Production and Distribution of Food Concept Questions
1. Describe some advancements that the agricultural revolution brought to farming and state the environmental costs of each.
2. Describe subsistence agriculture and state it’s relationship to sustainability?
3. How does animal farming affect the environment?
4. What are the pros and cons of small family farms and large corporate farms?
5. How might farmers be able to increase their production without increasing land use?
6. Should farmers be forced to use ecologically sustainable practices that serve their best interest in the long run regardless of short term consequences? How could we mitigate the hardships that might result from such a policy?
7. How does natural variability in climate limit world food production. Is this evidence that the human population is already at Earth’s carrying capacity?
8. What are the causes of erosion and what are some possible solutions?
9. Should preserving soil be a farmer’s top priority? Why might it not be?
10. There are rice paddies in southeast Asia that have been cultivated for thousands of years without losing productivity. Could we, and should we, adopt these techniques to countries like ours?
11. What are our major prospects for increasing food production in the future?
12. What are the pros and cons of relying on biotechnology to increase food production?
13. Eating lower on the food chain has environmental and other benefits. Discuss.
14. Describe the three levels of responsibility for meeting food needs. At each level, how can food security be increased?
15. List three causes of hunger in developing countries and state how each causes hunger.
16. Briefly describe some pros and cons of sending food aid to countries which do not produce enough food. Under what conditions SHOULD food aid be sent?
17. In order to improve self-sufficiency and prevent chronic dependance, what conditions should be attached to food aid sent for famine relief?
18. Explain how the four principles of sustainability apply to agriculture.