3.2 - Food production

Question 1

Name the inputs to an agricultural system:

Answer 1

physical - relief, soil, climate (precipitation, Sun)

human - labour, fertilisers, machinery

Question 2

Give some of the processes in an agricultural system:

Answer 2

-rearing (maintenance of animals)
-fertilising
-cultivating (loosening up the soil to raise crops)
-irrigating (supply water to crops)

Question 3

State some general outputs from an agricultural system:

Answer 3

-crops
-meat
-milk
-profit

Question 4

Name and describe the types of farming:

Answer 4

-commercial (to make profit)
-subsistence (to support family, usually in LEDCs/allotments)

-arable
-pastoral

-intensive (achieving maximum output from land using fertilisers/machinery)
-extensive (intensive but using lots of land)

Extensive and subsistence are not the same, as extensive still looks to make profit while subsistence does not.

Question 5

What physical factors affect agricultural land use?

Answer 5

-relief (steeper areas used as pasture rather than crops)
-temperature/sunshine to ripen crops
-precipitation
-growing season (length affects what crops are grown)
-soil thickness/fertility

Question 6

What human factors can affect agricultural land use? Name 5:

Answer 6

-tradition (some farms may only be used for a certain thing)
-transport (crop transport is cheaper than livestock)
-market demand
-cost
-farm size

Question 7

What kinds of agricultural systems can have a large impact on the environment?

Answer 7

-monoculture (reduces biodiversity)
-intensive (modifies ecosystem with lots of fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides)

-extensive too, even though it is less than intensive it still has an effect in terms of soil erosion and deforestation

Question 8

Define famine and its main cause:

Answer 8

-a serious food shortage causing death/illness

-the main cause of famine is drought

Question 9

State some natural and economical/political causes of food shortages:

Answer 9

natural
-droughts/floods
-tropical storms
-pests

economic/political
-low investment in farming
-transport difficulties
-war (more fighting, less people farming)

Question 10

How can the production of food be increased so that we don’t have a food shortage?

Answer 10

-intensification (greenhouses, fertilisers/pesticides/herbicides)
-mechanisation (tractors + combine harvesters)
-GM crops (^yield from disease/pest resistance)

-extensification (use more land)

Question 11

What are the pros and cons of mechanisation?

Answer 11

-^efficiency of workers and output (can cover larger areas)
-reduces labour costs

-expensive
-needs skilled workers to operate
-pollution issues (eg oil leaks)

Question 12

Define pasture and arable land:

Answer 12

-pasture is land where animals are kept

-arable land is where crops are grown