Day 2 -
Answer questions 1-4 in the mid-section review and questions 1-4 at the end.
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Assignment
Compare and contrast the inputs, outputs and system characteristics for two given food production systems.
Choose any pair below to compare:
Use the chart and the guidelines below to compare the two systems.
You will then finish by stating which system you believe is better and why.
Choose any pair below to compare:
- North American Cereal Farming vs. Subsistence Farming in Southeast Asia
- Intensive Beef Production in South America vs. the Maasai tribal use of livestock
- Shifting Cultivation (slash and burn) in the Amazon Rainforest vs. Horticulture in the Western Netherlands
- Any other two systems of your choice (with approval)
Use the chart and the guidelines below to compare the two systems.
You will then finish by stating which system you believe is better and why.
Factors to be considered should include:
- Type - intensive or extensive; subsistence, cash cropping or commercial
- Inputs - such as fertilizers (artificial or organic); water (irrigation or rainfall); pest control (pesticides or natural predators); labour (mechanized and fossil-fuel dependent or physical labour); seed (genetically modified organisms—GMOs—or conventional); breeding stock (domestic or wild); livestock growth promoters (antibiotics or hormones vs organic or none)
- Outputs - such as food quality, food quantity, pollutants (air, soil, water), consumer health, soil quality (erosion, degradation, fertility); common pollutants released from food production systems include fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics, hormones and gases from the use of fossil fuels; transportation, processing and packaging of food may also lead to further pollution from fossil fuels
- System Characteristics - such as diversity (monoculture versus polyculture); sustainability; indigenous versus introduced crop species
- Environmental Impact - pollution (air, soil, water); habitat loss; biodiversity loss; soil erosion or degradation; desertification; disease epidemics from high-density livestock farming
- Socio-economic factors - farming for profit or subsistence, for export or local consumption, for quantity or quality; traditional or commercial farming.