IB Geography F.2.2 Variations in Food Consumption Notes

Food Consumption Varies Through Physical Limits and Human Access

1. Physical processes: shape what can be produced locally through climate, soils, water, relief and hazards.
2. Human processes: shape what households can obtain and choose through income, prices, trade, transport, policy, culture and urbanisation.
3. Food availability: describes whether enough food reaches a place, while food access depends on whether people can obtain it.
4. Dietary choice: is constrained when food is unaffordable or unavailable, so consumption patterns cannot be explained by preference alone.

Climate and Growing Seasons Set the Production Calendar

1. Temperature: sets the length of the growing season and the crops that can mature in a place.
2. Rainfall: affects planting dates, harvest reliability and whether irrigation is needed.
3. Seasonality: creates periods of plenty and scarcity where storage, processing and imports are weak.
4. Climate variability: can reduce consumption after droughts, floods or heatwaves remove a harvest and raise prices.

Soil, Water and Relief Control Yields

1. Soil fertility: sets how much crop growth can be supported unless nutrients are replaced through fertiliser, manure or rotation.
2. Water availability: limits rain-fed farming and can make irrigation essential, but withdrawals may compete with cities, industry and ecosystems.
3. Relief: restricts mechanisation on steep slopes and often shortens the growing season at high altitude.
4. Hazard exposure: can destroy crops, livestock, roads and storage at the same time, turning a production shock into a consumption crisis.

Income Changes Both Quantity and Composition

1. Low income: pushes households toward cheaper staple foods and can reduce total energy intake when prices rise.
2. Rising income: usually increases consumption of meat, dairy, oils, sugar and food eaten away from home.
3. Income inequality: allows undernutrition and overconsumption to exist in the same city because national averages hide differences between households.
4. Price transmission: links world commodity prices to household diets, but subsidies, exchange rates and market power change how much of the price rise reaches consumers.

Urbanisation Reshapes Food Environments

1. Urban households: usually produce less food at home and depend more on retailers, street vendors and processed foods.
2. Time constraints: increase demand for prepared food where commuting and paid work reduce time available for cooking.
3. Cold chains: make perishable foods available over longer distances but add energy use and depend on reliable electricity and transport.
4. Advertising and retail: change demand by making branded and highly processed products visible, convenient and widely available.

Culture and Religion Shape Demand within Economic Limits

1. Religious rules: can prohibit foods or set preparation standards that remain strong even when income rises.
2. Cultural identity: supports particular staple foods, cooking methods and meal patterns across generations.
3. Migration: moves food practices between places while migrants also adapt diets to local prices and availability.
4. Gender and household power: affect who eats first, who controls food spending and whose nutritional needs are prioritised.

Trade, Transport and Policy Alter What Reaches Consumers

1. Trade: allows places to consume food they cannot grow locally and buffers some harvest failures.
2. Transport: determines whether food arrives before it spoils and how much distribution adds to the retail price.
3. Tariffs and quotas: protect domestic producers or restrict imports, which can raise or lower consumer access depending on the market.
4. Subsidies and price controls: can make staples more affordable but may strain public budgets or distort production choices.
5. Food aid: can meet urgent needs, but poorly timed imports may weaken local prices and farmer incomes.

Consumption Patterns Result from Interacting Processes

1. A production shock: reduces consumption most where poverty, weak transport and limited public support prevent substitution.
2. A higher income: changes diets most where retailers and trade already supply a wider range of foods.
3. Government policy: can offset physical limits through irrigation, storage and imports, but it can also favour some crops, firms or consumers over others.
4. Scale matters: national food supply can appear adequate while particular regions, neighbourhoods or social groups remain food insecure.