food production

• biological factors affecting food security


  • the increasing birth rate has threatened food security in some countries
  • changing diets in developed countries means scarce food resources are transported around the world
  • new pests and pathogens that affect farming
  • environmental changes that affect food production, such as widespread famine occurring in some countries if rains fail
  • the cost of agricultural inputs
  • conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world which affect the availability of water or food.
• how can efficiency of food production be improved?


  1. limiting movement of of animals so muscles are not used as much. reduces need for respiration. more biomass available from food for growth.
  2. controlling temperature of surroundings so the animals do not have to use much biomass for keeping warm or cooling down in respiration. more biomass for growth.
• how can growth of farmed fish be maximised?

  fish are well fed and are given the right supplements to grow. they also have restricted movement in cages they are put in so they can grow and mature rapidly. they are fed high protein food.fish are well fed and are given the right supplements to grow. they also have restricted movement in cages they are put in so they can grow and mature rapidly. they are fed high protein food.
• how to tackle the overfishing problem?


  control net size

  fishing quotas

  not fishing during breeding season.
• what is fusarium?

  The fungus Fusarium is useful for producing mycoprotein, a protein-rich food suitable for vegetarians. The fungus is grown on glucose syrup, in aerobic conditions, and the biomass is harvested and purified.
• pros of GM crops


  improved growth rate

  increased food value

  bigger yield

  unaffected by environment
• cons of GM crops


  effect of added genes on human health

  possible infertility within plants

  human genetic engineering - what comes next?