Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mr. Jarvis.

And I'm gonna be taking you through today's lesson, which comes from the unit Maintaining biodiversity and human impacts.

Today we are looking at factors affecting human food security, and possible solutions.

By the end of today's lesson, you should be able to describe factors affecting food security and explain how biotechnological and agricultural solutions can help to ensure food security.

There are four key words to today's lesson.

They are food security, genetic engineering, biotechnology, and ethics.

The definitions for all those words are on the screen now.

You can pause the video if you need some time to read through them, but don't worry as we will pause and talk about each of those words as we come to them during the lesson.

Today's lesson is broken down into two parts.

First of all, we're going to look at some factors that affect food security.

And then we're going to look at some use of biotechnology in food production.

So if you're ready, let's get started with our first part of the lesson, which is all about factors affecting food security.

Food security is having enough food to feed the human population.

And it's important that all humans are able to eat a balanced diet to keep healthy.

Without food security, people suffer from malnutrition, diseases, and may even die.

The United Nations estimated that 9 million people die of hunger each year.

There are a number of factors that threaten food security around the world.

And these factors include.

An increasing human population.

The changing diets in developed countries.

New pests and diseases such as this cereal aphid, which has decimated some cereal crops.

Environmental changes which include climate change, seeing more intense storms which clear areas such as this banana plantation.

Costs.

And conflicts, wars.

Here's a check.

What's meant by the term food security? Is it A, the amount of food available, B, having enough food to feed the human population, C, being able to eat a wide range of different foods, or D, making sure that food is not stolen from supermarkets.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check your answer.

The correct answer is B, food security is having enough food to feed the human population.

Well done if you got that.

There is a problem around increasing human population.

We can see from the graph how the human population has increased since 1800.

1800, there are about one billion humans on the planet.

200 years later, there's over six billion.

And it's estimated that there could be 10 billion people on the planet by 2050.

The birth rate in many developed countries is falling.

However in many less developed countries, the birth rate is still increasing rapidly and the human population continues to grow, and this threatens food security because we need more food to feed the human population.

Changing diets are having a huge impact.

In some developed countries such as the UK, humans are always trying to find and eat new foods.

And new foods give humans a variety of different food types to eat.

Quinoa is the one example that you might have come across.

These foods have to be transported long distances and they may deprive communities in other countries of their traditional foods because there is less of it available to them or it becomes too expensive for them to buy.

Crops such as quinoa are form staple foods in South America as it's a really good source of protein.

And you can see in this packaging from the UK, it's a product of Peru.

Quinoa is now exported throughout the USA and Europe and the local consumption is declined.

And modern foods such as pasta have replaced the traditional food.

However, pasta is much less nutritious than quinoa because it contains less protein and so the local population are now having to eat food which is less nutritious.

That reduces food security as local communities have to buy the food rather than growing crops themselves.

So the local community in Peru would've grown the quinoa and eaten it for themselves.

Instead, they're selling their quinoa, but they're then having to buy less nutritious pasta to feed themselves with.

Here's a check.

Which of the following threatens food security? A, changing diets in less developed countries, B, changing diets in developed countries, C, an increase in the human population, or D, growing more crops for food.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check your answer.

The correct answer is B and C.

Changing diets in developed countries and an increase in the human population both threaten food security.

New pests and diseases or pathogens can also affect food security.

Global travel of humans has increased the spread of pests and pathogens.

And climate change including global warming, the increase in the Earth's average temperature, has resulted in the change of distribution of some organisms that spread diseases.

Here's an example.

Blue tongue virus is a disease of cattle and it's spread by midges.

And these midges are being found in a wider distribution.

And the virus causes the cows to become seriously ill, they then don't provide enough milk or meat and that threatens food security.

Environmental changes can also impact food security.

Climate change has a huge impact.

Droughts can cause crops and animals to die due to lack of precipitation.

Floods and more intense weather cause crops to die or rotten fields.

And when crops fail, food can be scarce until a new crop can be grown or be harvested.

Here's a check.

Why does a very high level of rainfall or precipitation threaten food security? Is it A, plants have the water they need and will grow quickly, B, the rain will add important elements to the soil, or C, plants will have too much water and may die.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check to see whether you got the answer right.

The correct answer here is C, plants will have too much water and then may die, mainly because they may rot.

Well done if you got that.

Cost is also an important factor in food security.

As technology has advanced, scientists have used things like genetic engineering to produce crops with high yields or that are tolerant of drought or disease, and that increased the cost of the seed.

Fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation systems that are needed to increase yield also cost money, and this can reduce the food security if farmers can't afford to buy them.

Conflicts also have an impact on food security.

Land can't be farmed during the conflict or afterwards as a result of things like landmines.

Water pipes and other infrastructure can also be destroyed, meaning that water can't be used to irrigate crops.

Sustainable food production involves producing enough food without using resources such as water and soils faster than they can be replaced.

Sustainable methods of farming and food production will also help to overcome food shortages and help food security where food and nutrition is a major threat.

And genetic engineering, replacing genes within organisms, can help to produce sustainable foods.

The golden rice plant is a variety of rice that has been genetically engineered to produce vitamins that give a more nutritious rice to the population that eat it.

So it's a really useful form of rice for those people where food is in short supply.

I'd like you to look at this graph as our first task in the lesson.

It shows how food consumption of quinoa has changed.

First of all, we've got the production, which is in the pink line, we've got the local consumption in the blue line, and the quinoa that's been exported in the purple line.

I'd like you to describe what the graph shows and link this to food security.

You'll need to pause the video, take a look at the graph and interpret it, and then write down a description of what the graph shows linking it to food security.

When you've done that, press play and we'll check your answer.

Good luck.

So how did you get on with that? I hope that you didn't find it too tricky.

Let's see how well you've done.

I asked you to describe what the graph shows and link this to food security.

Your answer may have included that quinoa production has increased slightly.

And that since 2000 there's been a significant increase in the export of quinoa.

At the same time, the local consumption of quinoa has declined.

And as exports have increased, there's less food available locally.

This decreases the food security of the local population.

You may have also said that food security may reduce as the local population has to rely on buying food rather than growing it for themselves.

And the food that they buy for example pasta may be less nutritional than the quinoa is.

Well done if you've got any or all of those points in your answer.

That brings us to the second part of today's lesson, which is all about the use of biotechnology and food production.

So if you're ready, let's move on.

Biotechnology is the field of biology that alters and uses organisms to produce products for human use.

Examples of how scientists use biotechnology include improving the yields of crops, developing new foods, and producing substances such as insulin.

Biotechnology can help to improve food security.

Genetic engineering, modifying the genome or the genes of an organism, can be used in agriculture to help improve food security.

And genetically modified or GM crops often have increased yields.

Soybean is one example of a crop that can be genetically modified to produce increased yield of crop.

This can be because GM crops can be made that are resistant to environmental conditions, for example droughts.

They make their own pesticides to prevent them being eaten by pests.

And to make bigger fruits or have more nutritional value as we saw in the golden wheat, which contained many vitamins that were needed by the local population.

Increasing crop yield is important for food security as the human population grows.

Examples of the use of genetic modification include potatoes containing more starch and being resistant to pests, rice plants being able to withstand being either covered in water or reduced water, and grasses being able to help absorb residue from explosives in the soil.

Here's a check.

Some tomatoes have been genetically modified using a gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas.

How would the tomato with this gene be useful in modern agriculture? Is it A, the tomato will produce fruits when growing on the seabed, B, the tomato will produce high yields in colder temperatures, or C, the tomato will be resistant to pests from the ocean.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check your answer.

So the tomato with this gene would be useful in modern agriculture because the tomato will produce high yields in colder temperatures.

That's B.

Well done if you got that.

When using genetic engineering to modify crops, there are ethical decisions that scientists have to make.

And when we think about ethics, we think about whether it's right or wrong to do something.

And this usually involves considering the benefits and the risks of the actions that you take.

People have different views about the ethics of genetic engineering of crops.

Here are some of the benefits and the risks on the screen.

The benefits include, genetically engineered crops can make them more resistant to drought or disease, the crops can be modified to be more resistant to disease so they produce higher yields, or the crops can be genetically modified to produce their own pesticides.

The risks are that the genes from modified crops could get into the environment and spread to wild plants creating things like superweeds which would reduce crop yield, or crops that are modified to produce their own pesticides could lead to the evolution of pesticide resistance in the pest organisms. What do you think about the ethics of genetically engineering crops and why? I'll pause for a few seconds while you have a think.

Here's a check.

Which of the following is an advantage of growing GM maize crops to produce food? Is it A, more pesticide is needed to grow the crop, B, less pesticide is needed to grow the crop, C, herbivores can become resistant pesticides, or D, genes can pass into the environment and create superweeds.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check your answer.

The correct answer is B, less pesticide is needed to grow the crop.

Well done if you got that.

Biotechnology can be used to culture microorganisms. And microorganisms can be genetically modified to provide drugs such as insulin or to make food.

Remember, a microorganism is an organism that you can only see under a microscope.

One of the first foods that was produced was mycoprotein.

You may have eaten mycoprotein yourself.

It's available in many of the supermarkets.

Corn is one form of mycoprotein that you might have eaten.

And this is a protein that's produced from a fungus called fusarium.

The fungus grows quickly in cheap glucose syrup.

The fungus and the syrup, the food for the microorganism, are put into a fermenter.

Here's a picture of the fermenter and you can see where the fungus culture is held in the centre.

Oxygen is provided so conditions are aerobic.

The fungus grows well in oxygenated aerobic conditions.

And optimum conditions are maintained, which help the fungus to grow quickly.

That's done by a water jacket.

Cold water is pumped in, the water jacket helps to cool and maintain the temperature of the fungus culture, and warm water is pumped out.

There's a probe to monitor conditions within the fermenter too.

There's a motor and a stirrer that helps to maintain aerobic conditions by stirring and mixing the fungus culture to ensure that oxygen is available to the fungus.

And there's an outlet the fermenter at the bottom, which is used to harvest the product.

The fungus can double in biomass in as little as five hours.

The fungal biomass is harvested and purified and it's then produce mycoprotein.

Mycoprotein is a cheap and nutritious food source that's suitable for vegetarians to eat.

Here's some cooked mycoprotein in the picture.

Because it's cheap and it's made quickly, it's a very sustainable food source and could be really beneficial in maintaining food security.

Here's a check.

Mycoprotein is made from which type of organism? Is it A, bacteria, B, fungus, C, plant, or D, animal.

I'll pause for a few seconds and then we'll check your answer.

The correct answer is B, fungus.

Mycoprotein is made by the fungus.

Can you remember what type of fungus it is? It's fusarium.

Well done if you got that too.

That brings us to our final task of today's lesson.

The image shows a fermenter used to grow the fungus fusarium.

I'd like you to answer three questions.

One, what's the main food source of the fungus? Two, why is oxygen pumped into the fermenter? And three, explain why there's a water-cooled jacket around the fermenter.

You'll need to pause the video, write down your answers, and then when you're ready to check them, press play and we'll see how well you've done.

Good luck.

Let's see how you did.

First of all I asked you what is the main food source of the fungus? And the fungus's main food source is glucose syrup.

That's cheap, it's easily used by the fungus to provide energy for life processes, and so the fungus grows quickly.

Then I asked you to explain why oxygen was pumped into the fermenter? And the reason for this is that the fungus respires aerobically, it needs oxygen.

And third and final question was explain why there's a water-cooled jacket around the fermenter.

You might have included in your answer here that the jacket maintains the temperature of the fermenter at the optimum temperature for the fungus to grow quickly, and this will ensure that the fungus produces a high yield in a short time.

This will provide more food and increase food security.

Well done if you've got that.

That brings us to the summary of today's lesson.

We've seen that as the human population increases, there's a need to provide enough food to feed all humans, and this is what we know as food security.

There are a range of factors that affect food security.

These include changing diets, new pests and diseases, changing climate, cost and conflicts.

Genetic engineering can be used to modify organisms to produce crops that have increased yields and more nutritious foods.

We must always consider the ethics of modifying organisms. And ethics are whether it's right or wrong.

And biotechnology can be used to produce food, including mycoprotein produced by the fungus fusarium.

Thanks as always for learning with me.

It's been great having you along and I look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

Bye-bye for now.