Lesson video

Hello, geographers.

Welcome to the lesson.

Today's lesson is all about sustainable food production.

So we're gonna be thinking about how do we produce the food we need to eat to survive whilst looking after the environment for future generations.

And we're gonna be picking up on a local-scale example as well in Bangladesh.

So shall we make a start? And our outcome is as follows, I can explain how sustainable strategies can increase food supply while protecting the environment for future generations, and use a local-scale example.

So I hope you can say that by the end of the lesson.

We have some keywords today, and the first is sustainable food supply, this is when food is produced in ways that avoid damaging natural resources, provide social benefits, and contribute to local economies.

Organic farming is food grown without the use of artificial chemicals, such as fertilisers and pesticides.

Permaculture is a system of farming based upon or directly using patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems, such as increased biodiversity and intercropping.

Urban farming is the growing of crops and the raising of animals in towns and cities, which includes the processing and distributing of food, as well as the collecting and reusing of food waste.

Now, our lesson about sustainable food production breaks down into two key questions.

So our first one is, how can food be produced more sustainably? And then we have this question, can growing sandbar crops help in Bangladesh? So we're gonna make a start on that first question then, how can food be produced more sustainably? Now, what do we mean by sustainable? The definition of sustainable development that we had from the Brundtland Commission in 1987 is as follows, it meets the needs the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Now, sustainability is generally seen as having three different elements, so the economy, the environment, and the society.

And those elements may be envisaged in different ways.

Here, I've got three different diagrams, helping us to imagine what we mean by sustainability.

But notice that all three show these three elements, economy, environment, and society, as being inextricably linked to one another.

So sustainable food production has got to be something that not only is good for the economy and jobs, but also good for us and the environment level.

In the 21st century, there's a move towards sustainable strategies to increase food supply.

And here we have an icon linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

I have no doubt you're familiar with that.

Now, the Sustainable Development Goal 2 is phrased as end hunger.

So the aim is to end hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

A sustainable food supply is when food is produced in ways that avoid damaging natural resources, provide social benefits, and contribute to local economies.

So we've got those three elements there.

So sustainable food production, what does that look like in practise? Well, we've got organic farming, sustainable sources of fish and meat, permaculture, seasonal food consumption, and urban farming, and then, finally, reduced food waste and losses.

So we're gonna have a look at those six strategies in turn today.

Organic farming then, first of all, organic farming involves the use of farmyard manure, dung and straw, or bone meal as fertiliser.

And we can see the use of manure in that picture.

It might also involve crop rotation, with each field cycled through different crops over time, often one of those including a legume, which might be ploughed into the soil as green manure.

Either way, it's used to fix nitrogen into the soil naturally.

Organic farming also involves encouraging insects to prey on pests, such as aphids, that might otherwise eat a crop.

And also organic farming involves high standards of animal welfare, for example, those animals might have easy access to the outdoors to graze or forage.

What organic farming does not involve therefore is the use of artificial pesticides or fertilisers, genetically-modified ingredients or feeds, and routine use of antibiotics.

And that image there is one that we would not see on an organic farm.

Sam asks, "If farmers can't use artificial chemicals on their crops, does that mean there's less to harvest on organic farms?" Well, that's the key controversy here, isn't it? Because organic farming is less intensive, meaning the amount of food produced per hectare is less.

This is why organic food may be more expensive than food produced using artificial fertilisers and pesticides.

So true or false, organic food may be more expensive than food produced using artificial fertilisers and pesticides? So this is a check for you, and I want you to decide whether that's true or false.

But remember, in a moment, I'm going to need you to explain why.

So pause the video now, and restart it when you have an answer.

And if you said, "That's true," what was your explanation? Ours is as follows, this is because organic farming is less intensive, meaning the amount of food produced per hectare is less.

Now, we could debate, I suppose, about organic farming and whether it's actually looking to protect the future of the soil.

So perhaps it's about cost in the longer term.

But here, we're just thinking in the short term.

Permaculture mimics aspects of natural ecosystems. Now, have a look at that image.

What's going on in that image in the way of permaculture? So it's an example of intercropping, where we've got companion planting, meaning cultivating different plants in close proximity with benefits, such as better soil protection, fewer weeds, and better pest control and pollination, given the improved habitat for insects, the clue's in the name, permaculture.

So it's almost permanently covered by one plant structure or another, protecting it from erosion.

And as a result, we see increased food production.

So this is a major benefit to permaculture.

Urban farming is the growing of crops and the raising of animals in towns and cities.

Such initiatives include the processing and distributing of food to minimise waste and address food poverty.

And of course, that's an issue for some cities in the UK today.

The collecting and reusing of food waste to create compost for next year's harvest.

And urban sites may require specific farming techniques to cope with the previous contamination of land.

Here, we have a photograph of raised beds, so food being produced in containers or raised beds, which avoids contamination, which might have been linked to perhaps the industrial use of land in the past here in Amsterdam.

Urban farming sites are often community spaces, so thinking about the social aims as well as those economic aims, I suppose.

For example, reconnecting families with where their food comes from, supporting and integrating vulnerable groups, including young people, the disabled, unemployed, or ex-prisoners.

And if we think about a UK example, the city of Bristol has a wide range of urban farming projects that create jobs and opportunities to volunteer.

Here, we've got a photograph, it's a sign from the site managed by Edible Bristol, which supports the creation of edible gardens in marginalised areas of the city.

Sounds like a really good idea.

What about fish then? Our seas and oceans need protection given the change in the technology used to catch fish.

Now, how do we catch fish these days? Well, here are three different techniques, we've got longline fishing, bottom trawl, and gillnets.

Modern fishing methods like longlines, deep-sea trawling, and gillnets catch large amounts of fish, but also result in high bycatch, which is the catching of non-target fish and other life.

Of course, this is waste, it's gonna be thrown back into the sea, potentially it'll be dead when it's thrown back.

Harming marine ecosystems ultimately limits the supply of fish to eat.

This is a problem, isn't it, in terms of sustainability? Using pole and line method is more sustainable.

It's a one particular and more sustainable method because it has a very low bycatch.

So target fish, such as tuna, are caught one at a time.

And perhaps you've seen that on your tin of tuna, caught by pole and line.

So small bait fish are scattered onto the surface of the water, and it creates the illusion of a school of fish, which target species can prey on.

But we can see that there's a fish caught per line.

The Marine Stewardship Council's blue ecolabel enables consumers to buy fish caught using a method that leaves more fish in the sea and harms fewer marine animals.

So another thing to look out for in the supermarket.

Also, quotas are involved in sustainable sourcing of fish, so that quotas are put on the amount of different fish caught in the UK and EU waters, which help to ensure specific fish stocks are not depleted.

Ensuring the preservation of the ocean's biodiversity also secures livelihoods for coastal communities for the future.

So there's lots of different reasons why we should be looking after our oceans.

Fish farming can also produce food sustainably.

It relieves pressure on wild fish populations and provides jobs in coastal communities.

That's a sort of alternative approach.

But there are concerns over pollution from fish farms, including leaking waste and uneaten feed, leading to algal blooms in surrounding waters.

So not a kind of problem-free technique of food production.

Now, greenhouse gas emissions, when we think about, "Is our food sustainable," often, we are thinking about the carbon footprint of food, aren't we? Let's have a look at that bar graph.

It's quite an interesting one.

We've got different types of food down the side there, and we've got the amount of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogramme of the food in terms of a carbon equivalent.

And it actually looks like the bars are broken down in terms of the different activities that contribute to the carbon footprint of that food.

So we've got land use change and the actual process of farming, which appear to be the major ways that carbon emissions are generated compared to, say, transportation to you and I, and retail, which we might be focused on.

So what does this bar chart show? If you were to compare a few foods, what would you say? Well, beef and lamb are the foods with the highest carbon footprint.

And eating pork and chicken is associated with far fewer carbon emissions.

But these foods are still associated with more emissions than say eggs or fish.

So something to consider if you're thinking about the carbon footprint of your diet.

How sustainable is meat production? I mean, just in general, that's a fair question, isn't it? Well, Andeep says, "It may not be very sustainable, as cows and sheep burp methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas." And that's a good point, isn't it? What are farmers doing about that problem in terms of cows and sheep? Well, pigs and poultry, for example, I've already mentioned, they're non-ruminant livestock, and they do not produce methane as other farm livestock do, making the production of chicken and pork more sustainable.

So we've touched on that already, haven't we? But also if we think about the cows and sheep, there have been trials of feed additives to reduce methane production in dairy herds and those are underway in the UK.

Canadian farmers are breeding cows that are genetically selected for fewer methane emissions, and this is a world first.

So this is a concern for farmers, and it's something they're working on.

Seasonal food production and consumption, this is another sustainable approach.

And Sophia asks, "What's sustainable about eating seasonal foods?" You know, what's sustainable about eating strawberries in the summer in the UK? Eating local food in season means fewer food miles, so fewer greenhouse gas emissions, touching on what we were just talking about.

It also supports local jobs where you live, so I was thinking about the contribution of farming and food production to society.

And it creates less food waste because it hasn't got to be stored and transported, I suppose.

It might provide greater nutritional value for you, and tastier too.

So lots of good reasons why seasonal food consumption is worth getting involved in, as well as being sustainable.

Eating according to the local seasons means less energy used to produce food, for example, in heated glasshouses.

That's another interesting observation also.

Check for you here then.

True or false, eating local seasonal food only benefits the environment, is that true or false?` And I need to have an explanation on that.

So pause the video now.

And if you said, "False," what was your explanation of why? We had, although it does reduce the carbon emissions associated with transporting food long distances, it also supports local farmers and economies, and it's often more nutritious, which benefits the consumer too.

Well done on that one.

Now, reducing food losses and waste.

6% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food losses and waste.

Food losses in low-income countries can be reduced with training and investment in best practise processing.

So we need to know how best to dry the crops and to store them to avoid the losses.

Farm-stage food losses in newly emerging economies and high-income countries also occur and are the result of agricultural overproduction, and the result, the resulting, sorry, fall in food prices.

All quite shocking.

Food waste per capita.

Let's have a look at this.

So we've got a bar graph here, it's a divided bar graph, where we're looking at different parts of the world, and we've got there food waste per capita, so per person, broken down in terms of the contribution of retail or shops, out-of-home consumption, so I guess that's restaurants and things, and then household waste.

Household waste looks quite large, doesn't it? Household food waste is highest in each country shown.

Generally, retail is lowest for food waste, except in Indonesia, so that's our exception.

Out-of-home consumption, e.

g.

, restaurants and cafes waste, is the highest in the USA.

So there's a geography to food waste.

Strategies to reduce food waste, that full bin, include improving consumer awareness of how to store fresh produce using the fridge, of course, for some of your fruit like apples.

Improve food labelling by producers, so that more food has no date on it, or it just has a best before, avoiding that used by date.

We need to ensure retailers sell fruit and vegetables loose, unpackaged, so that shoppers can only buy what they need.

And involve community groups, for example, community fridges that distribute short-life food at low or no cost to low-income groups.

Good way to use food that would otherwise be wasted.

If food waste was a country, it would have the third-highest carbon footprint after the USA and China.

Pretty shocking stuff.

Check for you here.

Which the following help to reduce food waste? So read through those options A to D, and restart the video when you have an answer.

And if you said, "A, B, and C all help to reduce food waste," you'd be absolutely right.

Selling only packaged fruit and vegetables does not help, because we need to enable consumers to buy only what they need.

Task for you here.

So grab a pen.

Using this bar chart, compare the greenhouse gas emissions associated with different types of meat.

Secondly, using the information in this image of a jam jar and your own knowledge, suggest three aims of urban farming initiatives.

So that's an interesting one, isn't it? So I suggest you pause the video now and restart it when you've had a go at questions one and two.

Okay, how did we get on? Firstly, we need to use the bar chart to compare the greenhouse emissions of different types of meat.

And your answer might include something like this, "Beef has more than twice the emissions of lamb.

Lamb, in turn, has more than three times the emissions associated with pork, four times the emissions of chicken per kilogramme." Did you have something like that? Well done if you did.

Secondly, we had to use the information of the jam jar or chuney jar and your own knowledge to suggest three aims of urban farming initiatives.

Remember, you've got to use both of those sources.

Urban farms aim to provide fresh, nutritious food for the local community, improving food security.

Urban farming involves local people in the growing and preserving of food, and create shared spaces where people can work, learn, and connect with each other, improving their mental health.

So that comments like, "Using the label on that chuney jar," isn't it? Urban farming helps encourage composting and waste reduction using wonky veg, and turns unused urban spaces into green areas that support by diversity.

It aims to reduce the environmental impacts of farming.

So, again, we're using, we're quoting from that label of the chutney.

So what I like about that answer.

We've got brought in our own knowledge, but we've also used the figure.

Okay, well done on that.

Let's have a look at our second question.

Can growing sandbar crops help in Bangladesh? Extreme poverty affects far fewer people today than in the year 2000, when about one in three people globally lived below the poverty line.

By 2022, in Bangladesh, the share of people living in extreme poverty was a quarter of the share of its population that was affected in 2000.

Now, here's Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has a human development index of 0.

673.

It's deemed by the United Nations as having a level of human development at the level medium.

For context, the UK's human development index score was 0.

94, deemed as having very high human development.

So what we're gonna look at is a local example in Bangladesh where we are looking at how to address poverty and do it in a sustainable way.

Quick check for you first.

True or false, since the year 2000, the share of people living in extreme poverty in Bangladesh has increased, is that true or false? Now, remember, I'm gonna need an explanation about why.

So pause the video, have a think, and then restart it when you've got an answer.

And if you said, "False," what was your explanation? This was ours, the share of people living in extreme poverty in Bangladesh is a quarter of what it was in the year 2000, though still still stands, sorry, at 8%.

So it's still room for improvement in terms of reducing the number of people surviving on very little.

In the north of the country, Rangpur division, is a region with a human development index score of 0.

641.

By comparison, the capital region, Dhaka, had a human development index of 0.

756.

So this is Rangpur in the north there of Bangladesh.

And a couple of other labels to the map here, because we're gonna be focusing in on some of the regions that are shaped by rivers.

The Tista River is a major watercourse flowing through the Rangpur region.

It's a tributary of the Jamuna, one of the three major rivers of Bangladesh.

The Tista is a river with its source in the Eastern Himalayas.

And you can see on my map, I've located also Rangpur city, which I'm gonna mention later on, which is a city within the region of Rangpur.

So just remember about that.

Now, it looks to me that the Tista is joining a major river here, and that's right.

In the Rangpur region, the Tista actually flows into the Jamuna River.

And look at that aerial view of the river here.

It's got a particular shape to it, hasn't it? It looks very much braided.

It looks like it's got islands within it.

North of the city of Rangpur, the channel of the Tista River is wide and braided when monsoon flood waters recede.

Islands emerge at times of lower flow.

And this land is known in Bangladesh as the Char.

As we zoom in, rows of crops become visible on this river island.

Cultivation of the Char is difficult given the risk of flooding, and the infertility of the silty, sandy soils of such sandbars.

But it is giving an opportunity to the poorest.

And if we have a look using the Geography Visualizer, we can measure the area of this sandbar.

So it's actually only 0.

13 of mile square, a square mile, sorry.

So it's a limited area of land, and also it's a temporary area of land because we know flood waters will rise again.

But it offers an opportunity to the poorest in society, who may have no other land to cultivate.

So what happened next? UK charity, Practical Action, has worked with communities in Rangpur to produce pumpkins on the Char.

So this is a UK charity that provided training to local farmers, and the local farmers really ran with this project.

Holes are dug in the sandy residue left by the flooding, they're filled with manure and compost, then pumpkin seeds and crops are planted, and are able to grow because of the technique that they've used.

"I never believed that pumpkins can grow in the sandy lands.

We made the impossible a possible one," says Rekha Begum, a farmer who was involved in the project.

Pumpkins are beneficial to local communities, as they provide a high yield.

They're packed full of health benefits therefore in terms of nutrition, and can be stored for up to a year, so people have a crop to eat and also sell.

Practical Action has supported farmers to gain tenure of sandbars longer term and create better markets for them to sell their produce in.

So this is a kind of wider project of support.

But clearly, the Bangladeshis have done the work.

The government wants to replicate this pumpkins against poverty model throughout the country, helping to reduce hunger and increase the income of the poorest people.

We have another quote here, that, "My family are healthy now.

Before, they used to suffer with fever and diarrhoea.

This year, I produced 600 pumpkins.

I bought a cow from my income and sell milk at the market.

I can now afford a tutor for my children." And this is a quote from Anwar Ul Islam, a farmer in UR Rangpur.

So a huge success, multiple benefits, not only nutrition.

Check for you here.

How is sandbar farming sustainable in Bangladesh? Have a read through those options, pause the video, and restart it when you think you have an answer.

And if you said, "Well, A, B, and D are all linked to sustainability," you'd be absolutely right.

So pumpkins can be stored for up to a year, giving it longevity, makes use of land that was very unproductive, so it's bringing more land into production, and it provides nutritious food and an income source for families, for the poorest families.

Check, sorry, task for you here, please grab a pen.

Question one, complete the table below to summarise how growing sandbar crops has helped in Bangladesh.

So what is sandbar farming? Why is it suitable in Bangladesh? Thinking about the environment, therefore.

What crops are grown? And what are the benefits? Secondly, do you think sandbar farming is a sustainable solution in Bangladesh? Explain your answer.

So that one's gonna involve a little bit more thinking about.

And I look forward to reading your answer.

So pause the video now and restart it when you've had a go at those tasks.

How did you get on? Your table might include something like this.

So what is sandbar farming? Well, sandbar farming is a method of growing crops on silt-covered islands that appear within rivers following seasonal flooding.

Farmers dig small pits of the sand and fill 'em with compost or soil to plant the seeds.

Why is it particularly suitable in Bangladesh? Well, Bangladesh experiences regular flooding, which can destroy farmland.

After the water recedes, however, sandbars are left behind.

These were once useless, but Practical Action's technique turns them into productive land, helping poor families grow food and generate an income.

What crops are grown? Well, in this instance, it was pumpkins.

What are the benefits? It provides food for families and creates income from selling crops.

It makes use of land that was previously unused.

It's low-cost, easy to set up, and environmentally friendly.

So multiple benefits there.

Well done on completing that task.

Let's have a look at the second task then.

Do you think sandbar farming is a sustainable solution in Bangladesh? And you need to explain your answer.

So your answer might include the following, "Sandbar farming is a sustainable solution for Bangladesh, especially in rural areas affected by flooding.

It makes use of land that was previously unused, the sandbars that appear after rivers flood.

Poor families can grow crops like pumpkins with simple tools and at low cost, helping to reduce hunger and poverty." So we think about sustainability, we're touching on that social side of it, aren't we, as well as in terms of the economic side, providing food and and income.

"It's also environmentally friendly, as it doesn't require chemical fertilisers or large machinery powered by fossil fuels." A good point on the environmental side.

"However, it is seasonal and may not work in every region.

It also depends on support from NGOs like Practical Action for initial training and tools." But clearly, that project could be replicated ongoingly within the country.

So that's interesting, isn't it? We've got a kind of, generally, yes, it is a sustainable solution, but there's perhaps a question about whether it can be sustaining people year-round.

And also we've got a question about whether it still involves support from that NGO or not.

So if you've got a detailed answer like that that's touching on different aspects of sustainability, you've done a great job.

So in summary, what have we covered today? There's a move towards sustainable strategies to increase food supply, supporting people and the economy, while protecting the environment for future generations.

Sustainable strategies include organic farming, permaculture, urban farming, seasonal, sorry, food consumption, and reduced waste and losses.

Around 9% of people in Bangladesh live in extreme poverty, without enough food to eat.

And sandbar cropping in Rangpur, northern Bangladesh, is a local-scale example of how sustainable supplies of food can be increased in this newly emerging economy.

And we've got our diagram there showing what sustainability means.

We've gotta balance up the economy, the needs of the environment, of course, which needs to be protected for future generations and society.

So well done on those tasks.

I think particularly that last explained task was quite a tricky one.

So well done, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.