Lecture Objectives

At the end of this lecture (and after studying the texts), you should be able to:

1. give a brief history of agriculture.
2. explain the achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug.
3. list the environmental and social impacts of industrial agriculture.
4. explain how industrial agriculture is dependent on access to fossil fuels.
5. analyze the sustainability of industrial agriculture.
6. relate population growth and food security to success in agricultural methods.
   
7. give examples of alternatives to industrial agricultural methods.
   
8. list agricultural advances that may lead to new "Green Revolutions."

Reading: Ch. 9.5-9.6 & 9.8, Leventin & McMahon Chapter 15 & Green Revolution: Curse or Blessing  Download pdf ib11.pdf.

Terms

Music:
Norman Borlaug Rap

Movies:
Rethinking the Food Crisis
A Common Sense Food Aid Reform
Kofi Annan on the need for an "African Green Revolution"
India in need of another Green Revolution
How Genetic Engineering of Seeds can Solve World Hunger
Growing for the Future - Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3
Food Network:  Community Supported Agriculture
Green Revolution to Famine? Nkuuhe interview
Sustainable Agriculture:  Curing America's Eating Disorder

Sites:
Practical Farmers of Iowa
Polyface Farm
The Land Institute
BBC News:  Zimbabwea starves as despair grows
NPR:  Prairie Pioneer Seeks To Reinvent The Way We Farm

1. The Green Revolution

2. Impacts of Industrial Agriculture

3. Growing populations & food security

For the next lecture on DNA & Protein Synthesis, read Leventin & McMahon Chapter 7: Molecular Genetics through Translation. Be able to answer the following questions:

• What are the characteristics of DNA that enable it to be ideal as the genetic material of cells?
• What is meant by "semi-conservative replication?"