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ess SL > 5.2 terrestrial food production systems and food choices > Flashcards

5.2 terrestrial food production systems and food choices Flashcards

1
Q

what can happen through intensive farming methods

A
  • high use of fertilisers and pesticides can result in pollution of aquatic systems
  • irrigation can result in soil salinisation
  • high crop production can result in soil nutrient deficiency and soil degradation
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2
Q

what are two types of farms where they grow different things (plants vs animals)

A

arable farms
- produce crops such as cor
pastoral farms
- focus on growing animals
mixed farms
- both

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3
Q

what is the forming and levels of food production created dependent on?

A
  • environmental conditions
  • access to vehicles and technology
  • available financial funds
  • cultural and environmental value systems
  • government and political initiatives
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4
Q

what is intensive commercial farming

A

high inputs producing high yields

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5
Q

what is monoculture in terms of farming

A

when a farm specialises in growing a single crop

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6
Q

environmental impacts of intensive commercial farming

A
  • pesticides kill non-targeted organisms and reduce biodiversity - non-biodegradable chemicals such as DDT can bioaccumulate and biomagnify
  • fertilisers can result in nutrient runoff
  • loss of natural habitats
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7
Q

what are the most common reasons for food waste in higher income countries/lower income countries?

A

higher-income
- more food is bought than is needed, retail waste
- consumer level

lower-income
- inadequate infrastructure for storage, transportation etc.
- post-harvest storage, processing and transportation

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8
Q

is farming an open or closed system

A

open - exchanges matter and energy

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9
Q

what is crop rotation and why is it good

A
  • different groups of crops are grown each year
  • some crops require large amounts of nutrients and soil can become depleted
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10
Q

ecological causes of imbalance food distribution

A
  • Ecological: some climate and soils are better for food production
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11
Q

what is food security

A
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12
Q

what are the main reasons for the inequitable distribution of food in the global food system

A
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13
Q

socio-economic causes of imbalance of food distribution

A
  • Socio-political: underinvestment in rural area and rapid area in LEDC; poor human health weaken available labor force
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14
Q

economic causes of imbalance of food distribution

A
  • Economic: advance technology and money can overcome ecological limitation (transportation of water)
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15
Q

cultural factors influencing food production systems

A

religious impacts (eg most Hindus dont eat beef and Islam and Judaism forbid the consumption of pork)

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16
Q

political factors influencing food production systems

A

government subsidies to promote production of certain food types, or agricultural policies, which protect factors by preventing imports of different food types

17
Q

what is happening to land availability

A
  • decreasing in many places
  • partly due to pop. growth and urbanisation, using up productive land for human settlement
    -> industrial development, mining and the building of dams and roads
  • soil erosion and degradation reduces the quality of soil
  • makes amount of land available per person much lower now than in the past -> potential imapct on food production
  • use of land for production of biofuels rather than food crops
  • approx. 100m tonnes of grain are used for biofuels
    ->more grain is used for biofuel, less grain (and land) is used for the production of food or human use
18
Q

when does agribusiness occur

A

when food production is not to satisfy the community’s needs but is to ensure profitable return for capital investment

purpose: to maximise productivity and profit in order to compete in a global market

19
Q

main characteristics of agribusiness

A
  • large scale monoculture
  • intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides
  • mechanised ploughing and harvesting
  • food production geared to mass markets including export
20
Q

what is an ecological footprint

A

the area of land, in the same vicinity as the population, that would be required to provide all the population’s resources and assimilate all its wastes

21
Q

what is efficiency when referring to farming

A
  • producing more food over used land
  • less energy is wasted, less energy is lost to the environment
  • animals confined in small spaces
  • needed because of the growing population
22
Q

what are pros of efficiency when farming

A
  • cheaper
  • more produced
  • big profits
  • greater variety of food
23
Q

cons of efficiency when farming

A
  • sustainability issues
  • eutrophication
  • bioaccumulation
  • ethical issues
24
Q

why is bioaccumulation bad

A

because chemicals are collected and become larger in proportion through different trophic levels - bad for humans because they are at the top of the food chain

25
Q

example of commercial farming - and info

A

Australia
- commercial rice farming
- provides jobs
- needs a lot of water
- machinery is used
- made for profit - commercial
- feeds 2/3 of the world
- increases valuable economic growth

26
Q

example of subsistence farming

A

China
- purpose: for community
- conserving their heritage
- using fish to keep rice alive - pest control and nutrients
- more organic
- smaller farm

27
Q

what is subsistence farming

A

when farmers produce enough to feed their family with no sell for profit

28
Q

how have modern farming techniques lead to decrease in biodiversity / increased runoff polution

A
  • there are genetically modified crops that are grown to increase yields - this has an effect on wild populations if they cross pollinate with wild ones
  • synthetic fertiliser - eutrophication
29
Q

about how much water is wasted globally in growing crops that never reach the consumer?

A

about 550 billion cubic meters

30
Q

energy use: about how many calories of energy are required to produce on calorie of food?

A

7-10 (varies dramatically depending on the food)

31
Q

energy use: about how many calories are need for plant crops?

A

3

32
Q

use of antibiotics in intensive animal farming

A

because animals are kept tightly in a pen, disease can quickly spread through the farms

Antibiotics are use to keep animals healthy

this method has been criticised because it can lead to the emergence of antibiotic - resistant bacteria and therefore many scientists believe this practice should be limited to treating human infection

33
Q

what are LEDCs suffering from in terms of food inequality

A

undernourishment (their food intake does not contain enough energy)
malnutrition (their food intake lacks essential nutrients such as protein and minerals)
a child dies from hunger every 6 seconds
-10% increase in food prices can lead to 40m people in food poverty

34
Q

what makes food import more expensive

A

import tariffs imposed by MEDCs make the import of food more expensive which can have a knock on effect for exporting countries

35
Q

how is food production use in LEDCs

A
  • to generate foreign currency, especially from cash crops like sugar cane (emphasis on export -> more affected by global financial fluctuations like recessions)
    -> this leads to crops being used for export reasons only and not to feed the local population (eg Kenya, where vegetable crops end up in MEDCs at the expense of using this land to grow food for indeginious population)
36
Q

the environmental impacts of food production systems include

A
  • soil degradation from erosion
  • eutrophication from agricultural run off
  • pollution from insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers
  • loss of valuable habitats
  • disease epidemics from high density livestock and farming monoculture
37
Q

increased sustainability of food production can be achieved through

A
  • altering human activity - reduce meat consumption
  • planing buffer zones
  • increasing consumption of organically grown, seasonal and locally produced food products
  • improving accuracy of food labels to assist consumers in making informed food decisions
38
Q

how to calculate efficiency of a farm system

A

compare outputs (marketable product) to inputs (fuel, labour etc.) per unit area of land

ess SL (4 decks)

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