Global & Regional Patterns of Food
Food production and consumption
- Global food production has changed over time
- Increased significantly in the last 50 years (three times more food is produced today than in 1970)
- Due to more land being put aside to grow crops and technological advancements increasing crop yields
- Global food production is unevenly distributed over space
- Physical factors (climate, soils, relief and water availability) influence how much food can be grown in some areas
- Human factors (economic resources and investment in technology) also determine the pattern
Global Pattern of Cereals Production (2020) with Annotations Explaining Regional Variation
- Global food consumption has also increased significantly in recent years and there are similar spatial variations across in the globe
- Linked to levels of development
- More highly developed countries can afford to invest in food production technology to increase yields and can also afford to import more food if it can’t be grown locally
- Consumption by lower income countries has also increased as they have developed, but total consumption by these countries is lower and increasingly more slowly than in developed countries
Global Pattern of Meat Consumption (quantity available for consumption per capita, 2019) with Annotations Explaining Regional Variation
Exam Tip
In a question about global patterns of food, try and make connections between food production and consumption. In some regions the patterns are similar and you should try to explain why. For example, countries that can’t afford to produce lots of food due to lack of investment in agriculture, are likely to have lower average incomes per person and so overall calorie consumption is likely to be lower too.