Food Production Flashcards
inputs
What a farmer has to put into his farm/business to make it work (material, labour, resources, etc.)
processes
The actions a farmer has to do to produce
outputs
What a farmer receives/makes from his work
feedback loop
When an output becomes an input e.g. manure from livestock becomes fertiliser or inedible parts of plants are fed to livestock
commercial farming
The type of farming where the farmer is producing crops or animals for sale (profit)
pastoral farming
The rearing (breeding and raising) of animals
mixed farming
The growing of crops and the rearing of animals on the same farm
extensive agriculture
A very large farm where there is a small amount of money spent or the number of workers employed is low
subsistence farming
The type of agriculture that only produces enough food for the farmer and his family (no profit)
shifting cultivation / nomadic herding
When a crop is grown or animals are reared and the farm is moved after a certain amount of time
arable farming
The growing of crops
sedentary farming
When the farmer and the farm stay in the same place the whole time
intensive agriculture
A very small farm where there is a large amount of money spent or the number of workers employed is high (e.g. greenhouses)
plantation agriculture
When the whole farm is devoted to producing one ‘Cash Crop’, such as coffee or cotton
factory famring
A large industrialised farm - especially a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximise production at minimal cost
pesticides
Chemicals commonly used in agriculture to kill pests that infest crops (D.D.T. banned in 1972)
fertiliser
soil conditioners (e.g. NPK)
irrigation
to supply land/crops with water
NPK
A complex fertiliser comprised primarily of the three primary nutrients (Nitrogen - Phosphorus - Potassium) required for healthy plant growth. The agriculture industry relies heavily on the use of NPK fertiliser to meet global food supply and ensure healthy crops.
organic
When food is grown without the use of pesticides or fertilsers
GM crops
The DNA of Genetically Modified crops has been modified using genetic engineering techniques to improve resistance to certain pests, diseases, or environmental conditions, reduce spoilage, or augment resistance to chemical treatments (e.g. resistance to a herbicide), or improving the nutrient profile of the crop.
malnutrition
The condition that develops when the body does not get the right amount of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ function.
Green Revolution
Started in the 1960s when farms began using things such as pesticides and GM crops were introduces
growth hormones to animals
Fed to livestock through their food to make them grow quicker and bigger to maximise profit
threshing
removing grain from stem by beating on a hard surface
winnowing
removing non-grain items by throwing cereal up in the air on a windy day in shallow baskets
Common reasons for food shortage
- Drought
- Soil erosion
- Locust Plagues
- Tropical cyclones/hurricanes
- Severe winter weather
- Economic and political factors
- Transport/access issues
- Earthquakes
HYV
High Yielding Variety (seeds) high-quality, grow quick, mostly flood an drought resistant, more resistant to pests
Agricultural system
Farming is an industry like any other which operates under a system with inputs into the farm, processes which take place on the farm, outputs from the farm and a feedback loop in which outputs become inputs.
Biomagnification
The increasing concentration of toxic substances within each successive link in the food chain. So, the animals at the top of the food chain will receive the highest concentrations of toxic substances in their food.
Bunds
In wet rice cultivation, these are the elevated barriers of soil between the individual padi fields.
DDT
A pesticide that was banned in 1972 because of its serious effects on the environment, notably, bioaccumulation. DDT also has serious health effects on humans such as liver damage (including liver cancer), nervous system damage, birth defects and other reproductive harm
Why are fish sometimes found in padi fields?
Because their waste can fertilise the soil and they can then be eaten.
What are some of the common ways in which the impacts of food shortage are mitigated?
- Food aid
- Improve agricultural techniques
- Irrigation schemes
- HYV and GM crops
- Loans to the govt. or individuals
- Free trade
- Market access
- Discouraging out-migration so that after a country had recovered from a food shortage, there will be enough farmers left in the country/region
What is food security?
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. (FAO)
What is a food shortage?
This is when people have little/no access to food. This can be caused by different factors. If this persists, famine may erupt.
What are some of the conditions required for wet rice cultivation?
- Flat (or terraced) land
- Impermeable subsoil (to hold/retain the water)
- Warm, wet spring, hot summer – monsoon climate (temperature in excess of 20°C)
- Control of water level
- Addition of fertilizer
- Intensive labor
- Social cooperation
- Bunds/banks to control the water level in individual fields
What is hunger?
After not having eaten for about 4-5 days; different to malnutrition
What is kwashiorkor and some of its symptoms?
Results from a predominance of cereals and a deficiency of proteins. This is more common in children from ages 1-5. Symptoms include: moon face, thin muscles, fat present (puffy limbs), swollen extended belly, skin change, hair ma change to ginger.
What is marasmus and some of its symptoms?
A severe protein deficiency most common in children in their first year of life (they are still being breastfed). Symptoms include: look like a skeleton covered in skin (extremely emaciated), thin muscles and little fat, “old man’s face”.
What are terraces in padi cultivation and how are they built?
Where there is limited flat land, terraces are created on the steep hill slopes. To build these terraces, the steep hills where probably deforested, then the hill was dug into using hand tools (considering it is in an LEDC).
What are the processes (in chronological order) of wet rice cultivation?
- Ploughing
- Sowing seeds into nursery beds (areas where soil is broken down finely (usually by a water buffalo trampling around in the soil) in prep. for seeds)
- Transplanting seedlings (a few weeks old) into padi fields (prepared by flooding to a depth of several cm, water to be controlled to ensure that upper parts of plants aren’t submerged; water fed in from feeder canals, drained by transferring water to adjacent fields)
- Once rice matures, fields are allowed to dry out to enable crop to ripen
- Harvesting/cutting using a knife or sickle – most work done by hand, low-tech
- Threshing (removing rice grains from stem by beating crop on a hard surface)
- Winnowing (removing non-grain items from the rice grains by throwing rice up and down in a shallow basket on a windy day so that non-grain items fly away)
- Drying
- Bagging
- Storing
How are loans implicated into subsistence farming?
A subsistence may pay a certain amount of money to borrow a machine/animal as labor (e.g. water buffalo in wet rice cultivation) which would be an input. A farmer may also lend a machine or other useful tool in agriculture to earn some money (output) which in many cases is fed back into the farm as an input.
