THE ROLE OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES IN HUMAN NUTRITION – Vol. III - Interrelationships between The Environment and Food Production - Solon Barraclough (Deceased) ©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENT AND FOOD PRODUCTION

Food has to be extracted from the natural environment of land, water, climate, flora, fauna, solar energy, fossil fuels, and other natural resources needed for the production of crops, livestock, and the like essential for adequate diets. These requisites for food production must be provided by the Earth’s materially closed, finite, and nongrowing ecosystem with a limited throughput of solar energy. The interrelationships between the natural environment and food supplies were apparent for nearly everyone in agrarian societies, but in urban-industrial ones they are often forgotten.