Food Supply

• Why has food production increased?

  improved machinery, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, artificial selection and genetic modification
• Insecticides: a type of pesticide that kills insects
• Herbicides: a type of pesticide that kills weeds
• Artificial selection and genetic modification means that yields are improved: cows produce more milk, cows are more muscular giving more meat, plant crops can resist insects and cold weather
• There can be not enough food available in a country to feed its people because:

  • Fast increase in population
  • Increasing use of crops for fuel
  • Decrease of farming = climate change / urbanization
• Famine: Wide spread scarcity of food
• What are the main causes of famine?

  population increase, climate change, soil erosion and desertification, economic pressure, unequal distribution of food, drought, flood
• Monoculture is the continuous production of one type of crop that is often genetically uniform.
• Negative Impacts of Monoculture:

  • If a natural disaster were to occur, the whole crop could be wiped out.
  • If pests & disease attacked crop, it could harm it easily
  • Using large fields and pesticides reduces the variety of species. This hinders biodiversity.
• Negative Impacts of Intensive Livestock Production

  • Welfare issues for the livestock
  • Diseases can spread easily among them
  • Waste can pollute land and waterways nearby