Agriculture and Agroecology Module 1

These vocabulary flashcards cover the main tenets of conventional agriculture, the Haber-Bosch process, ecological levels of organization, and the differences between natural and managed agroecosystems.

Conventional Agriculture

The cultivation of plants, animals, and fungi to maximize production and profit typically relies on many layers of external inputs (Fossil fuels, machinery)

Monoculture

The practice of growing only one crop at a time (usually on a large area).

Intensive Tillage

The cultivation or turning of soil

Hardpan

A layer of soil compaction that can result as a negative consequence of intensive tillage.

OR

A physically hardened area in the soil that is very difficult for water and roots to penetrate

Synthetic Fertilizer

Nutrients added to plants that are not natural in origin, such as phosphorus and potassium (mined) or nitrogen (synthesized).

Haber-Bosch Process

An industrial process developed in 1909 that uses energy, heat, and pressure to synthesize nitrogen from nitrogen gas to create agricultural fertilizers.

Irrigation

The application of surface or groundwater to agricultural land

it is used on $20\%$ of ag land but produces $40\%$ of the global food supply.

Issues with irrigation in agriculture and possible solutions

Water use is outstripping supply

solutions:

Irrigate lands that receive high rainfall

•Grow water-needy crops in arid regions

• Inefficient methods

• Inefficient methods •Subsidies

Advantages of chemical pest control

Faster at reducing pest population

More effective than other control strategies

Disadvantages of chemical pest control

• Non-selective

• Resistance

• Costly

• Toxic

• Off-target effects

Genetic Engineering

Technological advances that expedite the breeding process and allow for precise trait selection in crops.

What are the pros of genetic engineering

•Expedite the process

•Precise trait selection

• Incredible potential

What are the pros of genetic engineering

• Can require intensive inputs

• Less diversity

• Implications of transgenics

• Reliance on large corporations

CAFO stands for

An acronym for Concentrated Animal Feed Operations, also referred to as "Factory Farming."

Pros and Cons of Farming factory/CAFO

PROS:

•Maximize profit, lower cost, high production

CONS:

•Antibiotics

•Processed, low-quality feed

•Environmental impacts

•Cruel, inhumane

Ecology

The study of interactions among organisms and their environment.

Biotic components

The biological or living parts of an environment, such as animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria.

Abiotic components

The physical or nonliving parts of an environment, including energy, water, climate, and chemicals.

Levels of organization

1. Individual

2. Population

3. community

4. Ecosystem

5. Biosphere

Define an individual (as a level of organization)

This is the base-level organization, also known as Autecology

-Deals with how organisms can adapt to their environments

Define a Population

A group of individuals of the same species that interact and are separated by geographic barriers.

-Single species

Define a Community

A collection of many populations of different species interacting in the same place without defined boundaries.

-There are lots of movements

Define an Ecosystem

A level of organization that encompasses communities plus their abiotic components (communities + abiotic factors)

What does it mean that the ecosystem boundary is arbitrary?

It is influenced by the environment around it

Types of ecosystems

•Aquatic

•Forest

•Urban

•Desert

•Grasslands

•Agroecosystems

Agroecosystem

An ecosystem managed by humans for agricultural purposes, such as an orchard, greenhouse, or conventional farm.

Types of agroecosystems

•Conventional

•Grasslands

•Subsistence

•Complex tropical

•Orchards

•Forests

•Home Gardens

•Greenhouses

•Urban lawns

Differences between Agroecosystems and Natural Systems

In Ag systems

•Energy: huge inputs and outputs; open system, while in natural systems it's closed, and energy is recycled

•Nutrients notrecycled (harvest leaching not recycled (harvest, leaching, erosion))

•Population regulation: unable to self-reproduce or regulate; human-dependent, while natural systems self-regulate

•Stability-less resilient; harvest and cultivation reset succession

Stability

The resilience of a system; it is high in natural systems but low in agricultural systems because harvest and cultivation reset succession.

Habitat heterogeneity

The variety or complexity of habitats within a system, which is complex in natural systems and simple in agricultural systems.

Trophic interactions

The feeding relationships between organisms, which are complex in natural systems and simple in agricultural systems.

Main tenets of conventional agriculture

• Monoculture

• Intensive tillage

•Synthetic fertilizer

• Irrigation

•Chemical pest control

•Genetic Engineering

•“Factory Farming” or Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs)

Advantages/Positives of intensive tillage

•Loosen soil

•Easy to sow seed

•Control weeds

•Better drainage

•Fast growth •Aeration

Disadvantages/Negatives of intensive tillage

•Degrades soil quality

• Degrades structure (Compaction(hardpan)

• Decreases organic matter

• Increases erosion

•Off-target effects

Pros and Cons of Monoculture

Pros: Efficiency, economies of scale.

Cons:

•Reliance on external inputs

•Pest infestations

•Risk of specialization

• Loss of biodiversity