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Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e

William P. Cunningham, University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham, Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo, St. Cloud State University

Food and Agriculture

Essay Quiz


1		Describe the main constituents of soil.



2		What changes seem necessary if agriculture is to become a truly sustainable activity?



3		Identify the farming practices that can significantly increase soil erosion.



4		What is a transgenic plant?



5		Describe the potential benefits of and concerns about genetic engineering.



6		The productivity of soil is significantly enhanced by the activity of organisms. List three important groups of soil organisms, and describe their effects.



7		What would you say to a farmer who wanted to get off high-input, chemically based agriculture to help reduce pollution but doubted that sustainable agriculture was economically viable?



8		Raising corn from which to produce ethanol fuel for cars is expanding. Ethanol burns cleaner in car engines and increases the value of the American corn crop. In light of what you’ve learned in this chapter, what is your reaction to this trend?



9		Several changes in farming practices seem necessary to make agriculture more sustainable. But think about the farmer who says, “It’s my land. I can do with it as I please. I’ve been farming without strip cropping and all the rest of it for 40 years, and I’m darned if I’m going to change now.” Is it politically possible or advisable to force farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices?



10		Soil erosion and runoff of pesticides and fertilizers are a major cause of water pollution. What is your response to the nonfarmer who says, “It should be illegal for farmers to farm in such a way that it pollutes water miles away from their farm, preventing its use by others.”



11		Hundreds of thousands of family farmers in the U.S. have been forced off the land due to a variety of economic problems. It has been suggested that the shift of farm ownership from families who farm the same land for generations to large absentee corporate owners is not in the best interest of soil conservation. What possible basis could there be for that concern?

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