Post on 15-Apr-2017
Feeding the soil, feeding the people
Juha Helenius
University of Helsinki
FAO Food Day Seminar, Oct 29 2015
The Finnish National FAO Committee &
University of Helsinki Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
Lang & Heasman’s (2004) food paradigm analysis
Lang. T. & M. Heasman 2004. The food wars thesis. In: T. Lang & M. Heasman: Food Wars. The Global
Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets. Chapter 1, pp. 11-46. Earthscan, London & New York.
the 2 compared
• productionist paradigm – post WWII food shortage
– ”more food for the population”
– the green revolution: farming
• ecologically integrated paradigm – healthy food for all (food and nutritional security) & “healthy”
environment
– individual and the population; costs of wrong diets
– the food system
Source: EASAC 2015. Ecosystem services, agriculture and neonicotinoids. EASAC policy report 26, in which adapted from Power
2010, Aisbett & Kragt 2010).
Soil as an ecosystem service and provider of ecosystem services on which food production depends
FAO’s classification of agricultural land
Cropland, ca. 1.5 x 109 ha (15 milj. km2, 0.2 ha/capita)
1.1. arable land
1.2. horticultural land
1.3. orchards
Pastures, ca. 3 x 109 ha (30 milj. km2)
Agricultural extent: 38% of global land area
Loss of soil and soil fertility
Photo: Water erosion. Source:
www.newworldencyclopedia.
org/entry/Erosion
Photo: Dust bowl, May 1937, Springfield, Colorado (Source: Dorst 1970)
Photo: Rainforest cleared for soya production in Brazil, with the protected tree species Brazil nut left
standing by Daniel Beltra, eblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/amazon.jpg
Loss of topsoil: Globally, erosion rate is 24 x 109 t/a (4,8 t/ha/a; 0,48 kg/m2/a)
Loss of soil nutrients: nutrient mining, negative nutrient balances
Loss of soil organic matter: the ”humus” is lost when formation is slower than mineralization
Climate Change: warming and drying of climates
Salinization: in conditions of net-evapotranspiration, salt crust forms on top of the soil – loss of 1.5 x 106 ha/a of irrigated land
Compaction: loss of tillable structure, lowered penetration of roots of crop plants
Simultaneous harvesting of soybean and sowing of maize in Brazil (Source:
Celia Fortes Ferreira, ppt-presentation, 8.10.2009)
In farming, ecological integration boils down to soil!
“African farmers could double or even triple crop yields from their farms if they embrace integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), a new AGRA report shows.” http://www.afronline.org/?p=36368
”Living soil”: Feeding soil with organic fertilizers = creating soil organic matter (humus) = maintaining soil fertility. Bonus: carbon sequestration
Source: Lal (2004,
Science 304)
Rattan Lal (2004, Science 304, Fig. 4): “Cereal yields in Africa have been stagnant since early 1970s and stand at a meager 1 ton/ha. The vicious cycle of deletion in soil organic matter–decline in crop yield–food insecurity–soil and environmental degradation can be broken by improving soil fertility through enhancement of the soil organic matter pool, which requires use of sustainable agricultural technologies for water and nutrients management, including no-till farming, composts and mulching, leguminous cover crops, water harvesting, agroforestry, [controlled grazing] and integrated farming systems, along with judicious use of chemicals. This strategy can break the tyranny of hunger.” [Addition from his presentation 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTb63CDJ5sA ]
Food security has a geography!
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Other-Information/Press_Release_WPP2010.pdf
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Other-Information/Press_Release_WPP2010.pdf
Source: UN, http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf
How to feed the big cities?
http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/seal08/images/CityCrowd.jpg
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photog
raphy/Images/POD/t/trichur-pooram-crowd-508657-sw.jpg
Ecologization: how to recycle from the big cities?
Over 50% of the population is urban, and increasing.
Edward Goldsmith (ed.) 2006. The Doomsday Funbook. Cartoons by Richard Wilson. Ecodoom.
Role of science: part of the problem, or part of the solution?
Food cycle
for:
what is needed to satisfy our need for food and good nutrition
what serves cultural needs
what gives a sense of community
what makes the link to the ecosystem tangible
local food cycle, circular food system
Community members producing
Community members cooking
Community members marketing
Community members
sharing the meal
Vision for food citizenship
Global network of local food cycles securing sustainable diet:
food quality, nutritional adequacy, and safety
food security (entitlement, access)
fairness
respect to food cultures
ethics
care of ecosystems, sense of biotic community