G4 Sustainable food
Teacher recommended
?- Created by: JoshB738
- Created on: 08-02-16 17:00
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- Sustainable food
- Why are there food shortages
- 4 Pillars
- Access
- Availability
- Utilisation
- Stability
- Futurity principle needs to be considered
- Governments sometimes hold food supply as a political/economic pressure... they use it as a weapon
- Case Study: WAJIR DISTRICT, KENYA (factors affecting food supply and consequences)
- Physical
- Animal carcasses in villages
- Attendance at school dropped
- Drought
- Malnutrition
- Political
- Many families fled to war torn Somalia
- Food donors want to see 'dead babies' before they provide food.
- Aid money used by govt. for political purposes not aid
- Economic
- Poverty has led to food shortages
- USA had committed $64 Billion to Kenya
- Food aid loses half of its value
- Only $5 million allocated to agriculture... ($1.33 per hungry person)
- Physical
- 4 Pillars
- KQ1 - Factors that affect food supply and farming
- Temperature (crucial temp = 6°)
- Britain - barley/grass begin to grow at 6° / cotton needs 200°
- Precipitation and water supply
- Determines the types of crops that grow: long and steady vs short and heavy
- Wind
- Strong winds increase evapotranspiration rates -> soil dries out ad becomes vulnerable...
- Hurricanes/typhoons/tornados all destroy crops
- Altitude
- Growth of various crops is controlled by the decrease in temperature with altitude
- Exposure increases with height and growing seasons change
- In Britain grassland at 300m+ cannot produce commercial yields
- Growth of various crops is controlled by the decrease in temperature with altitude
- Angle of slope can affect depth of soil, moisture content and pH
- Aspect --Adret slopes in N. Hemisphere face south = higher temp and drier soils..... Ubac slopes face north
- Land tenure can have a serious impact on food supply
- Temperature (crucial temp = 6°)
- KQ2 - Factors that Promote/Hinder food production
- Human:
- Land tenure and availability
- Hinders food production because if there is not enough land to grow adequate crops to self sustain areas food production is severely hindered
- Labour
- Health and welfare
- Information and acquired expertise
- Land tenure and availability
- Physical
- Topography and sold fertility
- Moisture, rainfall and humidity
- Too much/too little rainfall can hinder... but the right amount can boost food production
- Sunlight - direction, duration and intensity
- If crops do not get enough sunlight food production will be jeopardised
- CASE STUDIES
- Afghanistan: Suffering from DROUGHT
- Soil is too dry to grow anything and there is an avg walk of 4 hours to reach water in some areas
- 80 - 100% lost crops
- Conflict inhibits people further
- Soil is too dry to grow anything and there is an avg walk of 4 hours to reach water in some areas
- Nigeria
- Soil exhaustion due to desertification... sand is swallowing roads and houses as the Sahara expands southwards
- Guatemala
- Hurricanes damage crops severely and mean they are inedible
- Afghanistan: Suffering from DROUGHT
- MALTHUSIAN CRISIS
- When population exceeds food production over time... population increases geometrically.... whereas food production increases arithmetically (it can't just double like the population can)
- Evidence of a Malthusian Crisis in India.... high population + rapid growth + low food production = crisis
- Human:
- KQ3 - Can food production be sustainably increased??
- THE GREEN REVOLUTION - INDIA
- Kick started after almost 4 million people died due to the Bengal Famine
- India was in desperate need of a scheme to improve its food production before it slipped into a Malthusian Crisis
- What was it? Began selecting crops with High Yield Varieties by selective breeding processes - chose hybrid plants to get the best possible outcome....... began double cropping by creating artificial monsoons to grow crops even in the drier season
- Quadrupled food production in both Mexico and India in terms of Wheat.... seeds with improved genetics were used
- High yield crops and disease resistant crops were amongst the most popular types used
- Negative was that the crops needed fertilisers, therefore India were still using a lot of fossil fuels and energy to grow their crops
- What was it? Began selecting crops with High Yield Varieties by selective breeding processes - chose hybrid plants to get the best possible outcome....... began double cropping by creating artificial monsoons to grow crops even in the drier season
- Positives
- 1. Record grain output of 131 million tonnes in 1987 2. Yield per farmland improved by 30% between 1947-1979 3. India were able to repay bank loans 4. Increased irrigation included dams for water storage and HEP (which also created jobs)
- Negatives
- 1. Agricultural output still fell short of demand 2. The scheme was not totally self sufficient 3.Still had to import some things such as sugar and onions 4. Failed to extend the concept of HYV crops 5. Some areas in India saw less of a result
- Genetic Modification
- An alteration of the genetics of different organisms to make them last longer... Involves engineering DNA and electrocuting cells so that the DNA can be injected into them
- Altering the genetic makeup of a plant by using biotechnology with the intention of increasing yields by making it resistant to disease/pestsor extreme climates such as drought.... allows an increase in food production
- E.g FlavrSavr tomato from California (Was the first)
- GM crops have been frown commercially since 1996
- Most important GM crops: 1. Soya, 2. Maize 3. Cotton 4. **** Seed 5. Sugar Beet
- ISSUES: monoculture, which means once one plant has an issue, they all do...... also BT MAIZE in the Philippines was treated with a substance that caused respiratory problems for a portion of the population
- An alteration of the genetics of different organisms to make them last longer... Involves engineering DNA and electrocuting cells so that the DNA can be injected into them
- THE GREEN REVOLUTION - INDIA
- Why are there food shortages
- Hydroponics
- The art of growing plants without soil.. instead the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) is used... where the roots of plants are placed directly into water, so there is no growing medium.
- NFT is very popular as a from of hydroponic growth.
- Works incredibly well as it gives the plants everything it needs directly through the roots in the correct amounts.. it provides ideal growing conditions
- Provides faster growth with higher yields
- CASE STUDY: THANET EARTH, KENT
- Aquaponics
- System for farming both fish and plants together, the fish produce waste that the plants can use for growth
- The UK's largest privately owned fresh produce supplier.... main crops are Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers.... these are grown hydroponically
- Social
- System is controlled by a computer which means there are a lack of jobs, however the tending and picking of the crops is done by hand
- Economic
- It is expensive to grow hydroponically,growing tomatoes for between 9-11 moths of the year is costly, there are 500 people working there each day
- Environmental
- Plant food and water changes depending on the environment, each greenhouse has its own power station (which could be damaging to the environment), a positive however is that the CO2 is reabsorbed by plants instead of being wasted
- To what extent is it sustainable? Does allow plants to reabsorb CO2... but each greenhouse has its own power station, which because there are seven may still produce excess CO2 etc...
- Aquaponics
- The art of growing plants without soil.. instead the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) is used... where the roots of plants are placed directly into water, so there is no growing medium.
- Aquaponics
- System for farming both fish and plants together, the fish produce waste that the plants can use for growth
- Food security solutions
- CASE STUDY: CUBA
- Population: 11.3 million (2005)
- Peak oil crisis meant that there was not enough oil to meet the demands of Cuba's industry etc...
- Peak oil led to: - Fall in GDP by 34% - Oil imports were cut by more than 1/2 - By 1949 the peak oil theory was developed - A record high hit interest rates and fuel prices - Virtual peak oil was reached in Cuba when the USSR fell and became Russia - Malnutrition became very common along with anaemia in pregnant women
- Cuba began urban farming or urban gardening.... people created gardens wherever they could.... in yards/on balconies/ regular people began farming to boost food production as it was seen as a community effort
- Very low cost, over 1000 market stalls set up in Havana to sell produce.... in rural areas urban agriculture provided 80-100% of the food production
- Managed to get rid of monocultures to reduce pests and possible inhibitors, Produced bio-fertilisers and pesticides thus reducing pesticide use from 21000 tonnes to 1000 tonnes annually, finally they use cattle instead of tractors to transport goods / plow fields
- Very low cost, over 1000 market stalls set up in Havana to sell produce.... in rural areas urban agriculture provided 80-100% of the food production
- Similar scheme to Cuba used in Singapore... much more technologically advanced and placed i hotels and skyscrapers, known as vertical farming
- Adaptations mean these themes and technologies can be expensive
- CASE STUDY: CUBA
- KQ4: Can a sustainable food supply be maintained in the future?
- Have to consider: Population changes, Energy demand, Water demand, Urbanisation, Climate change
- Stages: 1: Short term relief (such as Aid from food banks and NGO/UN support) 2: Capacity Building (Urban farming in Cuba and Singapore / GM crops / vertical farming =NYC Apple store on 5ht Ave) 3: System redesign strategies (Cuba reaching peak oil had to imply different systems to survive)
- There are methods available, the issue is utilising them to their full capability
- Will be able to be maintained in some countries and not others... the sustainability is somewhat unpredictable due to the amount of influencing factors such as the economy and climate change
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