AQA GCSE Biology 4.7.5 Food Production Exam Questions

About AQA GCSE Biology 4.7.5 Food Production

Food production is a Biology only section of AQA Ecology and the final section of the specification, examined on Paper 2. It looks at the challenge of feeding a growing human population sustainably, how farming methods increase the efficiency of food production, how fish stocks can be maintained, and how biotechnology contributes, including mycoprotein and genetically modified crops. It draws on trophic levels in 4.7.4 and genetic engineering in 4.6.2. Examiners often ask you to evaluate factory farming, explain how quotas and net sizes conserve fish stocks, and describe how mycoprotein is produced.

What you need to know

• 4.7.5.1 Food security Food security means having enough food to feed a population. Threats include increasing birth rates, changing diets in developed countries, new pests and pathogens, environmental changes such as drought, the cost of agricultural inputs, and conflicts.
• 4.7.5.2 Efficiency of food production Efficiency can be improved by restricting energy transfer from food animals to the environment: limiting their movement and keeping them in temperature-controlled surroundings. Some animals are fed high-protein foods to increase growth. Some people have ethical objections to these methods.
• 4.7.5.3 Sustainable fisheries Fish stocks are declining. Control of net size and fishing quotas help conserve stocks, letting young fish survive to breed so populations remain at a sustainable level.
• 4.7.5.4 Role of biotechnology Modern biotechnology produces food from microorganisms in large-scale cultures. The fungus Fusarium is used to make mycoprotein, a protein-rich food for vegetarians, grown on glucose syrup in aerobic conditions and then harvested and purified.
• Genetically modified crops GM crops can provide more food or food with improved nutritional value, such as golden rice, which contains a gene to produce beta-carotene, helping to prevent vitamin A deficiency.
• Eating lower in the food chain Because about 90% of biomass is lost at each trophic level, eating plants rather than meat feeds more people from the same land.

Common mistakes in 4.7.5 Food Production

• Saying factory farming makes animals produce more energy. It reduces energy transferred to the surroundings by movement and heating, so more is used for growth.
• Saying larger nets help fish stocks. Larger mesh sizes let young fish escape so they can reach breeding age.
• Saying Fusarium is a bacterium. Fusarium is a fungus.
• Giving only advantages of factory farming. Also mention ethical issues, disease spread in crowded conditions and antibiotic use.

Try three 4.7.5 Food Production exam-style questions