor in ag. and food industry, but only 1.4% of total labor is in farming

• Federal labor laws exclude protections for farm labors- no right for collective bargaining or overtime, less safety protections

Dangers for farm laborers

• Repetitive motions

• bent over many hours

• heavy lifting

• hot weather- heat stroke, only CA and WA require shade and water access

• Inadequate water

• Infrequent breaks, punishment for taking them because workers paid by piece

• Heightened exposure to pesticides- birth defects

• CAFOs- gas exposures, drowning, antibiotic resistance, exposure to skin infections

Social Sustainability and Labor

• Social Sustainability= inclusive, just, and resilient societies where citizens have voice and governments listen and respond

  • Fights persistent inequality and racial discrimination

  • Fosters public empowerment, poverty reduction, economic growth, environmental sustainability

• Trafficking and modern slavery: involuntary servitude, peonage (employer compels worker to pay off debt through labor), debt bondage, exploitation, poor wages & wage theft

Human trafficking and modern slavery- involuntary servitude

• Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of threat/use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, etc. for purpose of exploitation

• 2020:

  • 108,613 documented cases across 164 countries

  • 50% cases under 18 yr olds

  • Majority (79%) sex trafficking

  • Forced labor in food systems= 18% (may be misrepresented)

  • Global market is $150 billion, in US- $32 billion

  • Approx $9 billion is in trafficking for farm laborers

  • Fastes growing “business” for mafias and criminal enterprises

Land Theft- Peonage & Debt Bondage

• Land investments- purchasing land often to meet global demands for ag products

• Often described as land theft/grabbing due to negative impacts

  • Lack of transparency

  • Communal land sold (no consultation w/ local land users)

  • Violation of human rights (subsistence farmers displaced)

  • Peonage

  • Debt bondage (coercion converting private subsistence land to crops for export)

  • Indentured servitude

Farm laborers’ protection in US Ag

• Major protective laws generally protect less than 2% of ag. workforce

  • Year-round food and farm industries like dairy and poultry processing plants are not eligible for H-2A workers, and many have come to rely on undocumented labor

  • Developed illegal/questionable strategies to recruit vulnerable foreign workers

• Migrant and Seasonal Ag. Worker Protection Act (MSAWPA)

• H-2A program

  • Farm lobbies see how it helps negate the nationwide farm labor crisis due to restrictive immigration policy

  • However, farmers are against proposals to create “path to citizenship” for immigrants currently living illegally in US

    • Farm lobby is worried once we legalize immigrants, they won’t want to work on farms anymore

  • Increasing wages would be required to attract workers + increase food costs or cut into profits

  • Farm lobby official position= mandatory farm labor

H-2A Protections

• Receive the wage promised in your contract

• Receive the housing provided by your employer at no charge to you

• Receive 3 meals each day, or a place to prepare meals

• Employer must reimburse you for transportation costs when you complete half the season

• If you have been given H-2A visa to work in US, you must be paid for at least 75% of season, even if you don’t work entire season

Traditional Intensive Monoculture

• Monoculture= single crop on large tract of land

• Ploughing= homogenizing & breaking up top layer of soil prior to planting

  • High-input, energy-intensive, soil and biodiversity depleting

  • Requires high fertilizer inputs and pesticide use

  • Supports mechanization

• Benefits= low labor, high-yield form of agriculture practice

Conservation Agriculture Practices

• Polyculture= growing multiple crops on same plot of land

• No-till (no ploughing): decreasing erosion & compaction, promotes soil formation, improves water retention, biodiversity increasing

• Crop rotation: increase resistance against pests and disease, increase soil quality, can improve total yields per area by taking advantage of symbiotic relationships

• Residue retention: increase in amount of water available to plants through increased infiltration, reduced runoff, and reduced evaporation

Regenerative ag

• Soil is greatest asset- ?= can they maintain soil for productivity

• Land Management Approach= notion of ‘success’ going beyond yield and farm size

  • Considers ag as a web rather than linear supply chain

  • Incorporations scientific principles of interactions, matter cycles, trophic levels, etc. to manage long-term sustainability

  • Takes into account ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, water recharge, evolutionary relationships

  • System of farming and grazing practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services

  • Not one size fits all- constant monitoring, thinking in large, food-web scales, can we make this ecosystem work so every species gets what it needs

Economic Sustainability of Regenerative Agriculture

• Can bring higher yields, but requires monitoring and willingness to use holistic approach

• Lower costs in: machinery purchase and maintenance, fossil fuels, pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizer costs, antibiotic costs (for livestock)

• Greater financial security from diversified revenue streams

• Personal and regional economic benefits

• Increased resiliency in face of climate change and severe weather

Social Sustainability of Regenerative Agriculture

• Many regen. farmers have deep appreciation of social and historical contexts in which they operate

  • Acknowledge unjust policies that have shaped ag.

  • Provide on-farm staff w/ fair wages and seat at decision-making table

• Facilitate local employment

• Networks of growers who exchange information

• Farmers/farmers markets build stronger relationships between consumers and their food- make people feel responsible for where food is coming from

• Mental health benefits- many regen. farmers and ranchers report satisfaction in their profession

• Physical health benefits- health of farmers, farmworkers, and downstream communities all benefit from reduced exposure to harmful chemicals

Environmental Sustainability of Regenerative Agriculture

• Increased biodiversity- reduced need for pesticides and other chemical inputs

• Support pollinators

• Improvements in soil health- improves water retention, reduced soil erosion, greater carbon sequestration, better carbon cycling

• Reduced chemical inputs and thus reduced water pollution

• Increased resiliency- less damage from severe weather

• Long term- increased yields

Basic Tenants of Regen. Ag.

• Understand context w/ ecosystem approach, investing in externalities

• Protect SOIL and soil microbiota- cover soil and maintain living roots year round

• Practice crop diversity- invest in diversity

• Reduced inputs

• integrate livestock

Ecosystem Approach and Investing in Externalities

• Ecosystem approach= utilize diversity of crops and livestock to mimic natural cycles

• Invest in Ext:

  • Fight climate change- reduce carbon emissions and increase carbon sequestering practices

  • Promote and maintain biodiversity- species biodiversity increases beneficial interactions

    • Conservation buffers can act as windbreaks and habitat biodiversity

  • Protect water ways: riparian buffers minimize water pollution and mitigate flooding

Minimize soil disturbance and protect soil microbiota:

• No-till farming= no plowing or limiting mechanical disturbance, crop residue remains on soil surface to decompose naturally

  • Long-term soil health improvement- increased organic matter and water holding compacity

  • Increased beneficial soil microbes

  • Better water quality b/c decreased sediment run off

  • Less carbon dioxide released from soil

  • Less soil erosion

  • Reduced consumption of fossil fuels

Soil Biota to Improve Yield, Drought, Pest Resistance, and N&C sequestration

• AMF (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) provide plant w/ nutrients and water AND confer drought stress resistance and pest resistance

• Rhizobium bacteria live in mutualistic relationship w/ many species of legumes

• Nitrogen and carbon fixation via soil biota can reduce synthetic N fertilization, increase crop yield

Cover the soil & maintain living roots year-round

• Cover cropping- maintain living roots= practice of planting crops in soil that would normally otherwise be bare after cash crop grown and harvested

  • Reduces soil erosion

  • Increase soil health

  • Increase water retention

  • Increase biodiversity

  • Weed control

Plant Root Engineering for CO2 Sequestration

• Deeper roots matter to mitigate climate change- hold onto more soil, hold more water, decrease nutrient leaching, increase drought-resistance, increase carbon sequestration in soil

Practice/Invest in crop diversity

• Crop rotation= planting different crops sequentially on same land plot- improves soil health, optimize nutrients in soil, combats insect pests and weed pressure

• Intercropping= practicing growing two or more crops in proximity

• Agroforestry= indigenous practice wherein growers mimix forest systems by integrating trees and shrubs into crop and animal systems

• 4 year crop rotation: legumes (add nitrogen) —> greens/brassicas (require ample nitrogen) —> fruiting veg (need ample phosphorous and some nitrogen) —> root veggies (light feeders, like more potassium and phosphorus than nitrogen)

Pesticides

• Pesticides= any form of chemical control of unwanted biological agents- rodents, insects, weeds, pathogens (herbicide most common)

• Global consumption increasing b/c up to 40% of global crop production lost to plant pests and diseases, insects alone cost at least $70 billion in crop losses annually

• Pesticides drawbacks

  • Affects food chains

  • Unintended species affected

  • Do not stay in place of application

    • Resides run off, contaminating drinking warer

    • Residues left on food for consumption- adversely affecting human health —> 385 million cases of PESTICIDE POISONING occur worldwide every year

  • Increases global energy consumption

  • Increases carbon emissions

  • Cost and ineffectiveness of many pesticides causing search for alternatives

Monopolization of Pesticide Production

• 4 corporations from Global North control 70% of global market

• They’re expanding business to Global South, where pesticides are less strictly regulated

• Pesticides that aren’t permitted in Europe for ecological or health reasons are still produced here and exported to other countries

Other Approaches other than pesticides

• Beneficial insects= natural enemies of pests and creating beneficial environments for them can help reduce the use of pesticides

• Integrated Pest Management- IPM

• Biopesticides

• Regulation- In US, 3 agencies involved

  • EPA- sets allowable tolerances for residues

  • FDA- monitors tolerances on foods

  • USDA- monitors tolerances on meat, poultry, and eggs

• Stockholm convention (2004)

  • Panned 9/12 most dangerous chemicals

  • 178 countries and the EU- but NOT the US

• US and EU export thousands of tons of pesticides/yr

  • Many have been banned

  • Developing nations now exposed to toxins

  • US/EU can import foods from these countries

  • EU working on global export bans

Integrated Livestock

• Ecosystem approach includes having benefits of consumers and producers both present and participating in system

• Goals= crop residue grazing, cover crop grazing, manure/compost inputs instead of synthetic fertilizer, soil aeration, increasing biodiversity

• Presence of all trophic levels necessary for a healthy food system

Trophic Levels- how we lose energy

• Monocultures and traditional ag focus on one specific level of trophic system to produce the most product

  • Producers- if the major product is a plant

  • Consumers (mostly herbivores)- if product is an animal pruct

• This is why animal products are more costly environmentally

• This focus on only one portion of pyramid can unbalance matter and element cycles

Grazing Techniques

• Holistically managed grazing AKA intensive rotational grazing= mimics the interactions of large animals moving as herds across grasslands

• Improves soil fertility by maintaining natural matter cycles —> nitrogen via excretion and manure inputs

• Allow pasture grasses time to regrow between grazing periods —> increases carbon sequestration

Barriers to Regen Ag

• Requires education and understanding of system

• Obsession w/ animal products —> can’t make switch and produce same amounts of dairy and meat

• Monetary- short-term investment costs, benefits take time to accumulate

• Difficult to apply on large scales- must incentivize or force break up of large monocultures

• Farmers tend to be older —> would have to recruit younger workforce

Circular Economy

• Aims to eliminate waste by creating a closed-loop system mimicking natural regeneration

Global phosphorus supply and scarcity

• Phosphorus= second most important of main 3 plant nutrients (first=nitrogen, third=potassium)- any bag of fertilizer has NPK % on side

• US, Morocco, and China own 80% of Phosphorus

  • Rock phosphate—> you mine in big cave/hole in ground

  • Problem= supply problem

  • During 2008 housing crisis and petroleum/food price crisis due to bank loans —> phosphorus prices shot up —> China saw price of food go up and thought it should keep phosphorus to Chinese farmers

  • Unlike Nitrogen, phosphorus is finite —> non-renewable

  • After you eat it, ends up in bones

Options to combat scarcity

• P-use efficiency: hard to coordinate- no global governing body, is it ok for developing countries to have to rely on rich countries using less resources?

• Recycle P: sewer sludge in developed countries (likely runoff from ag. fields), microalgae to recover P from rice mill wastewater, recover naturally occurring P in animal bones***

Converting animal bones to p-fertilizer- why rural Ethiopia?

• Largest collective herd of livestock in Africa

• Calculations suggest annual bone supply in Ethiopia would offset 28-40% of annual P imports

• Challenged by high fertilizer prices and food security concerns

• No competing use for animal bones

  • Don’t have tech. to render bones into chicken feed

  • Circular economy —> take this waste for another good

Jimma, Ethiopia

• Partnered w/ Jimma University

• Focused on low-tech, locally available technologies whenever possible

• Locally manufactured barrel-kiln to pyrolyze bones and remove risk of animal borne disease and concentrated P

  • Find bones

  • Locally constructed Pyrolysis chambers

  • Construction and firing the kiln

  • Bone char and fine grinding

  • Making pellets

  • Final product- withstood battery of post-production strength tests

  • Independent Lab Chemical Analysis —> ~30% phosphate in pellets

Conclusion

• P-Fertilizer from animal bones= possible

  • Produced bone char fertilizer from bones in Jimma, Ethiopia

  • Bone char fertilizer is 31.5% phosphate vs. 46% for TSP (triple super phosphate imported)

  • Bone char fertilizer more bulky, but same nutrient content

• Cost comparisons:

  • Using costs faced in field, and assumptions where necessary

  • Local TSP equivalent costs 16-39% less than imported TSP

  • DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) equivalent costs 5-24% less than imported DAP

• Acceptance:

  • Collecting raw inputs could be an entrepreneurial opportunity for the poor

  • Small WTP study- about 150 farmers outside of Jimma showed no price bid differences between imported P and locally sourced P

Top Grains

1. Corn (1207 million metric tons)

2. Wheat

3. Rice

4. Barley (beer)

5. Sorghum

6. Oats

7. Rye

Why corn most produced grain/cereal?

• Subsidized

• Easy to grow

• Versatile

Natural History of Corn

• Teosinte- comes from Nahuatl Indians, interpreted to mean “grain of gods”

• Originally grass found in SW Mexico

• Hard seed encasing, not easily edible to humans (need lots of processing)

• Domesticated 7000-9000 years ago

• Cultivated in Mexico and SW US for at least last 3000 years

• Skepticism over Teosinte being precursor- plants very different

  • Tesosinte- many stalks, hard to digest, transported by animals’ excretion

  • Corn- one stalk, easy to digest, people expand global reach since maize just drops ear where it is

  • 1970s- agronomy suggests only 5 genetic differences

  • 1990s- genetic confirmation

Sweet corn vs. field corn

• Sweet corn= what we eat

• Almost all corn produced in US is field corn (yellow #2)

  • Taller, thicker, sturdier

  • Intended for livestock feed, processed foods

  • Commoditized: it must fit special conditions like specific moisture content, weight, density, etc.

  • Commoditization also means farmers grow it + only care about quantity, as there’s no premium for quality/service

  • With commodity, it becomes a race to least common denominator —> financial system set up to push farmers to grow as much as they can at lowest cost, w/out concern for much else

    • Sweet corn vs. field corn= differentiated good vs. commodity

    • Is there an incentive to grow more eco-friendly —> no —> only way to differentiate product is by weight —> produce greatest amount for least possible cost

Corn’s growth trajectory

• In 1800s, corn mostly eaten by poor- cheap, prolific, consumed by farmers and prisoners

• Industrial Rev:

  • Iron plow allowed MW farmers to sow deep into soil on much larger scales

  • Rise of trains/rail infrastructure allows corn to move beyond local markets

  • 1920s-30s, scientists bred hybrid maize strains that could be grown closer together —> much more corn on same amount of land (today ~35,000 plants/acre)

  • 1910s- Haber-Bosch process led to more commercial nitrogen fertilizers

  • Roughly 7x increase in yields in US over last 100 yrs

    • Mechanization (tractors) also led to increases in output

    • Borlaug said tractors saved him from life of farm labor

What do we do with all this corn?

• 38%- feed and residual for livestock

• 29%- ethanol (fuel)

• 16%- exports

• 9.7%- other (what we eat)

  • HFCS

  • Glucose and dextrose (sugars)

  • Starch

  • Cereal

  • Beverage & industrial alcohol

  • Seed

• 7%- Ethanol extraction leftovers goes into animal feed

Farm subsidies (helping corn industry grow)

• Long history of US farm subsidies (mostly to corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice) —> dating back as far as 1862 w/ land grants for agricultural colleges —> in 1860s, US said we wanted to support ag. and funded 1 tax-free university per state in exchange for ag. service and sharing info w/ state farmers

• 5 states receiving most subsidies= Iowa, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota

• Roughly $240.5 billion in subsidies distributed between 1995 and 2020

8 types of subsidies (Farm Bill)

1. Crop Insurance- largest subsidy, US gov’t pays roughly 62% of premiums of insurance ($8B/yr over last five years)

• Compensated if crop fails

• Problem w/ gov’t paying 62% —> since you’re guaranteed 62% of your crop, creates a moral hazard problem- if you know you’re covered, you have incentive to pull in land that may not be highest quality, but you don’t care b/c inexpensive insurance

2. Ag. Risk Coverage- guarantees farmers a certain revenue per acre ($3.7B in 2017)

• Problem= have incentive to bring in land that shouldn’t be used for this, since you’re guaranteed specific revenue per acre

3. Price Loss Coverage- guarantee for specific crop prices ($3.2B in 2017)

• Still compensated if demand drops and price must also drop

• If huge supply, there is a guaranteed minimum price for you to sell at

4. Conservation Programs- pay farmers to improve lands or hold land out of production (up to $5B/yr)

5. Marketing Loans ($160M/yr)

6. Disaster Aid ($1.9B/yr)

7. Marketing and Export Promotion ($300M/yr)

8. Research and other support ($3B/yr to run USDA)

Why do other 45 states vote to pass this when 5 states w/ relatively low populations reap benefits

• Omnibus Bill- mashes together kind of unrelated things into one bill (Farm Bill) that benefits all, so if you pass it, you’re benefiting even if other things are benefiting too

Clever Politics to Perpetuate farm subsidies

• Farm Bill renewed every 5-6 yrs

• 5 states get 38.2% of total: Iowa, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota

• SNAP and food stamps included as part of Farm Bill- politically, this means urban legislators WILL support it (first included in 1973, nutrition/SNAP estimated at 84% of budget)

• Food aid for international relief programs, also called Food for Peace included- legislators interested in humanitarian aid will thus support the bill (first included in 1954)

• Funding for conservation efforts also included- conservation-focused legislators will support (first included 1985)

Who benefits from subsidies

• Subsidies redistribute wealth upwards- biggest companies get most of subsidies- recently found more than 60% of subsidies went to largest 10% of farms

• Market distortions- farmers putting marginal land in production b/c insurance rates so heavily subsidized

Subsidies and trade-war

• Early 2018- Trump slaps tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, angering China, who retaliate by slapping tariffs on 1000s of agricultural products like pork, soybeans, dairy, nuts

• Trump admin. increases subsidies to “farmers”- but those benefitting are wealthy farms/people claiming to be farm manager, rather than actual farmers

Structural Transformation Process

• Labor moves away from ag. and into cities/service industries

• Strong inverse relationship —> the wealthier you get, the more you can trade labor for tech

Vertical Integration and Consolidation

• Vertical Integration= combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies (one company controls diff. stages along supply chain)

  • Private label products at grocery stores often vertically integrated —> meaning store owns every step from farm to retail sale of final good

  • Chains like Kroger, Albertson’s, Meijer vertically integrate dairy supply chain- milk, cheese, butter, ice cream commonly sold under private label brands

  • How does Costco make rotisserie chickens so inexpensive? vertically integrate ($400M investment in poultry production facility in Nebraska in 2019, own everything from hatchery to processing)

• Consolidation= merger and acquisition of many smaller companies into a few much larger ones

  • Farm size- large farms are consolidating cropland across the country

  • Meat production- 4 largest corporations now produce 85% beef, 65% pork, 51% poultry (risk of oligopoly)

  • Seeds and pesticides

  • Farm machinery

Pros vs. Cons

• Benefits=

  • cheaper for consumer

  • more consistent quality

• Negatives=

  • monopolization makes it hard for small farms to stay open

  • marketers misleadingly make products look like they’re from family farms

  • small farmers must pay monopoly prices for seed, fertilizers, feed

  • “big 4” companies not necessarily in every state/area

  • meaning it could be one company holding all power

  • Right to repair- all tractor companies have est. that farmer not allowed to try to fix tractor themselves

Larger entities getting largest share of subsidies

• Food/Beverage: Nestle, PepsiCo, Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Mondelez International, Archer-Daniels, Diagero, Kweichow, Tyson Foods, Danone, Cargill would be in top 100 if privately help companies included

• Machinery companies: John Deere, Caterpillar

• Chemical/fertilizer/seed: Bayer, BASF, Monsanto

Health impacts- why does salad cost more than Big Mac

• Embedded subsidies make market get prices wrong

  • If we have a bunch of corn, we use it- ethanol for cars, food for animals (cows eat grass naturally, not corn), sweetener (HFCS= cheapest way to sweeten something), packaged foods/starch

  • Meats made less expensive than should be —> would be good if we were not eating more than recommended amounts

    • If overconsumption of red meat is bad for our health, does this put undue strain on health system? Implications if our tax dollars go into this system?

    • Fast food hamburger meat is chemically 93% corn (C13 isotope)

Describe yellow corn #2 in terms of tech. treadmill

• Producer of a commodity can only compete on quantity

• Incentivized to produce MORE

• Must adopt new technologies to keep income stable

• High supply benefits consumers due to resulting cheap prices

Farm Bill Debate 23/24/25 and Beyond

• 2018- Farm Bill signed into law in Dec., w/ expiration date of Sep 30, 2023 —> needs renewal for another 5 yr cycle

• On Nov 16, 2023, Congress passed and Biden signed one yr extension of 2018 bill until Sep 30 2024

• Neither party wanted to deal w/ it in election year, so it’s now expired again

• Temporary extension signed again by Biden in one of last acts as President (dec 2024), so technically extended until Sep 2026, BUT current administration fighting to not fund SNAP

Palm Oil- the plant

• Pericarp= where palm oil is extracted

• Endosperm= where palm kernel oil is extracted

• Fruit- produced in bunches

• Tree life span= 25-30 years

• Fruit surrounds kernel, which is enclosed in very hard shell —> both flesh fruit and nut have high amounts of oil and are extracted and processed separately

  • Palm Oil: 17-27% extraction rate, unrefined is reddish in color due to high beta-carotene, approx. 49% saturated fat content

  • Pal Kernel Oil: 4-10% extraction rate, does not contain beta carotene, approx 81% saturated fats

• Refining palm oil & palm kernel oil

  • RBD —> refining, bleached, & deodorized —> removes beta-carotenoids, often increased saturated fat levels

  • Must be processed w/in 2 days, or fruit will go rancid —> must be able to do an initial process in this time frame

Global movement of oil palm plant

• Originated in W. Africa- early palm oil used as far back as 5000 years ago, widely as cooking oil, highly sought after as lubricant during Britain’s Industrial Rev, in 1870s, became primary export in W Africa

• Started as ornamental in Indonesia and Malaysia

• Malaysia started palm oil as secondary crop to rubber in 1960s

• Late 1980s- early 1990s- shift in palm oil demands —> palm oil became global juggernaut

• Today, SE Asia= main supplier of palm oil- producing 85% of world’s palm oil —> palm oil produced all over world

Global Palm Oil Production

• ~43 countries produce —> top 2= Indonesia (59%), Malaysia (25%), followed by Thailand in 3rd w/ 3%

• Production: In 1970, 2 million tons; in 2022, 79 million tons —> expected to increase

• Uses (versatile product):

  • Foods: over 2/3 (68%) used in foods ranging from margarine to chocolate, pizzas, breads, cooking oils —> 50% processed/packaged foods contain palm oil

  • Industrial applications: 27% used in industrial applications and consumer products such as soaps, detergents, cosmetics, cleaning agents

  • Bioenergy: 5% used as biofuels for transport, electricity, or heat

Palm Oil and Environmental Sustainability- Ecosystem Biodiversity Loss

• Only grows in tropical regions/rainforests —> increasing demands —> expanding production —> MASSIVE DEFORESTATION

• Leading crop for deforestation in Southern Asia

• Contributor to climate change

  • Conversion of peat lands to agriculture releases massive amounts of CO2

  • Peat= result of years and years of organic matter being pushed down and condensed underground, transition stage before organic matter becomes petroleum

  • Burning peat lands undoes one of nature’s ca

Palm Oil and species biodiversity loss

• Species diversity is NOT equally distributed globally —> hot spots= areas w/ higher proportion of globe’s diversity than would be expected for its size

  • 1.5% of terrestrial surface, greater than 40% of all species

  • Endemic species= species that only live in one area

  • Contain high numbers of threatened and endangered species

  • Produce large portions of world’s oxygen (20% from Amazon alone)

• Rainforests are hot spots —> also are habitat for palm oil

  • 2/3 of all species live in rainforests

    • 80% of all insects

  • Deforestation rates of 2000 trees/minute

    • Estimates loss of 137 plant/animal species everyday due to rainforest deforestation- many of which wre never identified

• Two horned/Sumatra Rhino —> only about 80 left b/c pushed out of palm oil habitat

• Last orangutans- Borneo= only known habitat for orangutans, over 50,000 orangutan deaths directly attributed to palm oil production, will be extinct in 10 yrs if deforestation for palm oil continues (loss of habitat- burning/transformation to palm oil, malnutrition, poaching/killing)

Palm Oil and genetic biodiversity loss

• Palm oil= monoculture w/ little genetic diversity

• Little known about this factor in env. sus. of palm oil BUT for other species: vast reduction in species populations has reduce genetic diversity of species, making conservation efforts difficult

Externalities- Palm Oil + Climate Change

• Burning of peat lands & rainforests releases massive amounts of sequestered carbon into atmosphere

• Peat lands= only terrestrial systems that store more carbon than they source

• Burning of peatlands amounts to 2.5 times the carbon emissions of burning rainforests

• Peatlands cover approx. 3% of earth’s landmass, but hold around 25% of global carbon stock

• Worldwide peatlands hold about twice as much carbon as world’s forests

• Burning creates horrible public health problems