food security and farming

• • food security is having enough food to feed a population
• • food security is threatened by:
  • increasing birth rate in developing countries
  • changing diets in developed countries increases demand of scarce food from developing countries
  • new pathogens or pests or change in environmental conditions causing loss of crops and livestock which can leas to famine
  • high input costs for farming - too expensive to maintain
  • conflict/war that affects availabity of food and water
• • overfishing is decreasing fishing stocks
  • this means there is less frish to be eaten, the ocean's food chains are affected and some species of fish may become extinct
  • fish stock need to be maintained where fish continie to breed - sustainable food production
  • maintaining fish stock can be done by:
  • fishing quotas - limiting number and size of fish being caught
  • net size - limiting mesh size, reduces amount of discarded fish, larger mesh size allows younger fish to slip through net and reach breeding age
• • food production can be made more efficient by limiting the energy transfer from food animals to the environment and controlling the temperature of their surroundings
  • this allows more energy for growth, so more food can be produced from the same input of resources
  • livestock can be raised in small pens
  • fish can be farmed in cages
  • some animals are fed high protein to increase growth
  • however, keeping animals close can cause disease to spread quickly
  • ethical objections are that animals should not be subjected to live in uncomfortable conditions