NATURAL RESOURCES AND

ENVIIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Envi. Mgt (second Semester SY:2019-2020)

Ms. Krizza Pearl Francisco-Ver

Part-time Instructor
College of Agriculture and Forestry
JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY SIOCON CAMPUS

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 a. Background/Overview of Agriculture

AGRICULTURE
•Also known as farming,
•The production of food, fiber animal feed, and other
goods by means of growing and harvesting plants and
animals.

Humans invented agriculture during the Neolithic

era, or the New Stone age, which occurred between
7000 and 10, 000 years ago

•It is practiced throughout the world, we use many

agricultural products everyday, from the clothes we put
on the morning to the sheets we sleep under at night.
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 a. Background/Overview of Agriculture
• When you think of agriculture, think of the 5 (five) F’s
Food Fabric Forestry Farming Flowers

The history of Agriculture begins in the Fertile Crescent. This

area of Western Asia comprises the regions of Mesopotamia and
Levant, and is confined by the syrian desert.

Agriculture is defined as the cultivation and exploitation of

animals, plants (including fungi) and other forms of organic life
for human use including food, fiber, medicines, fuel and anything
else.
It is, and has been since there was an agricultural market, one of
the largest employers of people..

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 a. Background/Overview of Agriculture
Even as technology changes, agriculture adapts
and could never become obsolete - even in a time
when it might conceivably be vastly different
from what it might have been at the dawn of
agriculture.
• After all, we are always going to need to increase
the number of crops we grow for food and for
clothing, dyes and oils, seed development and
engineering to cope with the growing needs of the
world's population, even if the picture is not as
bleak as the most conservative concerns might
suggest
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 a. Background/Overview of Agriculture
• Today, agriculture is as much a science
as an art. With a need to cope with the
growing needs of the planet's population,
and to find ways to keep producing food
and other crops as we expand into
marginal landscapes, and adapt to a
changing climate, changes in agriculture
practices, food technology and bio
technology will continue to be a big part
of human civilization.

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 Historical and Ecological Context of
Agriculture
• An Ecological History of Agriculture, 10,000
B.C.-A.D. 10,000 will be of special interest
to agriculturalists, agricultural historians,
anthropologists, geographers, and anyone
concerned with agriculture and its history.
• Population, environment, and energy are used
as three significant determinants of
agricultural systems. An Ecological History
of Agriculture covers the span of time from
the first known managed agriculture to an
uncertain future.
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 Historical and Ecological Context of
Agriculture
• Population, environment, and energy are
used as three significant determinants of
agricultural systems. An Ecological History
of Agriculture covers the span of time from
the first known managed agriculture to an
uncertain future. In a systematic manner, the
Interwoven is a global coverage of the
influence of population, environment, and
energy on agricultural systems as impacting
ecosystems of the tropics, dry lands, dry
summer lands, and humid temperate lands.
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 The Ecological Age

• “Sustainability” is the buzzword today as

we look to balance several conflicting
needs - to protect the environment and to
instigate practices that protects it while
providing for the growing needs of the
future population growth. Today, our food
supply feeds 7 billion people and there is
still enough surplus for more going
forward.

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 • We know though that some of these
practices have had an adverse effect on the
land. Too many trees are being cut down to
make way for agricultural land (livestock
and crops), and soils are becoming
exhausted quickly while destroying
ecosystems.

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 • There have been questions about the use of some
herbicides and pesticides and the last few
decades have seen many harmful substances
banned in North America and the EU. We are
still agreeing on global standards and trying to
redefine the parameters of what is agriculturally
and ecologically sound, catering to our crop
needs while not damaging it for future
generations. Agricultural technology may
possibly be on the verge of another revolution as
biotech moves to the forefront of agricultural
science.
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 Features of modern agriculture
10 features of modern agriculture:
1. Multiple Crops
2. Water Harvesting
3. Renewable Energy
4. High-tech Sensing Equipment
5. Own Weather Station
6. Connected to Apps
7. Farming Machines
8. Right Rice Varieties
9. Makes the Most Extremes Conditions
10. Natural Pesticides and Fertilzers
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 1. Multiple Crops
• "The irony is, rice farmers still buy their vegetables from the market," said
Barroga.
• In FutureRice, vegetables are planted along side rice, providing an alternative
source of income or more food for the farmer's family.
• Kangkong, sili, tomatoes, and eggplant grow from raised beds in a corner of
the rice field. The raised beds are covered in plastic or dried rice straw to
keep moisture in the soil and prevent weeds from growing. They also serve as
irrigation canals for the veggies.
• Aside from dedicated vegetable plots, farmers can choose to plant mung
beans during the two months between the rice-growing periods. Usually, rice
fields are left idle these two months. But planting mung beans that take only
30 days to grow ensures the land is still productive.
• Mung beans, like most leguminous crops, are also nitrogen-fixing, making
them the perfect way to pack the soil with nutrients right before the next rice-
growing season.
• Intercropping rice with vegetables is also a pest-management strategy
because the vegetable plots act as "breakers" to contain pests infesting rice
plants.
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 2. Water Harvesting
• With a dry spell affecting several provinces and climate
change a foot, water scarcity is a reality many farmers are
now facing.
• That's why it's not enough to depend only on irrigation
canals bringing water from dams to your farm. FutureRice
recommends digging ponds where farmers can store
excess water in preparation for particularly dry days.
• In the FutureRice farm, just enough water from the
government irrigation canals are collected in the ponds.
On days when the canals are dry, this water is circulated
around the farm.
• The pond at FutureRice is also equipped with kayaks and
small boats, doubling as an agritourism feature.

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 3. Renewable Energy
• Nothing goes to waste in farms of the future. Rice
hulls, usually thrown out by farmers, can be converted
into energy used to power farming equipment.
• A mobile gasifier system being developed by
FutureRice uses this biomass-sourced energy to power
water pumps to improve irrigation. It can also be used
to drive rice mills.
• If used alternately with the usual petrol fuels, this
system can save the farmer 37% to 44% in fuel cost
for irrigation.
• The FutureRice farm also boasts of solar-powered
lamps and bathrooms.

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 4. High-Tech Sensing Equipment
• One day, it may be normal for farmers to get a
text message saying the water level in their rice
paddies has reached a critically low level.
• With the same cellular phone, farmers can
command water pipes to release more water into
their thirsty rice fields.
• In FutureRice, such a device is already working.
A Field Water Monitoring System uses a ground
sensor to detect water levels. The device can even
be programmed to automatically activate water
pumps when it detects a certain water level.

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 5. Own Weather Station
• A Field Weather Monitoring Station detects wind
direction, air pressure, rainfall, temperature,
humidity, and moisture in the Future Rice farm. All
this information is sent to a government central
server every 30 minutes and eventually appears on a
website accessible to all.
• The data allows the farmer to make more precise
decisions regarding their crops, said Barroga.
• "If you notice the yield was low, you can look at the
data and discover that for two months there was
high wind velocity or low rainfall, both of which can
stress rice plants and affect their yield," he explained.

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 6. Connected to apps

• The dream is for farmers to be able to see every aspect of

their farms on a tablet or smartphone, said Barroga.
• Today, there are already apps customized to the needs of
farmers. Rice Crop Manager, a web and mobile-based app
developed by the International Rice Research Institute and
PhilRice, presents farmers with a set of questions about their
farm.
• When all the answers are inputed, the app will generate
recommendations on how the farmer can improve his yield.
For example, it will tell him when to apply fertilizer, how
much, and how often.
• As of 2014, some 200,000 farmers have received
recommendations from the app, Barroga said. His group aims
to introduce the technology to 500,000 farmers this July.

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 7. Farming Machines
• Farming equipment can significantly save
time, money, and labor. For instance, a
mechanical rice transplanter (machine used to
transfer rice seedlings onto a rice paddy) can
easily finish one hectare in one hour. Without
a transplanter, the same job would take an
entire day and would require 8 to 10 laborers.
• A single combine harvester can accomplish 3
tasks: reaping, threshing, and winnowing.
When let loose on one square kilometer, it
can do all this in 20 to 30 minutes.
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 8. Right Rice Varieties
• You can find all kinds of rice in the Future
Rice farm: aromatic, traditional, hybrids.
There are rice types that can withstand
climate change, such as rice that can
survive droughts or flood waters.
• The smart farmer will know the right rice
variety for them, whether their goal is to
sell great-tasting rice or to grow rice
despite extreme climatic conditions.

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 9. Makes the most of extreme conditions

• Flood-prone farm? No problem.

• FutureRice demonstrates how farmers can
plant vegetables on floating gardens made
out of a bamboo raft and plastic bottles.
This technique is also ideal for farming
communities that live near marshes or
rivers.

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 10. Natural pesticide and fertilizer
• The marigolds and pink blooms on the edge of the
rice fields are not just decoration. They are part of
an all-natural pest management system used by
Future Rice.
• Certain flowers, said Barroga, act as a refuge for
friendly insects – insects that eat the pests which
ruin crops. By keeping such flowers near rice
fields, farmers can ensure the presence of these
helpful insects.
• Another strategy? Let ducks loose in your farm.
The ducks trample on the weeds and eat pests like
snails, stem-borers, and leaf-feeders.
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 Positive Impacts of Modern Agriculture
1. Sustainable Agriculture
2. Conservation Tillage

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 1. Sustainable Agriculture
• is the idea that agriculture should occur in a way such
that we can continue to produce what is necessary
without infringing on the ability for future generations
to do the same.
• The exponential population increase in recent
decades has increased the practice of agricultural
land conversion to meet the demand for food which
in turn has increased the effects on the environment.
The global population is still increasing and will
eventually stabilize, as some critics doubt that food
production, due to lower yields from global warming,
can support the global population. Agriculture can
have negative effects on biodiversity as well.
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 • Organic farming is a multifaceted
sustainable agriculture set of practices that
can have a lower impact on the
environment at a small scale. However, in
most cases organic farming results in lower
yields in terms of production per unit area.
• Therefore, widespread adoption of organic
agriculture will require additional land to be
cleared and water resources extracted to
meet the same level of production.

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 A European meta-analysis found that organic farms tended to have higher
soil organic matter content and lower nutrient losses (nitrogen leaching,
nitrous oxide emissions, and ammonia emissions) per unit of field area but
higher ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions
per product unit. It is believed by many that conventional farming systems
cause less rich biodiversity than organic systems.
Organic farming has shown to have on average 30% higher species
richness than conventional farming. Organic systems on average also have
50% more organisms. This data has some issues because there were
several results that showed a negative effect on these things when in an
organic farming system. The opposition to organic agriculture believes that
these negatives are an issue with the organic farming system.
What began as a small scale, environmentally conscious practice has now
become just as industrialized as conventional agriculture. This
industrialization can lead to the issues shown above such as climate
change, and deforestation.

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 2. Conservation Tillage
• Conservation tillage is an alternative tillage method for farming
which is more sustainable for the soil and surrounding ecosystem.
[32] This is done by allowing the residue of the previous harvest's

crops to remain in the soil before tilling for the next crop.
Conservation tillage has shown to improve many things such as
soil moisture retention, and reduce erosion. Some disadvantages
are the fact that more expensive equipment is needed for this
process, more pesticides will need to be used, and the positive
effects take a long time to be visible.[32] The barriers of
instantiating a conservation tillage policy are that farmers are
reluctant to change their methods, and would protest a more
expensive, and time consuming method of tillage than the
conventional one they are used to.[33]
• Other specific methods include: permaculture; and
biodynamic agriculture which incorporates a spiritual element.
• Category: Sustainable agriculture
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 Positive and Negative Impacts of Modern
Agriculture
NEGATIVE IMPACT:
1. Climate Change
2. Deforestation
3. Genetic Engineering
4. Irrigation
5. Pollutants
6. Soil degradation
7. Waste
8. Issues by region
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 1. Climate Change
• Climate change and agriculture are
interrelated processes, both of which take
place on a worldwide scale
a. Global warming is projected to have
significant impacts on conditions affecting
agriculture, including temperature,
precipitation and glacial run-off.
Assessment of the effects of global climate
changes on agriculture might help to properly
anticipate and adapt farming to maximize
agricultural production.
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 2. Deforestation
• clearing the Earth's forests on a large scale
worldwide and resulting in many land
damages. One of the causes of deforestation
is to clear land for pasture or crops.
According to British environmentalist
Norman Myers, 5% of deforestation is due
to cattle ranching, 19% due to over-heavy
logging, 22% due to the growing sector of
palm oil plantations, and 54% due to
slash-and-burn farming.

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 3. Genetic Engineering
• Genetically modified food controversies are disputes over the
use of food and other goods derive from genetically modified
crops instead of conventional crops, and other uses of genetic
engineering in food production. The disputes involve
consumers, farmers biotechnology companies, governmental
regulators, non-governmental organizations,, and scientists.
• The key areas of controversy related to genetically modified
food are whether such food should be labeled, the role of
government regulators, the objectivity of scientific research and
publication, the effect of genetically modified crops on health
and the environment, the effect on pesticide resistance, the
impact of such crops for farmers, and the role of the crops in
feeding the world population. In addition, products derived
from GMO organisms play a role in the production of ethanol
fuels and pharmaceuticals.

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 4. Irrigation
Can lead to a number of problems:
• Among some of these problems is the depletion of underground
aquifers through overdrafting.
• Soil can be over-irrigated because of poor distribution uniformity or
management wastes water, chemicals, and may lead to water pollution.
• Over-irrigation can cause deep drainage from rising water tables that
can lead to problems of irrigation salinity requiring watertable control
by some form of subsurface land drainage.
• However, if the soil is under irrigated, it gives poor soil salinity control
which leads to increased soil salinity with consequent buildup of toxic
salts on soil surface in areas with high evaporation.
• This requires either leaching to remove these salts and a method of
drainage to carry the salts away. Irrigation with saline or high-sodium
water may damage soil structure owing to the formation of alkaline soil
.

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 5. Pollutants
• Synthetic pesticides such as 'Malathion', 'Rogor', '
Kelthane' and 'confidor' are the most widespread
method of controlling pests in agriculture.
Pesticides can leach through the soil and enter the
groundwater, as well as linger in food products and
result in death in humans and non-targeted wildlife.
• A wide range of agricultural chemicals are used and
some become pollutants through use, misuse, or
ignorance. The erosion of topsoil, which can
contain chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides,
can be carried away from farms to other places.

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 6. Soil Degradation
• is the decline in soil quality that can be a
result of many factors, especially from
agriculture. Soils hold the majority of the
world's biodiversity, and healthy soils are
essential for food production and adequate
water supply.
• Common attributes of soil degradation can
be salting, water logging, compaction,
pesticide contamination, a decline in soil
structure quality, loss of fertility, changes in
soil acidity, alkalinity, salinity, and erosion.
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 7. Waste
• Plasticulture is the use of plastic mulch in
agriculture. Farmers use plastic sheets as mulch to
cover 50-70% of the soil and allow them to use drip
irrigation systems to have better control over
soil nutrients and moisture. Rain is not required in
this system, and farms that use plasticulture are built
to encourage the fastest runoff of rain. The use of
pesticides with plasticulture allows pesticides to be
transported easier in the surface runoff towards
wetlands or tidal creeks. The runoff from pesticides
and chemicals in the plastic can cause serious
deformations and death in shellfish as the runoff
carries the chemicals towards the oceans.
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 8. Issues by Region
• The environmental impact of agriculture can vary
depending on the region as well as the type of
agriculture production method that is being used. Listed
below are some specific environmental issues in various
different regions around the world.
• Hedgerow removal in the United Kingdom.
• Soil salinisation, especially in Australia.
• Phosphate mining in Nauru
• Methane emissions from livestock in New Zealand. See
Climate change in New Zealand.
• Environmentalists attribute the hypoxic zone in the
Gulf of Mexico as being encouraged by nitrogen
fertilization of the algae bloom.
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 Issues and Concern in Agriculture
• Agriculture is dying. This is a sad reality of the
country.
• Agricultural land is being developed into
industrial areas, shopping malls and subdivisions.
Farmers are growing old and their children have
shifted into other careers. The agriculture industry
has not progressed in ages. Many of our
agricultural schools are producing office-oriented
workers who would much rather do paper work
than help improve the agricultural sector of the
country. Not to mention the many horror stories of
corruption at the Department of Agriculture.
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 • Even if the Philippines is primarily an agricultural
country, we have not done anything to ‘cultivate’
this sector. In the sixties, we were ahead in Asia.
Students from different countries came here to
study agriculture and its technology. But what
happened? They are now better than us.
Somehow, we lost in the race.
• Yes, we have been blessed with different kinds of
bodies of water, lands that are lush and fertile, and
a climate that is favorable in growing various
kinds of high valued crops and raising livestock,
poultry and other farm animals.
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 • But due to economic industrialization, this
industry has been challenged. Our
priorities have changed almost forgetting
our fundamental need for survival. And
according to reports, the agricultural sector
employs only 25.96 percent of the Filipino
workers as of November 2017. This is very
low compared to many countries who
prioritize and give more importance to it.

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 • Agriculture plays an important role in the country’s
economy. This is measured as the value added of the
agricultural sector as percent of GDP.
• According to the World Bank data from 1960 to
2016, the average value for the Philippines during the
period was 21.36 percent with a minimum of 9.65
percent in 2016 and a maximum of 31.06 percent in
1974. This shows a sad truth that the percent of GDP
(value added) contributed from the agriculture sector
continues to decrease. Although people still think of
the Philippines as an agricultural economy, strictly
speaking, and based on the data, this is not the case.

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 The farmers lack support, training and a moral boost.
• First, they lack basic skills in farming. Many are not
educated or are only elementary graduates.
• Second, good fertilizers, pesticides and seeds are
imported from other countries, making them very
expensive and unaffordable for the lowly farmer.
• Third, the government has not developed a good
infrastructure for farmers (i.e. farm-to-market roads,
irrigation system, drying facilities and milling centers,
etc.).
• Fourth, most of our farmers do not own the land they
till. They cannot maximize the use of the land that
results in low income.
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 And since they are just tenants, some landowners
require a 50-50 share of the product, thus leaving only
half of the produce to the farmers.
• Fifth, farmers have difficulty in financing their
farming endeavors due to the high rates of borrowing
institutions. And when harvest time arrives, the money
from the sale is only enough to pay their debts and
nothing is left for them.
• Sixth, farmers lack protection from the middlemen
who take advantage of their weaknesses. The
middlemen buy their products at a very low cost and
the Department of Agriculture always seems to be
turning a blind eye on these culprits.
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 • During the Innovation Olympics 2018 held at the 8
Waves Resorts in Bulacan last April, East-West Seeds
Philippines general manager Henk Hermans said that
farmers represent the second poorest sector in the country.
This has resulted in the young people’s disenchantment
in pursuing a career in agriculture.
He noted that the average age of Filipino farmers is 57-
59 years old and therefore there is a great need to
encourage the youth to engage in crop production to
ensure the country’s food security.
He also pointed out that our farming practices are outdated,
and majority of the farmers are reluctant to use modern
technology in farming, making their work labor intensive
and unsustainable.
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 • The government has recognized the
declining contribution of the agricultural
sector in the country’s GDP and this drop
in its performance is attributed to its
vulnerability towards extreme weather
events (drought and typhoons), infestations
(coconut scale insects), and poor adoption
of high-yielding varieties at the end of the
farmers.

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 The restricted crop production diversification of
farms particularly concentrating on rice, corn, and
sugarcane impedes the optimization of the land
potential.
Other longstanding issues such as the limited access
to credit and insurance, low farm mechanization and
inadequate postharvest facilities, inadequate
irrigation, limited support R & D, weak extension
service, ageing farmers, agrarian reform, limited
connection between production area and markets,
poor compliance with product standards, competing
land use, and weak institutions have also been
recognized. But we need action!
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 • The Philippine Development Plan for 2017-
2022 seeks to: expand economic opportunities
for those who are engaged in agriculture;
increase access to economic opportunities for
small farmers. Based on the legislative agenda,
the development plan supports the following
strategies to: abolish irrigation service fees for
small farmers; comprehensive Forestry Law and
delineation of Specific Forest Limits; amend the
revised chapter of the Philippine Crop Insurance
Corporation to increase capital stock; amend

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 • Presidential Decree No. 4 series of 1972 to
separate the regulatory and propriety functions
of the National Food Authority; amend the
Agriculture Tarrification Act of 1996; provide
guidelines for the utilization of coco levy fund;
pass the National Land Use Act to protect prime
agricultural lands; and genuine and
comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program to
distribute for free without amortization
agricultural lands to landless farmers and
agricultural workers (NEDA, 2017). So, what
gives?
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 • Last year the Department of Agriculture
had a budget allocation of P46 billion. This
year the budget is P60.6 billion. Next year,
it is expected to go up to P124 billion. Yes,
the DA has the budget but they don’t seem
to have the brains and the balls to get
things going. They continue to point
fingers on the past administrators.
Evergriculture Secretary has a reason for
the season. Sanamagan! Just do it!

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 • UPLB Center for Technology Entrepreneurship
executive director Glenn Baticados said that
agriculture today is more than just a farmer simply
planting a crop, growing livestock, or catching fish.
He said, “It takes an ecosystem and several actors to
work together to produce and deliver the food we
need.
– It is this dynamic and complex ecosystem that will
equip agriculture to cope with the competing
challenges of addressing food safety and food
security, creating inclusive livelihoods, mitigating
climate change ay And sustainably managing
natural resources.”
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 • Agriculture constitutes the foundation of
food security. As such, it is imperative that
all concerned bodies work together,
innovate continuously, collaborate in
research and development to meet future
challenges in agriculture.

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