5.2 terrestrial food production systems and food choices

Question 1

what can happen through intensive farming methods

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

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

Answer 2

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

Question 3

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

Answer 3

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

Question 4

what is intensive commercial farming

Answer 4

high inputs producing high yields

Question 5

what is monoculture in terms of farming

Answer 5

when a farm specialises in growing a single crop

Question 6

environmental impacts of intensive commercial farming

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

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

Answer 7

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

Question 8

is farming an open or closed system

Answer 8

open - exchanges matter and energy

Question 9

what is crop rotation and why is it good

Answer 9

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

Question 10

ecological causes of imbalance food distribution

Answer 10

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

Question 11

what is food security

Question 12

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

Question 13

socio-economic causes of imbalance of food distribution

Answer 13

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

Question 14

economic causes of imbalance of food distribution

Answer 14

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

Question 15

cultural factors influencing food production systems

Answer 15

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

Question 16

political factors influencing food production systems

Answer 16

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

Question 17

what is happening to land availability

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

when does agribusiness occur

Answer 18

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

Question 19

main characteristics of agribusiness

Answer 19

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

Question 20

what is an ecological footprint

Answer 20

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

Question 21

what is efficiency when referring to farming

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

what are pros of efficiency when farming

Answer 22

• cheaper
• more produced
• big profits
• greater variety of food

Question 23

cons of efficiency when farming

Answer 23

• sustainability issues
• eutrophication
• bioaccumulation
• ethical issues

Question 24

why is bioaccumulation bad

Answer 24

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

Question 25

example of commercial farming - and info

Answer 25

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

Question 26

example of subsistence farming

Answer 26

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

Question 27

what is subsistence farming

Answer 27

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

Question 28

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

Answer 28

- 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

Question 29

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

Answer 29

about 550 billion cubic meters

Question 30

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

Answer 30

7-10 (varies dramatically depending on the food)

Question 31

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

Answer 31

3

Question 32

use of antibiotics in intensive animal farming

Answer 32

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

Question 33

what are LEDCs suffering from in terms of food inequality

Answer 33

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

Question 34

what makes food import more expensive

Answer 34

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

Question 35

how is food production use in LEDCs

Answer 35

- 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)

Question 36

the environmental impacts of food production systems include

Answer 36

- 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

Question 37

increased sustainability of food production can be achieved through

Answer 37

- 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

Question 38

how to calculate efficiency of a farm system

Answer 38

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