7 5 food production

Food security is having enough food to feed a population.

Increasing birth rate threatens food security in some countries by increasing the population that needs to be fed.

False. ** Changing diets in developed countries can threaten food security because changes in demand for certain foods can lead to scarce food resources being transported around the world **rather than being used to feed people in their country of origin.

Pests and pathogens are organisms that can damage or destroy crops, threatening food production.

Environmental change can affect food security by impacting food production, e.g. when:

Agricultural inputs are resources used in farm production, such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and labour.

False. Conflicts can affect the availability of both food and water.

The ultimate goal is to find sustainable methods to feed all people on Earth.

False. ** Limiting livestock movement increases food production efficiency by reducing energy used for movement**; this energy can instead be used to fuel growth.

Controlling temperature keeps livestock at their optimum temperature, reducing the energy they use for body temperature regulation.

Intensive farming is a method of farming that aims to maximise production within a limited land area. An example is the raising of livestock in confined spaces.

Drawbacks of keeping livestock in confined spaces include:

A common ethical objection to intensive farming methods is that it forces animals to live in conditions that are not humane.

Sustainable fisheries are fisheries in which the overall population size of fish species does not decrease; this is because the number of fish caught does not exceed the number of new fish born.

The main cause of declining fish stocks is overfishing.

It is important to maintain fish stocks to keep them at a level where breeding continues; this ensures that fish populations do not collapse.

False. Increasing the size of gaps in fishing nets will reduce the size of fish catches. Doing this helps to reduce the capture of unwanted species and allows young fish to escape.

Larger net gaps allow juvenile fish to escape and survive to breeding age, ensuring the population can be replenished.

The accidental capture of larger fish species will reduce the populations of these species. This can remove top predators from food chains and disrupt marine food webs.

Fishing quotas are limits on the number and size of particular fish species that can be caught in a given area.

Microorganisms can be cultured for food on a large scale by being grown in fermenters. For example Fusarium is grown on glucose syrup in aerobic conditions**, and the biomass is harvested and purified.

Mycoprotein is a protein-rich food produced by a fungus. It is suitable for vegetarians and often used as a meat-substitute.

The type of fungi used to produce mycoprotein is Fusarium.

A genetically modified bacterium produces human insulin. When harvested and purified this is used to treat people with diabetes

GM crops increase food security by providing more food, or providing food with an improved nutritional value, such as golden rice.