Food Production (Edexcel GCSE Biology)

What is meant by the term food security?

Beef cattle and fish are two sources of protein farmed for human consumption.

Figure 1 shows the changes in global production of beef cattle and farmed fish since 1950.

Suggest two advantages of fish farming compared to catching fish in the wild.

Figure 1 shows the differences in food security across several regions.

Discuss the key factors which may result in a threat to food security in a developing country.

In order to maintain food security, sustainable methods of farming and food production are necessary.

The increasing human population is affecting farming and the habitats of animals.

Figure 1 shows the human population of the UK from 1960 to 2018.

Figure 1

Extend the line to estimate the human population of the UK in 2030 if this trend continues.

................................... million

Food security means that a population has enough safe and healthy food.

Which of these would improve food security?

A scientist tested three samples of different foods.

Figure 2 shows the results.

Figure 2

(2)

Figure 3 shows a field of a crop in one area of Africa.

The crop cannot be eaten by people.

The crop is used to produce biofuel.

Figure 3

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of growing this crop to produce biofuel.

In Malawi, the local human population produces a food called kunga cake from the bodies of millions of small insects that swarm seasonally around the shores of Lake Malawi. 

The flies are caught in frying pans waved through the swarms; a light coating of oil in the pan causes the insects to stick and they are then crushed into a patty for cooking. Cooking can be by shallow frying which produces a burger-like product (Figure 1), treated as an important element of the diet by the locals.

Figure 1

Kunga cake is cheap and nutritious and even tastes good, according to those who eat it. 

Explain how the production of kunga cake has benefits for food security. 

The insects used to make kunga cake are cold-blooded, whereas livestock is warm-blooded.

Explain how their cold-blooded physiology gives benefits to food security when making food from insects. 

A company in the USA has pioneered the use of crickets (Figure 2) as a source of nutrients in its products, made for human consumption.

Crickets are crushed and processed into a flour-like product that can be used in many different food recipes.

 Figure 2

In its marketing brochure, the company makes certain claims about crickets as a food source, in direct comparison to traditional livestock animals like cattle.

These are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1

Skeptics reading the brochure would point to reasons why cricket-based foodstuffs have not been commercially successful yet.

Use the data in Table 1 and your knowledge of eating habits to evaluate the claims made by the company making cricket-based food products. 

In many parts of the world rice is a staple food. Magnaporthe grisea, also known as rice blast fungus, is a pathogenic fungus and that causes a serious disease affecting rice.

Explain how the food security of rice could be improved by using a fungicide. 

Selective breeding of rice could help improve food security.

Explain how.

The rice blast fungus can affect a rice crop within 10 days. Naturally occurring root-associated rhizospheric bacteria have been shown to inhibit the effect of the rice blast fungus. 

Scientists investigated the effect of different strains of rhizospheric bacteria by measuring the number of leaf lesions caused by Magnaporthe grisea. Fungal spores were sprayed on 3-week-old whole plants 24 hours after being treated with the strains of rhizospheric bacteria. The scientists' results are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

With reference to Figure 1 determine the most effective strain of rhizospheric bacteria on Magnaporthe grisea.