Technology: Development

of Agriculture and its Great

Dilemmas

The coming of Agriculture

The agricultural stage of human cultural evolution saw the
development of technology that ascended to such height as to
change the face of the Earth.
Around 10,000 B.C., in the age known as
Neolithic, humans evolved in a way of life
that was more secure
They domesticated animals and cultivated
plants that served their needs for food.
Their new ways served other needs as well.
They settled for longer periods at a time in a given area
They would clear it, sow seeds and stay for as many seasons as
the soil yielded adequate harvest.

Sustaining Fertility
In time, agriculture became more settled in permanent
locations.
This meant sustaining the fertility of the soil over successive
planting seasons.
Early systems might have done this by returning nutrients to
the soil

Commercial Agriculture

Involves processes that emphasize efficiency.

Inorganic synthetic fertilizers are used, often imported from other
countries.
The biogeochemical cycle takes longer
Impact: The environmental impact of agriculture is multi-faceted.
Agricultural land was expanded at the expense of natural
ecosystems

*Forests cleared
*Wetlands drained
*Coastal waters reclaimed
*Rivers rechanneled
*Dams for irrigation
Thus, literally, the face of the Earth changed

Agricultural Milestone: The Green Revolution

The Green Revolution which developed in the 1960s from the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) Los Banos, Laguna.
The Green Revolution of Rice was a large-scale application of scientific inventions
to food production.
The goal of the program was to increase production of rice, the staple of the
large portion of the humanity.

High-yielding Varieties
High-yielding varieties (HYVs) are any of a group of genetically
enhanced cultivars of crops such as rice, corn and wheat that have an
increased growth rate
An increased percentage of usable plant parts or an increased
resistance against crop diseases.

High Yield Hybrid

The first component of the technology was the
development of high yielding varieties (HYVs)
Hybrids that defied the constraints imposed by nature.
Varieties were developed that were shorter with stronger stems and roots
This was done to support more grains that resulted from large doses of
fertilizers and therefore more crops could be grown in one year.
They matured faster and thus could withstand strong winds or yielded grains
that could be harvested earlier before the onset of the typhoon season
Thus, the HYVs had to be nurtured with chemicals-synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides were outcome of the Green Revolution

Effects of pesticides to the environment

Pesticides can contribute to air pollution .
Pesticide drift occurs when pesticides suspended in the air as particles
are carried by wind to other areas, potentially contaminating them.
Pesticides that are applied to crops can volatilize and may be blown by
winds into nearby areas, potentially posing a threat to wildlife.
Also, droplets of sprayed pesticides or particles from pesticides applied as dusts
may travel on the wind to other areas

Ground spraying produces less pesticide drift than aerial spraying does
Aerial spraying brings too much environmental problem
Water Pollution

There are major routes through which pesticides reach the water:
it may drift outside of the intended area when it is sprayed

it may percolate, or leach, through the soil

it may be carried to the water as runoff
it may be spilled, for example accidentally or through neglect
They may also be carried to water by eroding soil

Effects of pesticides to the environment

Soil
Many of the chemicals used in pesticides are persistent soil contaminants,
whose impact may endure for decades and adversely affect soil
conservation
The use of pesticides decreases the general biodiversity in the soil.
Not using the chemicals results in higher soil quality, with the additional
effect that more organic matter in the soil allows for higher water
retention.
Plants
Nitrogen fixation, which is required for the growth of higher plants, is
hindered by pesticides in soil.
The insecticides DDT, methyl parathion, and especially pentachlorophenol
have been shown to interfere with some plant chemical signaling

Reduction of this symbiotic chemical signaling results in reduced nitrogen

fixation and thus reduced crop yields.
Pesticides can kill bees and are strongly implicated in pollinator
decline
The loss of species that pollinate plants

Effects of pesticides to the environment

Animals may be poisoned by pesticide residues that remain on food after
spraying
Example when wild animals enter sprayed fields or nearby areas shortly after
spraying
Widespread application of pesticides can eliminate food sources that certain
types of animals need
Causing the animals to relocate, change their diet, or starve.
Poisoning from pesticides can travel up the food chain;
For example, birds can be harmed when they eat insects and worms that have
consumed pesticides.
Some pesticides can bioaccumulate, or build up to toxic levels in the bodies of
organisms that consume them over time, a phenomenon that impacts species
high on the food chain
Birds
Loss of bird species due to bioaccumulation of pesticides in their tissues
Some pesticides come in granular form, and birds and other wildlife may eat the
granules, mistaking them for grains of food.
A few granules of a pesticide is enough to kill a small bird.

Effects of pesticides to the environment

Fish
Fish and other aquatic biota may be harmed by pesticide-contaminated water.
Pesticide surface runoff into rivers and streams can be highly lethal to aquatic
life, sometimes killing all the fish in a particular stream
Pesticides can accumulate in bodies of water to levels that kill off zooplankton,
the main source of food for young fish.
Pesticides can kill off the insects on which some fish feed, causing the fish to
travel farther in search of food and exposing them to greater risk from
predators.
Amphibians
In the past several decades, decline in amphibian populations has been occurring
all over the world
Unexplained reasons which are thought to be varied but of which pesticides may
be a part.
Mixtures of multiple pesticides appear to have a cumulative toxic effect on frogs.
Tadpoles from ponds with multiple pesticides present in the water take longer to
metamorphose into frogs and are smaller when they do

Effects of pesticides to the environment

Decreasing their ability to catch prey and avoid predators
A Canadian study showed that exposing tadpoles to endosulfan
An organochloride pesticide at levels that are likely to be found in habitats near
fields sprayed with the chemical kills the tadpoles and causes behavioral and
growth abnormalities.
Pesticide resistance
Pests may evolve to become resistant to pesticides.
Many pests will initially be very susceptible to pesticides, but some with slight
variations in their genetic makeup are resistant and therefore survive to
reproduce.
Through natural selection, the pests may eventually become very resistant to the
pesticide.
Another was monocropping or monoculture, the planting of vast areas to only
one crop.

 The unintended effect was the poisoning of birds, worms, bacteria,

and other organism, not to mention humans that are near the fields.
Likewise, fish, snails, ducks, and other creatures that inhabit the
waterways into which the pesticides drain were affected.
Monoculture sets the stage for infestation
Insects feeding on the particular crop proliferate to pest proportions,
fed by the bountiful food.
To attack infestation, artificial chemical pesticides were developed
and massively used.
Effects
Eutrophication of bodies of water
Acidity of the soil
The use of hybrid varieties has depressed the use of native strains
Along with habitat and ecological change and direct poisoning neglect threatens
their extinction
In general, they require a higher level of agricultural care
Intensive disease control
Higher fertilizer levels
Controlled water supply

 While those crops have enabled the multiplication of agricultural

production
- Their increased demands of:
1.fertilizers
2. pesticides
3. water control
This have drawn criticism from environmentalists.
Adopted in many countries especially in Southeast Asia, the Green
Revolution dramatically increased rice production for the world.
It is also a definitive illustration of ecological backlash
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over
a wide area

Monocultures used in agriculture are usually single strains that have been bred
to be high yield and resistant to certain common diseases
As all plants in a monoculture are almost entirely genetically identical
If a disease strikes to which they have no resistance
It can destroy entire populations of crops,

 Whereas in a polyculture, some portion of the crop will usually survive due to
natural variation giving some of them resistance
There is increasing support for moving away from monocultures towards a
mixture of varieties as a way to limit the impacts of disease to these sorts of
crops
Some studies have shown planting a mixture of crop strains in the same field to
be effective at combatting disease

Agricultural Milestone: Genetic Engineering and

GMOs
Genetic engineering (GE), which produces genetically modified organisms
(GMOs)
Foods genetically modified in order to absolutely ensure certain traits in plants.
These traits could be pest resistance, nutrient and vitamin quantity
Attractiveness in color and size
Involves the insertion of a foreign gene into the genes of a host species.
The foreign gene may be from a different strain of the same species or from
other species.

Bt Corn
Bt Corn is also called Transgenic maize corn and is a GM (genetically modified)
crop.
Bt corn thanks its name to the gene inserted into its DNA that codes for the
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin which protects the corn from insects.
The gene was isolated from the Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a microorganism
found in soil.
Bt corn is also resistant to herbicides, which makes it possible to use herbicides
without damaging or killing the crop itself.
Insecticides are no longer necessary with Bt corn, because the introduction of
the Bt gene protects it from pests.
The pest that usually affects corn production is the European Corn Borer.
The Bt toxin crystallizes the digestive tract of the insect larvae, which leads to
their death.

GE Foods: Problems
Issues on the negative effects on humans and other organisms, or as
they disrupt the balance of nature
A population of the monarch butterfly was affected when pollen of Bt corn was
carried by wind to milkweed plants where caterpillars of the monarch butterfly
were feeding.

Contamination

Contamination is a big worry.

GE pollen can be carried by wind, water, and other agents including humans
many kilometers and around the world.
They can contaminate the wide varieties, threatening the biodiversity of the
planet.

Human Rights
Contamination may well, bring up human right issues .
Pharmagenes, genes altered or inserted into vegetables to turn them
into vaccines or antibiotics can find their ways into food of people who
do not need them or who do not want them

Mutation
Scientist have predicted that because of the havoc that GE would wreak on
nature
Mutation rates would increase because of the alien substances that the
chemicals, bacteria, hormones, and cells in our bodies will not recognize.

Eco-political Implications
Under the rules of Intellectual property Rights, created life forms may be
patented.
When GMO seeds are patented, they may not be planted without payment of
royalties.
Thus, farmers will have to buy new seeds every planting season.
They will get caught in the web of dependency on the new varieties and the
attendant commercial infrastructure.

Agri Developments : Social Changes

Agriculture resulted in food security
Human survival and population increase
With food people could turn their attention to other pursuits
A new social and physical organization evolved
The towns where people converged and interacted to feed their
intellectual, artistic, commercial and other interests.
Through history, these concentrations of people have grown ever
larger into cities and megacities.

Agri Developments and Economic

Changes
Among the occupations that arose as a result of the freedom that
bondage to the soil was that of the merchant.
Goods grown or crafted were not just bartered between those who
crafted and grew the goods.
There arose the middleman class.

Early Form of Capitalism:

Its impact on the environment was unprecedented plunder
In western societies from 15th to the 19th century, wildlife was
assaulted
Trade in fur of large animals caused the killing of millions of sable,
beavers, wolves, otters, racoons, bears

The Effect of Exploration

Agriculture
Monoculture
Deforestation
Clearing of Land by Fire
On the top of the ecological devastation was the mindset attendant
to colonization
The powerful treated their fellow human as slaves.

Sustainable Systems
In view of the negative impacts of modern agriculture
Many farmers are turning or returning to strategies that are more ecological at
the same time improving their socio-economic situation
Organic Farming
True organic farming utilizes species that are locally available and are therefore
suited to environmental conditions.
Organic Farming optimizes the use of biological processes
1. By nurturing the natural predators of pests
2. Keeping the soil healthy with beneficial microorganisms
3. Allowing wild species from nearby natural ecosystems to pollinate crops
4. It encourages variety in space, through practices known as alternate cropping,
multi-cropping, and so forth, and variety in time through crop rotation

System of Rice Intensification

System of Rice Intensification translated into Sistema ng Pagpapalago
ng Palay
In 1983, the beneficial effect of transplanting very young seedlings,
less than 15 days old, was discovered serendipitously
Subsequently, when fertilizer prices increased, compost made from
any decomposed biomass turned out to give even better results than
chemical fertilizer.

The synthesis of SRI has proceeded empirically, but the central

principles for getting best results are:
1. rice field soils should be kept moist rather than continuously saturated
-This improves root growth and supports the growth and diversity of
aerobic soil organisms rice plants should be spaced optimally widely to
permit more growth of roots and canopy and to keep all leaves
photosynthetically active

2. rice seedlings should be transplanted when young, less than 15 days old
with just two leaves, quickly, shallow and carefully, to avoid trauma to roots
and to minimize transplant shock.

3. These changes from conventional practice when managing plants, soil,

water and nutrients induce more productive organism
4. Increased yield is achieved with 80-90% reductions in seed requirements
(lower plant population) and 25-50% less irrigation water.
Chemical fertilizer and agrochemical crop protection can be used, but best
results can be attained without use of purchased inputs.
One note is the bahay kubo concept, captured in the Filipino song with
same title
It is a celebration of how farming families meet their daily needs with
vegetable staples planted in the surrounding yard.
The principles of multicropping, companion cropping, crop rotation, organic
fertilizers were practical knowledge gained through experience and practice
instinct.