GEOGRAPHIES OF SUSTAINABLE FOOD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

GEOGRAPHIES OF SUSTAINABLE FOOD - Essay Example The global food print has risen sturdily over the years. In 1961, 27% of the earth’s biosphere had been used up by the global food system (Deumling, Wackernagel and Monfreda 1). Currently, 40% of the earth’s biologically productive area is under the global food system or 47%, if non-edible crops (such as tobacco) or unharvested crops are included (Deumling, Wackernagel and Monfreda 2). Infrastructure and urban growth utilizes the additional productive land, while also exerting pressure on existing ecosystems. In fact, expanding food production to new and less productive marginal lands is not a sustainable option in the long term. Bringing the global food print in line with the earth’s biosphere capacity is the only sustainable solution to the current unsustainable global food system (Deumling, Wackernagel and Monfreda 1). Three major revolutions have changed agricultural production in the fullness of time. The initial revolution concerned the growth of sow agricu lture and the utilization of animal muscle to increase arable land. The next revolution occupied the more advance of technologies, such as enhanced yokes for extra organized animal labor, fertilizers application, and improvement of drainage systems; at the same instant, the industrial revolution began. The third revolution was distinguished by numerous innovations; food manufacturing chemical agriculture and automation. The last revolution laid the base for the agricultural industry, transforming agriculture from the farm to the entire practice of developing high yielding hybrids, as well as food transport to the user, developing an agro-commodity manufacture scheme (Knox and Marston 266). Biotechnology is a new phenomenon in agriculture. Enthusiasts on the one hand suggest that production expenses reduce when biotechnology is utilized in farming, handling matters of environmental deterioration, chemicals misuse, and soil exhaustion. All together, Biotechnology worries a number of c ritics who argue that the circulation of Biotechnology resides in the selected parts of the world, with its advantages never benefiting the consumer. Biotechnology seeks to transform farming, making several farming practices outdated (Knox and Marston 298). What are the main challenges currently confronting our global food system? The current global food system was popular until late in the 20th century. More food was produced than before, more cheaply and with a measure of safety, assortment, quality, and ease that previous generations would find puzzling (Wilson 1). Hunger seemed to be a thing of the past. Currently however, the global food systems seem to promote overconsumption and scarcity, at the same time shrinking the earth’s ability to produce food in future. (Wilson 2). Aligning the global food print with the earth’s biosphere capacity is the major challenge facing the current global food system. The global food print is comprised of four primary components, these are cropland. Pasture, energy, and fisheries. Understanding patterns of bio-capacity consumption by each of these sectors enables easier and specific targeting of these consumption areas of the global food print (Deumling, Wackernagel and Monfreda 2). The cropland footprint has gradually increased with the world population. Intensified

Contracting and Procurement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contracting and Procurement - Essay Example The second type of contract is the cost-reimbursement contract wherein all incurred costs that lie with a pre-determined ceiling are agreed to be paid. 1. Hiring of technicians to install and configure the software for a particular environment is indeed a critical task. While hiring people for this purpose, it is very much necessary that, the individual is assessed on different parameters which would help determine if that particular person has the capability and knowledge of how to configure and install softwares. It would be an added advantage if the person has a prior experience in the particular task. The type of contract that can be pursued for such kind of purposes can be a cost reimbursement category contract. In the cost reimbursement contract type, specifically a cost type or cost-plus-incentive-fee contract can be opted for (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2008). In these types of contracts payments of all incurred costs which range within a predetermined total estimated cost are paid to the people who are hired. 2. Whenever a training entity is hired for the purpose of teaching Project Management students about the techniques of using the newly installed software, it would definitely be for a particular duration, for instance a stipulated number of days or months. Cost sharing contract is the appropriate choice for such tasks. In a cost sharing contract, both the parties involved in the contract share or agree to split the cost of performance. In this case, it can be said that the company would agree to provide the required infrastructure and the trainer who is being hired for the purpose of training would agree to supply the course curriculum and instruction manuals etc. 3. Buying a new server and software to run the tool and house the project database involves identifying and locating both hardware and software. Identifying both hardware and software service providers involves market research. If a market research is done, then obviously various quotes would be obtained from different vendors from which the company would select the best optimum vendor depending on the quote and place the order. These kinds of contracts can be executed by cost reimbursement contracts and in this specifically, cost-plus-fixed-fee. According to the Cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts, all incurred costs are paid apart from a fixed fee which is not supposed to change all through the contract. 4. Hiring tool usage experts to transfer knowledge to the student PMs about the use of the tool on the job for the first 60 days after going "live" clearly states that it is for a stipulated period i.e. for 60 days. Here, the hiring of an individual is done for a particular time period. Hence, in this case it would be appropriate that the person is hired on the basis of an hourly rate i.e. a particular amount for the number of hours worked. The type of contract that can be pursued in this case would be cost type contract in which payments of all incurred costs which range within a predetermined total estimated cost are paid to the people who are hired. 5. Plan for the removal and disposal of the no longer to be used scheduling tool software and hardware also falls into the same category as to where a person is hired for the installation of the software. The person who