Terrestrial food production systems and food choices Flashcards
Characteristics of subsistence farming
- provision of food by farmers for their own families // local community (no surplus)
- usually mixed crops are planted
- human labour
- low inputs of energy in form of fossil fuels // chemicals
- low capital input
- low technology
- subsistence farmers unlikely to produce more than they need so vulnerable to food shortages
What is cash cropping?
Growing crops for the market, not to eat yourself
Characteristics of commercial farming
- large, profit-making scale
- maximising yields per hectare
- often monoculture
- high levels of technology, energy + chemical input
- corresponding high outputs
What is extensive farming
- uses more land
- lower density of stocking // planting
- lower inputs + corresponding outputs
What is intensive farming
- uses land more intensively
- high levels of input + output per unit area
- eg animal feedlots
What is pastoral farming
raising animals, usually on grass and on land that is not suitable for crops
What is arable farming
growing crops on good soils to eat directly or to feed animals
What is mixed farming
- has both crops and animals
- is a system in itself
- animal waste is used to fertilise crops + improve soil structure
- some crops are fed to the animals
How many people in the world suffer from undernourishment?
925 million
98% of these are in Asia, Africa or Oceania
200 million are children
What percentage of total land area in Africa is cultivated
only 7%
Increase in world pop. vs increase in food production
- human pop. has increased by 70% in last 30 years
- world food production has increased by 17%
How does climate affect the food that we grow and eat?
- climate + local ecological conditions determine what we grow where on earth
- we adapt this through irrigation + greenhouses to artificially alter the climate
- but most plants are grown w/o this
How does culture+religion affect the food that we grow and eat?
- some religious proscribe certain foods
eg. Muslims + Jews won’t eat pork
eg. Hindus dont eat beef
How does politics affect the food that we grow and eat?
governments can subsidise // put tariffs on some foods to encourage // discourage their production
e.g. the EU manipulates production in this way
How does socio-economics affect the food that we grow and eat?
Market forces determine supply + demand in a free-market economy
eg if there is a short supply of almonds and prices rise, farmers may go into this crop, supply increases, prices fall + then they may stop growing it
Why could the World Food Programme only buy half as much food in 2008 as in 2007 with the same money?
- wheat + soya, rapeseed + palm oil prices spiked
- biofuels are one of the reasons for this as farmers get subsidies for growing them so do not put their crops into the food chain
How many calories of food are available each day for every human on the planet?
2,790
Why are people beginning to doubt that technology, efficiency + innovation will continue to allow us to feed a growing population?
As we adapt more and more of the NPP on earth to human needs, use and degrade more land, demand more meat, we must be reaching the limits of growth
As the human pop increases, there s a fall in grain produced per capita
Why are livestock useful in our consumption?
useful means of converting plant material unsuitable for human digestion (grass) into valued protein
How does crop rotation address loss of soil fertility after harvesting?
Leguminous crops (soya beans, peas, beans) add nitrogen to the soil so may be grown every fourth year, in a rotation w other crops
Palm oil in SE Asia
- indigenous to West Africa + Central America but imported to SE Asia in early 1900s
- 85% of all palm oil globally produced + exported is from Malaysia + Indonesia
What is palm oil used for ?
- cooking oil + margarine
- processed foods; chocolate, bread, crisps
- cosmetics, soaps
- lubricants
- biofuel
Disadvantages of palm oil in Malaysia + Indonesia
- 87% of deforestation in Malaysia between 1985 and 2000 was caused by new oil palm plantations
- Oil palm plantations have been directly responsible for the destruction of 10 million ha of Indonesian rainforest
- These forests were some of the most important biodiversity hot-spots in the world, - Their destruction has resulted in the widespread loss of thousands of species of flora and fauna.
Benefits of palm oil plantations
- providing employment + exports
- growing a few oil palms can bring an income for a subsistence farmer