ENVSCI

The Distribution of Natural Resources

■ Abundant mineral reserves • Fossil fuels or oil, natural gas and coal energy sources.

• Oil:

• Not enough to satisfy demand, so imports are necessary.

• Oil dependence has been an enduring national policy issue.

• Substantial growth in domestic supply due to new technologies such as tar sands and oil

shale.

• Alternative energy sources, especially nuclear power, are not well-developed, but

growing fast.

• Natural gas:

• Usually associated with oil.

• Mainly used for power generation.

• Coal:

• Among the world’s largest reserves.

How long will world's oil reserves last? 53 years, says BP

Hasan Jamali/AP/File Oil pumps are shown in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain.

The world's oil reserves will last 53 more years at current

extraction rates, according to BP's annual report.

The World’s Largest Oil Reserves By Country https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-world-s-largest-oil-reserves-by-country.html

The world has 53.3 years left to find an alternative to oil before current proved reserves run dry, according to BP. Of course, nations are finding new oil – meaning that number is rising – but new extraction methods are costly and can pose environmental threats.

July 14, 2014

By Andy Tully OilPrice.com https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0714/How-long-will-world-s-oil-reserves-last-53-years-says-BP

70% of oil deposits existing today were formed in the

Mesozoic age (252 to 66 million years ago), 20% were formed

in the Cenozoic age (65 million years ago), and only 10% were

formed in the Paleozoic age (541 to 252 million years ago).

Early crude production in the U.S.

Year Volume

1859 2,000 barrels (~270 t)

1869 4,215,000 barrels (~5.750×105 t)

1879 19,914,146 barrels (~2.717×106 t)

1889 35,163,513 barrels (~4.797×106 t)

1899 57,084,428 barrels (~7.788×106 t)

1906 126,493,936 barrels (~1.726×107 t)

The current level of U.S. crude oil

production as of September 2019

is 12,400.00 thousand barrels per day

(4,526,000,000 barrels/Year).

Rank Country Proven Oil Reserves in 2020 in millions of barrels

1 Venezuela 302,809

2 Saudi Arabia 267,026

3 Canada 167,896

4 Iran 155,600

5 Iraq 145,019

6 Kuwait 101,500

7 United Arab Emirates 97,800

8 Russia 80,000

9 Libya 48,363

10 United States 47,053 11 Nigeria 36,972

12 Kazakhstan 30,000

13 China 25,620

14 Qatar 25,244

15 Brazil 12,999

16 Algeria 12,200

17 Angola 8,273

18 Ecuador 8,273

19 Mexico 7,300

20 Azerbaijan 7,000

21 Norway 6,611

22 Oman 5,373

23 India 4,600

24 Egypt 4,400

25 Vietnam 4,400

Proven oil reserves in the United States were 43.8 billion barrels

(6.96×109 m3) of crude oil as of the end of 2018, excluding

the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The 2018 reserves represent the

largest US proven reserves since 1972. The Energy Information

Administration estimates US undiscovered, technically recoverable oil

resources to be an additional 198 billion barrels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_the_United_States

The United States

holds 35,230,000,000

barrels of proven oil

reserves as of 2016,

ranking 11th in the world

and accounting for about

2.1% of the world's total

oil reserves of

1,650,585,140,000

barrels. The United

States has proven

reserves equivalent to 4.9

times its annual

consumption.

What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil? Last updated: September 22, 2023

https://www.eia.gov/ U.S. Energy Information Administration

1000 Independence Ave., SW

Washington, DC 20585

The top 10 oil1 consumers and share of total world

oil consumption in 20212

1 Oil includes crude oil, all other petroleum liquids, and biofuels. 2 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy

Statistics, Total oil (petroleum and other liquids) consumption, as of September 22,

2023

The top 10 oil1 producers and share of total world oil

production2 in 20223

1 Oil includes crude oil, all other petroleum liquids, and biofuels. 2 Production includes domestic production of crude oil, all other petroleum liquids, and

biofuels and refinery processing gain. 3 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics, Total

oil (petroleum and other liquids) production, as of September 22, 2023

Country Population % of

world Date

United States 332,474,873 4.21%4 Oct 2021

Country Million barrels per day Share of world total

United States 20.30 21%

Saudi Arabia 12.44 13%

Russia 10.13 10%

Canada 5.83 6%

Iraq 4.61 5%

China 4.45 5%

United Arab Emirates 4.23 4%

Iran 3.67 4%

Brazil 3.17 3%

Kuwait 3.01 3%

Total top 10 71.83 74%

World total 97.70

Country Million barrels per day Share of world total United States 19.89 20% China 15.27 16% India 4.68 5% Russia 3.67 4% Japan 3.41 4% Saudi Arabia 3.35 3% Brazil 2.89 3% South Korea 2.56 3% Canada 2.26 2% Germany 2.23 2% Total top 10 60.20 62%

World total 97.26

Petroleum Production, Consumption and Imports, United States, 1949-2015

0.00

20.00

40.00

60.00

80.00

100.00

120.00

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

D ol

la rs

p er

ba rr

el

M ill

io ns

of ba rr

el s

Crude Oil Production Consumption Crude Oil Imports Crude Oil Price (2015 dollars)

Crude prices dropped sharply last spring but have risen steadily over recent months. U.S. Energy Information Administration

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/07/1013721716/oil-prices-are-in-turmoil-right-now-here-are-5-things-you-need-to-know

■ Uneven distribution of natural resources • Resource rich states benefit from high commodity prices

while others may be negatively impacted. • E.g. Texas / Alberta vs California / Ontario. • The situation reverses during a commodity bust.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/price-fluctuations.php

89.41 USD+0.18 (0.20%)

Oct 3, 8:25 PM EDT

How much natural gas does the United States have,

and how long will it last? The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates in

the Annual Energy Outlook 2019 that as of January 1, 2017,

there were about 2,459 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically

recoverable resources (TRR) of dry natural gas in the United

States. Assuming the same annual rate of U.S. dry natural

gas production in 2018 of about 30.4 Tcf, the United States

has enough dry natural gas to last about 80 years. The

actual number of years the TRR will last depends on the

actual amount of dry natural gas produced and on changes in

natural gas TRR in future years.

Technically recoverable reserves include proved reserves and

unproved resources. Proved reserves of crude oil and natural

gas are the estimated volumes expected to be produced, with

reasonable certainty, under existing economic and operating

conditions. Unproved resources of crude oil and natural gas

are additional volumes estimated to be technically

recoverable without consideration of economics or operating

conditions, based on the application of current technology.

EIA estimates that as of January 1, 2017, the United States

had about 322 Tcf of proved reserves and 2,137 Tcf of

unproved reserves of dry natural gas.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (Last updated: April 5,

2019)

How much coal is in the United States? The amount of coal that exists in the United States is difficult to estimate because it is buried underground. The most comprehensive

national assessment of U.S. coal resources was published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1975, which indicated that as of

January 1, 1974, coal resources in the United States totaled 4 trillion short tons. Although more recent regional assessments of U.S.

coal resources have been conducted by the USGS, a new national-level assessment of U.S. coal resources has not been conducted.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes three measures of how much coal is left in the United States, which are

based on various degrees of geologic certainty and on the economic feasibility of mining the coal.

EIA's estimates for the amount of coal reserves as of January 1, 2018, by type of reserve

•Demonstrated Reserve Base (DRB) is the sum of coal in both measured and indicated resource categories of reliability. The DRB

represents 100% of the in-place coal that could be mined commercially at a given time. EIA estimates the DRB at about 475 billion

short tons, of which about 69% is underground mineable coal.

•Estimated recoverable reserves include only the coal that can be mined with today's mining technology after considering

accessibility constraints and recovery factors. EIA estimates U.S. recoverable coal reserves at about 253 billion short tons, of which

about 58% is underground mineable coal.

•Recoverable reserves at producing mines are the amount of recoverable reserves that coal mining companies report to EIA for

their U.S. coal mines that produced more than 25,000 short tons of coal in a year. EIA estimates these reserves at about 16 billion

short tons of recoverable reserves, of which 68% is surface mineable coal.

Based on U.S. coal production in 2017 of about 0.78 billion short tons, the recoverable coal reserves would last about 325 years,

and recoverable reserves at producing mines would last about 26 years. The actual number of years that those reserves will last

depends on changes in production and reserves estimates.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Coal Reserves, Table 15, November 2018

Coal explained Coal imports and exports

U.S. coal imports Although the United States produces a large amount of coal—about 756 million short tons (MMst) in 2018—some coal-burning power plants along the

Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Ocean sometimes find it cheaper to import coal from other countries than to obtain coal from U.S. coal-producing regions.

In 2018, the United States consumed about 687 MMst of coal and imported about 6 MMst of coal. Coal imports were equal to about 0.9% of U.S. coal

consumption in 2018.

Nearly all of U.S. coal imports in 2018 were from five countries. The top five source countries of U.S. coal imports, the amount imported, and their percent

shares of total U.S. coal imports in 2018 were

Colombia 4.06 MMst 68%

Indonesia 0.92 MMst 15%

Canada 0.77 MMst 13%

Russia 0.08 MMst 1% South Africa 0.05 MMst 1%

A total of about 82,000 short tons of coal were imported from 10 other countries in 2018.

U.S. coal exports The United States is a net exporter of coal, meaning that it exports more coal to other countries than it imports from other countries. In 2012, U.S. coal

exports reached a record high of 126 MMst, equal to 12% of U.S. coal production in 2012. U.S. coal exports declined each year from 2012 through 2016

and then increased in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, the United States exported about 116 MMst of coal—equal to about 15% of U.S. coal production— to at

least 52 countries.

About 47% of U.S. coal exports in 2018 went to five countries. The top five destinations of U.S. coal exports, the amount exported, and their percent

shares of total coal exports in 2018 were

India 17.19 MMst 15%

The Netherlands 12.36 MMst 11%

Japan 10.39 MMst 9%

South Korea 9.32 MMst 8% Brazil 8.60 MMst 7%

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, Table 6.1, April 2019

United States Lumber Production

Year Annual Production (millions of board feet)

1850 5,000

1860 8,000

1870 13,000

1880 18,000

1890 23,500

1900 35,000

United States Gross Income, Net Profits, Production, and price index in the Lumber Industry 1920 -1934

Year Gross Income

(In Millions Dollar)

Net Profit (In Millions

Dollar)

Production (In Board feet)

(In Millions)

Wholesale Price Index (1926=100)

1920 3,312 N/A 35,000 N/A

1922 2,402 167 35,250 N/A

1924 2,835 132 39,500 99.3

1926 3,069 117 39,750 100.0

1928 2,342 82 36,750 90.5

1930 1,988 110 26,100 85.8

1932 854 202 10,100 58.5

1934 N/A N/A 12,827 84.5

Twenty-first century Presently there is a healthy lumber economy in the United States,

directly employing about 500,000 people in three

industries: Logging, Sawmill, and Panel. Annual production in the

U.S. is more than 30 billion board feet making the U.S. the largest

producer and consumer of lumber. …the United States remains

the second largest exporter of wood in the world.

2. USA (19.5 billion kilograms) The United States' (U.S.) forest product exports have grown tremendously

over the years, with a record $9.7 billion USD worth of forest products being produced in 2014. China, Canada, and Mexico are the top three markets

for U.S. forest product exports. A total of 19.5 billion kilograms of processed

wood are generated and exported from the country annually. Logs and

lumber generate the highest export values, while the demand for wood

pellets has also grown rapidly, primarily driven by the European Union’s

increased demand for fuel resources.

1. Canada (31 billion kilograms) In Canada, forest products, primarily wood and wood products, contribute a

significant level of the value added to the country’s economy. $17.1 billion

USD are generated annually in export value alone from the country’s forest

products. Northern bleached softwood turned into kraft pulp, newsprint pulp,

and softwood lumber are the three items that together form 47% of Canada’s

forest product exports. 31 billion kilograms of wood, processed as either

sawed timber, pulp, or paper, are produced and exported from this country

annually. The United States, China, and Japan serve as the largest foreign

markets for Canadian wood and wood product exports.

Forests Are Disappearing Rapidly.

In 1620, (a) when European settlers

were moving to North America,

forests covered more than half of the

current land area of the continental

United States. By 1920, (b) most of

these forests had been decimated. In

2000, (c) secondary and commercial

forests covered about a third of U.S.

land in the lower 48 states.

The Distribution of Natural Resources

■ Water

• Relatively well-supplied.

• Water based vs irrigation-based agriculture.

• Concerns for future supply:

• Arid Southwest and Great Plains rely on other areas for water.

• Overuse of ground water aquifers lowers water table.

Figure 13.5 Comparison of primary uses of water in the United

States (left) and uses of water in a typical U.S. household (right).

Figure 13.7 Water scarcity hotspots in 17 western states that, by 2025,

could face intense conflicts over scarce water needed for urban

growth, irrigation, recreation, and wildlife.

• More than enough renewable

freshwater

– Unevenly distributed and polluted

Freshwater Resources in the United States

Case Study: The Colorado River Story

• Issues

– Very little water is reaching the Gulf of California

– System has experienced severe drought since 1999

– Lake Mead fell to record low water level in 2015

• The Colorado River

– Flows 2,300 km (1,400 miles) through seven U.S. states

– Includes 14 dams and reservoirs

– Water supplied mostly from snowmelt of the Rocky

Mountains

– Supplies electricity for about 40 million people in seven

states and 90% of the drinking water for Las Vegas,

Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Diego

– Irrigation water for about 15% of the crops and livestock

in America Figure 13.1 The Colorado River basin: The area

drained by this river system is more than one-

twelfth of the land area of the lower 48 states.

This map shows 6 of the river’s 14 dams.

The Colorado River basin is managed to provide water to millions of people—most notably the cities of San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles—and 4-5 million acres of farmland in the Southwest. The river is allotted to states and to Mexico through laws like the 1922 Colorado River Compact and by a recent drought contingency plan announced in 2019.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and lake elevation data from the Bureau of Reclamation. Story by Michael Carlowicz and Kathryn Hansen.

August 7, 2000 August 9, 2021

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and part of a system that supplies water to at least 40 million people across seven states and northern Mexico. It stands today at its lowest level since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president. This means less water will be portioned out to some states in the 2022 water year. As of August 22, 2021, Lake Mead was filled to just 35 percent of its capacity. The low water level comes at a time when 95 percent of the land in nine Western states is affected by some level of drought (64 percent is extreme or worse). It continues a 22-year megadrought that may be the region’s worst dry spell in twelve centuries. These natural-color images were acquired in August 2000 and August 2021 by Landsat 7 and Landsat 8. The tan fringes along the shoreline in 2021 are areas of the lakebed that would be underwater when the reservoir is filled closer to capacity. The phenomenon is often referred to as a “bathtub ring.” The lake elevation data below come from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Lake Mead, Lake Powell, and other portions of the Colorado River watershed. At the end of July 2021, the water elevation at the Hoover Dam was 1067.65 feet (325.4 meters) above sea level, the lowest since April 1937, when the lake was still being filled. The elevation at the end of July 2000—around the time of the Landsat 7 images above and below—was 1199.97 feet (365.8 meters). At maximum capacity, Lake Mead reaches an elevation

1,220 feet (372 meters) near the dam and would hold 9.3 trillion gallons (36 trillion liters) of water. The lake last approached full capacity in the summers of 1983 and 1999. It has been dropping ever since.

For the 2022 water year, which begins October 1, Mexico will receive 80,000 fewer acre-feet, approximately 5 percent of the country’s annual allotment and Nevada’s take will be cut by: 21,000 acre-feet (about 7 percent of the state’s annual apportionment). The biggest cuts will come to Arizona, which will receive 512,000 fewer acre-feet, approximately 18 percent of the state’s annual apportionment and 8 percent of the state’s total water use (for agriculture and human consumption). An acre-foot is enough water to supply one to two households a year.

How Dams Can Kill an Estuary

• Only a small amount of Colorado River water reaches Gulf of California

– Threatens aquatic species in river and species that live in the estuary

• Current rate of river withdrawal is not sustainable

• Inefficient use of irrigation water for agriculture

• Proposed actions for states using Colorado river

– Enact strict conservation measures

– Phase out agricultural subsidies

– Shift water-thirsty crops to less arid areas

– Raise the price of freshwater

• 2014: Morelos dam near Yuma, AZ opened for two months to release

water through the delta to the Gulf of California

– Dramatic short-term results

Case Study: Overpumping the Ogallala Aquifer

• Ogallala Aquifer–largest known aquifer – Irrigates the Great Plains

– Very slow recharge

– Water table dropping

 Water pumped 10–40 times faster than recharge rate

– Government farm subsidies result in further depletion

– Biodiversity threatened in some areas

Figure 13.11 Natural capital

degradation: Areas of greatest

aquifer depletion from groundwater

overdraft in the continental United

States. The blowup section (right)

shows where water levels in the

Ogallala aquifer have dropped

sharply at its southern end beneath

parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,

and New Mexico.

Overpumping Aquifers Can Have Harmful Effects • Limits food production and raises prices

• Widens gap between rich and poor

• Land subsidence

– San Joaquin Valley in California

– Mexico City

• Groundwater overdrafts near coastal regions

– Contamination of groundwater with saltwater

Figure 13.14 Ways to

prevent or slow

groundwater

depletion by using

freshwater more

sustainably.

Figure 13.13 This pole shows subsidence

from overpumping of an aquifer for

irrigation in California’s San Joaquin

Central Valley between 1925 and 1977. In

1925, the land surface in this area was near

the top of this pole. Since 1977 this

problem has gotten worse.

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a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Case Study: How Californians Are Dealing with Water Woes

• Some effects of ongoing drought

– Dwindling aquatic ecosystems and municipal water supplies

– More frequent wildfires

– Crop losses

– Parched lawns

• Mitigation approaches

– Increased water cost: step-rate structure

– Water conservation measures

– Water banking into empty aquifers (increase recharge)

– Growing different crops that require less water

– Desalination

 Large plant opened in 2015 north of San Diego

– Restoring wastewater to drinking water quality

– Using gray water

North American Regional Agricultural Specialization ■ The Continental Interior

• Dominance of agriculture:

• Constitute a tremendous

agricultural resource for a

sparsely populated

population.

• Spring wheat in the north:

• Planted in the early Spring

and harvested in the early

Fall.

• Winter wheat in the south:

• Planted in the Fall and

harvested in the Spring.

• Corn / soybean in the middle:

• Soybeans are the cheapest

source of protein.

• Rotated with corn

production.

• Urban centers linked with

agricultural processing:

• Indianapolis, Chicago,

Kansas City.

Agriculture in North America Major Crops in the U.S.

1997 (in US$ billions)

2014 (in US$ billions)

Corn $24.4 $52.4 Soybeans $17.7 $40.3 Wheat $8.6 $11.9 Alfalfa $8.3 $10.8 Cotton $6.1 $5.1 Hay, (non-Alfalfa) $5.1 $8.4 Tobacco $3.0 $1.8 Rice $1.7 $3.1 Sorghum $1.4 $1.7 Barley $0.9 $0.9

Source 1997 USDA – NASS reports

2015 USDA-NASS reports

Mixed Farming Dairying Corn Belt, Cash Grain, Livestock Wheat, Small Grain Range Livestock Diversifies Farming, Plantations General Farming Nonfarming Outer Limit of Extensive Soil Degradation

Cattle and calves, corn, and soybeans are the top 3 U.S. farm products.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_States

Farming accounts for about 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product. As of the 2007 census of agriculture, there were 2.2 million farms. In 2018, $139.6 billion worth of American agricultural products (about 25% of U.S. farm products by value) were exported around the world, a net exporter of food. In 1870, almost 50 percent of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture. As of 2008, less than 2 percent of the population is directly employed in agriculture. In 2012, there were 3.2 million farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers and an estimated 757,900 agricultural workers were legally employed in the US. … The median pay was $9.12 per hour or $18,970 per year. From 1999–2009, roughly 50% of hired crop farmworkers in the U.S. were noncitizens working without legalauthorization. Large farms rely on new immigrants (such as Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, and Mexican) that do not have many other options to work for extremely low wages.

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a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

How Is Food Produced?

• We have used high-input industrialized agriculture and low-input traditional agriculture to

greatly increase food supplies

• Three systems produce most of our food, using about 40% of the land

– Croplands produce grains, providing about 77% of the world’s food

 Primarily rice, wheat, and corn

– Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots produce meat and meat products

– Fisheries and aquaculture (fish farming) provide fish products

Of the estimated 30,000 edible plant species, 14 supply about 90% of the world’s food calories.

At least half the world’s people survive primarily by eating three grain crops – rice, wheat, and

corn, because they cannot afford meat.

Only a few species of mammals and fish provide most of the world’s meat and seafood.

• Important technological advances

– Irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides

Industrialized Crop Production Relies on High-Input Monocultures

• Industrialized agriculture practiced on

25% of all cropland and produces

about 80% of the world’s food

– Heavy equipment

– Large amounts of financial capital,

fossil fuels, water, inorganic fertilizers,

and pesticides

– Single crop

– Major goal: steadily increase crop

yield

• Plantation agriculture – cash crops

such as bananas, coffee, vegetables, soybeans, sugarcane, and palm oil

– Primarily in less-developed countries

and mostly for export to more-

developed countries

This farmer, harvesting a wheat crop in the

Midwestern United States, relies on expensive heavy

equipment and uses large amounts of seed,

manufactured inorganic fertilizer and pesticides, and

fossil fuels to produce the crop.

A Closer Look at Industrialized Crop Production

• Green Revolution (1950-1970) – increase crop yields

– Monocultures of high-yield key crops

 Rice, wheat, and corn

– Large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, water

– Multiple cropping

• Second Green Revolution (since 1967)

– Fast growing varieties of rice andwheat

Growth in worldwide grain production (left) of wheat, corn, and rice, and per capita grain production (right) between 1950 and 2015.

• World grain production tripled between 1950 and 2014

312% 37%

2 or 3 rotations

each year

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a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering

Produce New Varieties of Crops and Livestock

• First gene revolution

– Cross-breeding through artificial selection

 Slow process (often takes 15 years or more)

 Amazing results

• Genetic engineering–second gene revolution (gene slicing)

– Alter organism’s DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) by adding, deleting or changing certain

segments

– Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)–transgenic organisms

28 countries planted genetically modified crops in 2015, with four crops – corn, soybeans, cotton and

canola – leading the way.

Three countries – U.S., Brazil, and Argentina – accounted for more than 75% of the total acreage (U.S.

accounting for 40%)

At least 80% of the food products on the U.S. supermarket shelves contain some form of GM food or

ingredients.

The average American adult consumes 193 pounds of genetically modified food.

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Case Study: Industrialized Food Production in the U.S.

• Agribusiness 1% of the U.S. workforce are farmers (18% in 1910)

– Few giant, multinational corporations control growing,

processing, distribution, and sale of food

• Food production–very efficient

– Americans spend 9% of income on food

Low-income people in less-developed countries typically spend 50-

70% of their income on food

• Actual costs of food much higher

– Hidden costs of subsidies, pollution, and environmental

degradation

Agricultural Subsidies •Chris Edwards, April 16, 2018 https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/agriculture/subsidies The federal government spends more than $20 billion a year on subsidies for farm businesses. About 39 percent of the nation's 2.1 million farms receive subsidies, with the lion's share of the handouts going to the largest producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice. The government protects farmers against fluctuations in prices, revenues, and yields. It subsidizes their conservation efforts, insurance coverage, marketing, export sales, research, and other activities. Federal aid for crop farmers is deep and comprehensive. However, agriculture is no riskier than many other industries, and it does not need an array of federal subsidies. Farm subsidies are costly to taxpayers, but they also harm the economy and the environment. Subsidies discourage farmers from innovating, cutting costs, diversifying their land use, and taking other actions needed to prosper in the competitive economy. … December 12, 2018: Congress approved a five-year farm bill. It provided $867 billion over 10 years. It covers the food-stamp program for low-income families, farm subsidies, and research efforts.

According to the Cato Institute, the largest 15 percent of farm businesses receive 85 percent of the subsidies.

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Industrialized Food Production

Requires Huge Inputs of Energy

• Mostly nonrenewable energy

– Oil and natural gas

• 10 units of fossil fuel energy used for every unit of food energy in

the U.S.

– Amount of energy per calorie used in the U.S. has declined 50%

since the 1970s

 Less energy required to produce nitrogen fertilizer

Rising use of conservation tillage

Agriculture uses about 17%

of all the energy used in

the United States.

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What Are the Environmental Effects of

Industrialized Food Production?

• Factors that may limit future food production

–Soil erosion and degradation

–Desertification

–Irrigation water shortages

–Air and water pollution

–Climate change

–Loss of biodiversity

Producing Food Has Major Environmental Impacts

• Industrialized agriculture has greater overall harmful environmental impacts

than any other human activity

– Uses about 70% of freshwater removed from aquifers and surface waters worldwide

– Emits about 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions

– Produces about 60% of all water pollution

– Uses about 38% of the world’s ice-free land

Food production has a

number of harmful

environmental effects

Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem

• Soil erosion

– Movement of soil by

wind and flowing water

– Natural causes

– Human causes

• Three major harmful

effects of soil erosion

– Loss of soil fertility

– Water pollution

– Release of carbon

stored in the soil as CO2 Wind is an important cause of topsoil erosion in

dry areas that are not covered by vegetation such

as this bare crop field in the U.S. state of Iowa.

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of

the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland

farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes (wind erosion) caused the phenomenon. The drought

came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the high plains experienced

drought conditions for as many as eight years.

Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl

between 1935 and 1938 originally prepared by the Soil

Conservation Service.

A dust storm

approaches Stratford,

Texas, in 1935.

A dust storm; Spearman, Texas, April 14, 1935

Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem

Topsoil is eroding faster than it forms

on about 1/3 of the world’s cropland

Meat Consumption Has Grown Steadily • Meat production increased more than sixfold between 1950 and 2010

– Pork, poultry (chicken and turkey), and beef top products

– Increased demand for grain

 Greater reliance on grain imports

 China

• About half of the world’s meat raised on rangeland

– Half in factory farm system

Global meat production grew more than six fold between 1950 and 2015

(left). In China, meat consumption has grown nine fold since 1975 while

growing more slowly in the United States.

Industrialized beef production: On this

cattle feedlot in Arizona, thousands of

cattle are fattened on grain for a few

months before being slaughtered.

Type 1997 2002 2007 2012

Cattle and calves 99,907,017 95,497,994 96,347,858 89,994,614

Hogs and pigs 61,188,149 60,405,103 67,786,318 66,026,785

Sheep and lambs 8,083,457 6,341,799 5,819,162 5,364,844

Broilers & other meat chickens 1,214,446,356 1,389,279,047 1,602,574,592 1,506,276,846

Laying hens 314,144,304 334,435,155 349,772,558 350,715,978

U.S. livestock and poultry inventory

Cattle and calves, corn, and soybeans are the top 3 U.S. farm products.

Industrialized Meat Production Harms the Environment

Use of animal feedlots and confined animal feeding

operations has advantages and disadvantages. • Pros:

– Increased meat supply

– Reduced overgrazing

– Kept food prices down

• Cons:

– Uses large amounts of

water to irrigate grain

crops fed to animals

– Livestock wastes pollute

waterways

– Uses large amounts of

energy

Concentrated animal feeding operation

Fish and Shellfish Production Are Growing Rapidly • Fishery

– Concentration of a particular species suitable for commercial harvesting

– 30% are overfished

World seafood production, including both wild catch (marine and inland) and

aquaculture, grew between 1950 and 2012, with the wild catch generally

leveling off since 1996 and aquaculture production rising sharply since 1990.

Roughly 3 billion people depend on fish

for at least 20% of their animal protein.

Asia accounted for 88% (China alone accounting for 60%)

– 57% harvested at full capacity

• Aquaculture

– Fish farming

– Amount of fish and shellfish produced

globally through aquaculture

increased 12-fold from 1980 to 2014

 Wild catch leveled off and declined

– Farming of meat-eating species

growing rapidly

 Fed fish meal or fish oil produced

from other fish

U.S. lobster exports to China rebounded in 2020 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2021 Maine International Trade Center

HTTPS://WWW.MITC.COM/U-S-LOBSTER-EXPORTS-TO-CHINA-REBOUNDED-IN-2020/

Maine’s lobster industry sees the boost as a positive sign in a year of declining international trade caused

primarily by the coronavirus pandemic.

While the coronavirus pandemic tanked U.S. lobster exports overall in 2020, international trade data

suggests the industry’s once-thriving U.S.-to-China trade pipeline may be making a comeback.

International sales of U.S. lobster fell by 22 percent last year, from $548.4 million in 2019 to $426.9 million

in 2020. The market saw declines in sales to each of the country’s top 10 international buyers, with the

notable exception of China, which bought more than $127 million of U.S. lobster, or a roughly 49 percent

increase over 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sales to China skyrocketed to $31 million in December, making it the biggest month for U.S. lobster

exports to the country since former President Donald Trump’s trade war hit the industry in 2018. By

comparison, U.S. lobster sales to China totaled $7.8 million in December 2019 and $10.2 million in

December 2018.

That increase is a positive sign for Maine, which generally accounts for 80 percent to 85 percent of all

U.S. lobster sales, but it may be too early to pop champagne in celebration.

Aquaculture Can Harm Aquatic Ecosystems

• Several environmental problems

– Fish are caught to use as feed

on fish farms

Contributes to depletion of

wild fish such as krill

Environmental toxins from

ocean sediments

– Pesticides and antibiotics on

fish farms a source of pollution

– Can destroy or degrade

mangrove forests (cleared for

shrimp farms)

Use of aquaculture has

advantages and disadvantages.

Aquaculture produces about 42% of the world’s seafood.