# The True Cost of Food: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 2, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 2, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 | E | GBP 23m for the removal of the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water by water companies |
| 15 | B | First mechanisation, then mass use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, then monocultures, then battery rearing of livestock, and now genetic engineering |
| 16 | C | the costs of all this damage are what economists refer to as externalities |
| 17 | B | the growth of algae is increasing in lakes because of the fertiliser run-off. |
| 18 | YES | many of our best-loved farmland birds, such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the lapwing and the corn bunting, have vanished from huge stretches of countryside |
| 19 | NOT GIVEN | most food is now far cheaper to buy in relative terms than it was in 1960. |
| 20 | NO | consumers rarely make the connection at the dinner table. ... To many, the costs may not even appear to be financial at all, but merely aesthetic |
| 21 | YES | GBP 169m from food poisoning |
| 22 | food bills | our food bills are actually threefold. |
| 23 | intensive farming | Breaking away from industrial agriculture as the solution to hunger may be very hard for some countries, but in Britain ... it may be more feasible |
| 24 | organic farming | Professor Pretty feels that organic farming would be too big a jump in thinking and in practices for many farmers. |
| 25 | Greener Food Standard | He is recommending the immediate introduction of a 'Greener Food Standard' |
| 26 | farmers and consumers | It could go a long way, he says, to shifting consumers as well as farmers towards a more sustainable system of agriculture. |

## Why these answers are right

**14. E.** You need the paragraph with a cost of cleaning household water. Paragraph E lists GBP 23m paid by water companies for removing the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water. Drinking water supplied to homes is domestic water, so the answer is E.

**15. B.** The item asks for stages in farming's development. Paragraph B opens with a sequence running from mechanization through chemical fertilizers, monocultures and battery rearing to genetic engineering, linked by first, then and now. That ordered list of stages is in B.

**16. C.** You need the paragraph naming a term for hidden costs. Paragraph C says the costs of the damage are what economists refer to as externalities, costs outside the main transaction that neither producers nor consumers pay directly. The term appears there, so C.

The why and the trap for questions 17 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-true-cost-of-food/answers).

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