Food Resources KQ2 Flashcards
How does climate affect the intensity of food production?
Climate affects the intensity of food production. Higher temperatures and rainfall make it more conducive for plant growth. Tropical areas have longer growing seasons where farmers can have two or three harvests a year. However, in places where there are long winter seasons, crops can only be grown during the warm season. For example, tropical locations like Malaysia have temperatures between 22C to 32C with rainfall greater than 2000mm a year and crops are grown all year round compared to temperate climates like those found in the Republic of Kosovo where the climate is only suitable for growing crops between April and August.
How does soil fertility affect the intensity of food production?
Fertile soils rich in minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are found on floodplains, deltas and volcanic areas. These soils contain minerals essential for plant growth and crop yields in these areas tend to be high compared to areas where soils may not contain as many minerals and nutrients. For example, the flat terrain, large water supply and fertile soils in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam and the fertile volcanic slopes of volcanoes in Indonesia result in a very high production of rice.
How does relief affect intensity of food production?
Areas with flat or gently sloping relief are most suited for agriculture and the intensity of production is usually higher in these areas. The gentle gradient prevents runoff from eroding the soil and also makes it easier for farming through the use of machinery. Steeper lands at altitude also limit crop growth due to the lower temperatures. For example, the flat terrain, large water supply and fertile soils in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam make it an agriculturally productive area as compared with the mountainous terrain of farmland in the mountains of Nepal.
How does the purpose of farming affect intensity of food production?
The purpose of farming can be either subsistence or commercial. Subsistence farms operate by families on small plots of land using simple tools. The crop yield is low. Commercial farms operate on large plots of land with a large, hired labour force using machinery. The crop yield is high. Subsistence farming is widely practiced in Sub-Saharan Africa, growing staples like corn and cassava. While commercial farming is widely practiced in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia. Crops grown include wheat, corn, coffee, tea and rice.
How does the demand for a crop affect intensity of food production?
The demand for food changes according to tastes and preferences of consumers. Greater demand for a crop will increase the intensity of its production. Due to worldwide increase in the demand for meat, countries like China have increased their livestock in order to meet this rising demand. This has also increased the demand for corn, which is used to feed
the livestock, resulting in an increase in corn production in the USA to meet this increase in demand.
How does agribusinesses affect intensity of food production?
The growth of agribusinesses has increased the intensity of food production. Agribusinesses are large-scale farming. Their plantations are located all over world wherever there is suitable soil and climate. Because of their greater financial resources and multiple locations of food farming, they can continue production even if they experience pests or flooding in some countries. Also because of research, they produce crops with higher yields. For example, Dole Food Company has plantations in Central and South America, Africa and Asia where they grow their food crops.
How do government agricultural policies affect intensity of food production?
Government agricultural policy which refers to policies pertaining to the growing of crops and raising of livestock in a country. Governments implement agricultural policies to increase the intensity of food production. By choosing to channel resources towards educating farmers or on more efficient methods of farming, agricultural policy can intensify food production. In 2012, the Punjab Agricultural Department started an education program for wheat farmers. Farmers were taught about the best seeds available, pesticide treatments and irrigation methods.
How do food policies which pertains to the supply of food within a country.
Food policies such as stockpiling ensure that food is available during emergencies. Stockpiling is the setting aside and storage of food to ensure adequate supplies during emergencies.
Another policy is importing food from different sources instead of only a few sources buffers against food shortages and price fluctuations, ensuring a more steady supply of food. For example, ASEAN signed an agreement with China, South Korea and Japan in 2011 to create the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve.
China and Thailand contributed 315,000 tons of rice to the stockpile while other member countries contributed financially to fund the operation. Another example is how Singapore obtains its vegetables from Malaysia, China and the USA and local companies also have contracts with farmers for agreed prices as well as amounts of food products.
How does High Yielding Varieties affect intensity of food production?
HYVs are improved strains of crops, developed through cross breeding, such as rice, corn, wheat and other cereals. They are resistance to pest and diseases which decreases the amount of crops lost, hence increasing the intensity of food production. They have the ability to grow in a shorter period of time, allowing more crops to be grown in a year.
How do fertilizers affect intensity of food production?
Nutrients in the soil are depleted, especially after land has been used continuously for farming. Chemical fertilizers are applied to the soil on farms to replace the nutrients that have been used up in growing crops. By applying fertilizers, farmers do not have to let farmland fallow to regain soil fertility naturally and more crops can be grown on the land in a year. Also, HYVs require more fertilizers than non-HYV crops. The use of HYV crops can intensify food production.
For example, studies in Africa have shown the proper use of fertilizers have resulted in percentage yield increases of 30% to 250%.
How do pesticides affect intensity of food production?
Large-scale crop production usually involves one type of crop over a large area. This makes the crop very vulnerable to pests. Pesticides are used to kill pests that may destroy crops. This will increase the amount of crops that can be harvested. For example, in the 1980s, Malathion was used extensively to address a fruit fly problem in fruit orchards in California, USA.
How does irrigation affect intensity of food production?
Irrigation is the watering of crops using water from rivers or dams. By supplying water to areas that are usually too dry for farming, irrigation has increases the amount of arable land thus increasing food production. Also irrigation allows crops to be grown throughout the year in areas that experience seasonal rainfall, increasing the number of harvests per year. For example, in Libya, irrigation projects have made possible the growing of crops in the Sahara desert. Water from underground sources is pumped via tunnels to coastal cities for agriculture, domestic and industrial use.
How does mechanization affect intensity of food production?
Mechanization is the use of machinery to speed up the process of preparing the land, tending to crops and harvesting.
This allows the crop to be harvested more quickly and efficiently, and enables farmers to increase the number of harvests per year. For example, combine harvester is a machine that aids in the harvesting of grain crops by performing the processes of reaping, threshing, and cleaning into one piece of equipment.
How does continuing intensification of food production cause waterlogging and soil erosion?
Extensive irrigation may cause ground to be waterlogged. This occurs when too much water seeps into the soil and causes the soil to be over-saturated. Waterlogging deprives roots of air and nutrients that crops need, eventually causing them to die.
How does continuing intensification of food production cause salinization?
When water added to the soil during irrigation evaporated, mineral salts are left behind on the soil. Also, irrigation may also raise the water table, bringing groundwater and dissolve salts closer to the surface. When the salinity of the soil increases, plants may not be able to grow
well, or at all. For example, due to intense irrigation in the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the high evaporation rates found there, salinization of the low lying
terrain occurs decreasing the intensity of crop production.
