Environmental Science Farming

Industrial Agriculture has many benefits.  Which of the following is NOT a benefit associated with industrial agriculture?

• The ratio of energy input to calorie output is low.
• Larger food production per hectare.
• Monoculture can be more efficient.
• Economy of scale can make the food less expensive.

Typically, most of the energy subsidies in modern agriculture are in the form of

• solar power.
• hydroelectric power.
• nuclear power.
• fossil fuels.

Mechanization of agriculture is advantageous for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

• Machines encourage the growth of several types of plants in a single farm.
• There is an economic advantage if fuel prices are low.
• There is an economic advantage if cost of labor is high.
• Staple crops such as beans and corn are more economically harvestable.

Synthetic fertilizers have many advantages over traditional "organic" animal waste fertilizers.  These include all of the following EXCEPT

• ease of application.
• highly adjustable nutrient content.
• bioavailability of nutrients.
• lack of nutrient runoff problems.

Monocropping has a number of disadvantages.  These include all of the following EXCEPT

• erosion due to exposure of large areas of soil during planting.
• Nutrition and pesticide needs should be similar throughout a single crop.
• Pests are ore likely to attack a monocrop due to the high concentration.
• Loss of habitat for natural pest predators.

The US accounts for about what percent of worldwide pesticide use?

• 20
• 33
• 50
• 80

After many years of applying the selective pesticides provironex, a farmer notices that the applications seem less effective.  This is likely due to

• the fact that provironex is fat soluble and has been bioaccumulating.
• provironex is selective, so other pests are filling the niche from the exterminated ones.
• provironex is persistent, and the farmer should apply less for better results.
• the target species has begun to evolve resistance.

Scientists have inserted a gene for the production of vitamin A into rice.  This practice of changing the genetic structure of agricultural products to improve desirable traits is known as

• Genetic Engineering.
• Transmodification.
• Selective Breeding.
• Natural Selection.

Which areas of the world are most susceptible to desertification?

• Humid Equitorial Regions
• Temporal Chaparral
• Areas adjacent to the Poles.
• Areas adjacent to Existing Deserts.

No till farming will most likely lead to all of the following EXCEPT

• crop rotation.
• intercropping.
• planting herbicide-resistant crops.
• habitat creation for pest predators.