B6.2 Feeding the human race

Question 1

Describe some of the biological factors affecting levels of food security

Answer 1

Factors threatening food security:

• increasing human population
• changing diets - as people become more wealthy they tend to eat a more varied diet (tends to include meat which is more energy intensive to produce than plants)
• climate change - global warming will cause more droughts + cause deserts to expand. Although increase in atmospheric CO2 may lead to increasing yields of some crops
• new pests + pathogens may evolve
• agricultural costs are also increasing, and recent high oil prices have increased costs of storing + distributing food - these costs pass on to consumers. making some foods unaffordable for some people