Assess the Effectiveness of Strategies Implemented to Increase/Maintain a Sustainable Food Supply

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1.3 – Assess the effectiveness of strategies implemented to increase/maintain a sustainable food supply [25] Sustainable food production is producing food in a way which is in harmony with nature and ensures resources for future generations. New technologies have been used globally to try and increase food production such as sustainable agriculture technologies like GM crops, the Green revolution, hydrophonics and aerophonics, the Blue revolution and biofuels. All these strategies are good at increasing/maintaining a sustainable food supply. One strategy that has been used in Kent, UK, is the use of hydrophonics and aerophonics, where plants are grown on large scales without soil. This strategy is effective as the plants grow up to four times faster and seasonal crops can be harvested all year round. Also the surplus water can be recycled, which cuts use by 20%, and also the plants need fewer chemical pesticides as they are being grown indoors. However, as the plants are not grown in soil, the produce is bland and cannot produce true organic produce. Also the heated greenhouses and lights are wasteful and the greenhouses are an eyesore. An example of aquaponics, which is a combination of hydrophonics and aerophonics, in the UK is in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The waste from the fish which are reared there is used as nutrients for the plants, and the plants filter water for the fish. So this technique is sustainable, but arguably can only be small scale and currently is not a realistic food source for large populations. Another strategy is a push in sustainable agriculture, which is the production of food indefinitely without damage to the environment, but causes of unsustainable agriculture such as resource imbalance, policy failure and unsuitable technologies have been identified by the FAO. Sustainable ways of farming is extensive systems in low population

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