Food Security

Question 1

What is food security?

Answer 1

Food security is the ability of human population to access affordable food of sufficient quality and quantity.

Question 2

What factors affect food security?

Answer 2

• increasing human population
• changing diets - as people become wealthier, the variation in diets increase. This often includes more meat which is more energy intensive to produce than plant products.
• climate change - global warming will cause droughts and deserts will expand.
• new pests and pathogens may evolve making them immune to treatments that should kill them

Question 3

Why are some foods unaffordable for some people?

Answer 3

Agricultural costs are increasing, and recent high oil prices have increased the costs of storing and distributing food.

Question 4

How do farmers increase efficiency?

Answer 4

• maximising photosynthesis - industrial glasshouses that control light levels, temperature and water.
• using fertilisers - fertilisers help the soil remain fertile as a plant removes the minerals from the soil as it grows
• removing competition and pests - herbicides used to kill weed, insecticide used to kill insects, fungicide to destroy disease causing fungi
• planting variety of crops that are pest resistant, or that produce a higher yield

Question 5

What is intensive farming?

Answer 5

Intensive farming techniques aim to produce the maximum food product yield from the minimum area of land. They use:

• fertilisers and pesticide to aid plant growth
• maximising animal growth rates
• minimising labour inputs through using machinery

Question 6

What is organic farming?

Answer 6

Organic farming uses natural methods of producing crops and raising animals.
It avoids use of artificial chemicals.
Yields are smaller so products are more expensive.