Overview: This is an exercise in food availability, land-use change, and global

Overview:
This is an exercise in food availability, land-use change, and global climate change (GCC), with a side-trip into culture and horticulture. You will focus on the production of one of our basic food supplies, one of our staple crops. We will discuss what we found to get a better idea of what to expect for several staple crops. With climate change, we will find that the range of many crops will shift, and we will have changes in how we grow crops, in how we use the land\’s surface to feed ourselves.
Objective:
Why does this exercise matter?
GCC will increase our food costs. Some of us will be inconvenienced by this, but others (including local populations and people across the globe) can\’t afford this cost increase. This is an important GCC effect on survival, conflict, migration, and stresses on individuals and their societies.
Select your own crop for study.
Pick a staple food source (crop) from the list below:
wheat
oats
rice
corn
potatoes
soybeans
cassava
Research your crop and report your results.
Each person researches THESE aspects of the crop:
how much of the crop is produced globally?
global growing distribution (where it is produced)
optimal soils(what major soil types are found where it is grown in the U.S.??)
major uses(how it is prepared as food in different places?)
optimum growing requirements (optimum rainfall and temperatures)
stresses (what are the characteristic weather patterns that stress the plant out?)
YOU find your own scientific articles on the expected future distribution of the crop, crop production, crop production shortages due to global climate change.
Keep Your Focus.
Then, you write an individual two or three-page paper (unique work) on how the crop is used, how it will be produced in the future under GCC conditions, and where crop production is distributed in the future. (Use your GCC research papers as your primary source. You can use other papers. However, your work needs to be your own.) Good things to know about your crop include:
How important is it for regional and global food production?
How is it used in common foods?
Is it also used in meat production (grazing, fattening, etc.)?
How many people use it in their diets, and how do they use it?
What production changes are expected in the future? How does climate change affect production?Will it be harder to grow? How and Why?
How will its growing range shift?
Will there be more feast and famine for this crop than at present due to weather variability?
What else did you find out that is worth knowing about your crop?
There is a Rubric for the paper, and I will use it to grade your work. Remember: You only have to address the contents in the format of the rubric. (I don\’t want you to do too much work!)
Use the papers you found on the climate change impact on the crop you are studying as the primary source for your report on climate change, and add other papers if needed.
The objective is to know more about one of the crops that sustain us, how and where it is grown, and whether or not we might have problems growing it in the future.
You may use a double-spaced, 12 point font, with at least two full pages of text, and references listed after the text. You will be using the APA format. (You do need to give credit to the authors, the publisher, and I have to be able to find the article. That is why we cite and reference.)
I am only grading for content, not grammar or spelling.
Keep It Brief. Keep It Yours.
Focus on two or three pages. This, you can do more easily. Keep focused on only a few sources, on a specific topic, on a summary, not a Master\’s Thesis. Find one or two pertinent scholarly papers, summarize the key points you need, report on it, and make sure you cite your work. (Use APA formatting in your in-text citations and after-conclusion reference list.) Count your relevant points of information, then shrink as necessary. Stop only when you are done.
This should be easy to do, and there are even books and online information resources on the topic. Just make your writing your own, and give others the credit for their sources. Cite their work. Take notes, brief, clear notes, and then work from them.
Grading Rubric:
Introduction and relevance of your crop: How much is made, why is it important, and what is it useful for.How important is the crop for regional and global food production? The Introduction establishes why the paper exists and is valuable.
Introduction of the paper topic (food supply), crop introduction, how much is made, why it is important, and what it is useful for. (5 parts, 10% of the grade)
Body Paragraph 1: What is your crop used for? Why does this crop matter?One paragraph: Present the crop in more detail. How is it used in common foods? Is it a protein, a starch, a nutrient source, or does your crop get eaten to produce animal proteins? (Is it also used in meat production: grazing, fattening, etc.)? Why does this particular crop matter?
How is it used, does it have protein, are there carbohydrates, is it a nutrient /vitamin source, and is it a feed crop? (5 parts, 10% of the grade)
Body Paragraph 2: How does GCC change yield and quality?GCC changes yields and crop quality for most foods. How have they been changed for your crop? What is specifically causing the yield declines?
Yield estimate change, crop quality, and regional yield loss causes are reviewed. (3 parts, 10% of the grade)
Body Paragraph 3: How does GCC change crop range?GCC changes crop ranges and may push crops into lands unsuited to the crop. How and why does this happen?
Looking for 3 points of information. The causes may include climate averages, extremes, soil difficulties or sea rise effects. (3 parts, 10% of the grade)
Conclusion: What crucial information did the body of the paper find?What did you find from the paper? Give 5 key points that the reader should remember that are presented in the body of your work.
Five key points must be from the body. (5 parts, 10% of the grade)
Include all in-text APA citations, (last name/short title, date, page#)In-text citations follow the material you used.
APA Citations are complete, cover all citations needed, and are not only URLs.
One excellent APA citation resource is the OWL APA citations at Purdue U.Links to an external site.
Include all full APA references: names, titles, orgs., dates, URLs, at the end of the paper.Use full APA references that fully identify each article used and how to find it. See the Owl APA references at Purdue U Links to an external site..
Complete refs of all needed citations, (all sources have full references, (10% of the grade)
Writing Success Resources: Please use them to help make your work better!
Suggestion: Outline the prompt. Craft your answers. Determine your work is complete.
Example: Notes and Essay Response Example: COVID-19 (Good and Bad Responses)
APA Citation Basics by the Online Writing Lab at PurdueLinks to an external site.
APA Reference Basics by the Online Writing Lab at PurdueLinks to an external site.
Thank you for your attention to detail!
Remember. You can do this! Thank you for your fine work.
Best wishes,