5.2 Terrestrial Food Production Systems & Food Choices
Significant Ideas:
-
The sustainability of terrestrial food production systems is influenced by socio-political, economic and ecological factors.
-
Consumers have a role to play through their support of different terrestrial food production systems.
-
The supply of food is inequitably available and land suitable for food production is unevenly distributed among societies, and this can lead to conflict and concerns.
Knowledge and Understandings:
-
The sustainability of terrestrial food production systems is influenced by factors such as scale; industrialization; mechanization; fossil fuel use; seed, crop and livestock choices; water use; fertilizers; pest control; pollinators; antibiotics; legislation; and levels of commercial versus subsistence food production.
-
Inequalities exist in food production and distribution around the world.
-
Food waste is prevalent in both LEDCs and more economically developed countries (MEDCs), but for different reasons.
-
Socio-economic, cultural, ecological, political and economic factors can be seen to influence societies in their choices of food production systems.
-
As the human population grows, along with urbanization and degradation of soil resources, the availability of land for food production per capita decreases.
-
The yield of food per unit area from lower trophic levels is greater in quantity, lower in cost and may require fewer resources.
-
Cultural choices may influence societies to harvest food from higher trophic levels.
-
Terrestrial food production systems can be compared and contrasted according to inputs, outputs, system characteristics, environmental impact and socioeconomic factors.
-
Increased sustainability may be achieved through:
-
– altering human activity to reduce meat consumption and increase consumption of organically grown and locally produced terrestrial food products
-
– improving the accuracy of food labels to assist consumers in making informed food choices
-
– monitoring and control of the standards and practices of multinational and national food corporations by governmental and intergovernmental bodies
-
– planting of buffer zones around land suitable for food production to absorb nutrient runoff.
-
Application and Skills:
-
Analyse tables and graphs that illustrate the differences in inputs and outputs associated with food production systems.
-
Compare and contrast the inputs, outputs and system characteristics for two given food production systems.
-
Evaluate the relative environmental impacts of two given food production systems.
-
Discuss the links that exist between socio-cultural systems and food production systems.
-
Evaluate strategies to increase sustainability in terrestrial food production systems.