Farming Techniques (AQA GCSE Biology): Revision Note

Farming

• The efficiency of food production can be improved by restricting energy transfer from food animals to the environment. This can be done by:

  • limiting their movement – livestock are kept in small pens or cages so that they use less energy moving around

  • controlling the temperature of their surroundings – livestock are kept at their optimum temperature so that they use less energy regulating their body temperatures themselves

• Movement and staying warm are two main processes that require the energy released in respiration

• If livestock don’t have to carry out these processes, there is more energy available for growth

• In addition, some animals are fed high protein foods to increase growth

Ethical objections

• Some people have ethical objections to some modern intensive farming methods

• Keeping livestock in very confined spaces (factory farming) is controversial because disease can spread easily and many people think it is unethical to make animals live in unnatural and uncomfortable conditions

Advantages and disadvantages of modern farming techniques

• Livestock raised in small pens and cages

  • Advantages

    • Livestock use less energy for movement, leaving more energy available for growth

  • Disadvantages

    • Keeping animals confined in such small spaces is seen as unethical by many people

    • Disease can spread easily as many animals are kept very close together

• Livestock fed antibiotics in their food

  • Advantages

    • Antibiotics prevent diseases and bacterial infections in livestock

  • Disadvantages

    • Scientists think this may be leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria

• Monocultures

  • Advantages

    • Farmers only grow a single crop type across vast areas of land as this maximises the amount of food produced and their profits

  • Disadvantages

    • Monocultures only support a low level of biodiversity

• Fertiliser use

  • Advantages

    • Increases plant growth and therefore maximises food production

  • Disadvantages

    • Runoff occurs from agricultural land if fertilisers are applied in too high a concentration, causing fertilisers to enter watercourses

    • This can lead to eutrophication and eventually the death of aquatic organisms

• Hedgerow removal

  • Advantages

    • This has made fields bigger and easier to maintain with big farm machinery

  • Disadvantages

    • Reduces biodiversity as hedgerows provide a habitat for a large number of species