APES 5.7 & 5

5.7: MEAT PRODUCTION

CAFOs (Concentrated animal-feeding operation): Also called feedlots - densely crowded method where animals are fed grain (corn) to raise them as quickly as possible

Pros of CAFOs: Maximizes land use and profit (most meat production per unit of area), minimizes cost of meat for consumers

Cons of CAFOs: Animals are given antibiotics and growth hormones to prevent disease outbreak and speed meat production, animals produce large volume of waste which can contaminate nearby surface or groundwater, animals produce large amounts of CO2, CH4 (methane), and N2O

Manure lagoons: Large, open storage pits for animal waste (manure)

Cons of manure lagoons: Waste contains ammonia (N), hormones, antibiotics, fecal coliform bacteria (e. Coli), heavy rain can flood lagoons and contaminate nearby surface and groundwater with runoff, and denitrification of ammonia in manure produces N2O

Solution to avoiding manure lagoon spills: Emptying and burying it in landfills, turning dried out manure into fertilizer pellets

Free range grazing: Animals graze on grass and grow at a natural rate without growth hormone

Pros of free range grazing: no need for antibiotics since the population is dispersed, doesn’t require production of corn to feed animals, animal waste is dispersed over land naturally, acting as a fertilizer instead of building up in lagoons, and animals can graze on land too dry for most crop growth as grasses are able to grow in drier areas

Cons of free range grazing: Requires more total land use/pound of meat produced, more expensive to consumer

Effect of overgrazing: Soil erosion, decreased H2O holding capacity, and desertification

Solution to overgrazing: rotational grazing (moving animals periodically)

Benefit of rotational grazing: Increases the growth of grass by distributing manure and clipping grass back to size where growth is most rapid

What Energy is needed for to produce meat: Planting, growing, and harvesting plants to feed to animals, bringing water to animals, housing animals, slaughtering and packaging

What land is needed for to produce meat: growing plants to feed to animals and the room that the animals take up

What water is used for to produce meat: Crops that animals eat and for the animals to drink

5.15: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Soil conservation: agricultural techniques that minimize erosion

What soil conservation prevents the loss of: nutrients in topsoil, soil moisture, decomposers in topsoil, organic matter that traps soil moisture

Contour plowing: Plowing parallel to natural slopes of the land instead of down slopes, preventing water runoff and soil erosion

How contour Plowing conserves soil and water: forms mini terraces that catch water running off

Terracing: Cutting flat platforms of soil into a steep slope

How terracing Prevents soil erosion: flatness of terraces catches water and prevents it from becoming runoff and eroding soil

Perennial crops: Crops that live year-round and are harvested numerous times

Benefits of perennial crops: Longer, more established roots helps preserve the topsoil by keeping it anchored in place, preventing runoff from carrying topsoil down the slope

Benefits of windbreaks: Can be used as a source of firewood and fruit, and provide habitat for pollinators and other species

Benefits of no-till: Adds organic matter to soil, prevents erosion from loosened soil

Strip cropping: alternating rows of dense crops with rows of less dense crops to prevent runoff from eroding soil from less dense rows of crops

Effect of replanting same crops continuously: Depletes soil of the same nutrients

Benefit of crop rotation: allows soil to recover from crops that demand a specific nutrient

Green manure: leftover plant matter from a cover crop

Benefits of green manure: cover crop roots stabilize soil limiting topsoil erosion, remains of cover crops left on field breakdown to release nutrients into the soil

Benefit of limestone: releases Calcium carbonate, which neutralizes acidic soil

Why acidic soil is bad: It has a high H+ ion concentration, which displaces positive-charge nutrients from soil, and it makes toxic metals (aluminum) more soluble in soil

The 6 soil conservation methods: Contour plowing, terracing, perennial crops, windbreaks, no-till, strip cropping

The 3 methods of restoring nutrient levels in soil: crop rotation, green manure, adding limestone