Chapter 12: Food, Soil, and Pest Management

Organic agriculture

Crops are grown without using synthetic pesticides, synthetic inorganic fertilizers, or genetically engineered seeds

Industrialized Agriculture

Use synthetic inorganic fertilizers and sewage sludge to supply plant nutrients.

Food security

All or most people in a country have daily access to enough nutritious food to lead active and healthy lives

Food insecurity

Chronic hunger and poor nutrition is caused by poverty, political upheaval, war, corruption, and bad weather

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats

Micronutrients

Vitamins and minerals

Famine

Drought, flooding, war, and other catastrophes

Overnutrition

Excess body fat from too many calories and not enough exercise

Plantation agriculture

cash crops (bananas, soybeans, sugarcane, etc). Primarily in less-developed countries

Hydroponics

growing plants in nutrient-rich water solutions rather than soil

Traditional subsistence agriculture

Human labor and draft animals for family food

Traditional intensive agriculture

Higher yields through the use of manure and water

Polyculture

Benefits over monoculture

Slash-and-burn agriculture

Subsistence agriculture in tropical forests. Clear and burn a small plot. Grow many crops and reduce soil erosion. Less need for fertilizer and water

O horizon

leaf litter

A horizon

topsoil

B horizon

subsoil

C horizon

parent material, often bedrock

Green Revolution

increase crop yields

Second Green Revolution

Fast-growing dwarf varieties

Salinization

Gradual accumulation of salts in the soil from irrigation water

Waterlogging

Irrigation water gradually raises the water table

First-generation pesticides

Borrowed from plant

Second-generation pesticides

Lab-produced products such as DDT and others

David Pimentel

Pesticide use has not reduced U.S. crop loss to pests

Integrated pest management (IPM)

Chemical tools to reduce crop damage to an economically tolerable level. Reduces pollution and pesticide costs