Artificially managed food production Animals don’t turn all the food they eat into new animal. Some of the food is not digested and is lost as waste. Some energy is used for movement and maintaining a constant body temperature.

 People want meat, eggs and milk as cheaply as possible.  Farmers want to get the maximum increase in biomass without feeding the animals a greater quantity of food.  They have used the ideas about energy losses in a food chain in food production.

 Look at the following images.  Try to think of ways in which farmers increase food production more cheaply (by limiting the loss of energy).

Factory farming vs organic farming  The following show images of animals on organic farms.  What are the main differences between the conditions in a factory farm and in an organic farm?  Try to explain why organic food is more expensive.