Three aims: The world must feed more people without destroying the land, water and climate that farming needs. Global strategies aim at three things at once.
The points to remember
- Reduce demand for high-impact food, and reduce food waste.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from producing food.
- Increase productivity without increasing the area of land farmed.
- A sustainable food supply also keeps soil, water and biodiversity healthy.
- And it must be economically viable: farmers will not adopt a method that loses money.
- At sea: catch quotas below the maximum sustainable yield keep fish coming.
Example (SL): the Netherlands. A small, crowded country, it is the world's second-largest food exporter by value, because its farms and glasshouses grow far more per hectare than most.
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The fastest way to cut farming's impact is to need less of the foods that do the most harm: beef, lamb and dairy.
The points to remember
- Plant-based meat substitutes look and taste like meat but are made from plants or fungi.
- Taxes, labels and campaigns can shift people towards plant foods.
- Schools and canteens can serve smaller meat portions or meat-free days.
- Households can eat less meat, buy sustainably produced food and choose less packaging.
- Buying local, seasonal food cuts transport, but heated greenhouses can outweigh that.
- Planting trees absorbs CO2 but does not cut the emissions from food itself.
Remember it as: Less beef, less waste, less land.
Example (SL): Beyond Meat. This US company makes burgers from pea protein that look and cook like beef; they are sold in supermarkets and fast-food chains in many countries.
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Food that is wasted wastes all the land, water, energy and fertilizer used to grow it. In richer countries most waste is in shops and homes.
In shops (distribution)
- Keep food at the right temperature; better packaging.
- Store food well and keep pests out.
- Sell 'ugly' fruit and vegetables.
- Discount or donate food near its date.
In homes (use)
- Buy only what will be eaten; plan meals.
- Check use-by dates; store food properly.
- Freeze or re-cook leftovers.
- Buy 'ugly' produce; give away spare food.
- Education campaigns against waste.
The points to remember
- Extended shelf life (coatings, better packaging, longer-lasting varieties) means less spoils before it is eaten.
- Selling locally cuts distribution losses.
- Composting deals with waste after it happens: it does not reduce waste at home.
Example (SL): Too Good To Go. This app, started in Copenhagen in 2016, lets shops, bakeries and cafes sell food near the end of the day cheaply instead of throwing it away.
Most of food's greenhouse gases come from the farm: methane from cattle and rice, and nitrous oxide from fertilizer.
The points to remember
- Ruminants: feed additives, seaweed or low-methane breeds cut methane from digestion.
- Low-methane rice: draining paddies for short spells, or new varieties, cuts methane.
- Nitrogen loss: test soil and apply fertilizer only where needed; grow legumes that fix nitrogen.
- Nitrous oxide matters even in small amounts.
- Manure: cover it and capture the methane as biogas for power.
- Fossil fuels: renewable power for barns, feed mills, trucks and fridges, and local feed, cut CO2, but not methane.
Example (SL): Bovaer. This feed additive, approved in the EU in 2022, stops a step in a cow's digestion and cuts the methane from dairy cows by about 30%.
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Growing more on the land already farmed saves forests and grasslands from being cleared.
Genetic modification: for
- Higher yields; resists pests, so less pesticide.
- Drought tolerance: crops survive dry years.
- Better nutrition, as in Golden Rice.
Genetic modification: against
- Genes may spread to wild plants.
- Companies control and patent the seeds.
- Long-term effects unknown; ethical objections.
The points to remember
- In-field solar fertilizer: small solar units make nitrogen fertilizer on the farm from air and water, with no fossil fuel.
- Precision farming uses soil tests and sensors to give each part of a field what it needs.
- Integrated pest management cuts crop losses to pests.
Example (SL): Bt brinjal in Bangladesh. Since 2014, farmers have grown a GM aubergine that makes its own insecticide against the fruit borer, so they spray far less.
To evaluate a strategy, name it, give its strengths and weaknesses, then judge it.
The points to remember
- Name the strategy: a name alone gets no mark.
- For: what it cuts (methane, land, waste), with evidence.
- Against: cost, how widely it can be used, what it leaves out (other gases, other stages).
- Judge: a balanced conclusion with evidence.
- Check all three pillars: environmental, economic (jobs, income) and social (culture).
- Example features: moving herds lets grass recover (no overgrazing); unploughed meadows store carbon; local sales cut transport.
Not enough on its own: 'It is more expensive' needs a reason: who pays, and why it stops people using it. 'Less pollution' alone, or tourism income, does not show a farm is sustainable.
Example (SL): Denmark's livestock tax. Agreed in 2024, it will charge farmers for the greenhouse gases from their animals from 2030. For: it pushes farmers to cut methane. Against: it raises costs and needs other countries to follow.
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How this comes up: Paper 2 Section A shows the food lost and wasted at each stage of a food system and asks for two strategies to cut waste at one stage [2].
The bar chart shows the food lost and wasted at each stage of the food system in Westmark, a made-up country.
Outline two strategies to reduce food waste at the distribution and shops stage in Westmark.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.