Reading 2026-07 Test 29 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

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Reading Passage 1: New perspectives on food production

Solving the food problem requires scientific progress, but also an understanding of social context and cultures.

Is new technology needed for global food production?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations notes that domestic prices of staple food are continuing to increase, leading to a rise in the number of people worldwide who are chronically underfed. According to Erik Millstone, a food and agriculture researcher funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the natural science community tends to view world hunger as if it were a problem that could be solved simply by increasing total production. But, he says, 'Most people who are chronically hungry are so not because of the scarcity of food but because they are unable to afford what is available. In addition, the food trade is so globalised that food is often exported from areas where people are hungry and sent to countries where people already have sufficient.'

Millstone believes the problem can only be solved by changing the conditions for poor subsistence farmers and providing the support they need to grow more food. And that is not enough on its own—they also have to have facilities for storing it so that their food can be kept safe and in good condition until it is needed. But, he adds, increasing productivity through technology is not the answer. An example is the new genetically-engineered varieties of high-performance maize. The problem with these new varieties is that if you save seed and plant it again next year, its vigour has diminished. Most North American and European farmers can afford to get new seed every year; poor farmers cannot, so they need traditional varieties whose seed can be saved and replanted. Giving farmers access to credit also doesn't help; it adds risk. 'Poor farmers should not be thought of as entrepreneurs looking to invest their money. They are looking to diminish their risk.' Ultimately, he concludes, 'Instead of devoting resources to research for intensifying commercial farming, we should devote them to enhancing the techniques available to subsistence farmers, and to developing appropriate tools for them to use, because their need is the greatest. Increasing their productivity will do more to enhance food security for those who are hungry than anything else we can do.'

Looking for local solutions in the UK

In contrast to Millstone, Gareth Edwards-Jones, a professor of agriculture and land use at the University of Bangor in Wales, focuses on food production in the UK. In recent years 'local food' has become fashionable in the UK without any real understanding of the issues involved. First and foremost, it is necessary to define more precisely what is meant by 'local.' Is bread bought in England from an English bakery 'local' if the wheat it is made from was grown in Canada? Funded through the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, Edwards-Jones is studying people's perceptions of 'localness' and seeking to establish whether there is any science behind the popular belief that 'local is better.'

His work involves studying the carbon footprint of foods grown in different areas of the UK, as well as such common sources of supply as Spain, Kenya, and Uganda. He has made some surprising discoveries. Which has the lower carbon footprint: sugar made from sugar cane grown in Africa, or from sugar beet flown in from Europe? The answer is sugar from sugar cane in Africa. Similarly, trucking vegetables in from Spain may have a smaller carbon footprint than growing them locally in the UK—because growing them locally requires adding all the emissions of running a heated greenhouse.

And, he asks, how far down the life cycle should you go? He discovered early in his research that the methods used to prepare foods to be eaten can have a huge impact; boiling potatoes accounts for fully half their carbon footprint. Ultimately, it’s a mistake to look at just one part of the food chain. You could have a policy where you’re going to really pressure farmers to try to get emissions down, but decarbonising fuel and electricity is a much more effective method of protecting the environment, he says.

Another of Edwards-Jones’s research projects involved visiting farm workers in each of the above countries to assess their health and well-being. ‘We found that farm workers in Kenya had better physical and mental health than the average Kenyan,’ he says, attributing the difference to both better income and to the benefits—housing, schools, medical care provided by their large corporate employers. He finds it ironic that after years of ‘trade not aid’ all of a sudden people are starting to say the UK shouldn’t be importing food from Africa.

The other problem with insisting on locally grown food, he says, is that the UK is not suited to growing most fruits and vegetables—the key elements in a healthy diet. These crops need our best land—which means demoting other crops that do grow well in the UK to lower quality land. ‘There’s a domino effect so that increasing self-sufficiency may, from an environmental perspective, be quite bad,’ he says.

1
Some scientists see world hunger as due to a general _________ of food.
2
But it may be because: - hungry people cannot _________
3
But it may be because: - food is not available because it has been _________
4
SOLUTION - provide support for subsistence farmers in growing and _________ their food
5
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS - don’t use _________ to increase food production
6
e.g. _________ varieties of maize are better for poor farmers as the seed can be replanted
7
don’t provide opportunities for farmers to have _________ - too risky
8
do improve techniques and _________ available to subsistence farmers
9
Importing sugar to the UK from other parts of Europe is less environmentally harmful than importing sugar from Africa.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
- C. NOT GIVEN
10
The way in which some foods are cooked may affect their impact on the environment.
11
The best way to reduce harm to the environment is to oblige farmers to use more environmentally friendly farming methods.
12
Imports of food to the UK from African countries such as Kenya have fallen recently.
13
Growing fruit and vegetables is better for the environment than raising animals for food.

Reading Passage 2: Biophilic Design

Biophilic design, a movement related to green architecture, has gained much momentum within the building community in recent years. The premise of biophilic design is to avoid or minimise harmful impacts on the natural environment and, equally importantly, to provide and restore beneficial contacts between people and nature in the built environment.

People have a psychologically developed need to commune with nature, but this has frequently been neglected. All too often, architects put creative originality before the needs of the people who must live and work in their futuristic constructions, with scant regard for emotional as well as practical considerations. Biophilic design does not advocate tree houses or cave-dwelling, but it does provide nature-based features that maximise human functioning and health. Though not technically a biophilic design, Fallingwater— the stunning house in rural Pennsylvania designed in the 1930s by Frank Lloyd Wright— arguably speaks to the human soul far more than the box-like blocks of flats designed by his contemporary Le Corbusier.

In the modern world, much of our built environment obstructs the age-old connection between humans and nature. The rate of technological progress far exceeds the rate of psychological evolution, leaving us ill-equipped to cope with our lifestyles, which in turn leads to increased stress. Because biophilia attempts to integrate basic and current needs, it can alleviate the difficulties caused by the brain's constant efforts to function in a modern environment it has not yet evolved to handle. For example, one crucial element of the natural landscape for human health is sunlight. We are evolutionarily programmed to respond positively to sunny areas over dark or overcast ones and sense that they will foster restoration, improve emotional well-being and promote health.

Because of its tremendous impact on human psychology, biophilic design plays a vital role in healthcare and its delivery. The current healthcare system contains many flaws, especially in its physical spaces. Hospitals, clinics and offices are high-stress environments for patients, visitors and healthcare professionals alike. One well-known study looked at the impact of nature on patients after surgery. One group had a view of a tree; the others had a window looking onto a brick wall. The first group had shorter hospital stays, received fewer negative comments from nurses, required fewer analgesics and had slightly fewer post-operative complications.

As a consequence of this and other studies, nature and nature-based design have been integrated into the physical design of many hospitals. For example, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in New Hampshire boasts an atrium design illuminating the entire facility. Natural elements also permeate the building, including wood, stone and numerous live plants. While DHMC was built to incorporate these qualities, other hospitals have had biophilic features added to existing structures. The application of biophilic concepts to hospital interiors has increased substantially as administrators have witnessed patients' positive responses to nature.

Many existing buildings contain biophilic elements, but only a few have been built with the specific idea of biophilic design in mind. One such building is the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. The director of Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program, David Orr, explained that the building's goals were "to create not just a place for classes but rather a building that would help to redefine the relationship between humankind and the environment— one that would expand our sense of ecological possibilities". The Lewis Center is sustainable in a broader sense than in the typical application of the word. It harnesses solar power, utilises both active and passive air systems, and monitors the weather to adapt to conditions. The Centre's "Living Machine" treats wastewater by combining traditional wastewater technology with wetland ecosystems' purification processes, producing water that can be used in the toilets and for irrigation. In their design, Orr and his team of architects engineered a healthy and comfortable space for students while ensuring the surrounding environment was undamaged.

Another example is the University of Guelph-Humber building in Ontario, Canada. It contains a centrally located bio-wall, vertically spanning the building. The wall is covered in dense foliage which not only connects people to nature on the inside of the building, but also functions as a new filtration-system prototype. The wall purifies the air and has the potential to fulfil the building's fresh-air-intake requirements. These examples prove that the built environment need not interfere with biological human needs to commune with nature, nor with existing ecological systems.

Ancient architects built for their cultures, which were almost always more in touch with the earth than Western society is today. They mimicked nature's forms, producing magnificent structures that still awe us— though biophilic design is a novel concept, they certainly employed some of its recommendations. Today we can add another layer to this tradition and ensure maximal benefit for our planet and ourselves.

14
a description of how rapid change has a negative effect on people
15
a reference to an architect whose designs were uncharacteristic of biophilia
16
a definition of the two main aims of biophilia
17
a positive claim about early forms of architecture
18
a reference to the fact that many architects are too focused on innovation
19
a description of features which conserve energy in a biophilic design
20
In the modern world, __________ advancements are happening so quickly that humans are unable to adjust to them.
21
Biophilia can help us deal with the __________ caused by the difficulties of our current lifestyles.
22
People instinctively feel more comfortable in places which have plenty of __________, something which is necessary for health and well-being.
23
An experiment designed to test the effect of nature on patient recovery times found that those who could see a __________ made a faster recovery.
24
There is a biophilic design feature in the University of Guelph-Humber building which improves the quality of the __________.
25
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about the Adam Joseph Lewis Center at Oberlin College?
- A. It was the first educational establishment designed with biophilic principles.
- B. It is beneficial for both students and the environment.
- C. It has established new concepts for classroom design.
- D. It aims to inspire new ways of thinking about the environment.
- E. It provides solar power to other buildings in the surrounding area.

Reading Passage 3: Talc Powder

High in the French Pyrenees, some 1,700m above sea level, lies Trimouns, a huge deposit of hydrated magnesium silicate - talc to you and me. Talc from Trimouns, and from ten other Luzenac mines across the globe, is used in the manufacture of a vast array of everyday products extending from paper, paint and plaster to cosmetics, plastics and car tyres. And of course there is always talc's best known end use: talcum powder for babies' bottoms. But the true versatility of this remarkable mineral is nowhere better displayed than in its sometimes surprising use in certain niche markets in the food and agriculture industries.

Take, for example, the chewing gum business. Every year, Talc de Luzenac France - which owns and operates the Trimouns mine and is a member of the international Luzenac Group (part of Rio Tinto Minerals) - supplies about 6,000 tonnes of talc to chewing gum manufacturers in Europe. "We've been selling to this sector of the market since the 1960s," says Laurent Fournier, sales manager in Luzenac's Specialties business unit in Toulouse. "Admittedly, in terms of our total annual sales of talc, the amount we supply to chewing gum manufacturers is relatively small, but we see it as a valuable niche market: one where customers place a premium on securing supplies from a reliable, high-quality source. Because of this, long-term allegiance to a proven supplier is very much a feature of this sector of the talc market. Switching sources - in the way that you might choose to buy, say, paper clips from Supplier A rather than from Supplier B - is not an easy option for chewing gum manufacturers," Fournier says. "The cost of reformulating is high, so when customers are using a talc grade that works, even if it's expensive, they are understandably reluctant to switch."

But how is talc actually used in the manufacture of chewing gum? Patrick Delord, an engineer with a degree in agronomics, who has been with Luzenac for 22 years and is now senior market development manager, Agriculture and Food, in Europe, explains that chewing gum has four main components. "The most important of them is the gum base," he says. "It's the gum base that puts the chew into chewing gum. It binds all the ingredients together, creating a soft, smooth texture. To this the manufacturer then adds sweeteners, softeners and flavourings. Our talc is used as a filler in the gum base. The amount varies between, say, 10 and 35 per cent, depending on the type of gum. Fruit-flavoured chewing gum, for example, is slightly acidic and would react with the calcium carbonate that the manufacturer might otherwise use as a filler. Talc, on the other hand, makes an ideal filler because it's non-reactive chemically.

In the factory, talc is also used to dust the gum base pellets and to stop the chewing gum sticking during the lamination and packing processes," Delord adds.

The chewing gum business is, however, just one example of talc's use in the food sector. For the past 20 years or so, olive oil processors in Spain have been taking advantage of talc's unique characteristics to help them boost the amount of oil they extract from crushed olives. According to Patrick Delord, talc is especially useful for treating what he calls "difficult" olives. After the olives are harvested - preferably early in the morning because their taste is better if they are gathered in the cool of the day - they are taken to the processing plant. There they are crushed and then stirred for 30-45 minutes. In the old days, the resulting paste was passed through an olive press but nowadays it's more common to add water and centrifuge the mixture to separate the water and oil from the solid matter. The oil and water are then allowed to settle so that the olive oil layer can be decanted off and bottled. "Difficult" olives are those that are more reluctant than the norm to yield up their full oil content. This may be attributable to the particular species of olive, or to its water content and the time of year the olives are collected - at the beginning and the end of the season, their water content is often either too high or too low. These olives are easy to recognise because they produce a lot of extra foam during the stirring process, a consequence of an excess of a fine solid that acts as a natural emulsifier. The oil in this emulsion is lost when the water is disposed of. Not only that, if the waste water is disposed of directly into local fields - often the case in many smaller processing operations – the emulsified oil may take some time to biodegrade and so be harmful to the environment.

"If you add between a half and two per cent of talc by weight during the stirring process, it absorbs the natural emulsifier in the olives and so boosts the amount of oil you can extract," says Delord. "In addition, talc's flat, 'platy' structure helps increase the size of oil droplets liberated during stirring, which again improves the yield. However, because talc is chemically inert, it doesn't affect the colour, taste, appearance or composition of the resulting olive oil."

If the use of talc in olive oil processing and in chewing gum is long established, new applications in the food and agriculture industries are also constantly being sought by Luzenac. One such promising new market is fruit crop protection, being pioneered in the US. Just like people, fruit can get sunburned. In fact, in very sunny regions, up to 45 per cent of a typical crop can be affected by heat stress and sunburn. However, in the case of fruit, it's not so much the ultraviolet rays which harm the crop as the high surface temperature that the sun's rays create.

To combat this, farmers normally use either chemicals or spray a continuous fine canopy of mist above the fruit trees or bushes. The trouble is, this uses a lot of water - normally a precious commodity in hot, sunny areas - and it is therefore expensive. What's more, the ground can quickly become waterlogged. "So our idea was to coat the fruit with talc to protect it from the sun," says Greg Hunter, a marketing specialist who has been with Luzenac for ten years. "But to do this, several technical challenges had first to be overcome. Talc is very hydrophobic: it doesn't like water. So in order to have a viable product, we needed a wettable powder - something that would go readily into suspension so that it could be sprayed onto the fruit. It also had to break the surface tension of the cutin (the natural waxy, waterproof layer on the fruit) and of course, it had to wash off easily when the fruit was harvested. No one's going to want an apple that's covered in talc."

Initial trials in the State of Washington in 2003 showed that when the product was sprayed onto Granny Smith apples, it reduced their surface temperature and lowered the incidence of sunburn by up to 60 per cent. Today the new product, known as Invelop® Maximum SPF, is in its second commercial year on the US market. Apple growers are the primary target although Hunter believes grape growers represent another sector with long-term potential. He is also hopeful of extending sales to overseas markets such as Australia, South America and southern Europe.

26
27. Talc is used to prevent foaming.
- A. Chewing gum manufacture
- B. Olive oil extraction
- C. Fruit crop protection
27
28. Talc is used to prevent stickiness.
28
29. Talc is used to boost production.
29
30. Talc is used as a filler to provide a base.
30
31. Talc is used to prevent sunburn.
31
32. Talc is used to help increase the size of the product.
32
33. The use of talc powder in the olive oil industry in Spain has been around for _______.
33
34. It is extremely useful in dealing with “difficult” olives which often produce a lot of _______ due to the high content of solid matter.
34
35. The traditional method of oil extraction used in some smaller plants often produces _______, which contains emulsified oil.
35
36. If it is directly disposed of, it may be _______ to the environment, because it cannot _______.
36
37. If it is directly disposed of, it may be harmful to the environment, because it cannot _______.
37
38. But adding talc powder can absorb the emulsifier and increase the production, because the size of oil _______ grows.
38
39. What are the last two stages of chewing gum manufacturing process?
39
40. Which group of farmers does Invelop® intend to target next?

Answer sheet

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1. scarcity
The answer is 'scarcity' because the passage says some scientists think world hunger is caused by a general lack of food.
2. afford
The answer is 'afford' because the passage explains that hungry people may not have enough money to buy food.
3. exported
The answer is 'exported' because the passage mentions food is sometimes not available locally because it has been sent to other countries.
4. storing
The answer is 'storing' because the solution given is to help farmers grow and keep their food safe for later use.
5. technology
The answer is 'technology' because the recommendation is not to use technology to increase food production.
6. traditional
The answer is 'traditional' because the passage says traditional maize seeds can be replanted, which is better for poor farmers.
7. credit
The answer is 'credit' because the passage warns that giving farmers loans is too risky.
8. tools
The answer is 'tools' because the passage suggests improving the equipment available to subsistence farmers.
9. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage states that importing sugar from Europe is not less harmful than from Africa; the opposite may be true.
10. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says the way food is cooked can change its environmental impact.
11. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage does not say forcing farmers to use better methods is the best way to help the environment.
12. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not mention if imports from Kenya or other African countries have gone up or down.
13. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not compare the environmental impact of growing fruit and vegetables with raising animals.
14. C
The answer is C because this section describes how fast changes can negatively affect people.
15. B
The answer is B because it refers to an architect whose work does not fit the idea of biophilia.
16. A
The answer is A because this part gives the two main goals of biophilia.
17. H
The answer is H because it makes a positive statement about early architecture.
18. B
The answer is B because it mentions that many architects focus too much on new ideas.
19. F
The answer is F because it describes features in biophilic design that help save energy.
20. technological
The answer is 'technological' because the passage says technology is advancing so fast that people cannot keep up.
21. stress
The answer is 'stress' because biophilia is said to help with the stress caused by modern life.
22. sunlight
The answer is 'sunlight' because people feel better in places with lots of sunlight, which is needed for health.
23. tree
The answer is 'tree' because the experiment found that patients who could see a tree recovered faster.
24. air
The answer is 'air' because the University of Guelph-Humber building has a feature that improves air quality.
25. B / D
The answers are B and D. The passage says the Adam Joseph Lewis Center is good for students and the environment (B), and it aims to inspire new thinking about the environment (D). Option C is tempting but the passage does not say it set new concepts for classroom design.
26. B
The answer is B (Olive oil extraction) because talc is used to stop foam from forming during the process.
27. A
The answer is A (Chewing gum manufacture) because talc is used to keep the gum from sticking.
28. B
The answer is B (Olive oil extraction) because talc helps increase the amount of oil produced.
29. A
The answer is A (Chewing gum manufacture) because talc is used as a base filler in gum.
30. C
The answer is C (Fruit crop protection) because talc is used to protect fruit from sunburn.
31. B
The answer is B (Olive oil extraction) because talc helps make the oil droplets bigger, increasing the product size.
32. 20
The answer is '20' because the passage says talc powder has been used in Spain's olive oil industry for 20 years.
33. foam
The answer is 'foam' because 'difficult' olives produce a lot of foam due to their high solid content.
34. waste water
The answer is 'waste water' because the traditional method produces waste water with emulsified oil.
35. harmful
The answer is 'harmful' because waste water can be bad for the environment if not treated.
36. biodegrade
The answer is 'biodegrade' because the waste water cannot break down naturally.
37. droplets
The answer is 'droplets' because adding talc makes the oil droplets bigger, increasing production.
38. lamination and packing
The answer is 'lamination and packing' because these are the last two steps in making chewing gum.
39. grape growers
The answer is 'grape growers' because Invelop® plans to target grape farmers next.

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Reading Passage 1: New perspectives on food production

Reading Passage 2: Biophilic Design

Reading Passage 3: Talc Powder

Answer sheet

Answer key