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1 General Aspects of Food Production Problems GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD PROBLEMS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Hilgard O'Reilly Sternberg, Department of Geography, University of California The nature and geographic distribution of the Western Hemisphere's food problems are affected by countless disparate factors--physical, biotic, and cultural--that vary in relative importance from place to place. There is need for placing technical problems, such as those to be discussed in this meeting, within an environmental context. Ac- count should be taken here of the total environment, since the appli- cation of scientific advances to the production of food too frequently is prevented or slowed down by the social and economic components of specific milieus. Three themes dealing with the organization of the earth's surface for producing food are considered in this paper. The first theme is that of the danger of sweeping generalizations and unrepresentative averages in assessing the handicaps--and poten- tialities--of a region, in terms of primary production. To illustrate, consider the semiarid northeast of Brazil and the warm, wet lowlands of Amazonia. In effect, part of the northeastern backlands most harshly affected by individual droughts would not be classified as arid or even semiarid according to long-term climatic means; conversely, some stations having low average rainfall may be spared by even the most disastrous s&ca. As to Amazonia, the oneness of this region is a mental construct. In reality, it is made up of hundreds of thousands of tracts; the iden- tity of each tract is established by local topography, drainage, soils, and so on. Even if one makes no more than the elementary distinction between flood plains and uplands, striking contrasts will be noted be- tween tracts of great fertility, found in the former, and areas of very poor soils, which seem to make up a major part of the latter; the fact that all are subject to the same humid, tropical climate underlines the abstract nature of any generalized agricultural potential rating applied to the Amazon region as a whole. The second theme is that adequate appraisal of environmental po- tentialities is needed to avoid leapfrogging over areas suitable for food production or neglecting valuable indigenous sources of food. A possible example of easily accessible real estate thus far underesti- mated for agricultural purposes is the almost continuous strip of relatively flat, sedimentary uplands along the northeastern coast of Brazil. The soil of this belt, although low in fertility, is said to
2 present no problem that cannot be overcome with current agronomic tech- niques. Lying largely idle to this day, the coastal tablelands may well be a new and promising frontier for settlement. Land is not the only resource that has been bypassed in the New World. Many vegetal and animal sources of food used by the Amerind have been eliminated from contemporary dietaries or appear only as disdained relics. Examples include the hardy, protein-rich pseudocereals of the tropical cordil- leras (chenopods and amaranth), as well as several components of the flora of tropical plains and plateaus (e.g., peach palm, cashew tree, and the yellow variety of manioc). The third theme is man's role in increasing the limitations im- posed by environmental stress on food production. There is growing evidence that aboriginal populations have been present in the New World much longer and in far greater numbers than was commonly realized, and thus the distinction between natural and man-altered environments is blurred. Although it is true that irrigation has created oases in the deserts and drainage has made swampy areas into cropland, by and large the hand of man has lain heavy on the continent, and in terms of productivity of food, impoverishment of the environment appears to have outrun improvement.
3 AGRONOMIC PROBLEMS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Jose Guevara Calderon, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Chapingo, Mexico Most of the agronomic problems in the Western Hemisphere are de- rived from the economic and social development reached by each country. Canada and the United States are countries with fewer agronomic problems, and Latin American countries have plenty of problems. Shifting agriculture, monoculture, insect pests, diseases, weeds, low use of fertilizers, not enough systematic research, not enough exten- sion and credit--these and other problems are prevalent in Latin America. More work and cooperation are needed to alleviate them. Applied and basic research is among the most important programs. The study of the limitations on crop production under temperature and moisture stress will help the farmers in the near future.
