Food & Cooking · Unit 18
Food Systems and the Future
Supply chains, sustainability, security and what we will eat next
Feeding ten billion people without exhausting the systems that produce the food is the largest open problem in this subject, and none of the proposed answers is uncontested.
The unit covers supply chains, food security, the environmental cost of different foods, policy and regulation, and the technologies being proposed for what comes next.
This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 110 questions, starting at difficulty 4 and building to 5. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 18
- Questions
- 110
- Difficulty
- 4-5
What this unit covers
- Food and the Environment
- Supply Chains
- The Future of Food
- Food Security
- Policy and Regulation
Where this fits
The final unit. Assumes From Farm to Plate and Nutrition and the Body.
Where people slip
Enough food is produced globally to feed everyone. Hunger is overwhelmingly a distribution, income and conflict problem rather than a production one.
How the unit is structured
Food Systems and the Future runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 4 and climb to 5 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 110 in the unit altogether.
Food Security
- Build the sentenceLevel 4
1. Build a sentence about food security.
Answer: Everyone needs reliable access to nutritious food
Everyone needs reliable access to nutritious food.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
2. Which cause food insecurity? Pick all that apply.
- Povertycorrect
- Armed conflictcorrect
- Droughts and floodscorrect
- Good harvests
Poverty, conflict, climate shocks and price spikes all cause it.
- Fill the blankLevel 4
3. Reliable access to enough safe nutritious food is called food ____.
- securitycorrect
- colouring
- packaging
- labelling
Food security has availability, access, use and stability dimensions.
- Multiple choiceLevel 4
4. What does food security mean?
- Reliable access to enough safe nutritious foodcorrect
- Locking food in a warehouse
- Growing all food locally
- Having a large freezer
Everyone having reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food.
- True or falseLevel 4
5. The world currently produces enough calories to feed everyone.
Answer: True
True. Hunger persists mainly through poverty, conflict and distribution failures.
- Put in orderLevel 5
6. Put these food crisis stages in order.
Answer: A production or trade shock -> Prices rise sharply -> Poorer households lose access -> Hunger increases -> Assistance and policy response
Shock, price rise, reduced access, hunger, response.
Food and the Environment
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
7. Which environmental impacts come from food production? Pick all that apply.
- Greenhouse gas emissionscorrect
- Fresh water usecorrect
- Nutrient pollution of watercorrect
- Radio interference
Emissions, water use, land use and pollution all result.
- Fact or fibLevel 4
8. Food production has no effect on the natural world.
Answer: False
False. It is the largest single driver of land use change and biodiversity loss.
- Fill the blankLevel 4
9. Assessing impacts across a product's whole life is called ____ assessment.
- life cyclecorrect
- taste
- packaging
- shelf life
Life cycle assessment covers cradle to grave.
- Multiple choiceLevel 4
10. What is the largest driver of biodiversity loss globally?
- Conversion of habitat to farmlandcorrect
- Tourism
- Air travel
- Street lighting
Conversion of habitat to agriculture is the leading driver.
- Sort into groupsLevel 4
11. Sort each action by whether it reduces or increases food system impact.
Answer: Cutting household food waste = Reduces impact; Improving crop yields sustainably = Reduces impact; Clearing forest for pasture = Increases impact; Overusing fertiliser = Increases impact
Some choices lower impact and others raise it.
- True or falseLevel 4
12. Agriculture uses the majority of the world's fresh water withdrawals.
Answer: True
True. Irrigation dominates global water use.
Policy and Regulation
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
13. Which are food policy tools? Pick all that apply.
- Taxes on certain productscorrect
- Subsidies for producerscorrect
- Mandatory labelling rulescorrect
- Weather control
Taxes, subsidies, labelling rules and public procurement are all tools.
- Multiple choiceLevel 4
14. What is a food subsidy?
- Public money supporting production or pricescorrect
- A tax on food
- A shop discount card
- A cooking course
Public money supporting production or lowering the price of food.
- Odd one outLevel 4
15. Which of these is NOT a food policy measure?
- Changing the weathercorrect
- Taxing sugary drinks
- Requiring nutrition labels
- Funding school meals
Changing the weather is not a policy instrument.
- True or falseLevel 4
16. School meal programmes are a common food policy tool.
Answer: True
True. They support nutrition, attendance and learning.
- Build the sentenceLevel 5
17. Build a sentence about food policy.
Answer: Good policy balances health environment and livelihoods
Good policy balances health environment and livelihoods.
- Fact or fibLevel 5
18. Food policy decisions involve only scientific evidence, not political choices.
Answer: False
False. Evidence informs decisions, but priorities and trade-offs are political.
Supply Chains
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
19. Which are stages of a food system? Pick all that apply.
- Productioncorrect
- Processingcorrect
- Consumption and wastecorrect
- Astronomy
Production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste are all stages.
- Multiple choiceLevel 4
20. What is a food system?
- Everything from growing food to eating and wastecorrect
- Only farming
- Only supermarkets
- Only cooking
Everything involved in feeding people, from growing and processing to eating and waste.
- Picture questionLevel 4
21. 🌍 What does this global network represent in food terms?
- A global food supply chaincorrect
- A single farm
- A recipe
- A kitchen
Food supply chains connect producers and consumers across the world.
- Put in orderLevel 4
22. Put these food system stages in order.
Answer: Farm inputs -> Production on farms -> Processing -> Distribution and retail -> Consumption -> Waste management
Inputs, production, processing, distribution, consumption, waste.
- Sort into groupsLevel 4
23. Sort each factor by whether it strengthens or weakens resilience.
Answer: Diverse suppliers = Strengthens resilience; Strategic grain reserves = Strengthens resilience; Reliance on one export route = Weakens resilience; Minimal buffer stock = Weakens resilience
Resilience comes from diversity and buffers.
- True or falseLevel 4
24. A disruption in one country can affect food prices worldwide.
Answer: True
True, as export restrictions and harvest failures have repeatedly shown.
The Future of Food
- Build the sentenceLevel 4
25. Build a sentence about food futures.
Answer: Technology alone cannot fix the food system
Technology alone cannot fix the food system.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
26. Which could reduce food system emissions? Pick all that apply.
- Cutting food wastecorrect
- Shifting diets towards more plantscorrect
- Improving farming practicescorrect
- Increasing deforestation
Less waste, dietary shifts, better farming and cleaner energy all help.
- Match the pairsLevel 4
27. Match each innovation to what it aims to improve.
Answer: Vertical farming = Land and water use; Alternative proteins = Emissions from livestock; Smart packaging = Food waste; Precision irrigation = Water efficiency
Different innovations target different problems.
- Multiple choiceLevel 4
28. What is vertical farming?
- Growing crops in stacked indoor layerscorrect
- Farming on hillsides
- Growing tall crops
- Farming underwater
Growing crops in stacked layers indoors under controlled conditions.
- True or falseLevel 4
29. Technology alone is unlikely to solve food system problems.
Answer: True
True. Economics, policy and behaviour matter just as much.
- Fact or fibLevel 5
30. A single intervention is usually enough to transform a food system.
Answer: False
False. Durable change requires several reinforcing levers at once.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 12 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Fill the blank
- Match the pairs
- Multiple choice
- Odd one out
- Picture question
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise Food Systems and the Future
110 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitMore units in Food & Cooking
- What We EatFood groups, meals and where our food comes from
- Fruit and VegetablesGrowing, picking and eating plants
- In the KitchenTools, hygiene and staying safe while you cook
- From Farm to PlateThe journey food takes before it reaches you
- Grains and BreadThe crops that feed the world and the loaves they become
- Dairy and EggsMilk, cheese, butter and the remarkable egg
- Meat, Fish and ProteinProtein foods, how they cook and how they are caught or raised
- Herbs and SpicesFlavour, aroma and the trade that moved the world