Food Production Flashcards
What do we need to do with food production due to our growing population?
Increase its efficiency
What are the three ways of improving efficiency of food production?
Reduce the number of stages in the food chain
Restrict the energy lost by farm animals
Develop new food sources like mycoprotein
How will reducing the number of stages in the food chain improve the efficiency of food production?:
- Why should this be done?
- So what should be done with farm land?
- However some people… . And sometimes…..
Every time you go up a stage in the food there will be less energy and biomass
It should be used to grow crops rather than grazing animals because you reduce the number of food chain stages. Only 10% of what beef cattle eat becomes edible meat.
People need to eat a balanced diet (protein) and there’s still a lot of demand for meat products. Also some land is unsuitable for growing crops, like moorland or hill sides. In these places animals like sheep and deer would be the best way to get food from the land.
How will restricting the energy lost by farm animals improve the efficiency of food production?:
How is this done?
Why?
This means that…
In countries like the UK, pigs and chickens are often intensively farmed, kept close together indoors in small pens so that they’re warm and can’t move about.
It saves them wasting energy on movement, and giving out energy as heat. This makes the transfer of energy from animal feed to the animal more efficient. So the animals will grow faster on less food, saving land.
The farmer produces the meat cheaper and therefore it can be bought for less.
How will developing new food sources like mycoprotein improve the efficiency of food production?:
What does micoprotein mean?
What is it used for?
What is the main source of this food and where is it grown? How is its food made?
How does the …. produce Mycoprotein?
How is the Mycoprotein and its food kept clean? (3)
Finally….
Protein form fungi
To be a meat substitute for vegetarians, e.g Quorn
A fungus called Fusarium is grown in fermenters using glucose syrup as food. The glucose syrup is obtained by digesting maize starch with enzymes.
The fungus respires aerobically so O2 is supplied with nitrogen as ammonia, to form the proteins, and other minerals.
To prevent other microorganisms growing in the fermenter it is sterilised before use using steam. The incoming nutrients are heat sterilised and the air supply is filtered.
The mycoprotein is harvested and purified.
Describe what the mycoprotein fermenter looks like.... The container and surroundings... Inlets (3) Outlets (2) The mixture....?
A large vat is supported by a water cooled jacket.
Microorganisms go in via one tube at the top next to another tube for food, at the bottom air goes in via that tube.
One tube the gases flow out of at the top, at the bottom the product is squeezed out of.
Paddles on a rod are in the mixture and stir it.
What are the advantages for making mycoproteins? (4)
Developing countries struggle to find enough protein as their animals need a lot of space to graze but also lots of grass
Grown in a fermenter it is a very efficient way of producing protein to feed people as it doesn’t take up farm land. (expect for the maize for the glucose)
The microorganisms grow very quickly and don’t take up much space
They can feed on waste material that wouldn’t be any good for feeding animals.
Why is improving the efficiency of food production useful? (3)
It means cheaper food for the public
… a better standards of living for the farmers.
It helps to feed the increasing population
Why is improving the efficiency of food production argued against?
Intensive farming methods are harsh to the animals
What are some disadvantages of improving the efficiency of food production for the animals in intensive farming? (5)
- Some people think that… so there is a …
- In factory farms ….
- What happens to protect the animals and how is this bad?
- What’s bad for the environment?
- How are the fish affected?
- Forcing animals to live in uncomfortable and unnatural conditions is cruel. …. a growing demand for organic meat as people know it hasn’t been intensively farmed
- The crowded conditions create a favourable environment for the spread of disease quickly like avian flu and foot-and-mouth disease
- Antibiotics are injected into the animals to prevent diseases but these can enter the human who ate the animal, allowing microbes to infect humans and become immune to the antibiotics, and they become less effective as human medicines
- To keep the animals warm fossil fuels are burnt, this wouldn’t be happening if they were grazing in their natural environment
- Fish that is in demand is used to feed intensively farmed animals who would normally eat this food anyway
What are the three problems with food distribution?
Some food products have a lot of food miles - they’re transported a long way form where they’re produced to where they’re sold, green beans in the UK from Kenya
This can be expensive
Planes ships and trucks all burn fossil fuels and release CO2 contributing to global warming
What is happening to fish stocks?
They are declining due to over fishing
What is the result of overfishing (simple)
There is …. so …. meaning …. .
There’s less fish to eat therefore the oceans food chains are affected and some species in the sea may disappear altogether.
How should overfishing be tackled?
Fish stocks should be maintained at a level where the fish continue to breed.
This is sustainable food production, we have enough without using the resources faster than they are being renewed.
How are certain species prevented from being overfished using fishing quotas? (2)
There are limits on the number and size of fish that can be caught in certain areas.
