Improving Food Production

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Plants as food

Plants can carry out photosynthesis. In the process of photosynthesis, plants convert the energy in light to a stored chemical form. They absorb carbon dioxide from the air and make carbohydrates. Most plants store energy as the carbohydrates starch. They also absorb minerals, such as nitrate, from the soil, and manufacture a range of other biological molecules. Herbivores are animals that make use of these biological molecules when they eat and digest plants.

Humans are omnivores. This means that we eat both plants and animals. We gain our nutrition both directly from plants and also indirectly by herbivorous animals. The human food chain tends to be short. By making the food chain more efficient, we can increase food production.

How can we make food production more efficient?

In plants it is possible to:

improve the growth rate of crops

increase the size of yield from each plant

reduce losses of crops due to diseases and pests

make harvesting easier by standardising plant size

improve plant responses to fertilisers

In animals it is possible to:

improve the rate of growth

increase productivity

increases resistance to diseases

Selective Breeding

isolation

artificial selection

inbreeding

E.g. farmers breed cattle for high milk yield or meat production. Dairy cows can produce over 40 litres a day.

Tomatoes have been bred with improved disease resistance.

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