Final answer:
In a chiefdom, food production is highly intensified, supported by a hierarchical structure and enhanced by sophisticated agricultural practices such as chinampas. This intensification provides a reliable food supply which is crucial for the chiefdom's stability.
Step-by-step explanation:
Food production in a chiefdom can be characterized as highly intensified. Chiefdoms, as a form of societal organization, are often associated with intensive agriculture. This intensification is related to the presence of an established hierarchy, including a class of chiefs who regionally organize political leadership. These chiefs typically support and manage agricultural activities to sustain and enhance their societal structure, which includes practices like militarism and religious ideologies. The intensive agricultural practices may involve sophisticated farming techniques, such as chinampas, or floating gardens, to maximize the yield from available arable land.
Meanwhile, the adoption of agriculture itself, as indicated by question 10, offers a more reliable food supply compared to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which was more subject to the availability of wild resources and therefore less predictable.