3..5.1 Outline the issues in the
imbalance in global food supply
Import tarrifs:
Imposed by
governments on food.
This makes food
more expensive for
those that are reliant
on exports and has
little/no effect on
those that are
self-sufficient.
Export subsidies:
Provided by
governments to
make local goods
more competitive on
the global market.
Cash crops: Local produce used to generate foreign income rather than to feed the locals.
Food prices: Heavily reliant on related goods. ie. Oil price increase will result in higher food prices
3.5.2 Compare and contrast the effeciency of
terrestrial and aquatic food productions
systems
Differences:
Terrestrial systems: Most food is harvested from relatively low trophic levels.
Aquatic systems:Most food is harvested from higher trophic levels as total storage are smaller.
Similarities:
Energy is lost through the trophic levels.
3.5.3 Compare and contrast the inputs and outputs of materials and energy (energy effeciency), the systems
characteristics and evalauate the relative environmental impacts for two named food production systems
Food production systems
Types:
Subsistence: Intends to feed own family using produce
Commercial: Intends to make a profit from produce
Charateristics
Intensive: Small area of land yeilds high
output
Extensive: Uses low labour, capital
relative to the land being farmed.
Cereal farming in North America vs. Subsistence farming in the Philipines
Characteristics:
SF: Polyculture
CF: Extensive
commercial farming
Inputs
CF: Technology and
fertilzers
SF: Crop rotation,
compost/manure and
Outputs
CF: Low per hectare and High per farmer
SF: Enough to feed the family
Efficiency
CF: Medium effeciency
SF: High effeciency
Environmental Impacts
SF: Low
CF: High
Advantages
CF: Genetic modification technology may be
used to improve crop yeild
SF: Still mainly produces the current food production
Disadvantages
SF: Soil nutrient depletion and
environmental damage in densely
populated areas
CF: Limits
habitat for wild
native species.
Loss of
biodiversity
and/ soil erosion
3.5.4 Discuss the links that exist between social systems
and food production systems
Shifting cultivation eg. slash and burn:
burning old forests to create new land
Agribusiness: Maximizing profits and
productivity
Factors affecting the development of
food production systems
Education: determines the degree of exchange of ideas for farming practices
Land ownership and/ migration patterns: determine land use