AQA GCSE Biology Foundation (8461), Foundation tier · Ecology › Food production
Practise Factors affecting food security. 6 exam-style questions plus unlimited generated ones on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
Food security means having enough food to feed a population. You need to describe the biological factors that threaten it and why sustainable ways of producing food are needed. This subtopic is in GCSE Biology only, not Combined Science.
Key facts
Food security = having enough food to feed a population
Threat: increasing birth rate
Threat: changing diets in developed countries (scarce food transported around the world)
Threats: cost of agricultural inputs; conflicts affecting water or food
Sustainable methods are needed to feed everyone
Notes
What food security means
Food security means having enough food to feed a population.
The human population is growing, so more food is needed. Ways of producing food sustainably are needed so that everyone on Earth can be fed.
Biological factors that threaten food security
diagram
Increasing birth rate: in some countries the population is growing faster than food production can keep up.
Changing diets in developed countries: demand for a wider range of foods means that scarce foods are shipped around the world, away from the people who grow them.
Eating more meat also needs more land and crops, because biomass is lost when crops are fed to animals.
Feeding crops to animals first loses most of the biomass, so a meat diet needs more land.
New pests and pathogens that affect farming: they can destroy crops or kill farm animals.
Environmental changes that affect farming: e.g. if the rains fail, crops die and there can be widespread famine.
The cost of agricultural inputs, such as fertiliser, pesticides, animal feed and fuel: farmers who cannot afford them produce less.
Conflicts: wars can cut off supplies of water or food.
Why sustainability matters
Sustainable food production can continue in the long term without using up resources or damaging the environment.
Examples include sustainable fishing and using biotechnology to produce more food from less land.
Threats often combine: a drought together with a conflict can leave a region without enough food.
How to answer each type of question
Define food security
1 markGrade 3
Use the phrase 'having enough food to feed a population'.
Do not confuse it with food safety (food being safe to eat).
Example. What is meant by food security?
Show the model answerHide the model answer
Having enough food to feed a population (1).
Describe factors that threaten food security
2 to 4 marksGrade 4
Pick factors from the specification list.
For each one, say how it reduces the food available or increases the food needed.
Use the context in the question, e.g. a country with a fast-growing population.
Example. Describe two biological factors that could reduce food security in a country. (2 marks)
Show the model answerHide the model answer
Any two, each with how it reduces food security: a new pest or pathogen destroys crops or kills livestock (1); the rains fail, so crops do not grow and there may be famine (1); the birth rate increases, so more food is needed than is produced (1); conflict reduces the availability of water or food (1).
Don’t lose marks
Giving only money-based answers ('food is too expensive') when the question asks for biological factors.
Confusing food security with food safety or hygiene.
Listing factors without explaining how each reduces the food available or increases the food needed.
More tips
Memory tricks
Six threats: 'Big Diets Put Even Cheap Crops at risk' = Birth rate, Diets, Pests and pathogens, Environmental change, Cost of inputs, Conflict.
Food security has two sides: supply (how much is produced) and demand (how many people, and what they eat).
Exam technique
Link each factor to less food produced or more food needed.
Use the factors in the specification; they are what mark schemes credit.
In data questions, compare population growth with food production using numbers.
What each grade needs
What you need to be able to do, from the first marks up to the top grade.
Grade 3
Define food securityHaving enough food to feed a population.
Grade 4
List factors that threaten food securityRising birth rate, changing diets, new pests and pathogens, environmental change, the cost of agricultural inputs and conflicts.
Grade 5
Explain how pests and pathogens threaten food suppliesThey destroy crops or kill farm animals, so less food is produced.
Quick recall
Cover the answers and test yourself. The app has these as flashcards that come back just before you'd forget them.
Sustainable methods must be found to feed all the people on Earth. What is meant by food security?
Having enough food to feed a population
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of AQA exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy4 marks
Sustainable methods must be found to feed all the people on Earth.
(a) What is meant by food security?[1]
(b) Which two of the following threaten food security? Tick (✓) two boxes.[2]
New pests and pathogens that affect farming
An increasing birth rate
Better storage of harvested crops
Higher crop yields
(c) Give one other factor that threatens food security.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Having enough food to feed a population
having enough food to feed a population
(b)Answer: New pests and pathogens that affect farming; An increasing birth rate
(c)
changing diets in developed countries, so scarce food resources are transported around the world
environmental changes, e.g. rains failing (famine)
the cost of agricultural inputs (e.g. fertiliser, fuel)
conflicts that affect the availability of water or food
Question 2Medium7 marks
{table} shows the population of a country and the mass of cereals produced there.
[object Object]
(a) Calculate the mass of cereal produced per person in 2020. Give your answer in kg. (1 tonne = 1000 kg)[2]
(b) In 2000, 300 kg of cereal was produced per person. Describe what the data show about food security in this country.[2]
(c) Suggest two biological factors that could explain why cereal production did not keep up with population growth.[2]
(d) Suggest one sustainable way the country could improve its food security.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: 250 kg
16.5 ÷ 66 = 0.25 tonnes
250 (kg)
(b)
cereal production increased, but the population increased faster
so the mass of cereal per person decreased (from 300 kg to 250 kg) / food security decreased
(c)
new pests or pathogens reduced yields
drought / rains failed / other environmental changes
the cost of fertiliser and other inputs reduced their use
conflict reduced the availability of water / land
(d)
grow pest- or disease-resistant crop varieties (e.g. from selective breeding or genetic modification)