Food Security

• Define food security

  • Having enough to feed a population
• 3 easy biological factors threatening food security :

  1. New pests and pathogens that affect farming
  2. Increasing birth rate in some countries
  3. The cost of agricultural inputs
• 2 social biological factors threatening food insecurity :

  • changing diets in developed countries means scarce food resources are transported around the world
  • conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world which affect the availability of water or food
• Environmental changes threatening food insecurity

  Affecting food production :

  • Widespread famine occurring in some countries if rain fails
• Sustainable methods


  1. Farming techniques
  2. Sustainable fisheries
  3. Role of biotechnology
• How can efficiency of food production be improved through use of farming techniques?

  • Restricting energy transfer from food animals to the environment.
• How to restrict energy transfer from animals to environment in farms?

  • Limit movement in factory farming.
  • Less energy is lost
  • Less energy is lost in movement
  • More energy used for growth, thus more food produced
• What are some animals fed?

  • High protein foods to increase growth
• Controversial opinions to factory farming

  1. Increased spread of disease
  2. More antibiotics built up in food chain
  3. Overuse of antibiotics
  4. Aggressive behaviour causing harm
  5. Increased use of fossil fuels for heating
• Advantages of modern farming

  • Higher yields
  • More efficient use of lands
• Suggest why the percentage of fish caught from sustainable sources is increasing

  • Due to public awareness
• What is happening to fish populations?

  • Fish stocks in the ocean are declining
• Why are fish stocks decreasing?

  • Overfishing that fish populations do not have time to reproduce and recover their numbers.
• Why is it important to maintain fish populations?

  • at a level where breeding continues
  • to prevent certain species from disappearing altogether in some areas
• Give two methods of maintaining fish stocks at a sustainable level.

  1. Fish quotas
  2. Small net size
• Farming : How to control temperature of environment?


  • kept inside or in a temperature controlled environment.
  • less energy / heat is lost in controlling body temperature.
  • less energy required for movement.
  • more energy available for growth
• Advantages of preparing food not using intensive farming

  • Less intensive farming
  • Disease free / anitbiotic-free
• Why do fish in the cages grow faster than fish of the same species that are free in the sea?

  • (fish) cannot move freely
  • less energy loss from the fish
  • more food available
  • more energy available for growth
• Why are small fish net sizes important for young fish?

  • small fish are not caught so can live long enough to reproduce
• How do fishing quotas prevent overfishing?

  • limit the size and number of fish that can be caught
• What do modern biotechnology techniques do?

  • enable large quantities of microorganisms to be cultured for food.
• What does the fungus Furasium produce?

  • Mycoprotein
• What is Fusarium? 


  • A fungus
• What is mycoprotein?


  • A protein-rich food suitable for vegetarians
• Describe the steps to produce mycoprotein from the fungus Fusarium

  • In a fermenter, fungus is grown on glucose syrup.
  • In aerobic conditions
  • Mycoprotein is harvested and purified
• What happens when a genetically modified bacterium is harvested and purified?

  • Insulin is used to treat people with diabetes
• Pros of genetically modified crops

  1. modified to be resistant against insect attacks / herbicides / disease-resistant
  2. increase in crop yield
  3. improve nutritional values e.g golden rice
• Cons of GM crops / seeds

  • more expensive than normal seeds so farms in developing countries cannot afford them.
  • GM crops could be harmful, for example toxins from the crops have been detected in some people’s blood.