Pesticides + Biological Control

• Hydroponics

  Plants are grown in a solution with minerals and nutrients as opposed to in soil
• Hydroponics allows plants to grow in harsh conditions
• Pesticides and insecticides


  Used to kill specific pests and insects without killing the crops
• Pesticides can be harmful and poisonous to humans so their usage must be controlled
• Pesticides can be harmful to other wildlife organisms
• Biological control

  Methods of reducing pests without using pesticides by using other organisms as predators for the pests without damaging the crops
• If new organisms are introduced as biological control, they can eventually become pests
• Biological control can have longer-lasting effects and is not as harmful to humans as pesticides
• Herbicides


  Kill surrounding weeds to reduce the crops' competition with weeds for light, water, and nutrients
• Selective breeding


  Crops and livestock can be improved by selectively breeding for desired traits such as faster growth or disease resistance
• Fertilisers

  Chemical fertilisers can improve plant yields by providing crops with optimum levels of mineral ions and replacing any missing mineral ions
• Monoculture leads to a reduction in biodiversity as soil nutrients can be reduced
• Organic farming

  Does not use chemicals and relies on natural fertilisers like manure and compost, with crop rotation to avoid monoculture and increase species diversity
• Social effects of food production include less land available for living and potential scarcity of food
• Environmental effects of food production include deforestation, methane gas emissions from livestock contributing to global warming, and climate change
• Glasshouses and polythene tunnels

  Used to increase the yield of certain crops by setting optimum levels of carbon dioxide, temperature, and light
• Agricultural machinery

  Used in larger areas of land to improve efficiency, including tractors and machinery instead of manual labor and animals
• Concerns about intensive farming include ethical treatment of livestock, antibiotic resistance, and reduction in biodiversity
• Intensive farming


  Involves putting in a lot of energy to maximize crop yield, often using monoculture and efficient livestock raising techniques
• Economic effects of food production can make it expensive for some to start and maintain food production due to high input costs
• Crop rotation involves changing the crops grown in a field over different periods