Sustainability of Food 2
Food Preparation & Nutrition: AQA GCSE, topic 6.1.8
Food Security
Food security is the condition where people can access sufficient amounts of nutritious food to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.
Different types of food security
- An individual, community and country can all have food security.
- Countries that have food security are able to produce enough food or can fund food imports to feed their populations.
- Countries that don't have food security are not able to produce enough food or fund food imports to feed their populations.
Factors affecting availability
- Land - poverty-stricken communities may have insufficient fertile land for farming.
- Wealth - the poorer a person, the less disposable income they have to spend on food.
- Population increases - increasing populations need more food.
- New pests and pathogens - attack animals and crops.
- Climate - not everywhere is suitable for farming - we cannot farm land if temperatures aren't right or there's insufficient rainfall.
Factors affecting availability (continued)
- Armed conflicts.
- Extreme meteorological events - natural disasters have an impact on food supply.
- Crop production - people are starting to grow crops for things other than food on land that was once used for food crops.
- Changing diets - fewer food resources are transported to other areas from areas that need them.
Increasing Food Production
The global supply of food must increase to match rising global food demand. Methods for increasing food supply include:
Genetically modified crops
- We can produce GM crops that grow faster, are resistant to pests, have higher yields and greater nutritional values.
Reducing meat consumption
- Reared animals eat our crops.
- If we eat those crops and cut out the middle man (animal), less energy will be wasted.
Cutting down on food waste
- The less food we waste, the more we can eat.
Sustainable techniques
- By using sustainable methods, e.g. sustainable fishing, to make sure we're looking after the environment and preserving resources, we can make sure that future generations can grow sufficient amounts of food.
Fairtrade
The Fairtrade Foundation aims to promote workers' and farmers' welfares in less developed countries as well as the sustainable production of food.
Fairtrade's work
- A lot of the expensive products we consume (e.g. cocoa beans) rely on raw ingredients farmed in less developed regions. The farmers that produce these ingredients often get paid very little.
- Fairtrade makes sure that farmers are paid a fair wage and works to improve their working environments.
Impact
- Fairtrade helps farmers to gain food security.
- Once they start to get paid more for their produce, they can afford to spend more on food.
Labels on foods
- Fairtrade foods are labelled with the fairtrade logo.
Test yourself on Sustainability of Food 2
What is it called when people can access sufficient amounts of nutritious food to lead an active and healthy lifestyle?
What are the aims of the Fairtrade Foundation?
What foundation aims to promote workers' and farmers' welfares in less developed countries as well as the sustainable production of food?
How does the Fairtrade Foundation help farmers?
How do we know if food products are Fairtrade products?