Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
genetically modifi ed crops carries with it another set of
environmental concerns.
The growth of organic farming (discussed at the
beginning of the chapter) and the move toward the use
of local foods in some communities can benefi t the envi-
ronment. Yet such initiatives have had only modest
impacts on the majority of the world's peoples and
places. A telling sign is that the organic movement has
had little effect on the production of the staple foods on
which billions of people depend. Moreover, large cor-
porate entities are playing an increasingly prominent
role in the organic movement—raising controversies
about standards and rendering illusory the ideal of an
independent organic farmer engaged in “sustainable”
agriculture. Nonetheless, better regulated organic
farming and local food initiatives are clearly on the rise.
Their proponents argue that they are priced out of the
market by subsidies favoring large farms and by the failure
of most agribusiness to incorporate the environmental
and health costs of large-scale, intensive farming. And
such arguments are gaining traction.
The environmental impacts of large-scale intensive
agriculture can be particularly severe when agriculture
moves into marginal environments, as has happened with
the expansion of livestock herding into arid or semiarid
areas (see the map of world climates, Fig. 11.17). The nat-
ural vegetation in these areas cannot always sustain the
herds, especially during prolonged droughts. As a result,
ecological degradation and, in some areas, desertifi cation
(see Chapter 10) are the result.
In recent decades, the popularity of fast-food chains
that serve hamburgers has led to the deforestation of
wooded areas in order to open up additional pastures for
beef cattle, notably in Central and South America.
Livestock ranching is an extremely land-, water-, and
energy-intensive process. Signifi cant land must be turned
over to the cultivation of cattle feed, and the animals
themselves need extensive grazing areas. By stripping
away vegetation, the animals can promote the erosion of
river banks, with implications for everything from water
quality to wildlife habitat.
widespread poverty, food security looms as a signifi cant
issue for the twenty-fi rst century.
As cities expand outward, some of the most fertile,
productive farmlands are lost to housing and retail devel-
opments (Fig. 11.23). Many cities were established amid
productive farmlands that could supply the needs of their
inhabitants. Now the cities are absorbing the productive
farmlands as they expand. Between 1987 and 1992, China
lost more than one million hectares of farmland to urban-
ization. In the United States, the American Farmland
Trust, identifi ed 12 U.S. areas where farmland was giving
way to urban uses at a rapid rate in the 1990s, including
California's Central Valley, South Florida, California's
coastal zone, North Carolina's Piedmont, and the Chicago-
Milwaukee-Madison triangle in Illinois-Wisconsin. These
12 areas represent only 5 percent of U.S. farmland, but
they produce 17 percent of total agricultural sales, 67 per-
cent of all fruit, 55 percent of all vegetables, and one-
quarter of all dairy products. Figures for other countries
in the richer parts of the world (such as Japan) as well as
for poorer countries (such as Egypt) prove that urban
expansion into productive farmland is a global problem
with serious implications for the future.
The conversion of farmlands into housing develop-
ments is not confi ned to areas close to major cities that could
become suburbs. Expendable wealth and the desire to have a
place to “get away from it all” have led highly productive
commercial agricultural areas to be converted into regions
for second homes. On the Delmarva Peninsula in the
United States, where poultry production is concentrated,
the price of land has risen as urbanites from Pennsylvania,
Washington, D.C., Maryland, and New York bought land
on the eastern shore to build second homes. Many of the
new residents on the peninsula are demanding higher envi-
ronmental standards. Rising land prices and stricter envi-
ronmental standards are placing a squeeze on the cost of
chicken production. Tyson Foods closed its production
facility in spring 2004, and the
Washington Times
reported
650 lost jobs. As urban population continues to grow and
expendable wealth increases for the wealthiest of the popu-
lation, more agricultural lands will be converted to housing
developments, especially lands in beautiful areas with recre-
ational amenities such as the eastern shore of Maryland (the
Delmarva Peninsula) and its Chesapeake Bay.
Population growth and the loss of agricultural land
help to explain why global food prices have been on the
rise for more than a decade. Putting further pressure on
food prices are consumption increases in countries
experiencing rapid developments (e.g. China) and a trend
toward using food crops for biofuel production. These
factors were behind an almost 50 percent surge in global
food prices between April 2007 and March 2008. Food
riots broke out in some cities, and the specter of large-scale
famine grew. Another more recent spike in food prices
was one factor in the outbreak of revolutions in North
The Challenge of Feeding Everyone
Food riots that break out in low-income countries and
stories of famine in countries including Somalia, Sudan,
Malawi, and Zimbabwe remind us that food security
remains a challenge for millions of people around the
globe. Although food production has expanded in some
parts of the world, food production per capita has actually
declined in Africa over the past decade. Worldwide, nearly
1 billion people are malnourished. Currently, enough
food is produced worldwide to feed Earth's population,
but in the face of inadequate distribution systems and a
