Foodprint lesson 1 GLI

• Geography
• Primary Education

Introduction

• In the past, most of the food we ate was produced in our own country. 
• Today it comes from all over the world. 
• In this section you are going to study the effects of globalization on food production.

Natural resources are

1. materials we use like fuels
2. trees and plants
3. Information sources
4. sunlight and crbon dioxide

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Sustainability
=

1. Duurzaamheid
2. leuk samenwerken
3. Verantwoord
4. Milieuproblematiek

ecological footprint is

1. the effect you have on the planet
2. the population rate
3. another word for climate change
4. the use of green energy

Which is a example of a non-renewable energy source?

1. solar energy
2. wind energy
3. burning biomass
4. burning petrol/diesel

the production of food has changed

In the past in our own region

Farmers in nineteenth century

• sandy soils 
• mixed farms  (crops and livestock)
• food chain  ( around the farm) 
• self-sufficient
• Not much external ‘input’.

Today: globalization

Food production has changed

• Farms: high yields at minimum cost. 
• Specialization (crop farming or livestock farming). 
• larger farms: economies of scale.
• Livestock farms buy a lot of feed abroad.
• globalization of agriculture in all food products. 
• A lot of our food is imported and exported
• The market is the whole world.

Geman family

Turkish Family

agriculture in the past

agriculture today

mixed farms 

Specialization

economies of scale

food is imported and exported

self-sufficient

Not much external ‘input’.

Scale level

When you compare the present and past scale level in agriculture:

• in the past: local scale (food chain was in the area around the mixed farm)
  
• present: global scale (food chain for many products extends over the whole world)
  

When you compare the present and past scale level in agriculture: (two answers)

1. in the past: local scale (food chain was in the area around the mixed farm)
2. present: global scale (food chain for many products extends over the whole world)
3. in the past: global scale (food chain for many products extends over the whole world)
4. present: local scale (food chain was in the area around the mixed farm)

Agriculture

G181 Agriculture

• What is agriculture? Which three types of agriculture are there?

G182 Specialization

• What is the difference in scale level and food chains in agriculture between the past and the present?
• What are the two reasons for specialisation?

G183 Economies of scale

• What is meant by economies of scale?

G184 Intensive agriculture

• What kind of intensive agriculture do we know?

G181 Agriculture

Agriculture is keeping livestock and growing crops for human use.

Three types of agriculture: 

• crop farming is the cultivation of edible and non-edible crops on fields. (special kind is  horticulture (for special crops) 

• livestock farming is keeping animals for certain products (meat, milk, eggs, wool, pelts).
• forestry  is the cultivation of trees (timber, cork, resin and latex)

G182 Specialization

• In the past mixed farms (crops and livestock farming)
• Today (in wealty countries) specialization: crops or livestock farming
• Focus on one product -  monoculture:

Two reasons for specialization:

• Mechanization : rising wages, labour is replaced for machinery  - fewer jobs.
• Intensification: production per hectare and animalproduction is increasing because of knowledge and money. 

G183 Economies of scale

Processes in which costs (per unit) are lowered by increasing the scale of production 

G184 Intensive agriculture

two kinds of intensive agriculture:

• The term intensive crop farming means that a lot of capital and knowledge is used to realize a high yield per hectare. 
• The term intensive livestock farming means that a lot of capital and knowledge is used to realize a high yield per animal. (factory farming,  animals are part of an industrial proces (animal is a kind of 'machine').

What are the three types of agriculture?

What are the two reasons for specialization:

1. mechanization
2. monoculture
3. intensification
4. urbanization

Economies of scale?

1. Process in which costs (per unit) are increasing by decreasing the scale of production
2. Costs that remain the same but the scale of production is increasing
3. Processes in which costs (per unit) are lowered by increasing the scale of production
4. Costs that vary with because the increasing of labor and capital.

What are the two kinds of intensive agriculture:

Scale levels

Scale levels

When you compare the present and past scale level in agriculture

• in the past: local scale, because the food chain was in the area around the farm (in the case of mixed farms).
• present: global scale, because the food chain (for many agricultural products) extends over the whole world.

G131 Ecological footprint

6 billion people use many natural resources: products from nature that people use in their daily life. (water, food and fuel, and  raw materials).

Our ecological footprint: a number that shows how many global hectares of surface area someone (or a country) uses on average. 

We can only reduce our ecological footprint by adopting sustainable practices.

Sustainability means limiting the use of natural resources so that they can be replaced.  Important for next generations.

Food crisis?

► There is enough food for everyone, but there is still the threat of a food crisis. Causes:

● The world population is growing rapidly.

● The distribution of food is uneven. Rich countries: big ecological footprint.

● Due to increasing prosperity: eating habits in emerging countries are changing (more meat and dairy products).

● Rich countries are switching to sustainable energy sources. Many biofuels are produced from edible crops.

Solutions

► Measures for preventing a food crisis:

● Higher yields in agriculture. A sort of Green Revolution is needed: better techniques, seed, artificial fertilisers, etc.

● People can change their consumption patterns: sustainable food supply (less meat, more home-grown products).

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