Factors Affecting Food Security & Farming Techniques | Biology for Grade 10 PDF Download

Food Production

• Food security is having enough food to feed a population
• That ‘population’ could represent a group of people on a range of different scales, from a particular a family, to a town, to a region or even a whole country
• Food security gives an indication of how much food is available

Biological factors threatening food security table

• Sustainable methods of farming and producing food are needed in order to overcome food shortages and help populations whose food security is under threat
• Sustainable food production involves making enough food but ensuring this is done without using resources (such as water and soils) faster than these resources can be renewed and used again.

Farming techniques

Intensive farming

• Intensive farming uses machines, fertilisers, man-power and high-yield crops to maximise the amount of food produced. Farmers growing arable crops often specialise in growing only one crop to maximise their profits. This is called monoculture. It can quickly reduce key nutrients in the soil and lowers biodiversity.
• Hedgerows have been removed from many fields to make them bigger and easier to tend to by big machines. This also reduces biodiversity. Crops are often sown, treated and harvested by machines which create pollution, and fertilisers are added to fields in larger amounts which can cause eutrophication.
• Intensive farming can also mean keeping livestock in smaller pens with regulated temperatures. This reduces the energy they need for movement and temperature regulation and so maximises their size and yield. Some animals are fed high protein foods to increase their growth. They are often fed antibiotics in their food to prevent diseases. Many scientists think this is leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Advantages and disadvantages of intensive farming practices:

Organic farming

This image shows how crops planted in a field are rotated each year. This increases yield, promotes biodiversity and helps keep the soil heathy.
Because of this organic food is often more expensive than intensively farmed food, and many people are willing to pay more for the perceived benefits.