Global Food Production

Question 1

What is food security?

Answer 1

• When people have enough nutritious food

Question 2

How is food security achieved?

Answer 2

• Food availability: A country must produce or import a sufficient amount of food
• Food access: People must be able to regularly obtain food by buying or producing it themselves
• Food quality and use: Food must be nutritious enough to maintain a healthy life and must be stored and prepared in a way that is safe and hygienic

Question 3

What are the best strategies to improve food security

Answer 3

• Increasing food production
• Increasing food access
• Reducing waste

Question 4

How can food production be increased?

Answer 4

• Agricultural expansion: More land used agriculturally, but destroys ecosystems
• Intensive farming: Producing as much food as possible from available land which means less clearing of natural land but can result in artificial chemicals damaging the natural environment
• Changing food types produced: E.g. plants need less land and water than meat to produce
• Technology: E.g. crops can be genetically modified to produce higher yields or to resist pests and diseases

Question 5

How can food access be increased?

Answer 5

• Trade: Food can be imported to countries without enough, however prices have to be low enough, but cheap imports may undercut local farmers
• Improving access: E.g. improving transport links makes it easier for farmers to sell produce
• Aid: Food is donated during a famine, but may not be sustainable in the long term

Question 6

How can food waste be reduced?

Answer 6

• Production: Educating farmers and supplying them with the correct equipment and resources
• Distribution: Many shops discard food they don’t sell. Improving storage and packaging or speeding up time it takes food to reach consumers decreases shelf life
• Consumption: Campaigns such as ‘Think.Eat.Save’ encourage consumers to be less wasteful, e.g. sharing recipes for leftovers, however this can take a long time to implement.

Question 7

How can a long term food security strategy be sustainable?

Answer 7

• By not using too many resources

- By not causing too much environmental damage

Question 8

What is agricultural productivity?

Answer 8

The ratio of agricultural outputs to agricultural inputs

Question 9

What is agriculture?

Answer 9

The science of of farming include cultivation of growing crops and rearing animals to provide resources such as food and materials.