unit 2 - food production

where does your food come from?

farm → food processor → distributor → seller (grocery store, restaurant) → consumer

organic farming

Organic farmers aim to grow crops and raise livestock in ways that are sustainable and harmonious with the environment and share many practices with non-organic farmers.

soil management

Over the years, much of our precious topsoil eroded into ditches and waterways. Today, farmers are working hard to improve the land

horticulture

• Horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants.

• Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. Over 120 different fruit and vegetable crops are commercially grown in Canada.

aqua culture

• Farming can also take place in tanks, ponds, lakes and ocean.

• Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms in fresh or salt water.

water management

Protecting water is essential for sustainable agriculture – meeting the growing demand for food production while protecting the natural resources on which the world depends.

raising farm animals

Farmers raise beef cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, bison, goats, deer and elk. Farmers and ranchers refer to their farm animals as livestock.

animal breeding

Just like dogs, there are purebreds and cross-breeds. And just like some dog owners choose different breeds for different reasons, farmers also choose different breeds of farm animals for different reasons.

Sustainability

means using resources at a rate at which the earth can keep replacing them (e.g., cutting down trees at a rate no faster than new ones grow). In a sustainable economy, resources do not deplete and pollution does not accumulate.

heavy metals

• lead

• mercury

• cadmium

• selenium

• arsenic

lead

displaces minerals, causing function failure of kidneys, liver, nervous system, bone marrow

cadmium

causes slow developing, irreversible damage to liver and kidneys

arsenic

used as a medication of animals. can also be found in lower quantities in fish, eggs, milk, rice, and drinking water

mercury

• A naturally occurring element in soils, rocks, lakes, streams and oceans

• Pulp and paper processing, mining operations, and burning of garbage and fossil fuels can also release mercury into the environment

• High amounts of mercury can damage the nervous system of people and animals

• Mercury tends to accumulate in the food chain so that predatory species have higher levels. This is called bioaccumulation.

fish heavily contaminated with mercury

• Shark

• Swordfish

• King mackerel

• Fresh tuna steak (Albacore)

• Tilefish

fish/seafood lower in mercury

• Shrimp

• Canned light tuna (canned albacore ("white") tuna contains more mercury than light tuna)

• Salmon

• Pollock

• Catfish

methyl mercury

ingested by a pregnant woman can be passed from the maternal blood to the developing fetus by crossing the placental barrier. It can accumulate in the unborn baby's blood at concentrations higher than the concentration in the mother. Mercury can also be transferred through breast milk to a nursing infant.

polychlorinated biphenyls

• group of at least 50 widely used compounds containing chlorine that can accumulate in food chain causing a variety of harmful effects (fatigue, eye irritation, retardation in children, when exposed prenatally)

herbicide

protects against weed

fungicide

protects against fungus

insecticide

protects against insects

organic farming

• farming without the use of certain pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics growth hormones, and genetically modified organisms.

• emphasizes farming practices that promote sustainability, such as crop rotation, covering crops (to prevent soil erosion), using renewable resources, enhancing biological diversity, the use of compost (animal and plant) to improve soil fertility and balancing host / predator relationships. Producers may not claim products are organic if they have been irradiated, genetically engineered, or grown with certain fertilizers.

4 general principles of organic productions

1. Health: “Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plants, animals, humans and the planet as one and indivisible”

2. Ecology: “Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them”

3. Fairness: “Organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities”

4. Care: “Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment”

labelling organic food

• 95% or more organic gets organic label

• 70-95% can classify some ingredients as organic, can’t use logo

goal of cross breeding is to create within a perfect variety. that can mean crops that

• Yield high (grow better/ more) using minimum resources of water, and space

• Better nutritional and/sensory qualities

• Better disease resistant

• More drought tolerant

• More extreme temperature tolerance and so on

beta-carotene gene from plants into rice

vitamin A

enviropig

inserted genes from a strain of bacteria e.coli into a pigs fetus. produce phytase in saliva, can break down phosphorus

bt corn

transgenic organism that has gene from a bacterium (bacillus thuringiensis) inserted into corn. now corn can produce a protein that kills specific types of insects

Monsanto company produces a herbicide called round-up

produces crop varieties that are genetically engineered to not get killed by round-up such varieties are called roundup ready varieties. the idea is to grow roundup ready varieties of crops such as corn and then spray roundup all over the field to kill all vegetations except the roundup ready corn

suicide seeds

genetically modified to only germinate one generation and the seeds produced from such crop are infertile and can’t be used for next season