CHAPTER 10FOOD, SOIL, AND PEST MANAGEMENT

MC

Which of the following is a likely scenario for an organic farm?

use of feed that contains no antibiotics

Which of the following terms does not belong with the others?
sustainable agriculture

Which of the following is the root cause of food insecurity?

Poverty

Which of the following is a micronutrient, which without sufficient quantities in a diet can result in
goiter?
Iodine

The term malnutrition refers to people who

suffer from lack of protein and other key nutrients

Which macronutrient in the human diet helps to build and repair body tissues?
Proteins

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Which of the following problems with nutrition do you think is most prevalent in the United States?
Overnutrition

Which of the following is the list of macronutrients needed to sustain good health?
protein, carbohydrate, and fats

The following grains are among the world's major food crops except
Soybean

Which of the following types of agriculture is most characteristic of developing countries?

traditional agriculture

Which of the following types of agriculture is most characteristic of developed countries?

industrialized agriculture

All of the following crops are commonly grown in plantation agriculture except
Corn

The majority of soil organic matter is concentrated in the

O and A horizons

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What proportion of food products sold on U.S. supermarket shelves contains some form of genetically
engineered crop?
70%

Which of the following would not be used to describe polyculture?

The plot of land is left unmanaged for long periods of time.

Which of the following associations is incorrect?

feedlots and shellfish

Because root systems at different depths in a given area of soil capture nutrients and soil efficiently we
can say that
polyculture lessens the need for fertilizer and water

Monoculture is a method of growing food that is utilized solely in

industrialized agriculture

Since 1950, aquaculture production has

increased over 40-fold

Our economic systems promote unsustainable forms of industrialized agriculture because

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 they do not include most of the harmful environmental and health costs of such food
production in the market prices

Most soil erosion is caused by

wind and moving water

Salt buildup may

eventually make the land unproductive

Which of the following can lead to desertification?

severe and prolonged drought

Which of the following best describes how the process of irrigation can lead to salinization of soils?
Water associated with irrigation contains small amounts of dissolved salts.
Evaporation leaves behind increasing concentrations of these salts.

How many units of energy are required to produce one unit of grain-fed beef?
35

Which one of the following items is a major disadvantage of animal feed lots?
Use of antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans.

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Killing wild predators is an example of a(n) ______________problem caused by industrialized food
production.
biodiversity loss

The amount of irrigated land used to produce food crops has increased since 1950. It can also be said
that:
The amount of irrigated land per person has decreased since 1950.

Strains of genetically modified food crops can hybridize with wild crop varieties when
Pollen blows from the genetically modified crop and spreads among wild varieties.

According to pesticide proponents, pesticides

work fast, increase profit, save lives, and increase food supplies

The worlds 30,000 known species of spiders

kill far more crop-eating insects every year than humans do by using chemicals.

Since 1945, approximately ____ species of insects and rodents have developed resistance to one or
more insecticides.
1,000

The Environmental Working Group estimates that you could reduce your pesticide intake by up to 90%
by eating only 100% organic

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 choices b and c are both correct

Which of the following approaches would be the least beneficial in trying to reduce insect damage?
planting monocultures

Biological control of pests

is not toxic to use

A pheromone is
a species-specific chemical sex attractant

Which of the following statements is a weakness of using pheromones?

They are costly and time-consuming to produce.

A hormone is
a chemical that controls an organism's growth and development

Integrated pest management ____ than pesticides.

requires more expert knowledge about individual pest-crop situations

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An integrated pest management program attempts to
reduce crop damage to an economically tolerable level

Switching to integrated pest management in the United States

is hindered by government subsidies for using chemicals and by opposition from
chemical manufacturers

Perhaps the most important thing about Rachel Carsons investigative work on the environmental
effects of pesticides, and her publication Silent Spring, is
that many historians consider her work to be an important contribution to the
modern environmental movement emerging in the United States

The sale and use of pesticides in the United States is regulated by which agencies?
FDA, EPA, and USDA

In the United States, the use of synthetic pesticides has increased 10-fold between 1942 and 1997. For
the same time period, the crop loss to insects has
almost doubled from 10% to 13%

The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that 98% of the potential risk of developing cancer
from pesticide residue on food grown in the U.S. could be eliminated if
EPA standards for pre-1972 pesticides were as strict as standards for later pesticides

All of the following are true about subsidies for food production except

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 Developing countries also receive large amounts of subsidies for growing food.

Government subsidies to fishing fleets

promote overfishing and reduction of aquatic biodiversity

Topsoil in the United States is eroding about ____ times faster than it can form.
17

Which of the following is central to most of the efforts to conserve topsoil?

keeping the soil covered by vegetation

Conservation tillage
decreases erosion

In alley cropping:
Crops are planted between hedgerows of trees or shrubs that are used for fruits or
fuelwood.

Which of the following is not one of the three major types of organic fertilizer?
sewage sludge

The process least likely to conserve soil nutrients is

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 irrigation

Aquaculture would be more sustainable if

consumers chose to eat fish species that are primary consumers instead of secondary
consumers

Which of the following is a characteristic of polyaquaculture?

Fish and shrimp are raised in ponds along with algae, seaweed, and shellfish.

Which choice reflects the correct sequence of animal efficiency at converting grain into protein, from
the most efficient animal to the least?
fish, chicken, pigs, beef cattle

The largest contributor to the ecological foot print of most individuals in affluent nations is
meat production and consumption

Sustainable agriculture is characterized by all of the following except

soil salinization

In order to switch to sustainable agriculture, which of the following practices would not be favorable?
Expand the use of the crops of the green revolution.

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You spend an evening with friends who have invited you for dinner and are gourmet cooks. During
the conversation over dinner, you learn that the food being served was all locally grown and purchased
through a CSA that your hosts participate in. Your hosts could be called
locavores

Which of the following are ways that individuals can support sustainable agriculture through their
choices and behaviors?
waste less food, eat less meat, compost food wastes and eat locally grown food

Compared to conventional tillage, conservation tillage

reduces fuel and tillage costs

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TRUE/FALSE

Food production worldwide is now less than in previous decades.F

There are sufficient food resources being produced to meet the basic nutritional requirements of every
person on the planet.T

Overgrazing by cattle can ultimately result in water pollution.T

Plantation agriculture is used primarily to reduce soil erosion and restore soil fertility.F

Over time, the extensive addition of water through irrigation practices can actually lead to
desertification.T

A disadvantage to the green revolution is the intensive use of commercial inorganic fertilizers.T

Pesticides have a positive benefit in terms of public health because fungi, insects, and noncrop plants
can contaminate crops with many natural toxins.T

Malnourished individuals may become more prone to infections, and eventually may develop a
specific deficiency disease.T

Farmers use alley cropping with row patterns nearly level around hillsnot up and downto dissuade
soil erosion.F

Per unit area, the application of synthetic pesticides is higher on typical crop fields than it is on the
average lawn.F

Since 1942 the use of synthetic pesticides has increased 10-fold. In spite of this fact, food supply
damage due to pests has increased during that time.T

Some nations have experienced an increase in certain crop yields after greatly cutting pesticide use.T
Health problems faced by those who are overfed are completely different from the health problems
faced by those who are underfed.F

There are no technological substitutes for fertile and uncontaminated topsoil.T

It takes about one unit of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy to put one unit of food energy on the table.F
Research shows that, on average, low-input polycultures produce higher crop yields than high-input
monocultures.T

To be classified as organically grown, animals must be free-ranging.F

Organic agriculture is globally export-oriented because it also embraces cultural diversity.F

The main source of carbohydrates (one of the key nutrients) is lipids.F

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Polyculture lessens the need for fertilizer and water.T

World grain production per capita has increased consistently between 1961 and 2009.F

Excessive irrigation of food crops has never been a problem for agriculture.F

COMPLETION

A(n) ____________________ is a chemical used to control or kill populations of organisms that we

consider undesirable such as insects, weeds, or rodents.
pesticide

Numerous practices have been developed to deter ____________________, including reducing or

eliminating tillage, managing irrigation to reduce runoff, and keeping the soil covered with plants or
mulch.
soil erosion

____________________ is a form of industrialized agriculture used primarily in tropical developing

countries.
Plantation agriculture

____________________ reduces soil oxygen levels, causes accumulation of gases toxic to plants, and
alters the concentration of nutrients around plant roots.
Waterlogging

____________________ is a way to grow food on steep slopes or mountainsides without depleting

topsoil.
Terracing

The process of ____________________ allows for the raising of marine and freshwater fish in ponds
and underwater cages.
aquaculture

____________________ are chemicals emitted by living organisms to send messages to individuals of

the same species and can be used as alternatives to pesticides.
Pheromones

The United States primarily uses ____________________ for food production.

industrialized agriculture

Today in America, four of the top ten causes of death are diseases related to ____________________.
diet

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Low-input ____________________ produces higher yields than does high-input
____________________.
polyculture, monoculture

When farmers use _________________systems, typically 90-95% of the water input reaches the crops
drip, microirrigation, trickle irrigation

One of the problems with genetically modified food crops is that if pollen released from the plants
spreads among non-engineered plants it will reduce the natural genetic ____________________ of
wild strains.
biodiversity

________________is (are) a key nutrient that drives the synthesis of hormones as well as the growth
of membrane tissues in humans.
lipids
oils
fats

Alley cropping, agroforestry and terracing are all methods of reducing ____________________.
soil erosion

Two of the solutions for cleaning up salinized soil are flushing the soil with water, and placing
underground drainage systems. The negative aspect of these solutions is
their____________________.
expense
high cost

The irrigation system with the lowest efficiency rating is __________________.

gravity flow

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MATCHING

Indicate whether the processes listed below are used in industrialized agriculture or organic
agriculture.
a. industrialized agriculture b. organic agriculture

1. globally export-oriented A
2. no genetically modified seeds B
3. represents a shift away from the sustainability principle of reliance on solar energy A
4. growth hormones used to produce meat A
5. crop rotation B
6. locally oriented B
7. depends on non-renewable fossil fuels A
8. uses antibiotics to produce meat A
9. greater use of renewable energy sources B
10. synthetic inorganic fertilizers A
11. produces about 80% of the worlds food A
12. biological pest control B

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