Slide 2 Glossary Agribusiness - Farms operated by large
companies such as Birds Eye Arable - The growing of crops eg
Wheat/Barley Cash Crops - Crops grown to be sold for a profit
Chagras - A clearing in the Amazon Forest Commercial Farming -
Farming to make a profit Eutrophication - Loss of oxygen in streams
caused by fertiliser runoff Extensive Farming - A farm using large
areas of land but with little output Green Revolution - New
techniques used in LEDC's to increase production HYV - Crops that
produce higher yields than ordinary seeds Irrigation - The
artificial watering of the land Intensive - A small farm using a
lot of equipment or people to have a high output Slide 3 Glossary
continued Market - The customers who buy the produce Mixed Farming
- The farming of crops and animals Monoculture - When only one type
of crop is grown Multiple Cropping - Where two or more crops are
grown on the same land Pastoral Farming - The rearing of animals
Soil Erosion - The removal of soil by wind or rain Staple Crop -
The main crop grown eg Rice in Bangladesh Subsistance Farming -
Produce mainly grown for the family and not for sale Slide 4
Factors affecting farming - Physical Rainfall - Crops need between
250mm & 500mm per year Temperature - Crops need a minimum of 6
degrees C and three months of 17 degrees to ripen Growing Season -
This is the length of time crops need to grow - wheat needs 90
frost free days Altitude - The higher you are the colder it gets so
this affects the type of farming Aspect - This is the direction a
slope faces - South facing slopes receive more heat Relief - Steep
slopes result in thin and infertile soils and machinery is
difficult to use Soil - Deep, fertile and well drained soil is best
for crops Slide 5 Factors affecting farming - Human Labour -
Farming requires either human labour or machinery Market - This is
the demand for the agricultural products Accessibility - Transport
costs increase with distance from the market Subsidies -
Governments provide money to encourage certain types of farming
Quotas - Governments can also place limits on certain products to
prevent surpluses Attitudes - Personnel interests of the public and
farmer will also influence what is grown Finance - This may
influence what is grown as certain types of farming need more
capital Slide 6 The farm is a system The Farm as a system Farming
operates as a system with inputs, processes and outputs Processes
Ploughing Fertilising Harvesting Milking Lambing/Calving Planting
Outputs Grain - Barley/Wheat etc Flowers Vegetables Animals -
Calves/lambs/piglets Milk/Wool Inputs Relief - Temperature
Precipitation Length of growing season Soil type Farm size
Machinery Slide 7 Classification of Farming Types Arable - is the
growing of crops Pastoral - is the keeping of animals Mixed - is
when farmers grow crops and rear animals Subsistence Farmers -
produce food for themselves and their family, there is no profit
Commercial Farmers - sell their crops and animals to make a profit
Intensive - High inputs of money, labour or technology to achieve
high outputs or yields per hectare. The farms are usually quite
small Extensive - Low inputs, large areas of land, low outputs or
yields per hectare Sedentary is when the settlement is permanent
and the landscape farmed every year Nomadic farmers move around
looking for fresh pasture or new plots to cultivate Slide 8 Farming
in the UK - Sheep Slide 9 Hill Sheep Farming in the Lake District
In the upland areas of Britain, sheep farming is the main farming
activity due to the difficult conditions and human factors. Breeds
of hill sheep, e.g. Swaledales, can survive the extremes of weather
and poor quality pasture. Characteristics of a hill sheep farm
Three zones of land use The Fell - the tops of the hills over 300m
altitude - sheep graze on this open land in the summer. The Intake
or Lower Slopes - divided into fields by dry stone walls - some
pasture is improved by adding drainage and fertilizers The Inbye -
the small area of land on the valley floor close to the farm
buildings - more fertile soils and sheltered. Used for lambing,
shearing etc, and for growing some winter fodder crops Slide 10
Sheep farming the problems Recent Problems Hill sheep farming is
not always profitable The threat of removal of subsidies from the
E.U. Costs, e.g. fuel, machinery, fodder have all risen but lamb
prices in the 1990's have collapsed Fewer young people want to
carry on sheep farming Conflicts with tourists and National Park
Authorities Slide 11 Sheep farming changes and improvements Changes
and Improvements New breeding stock to improve the quality and
quantity of meat and wool Greater use of fertilizers to improve the
quality of the pasture EU subsidies and grants to encourage
conservation of dry stone walls, natural pastures, stone barns and
hedgerows Grants for new farm buildings so lambing can be done
indoors Diversification of farms to do organic farming, other
animals such as deer/goats or non farming activities such as
camping, sports activities and forestry Some farms have been sold
as second homes Slide 12 Slide 13 Dairy farming - UK Mainly found
in the west and central UK On gently sloping ground Usually heavy
clay soils Mild and wet climate Size is often 150 hectares with a
herd of about 100milking cows Machinery will include tractors,
ploughs and hay cutting Labour will consist of the farmers family
Output is mainly milk Slide 14 Slide 15 Market Gardening Located
usually near large towns Usually on flat well sheltered land Soil
is usually fertile loams Climate is warm in summer with not too
much rain Farming is intensive with small area of land Usually a
small number of workers with a lot of specialised machinery Output
is mainly salad crops, fruit and vegetables Slide 16 Slide 17
Arable Farming in East Anglia The main type of farming found in
East Anglia is Arable due to the gently sloping ground which allows
large scale use of machinery, deep fertile soils usually consisting
of boulder clay, an ideal climate of warm dry summers and cool
winters which kill off bugs and encourage ripening in the summer
Slide 18 Changes in Arable Farming Chemicals - have allowed the
continuous production of wheat and Barley to be grown by using
fertilisers and pesticides/herbicides to increase production Land
Reclamation - To produce more and more yields, hedges have been
removed, fields enlarged, marshes drained, woodland cleared and
hills flattened to make the area ideal for crop growing Improved
Buildings - Drying sheds have been built to store grain to protect
the harvest Mechanisation - Fields were increased in size to allow
larger machines such as combine harvesters etc to operate more
easily. Also farms were joined together to increase profit margins
and buy fertilisers etc more cheaply - This is called economy of
scale Slide 19 The Physical Factors affecting East Anglia Slide 20
Distribution of farming in the UK Slide 21 Slide 22 The Common
Agricultural policy (CAP) The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
governs farming in the countries of the European Union including
the UK. CAP protects farmers from competition from cheap foreign
imports CAP encourage farmers by using a variety of methods to
produce the food needed by the inhabitants of the E. U. In recent
years E. U. farmers have produced surpluses in many food types and
CAP have had to use a variety of methods to restrict the growth of
certain foodstuffs. Slide 23 Policies of the EU Price Support
Policies These are a target price that is set for all farm produce
as well as an intervention price. If the price of farm produce
falls to the intervention price, the EU will buy the product. This
guarantees a minimum price for the farmer but can lead to the EU
building up food mountains. Slide 24 Policies of the EU Quotas In
the 1980's farmers in the EU were producing too much milk. Milk
quotas were introduced in 1984 to limit the production from each
farm. Farmers can increase their quota by buying another farmer's
quota. Slide 25 Policies of the EU Subsidies This is money paid to
farmers for producing certain crops such as oil seed rape. They
encourage farmers to grow more of the subsidised crop, making the
EU more self-sufficient in many foodstuffs. But the drive to
increase yields has led to many of the features seen below Slide 26
Policies of the EU Set-Aside To limit the quantity of cereal crops
being produced the EU pays farmers a subsidy to leave land
uncultivated. All arable farmers must leave a proportion (15% of
farms over 20 hectares) uncultivated or Set-Aside. They cannot farm
this land but it can be used for other purposes, eg. golf courses
or camp sites which will earn the farmer money, wildlife areas for
which the farmer will be given an extra subsidy, or left under
grass for which the farmer is paid a grant. Slide 27
Diversification This is when farmers develop business activities
other than farming on their land as can be seen opposite. Slide 28
Diversification Slide 29 Changes in farming 1950-2000 Slide 30
Slide 31 Farming in LEDCs Most people in less economically
developed countries are farmers and most of these are subsistence
farmers. Subsistence farming means producing crops and rearing
animals for the use of the farmer. Very little surplus produce is
grown Slide 32 Types of farming Extensive Shifting Cultivation An
area of land is cleared by cutting and burning the vegetation.
Crops are planted and harvested. When the land loses its fertility
after about 5 years the area is abandoned and another area is
cleared and farmed e.g. shifting cultivation in the Amazon
Rainforest, Brazil Extensive Pastoral Nomadism In regions where
grazing is poor, farmers herd animals over wide areas in search of
pasture e.g. sheep herding in North Africa. Slide 33 Types of
farming Intensive Arable Farming The most common kind - Usually
small patches of land near to the village are farmed. Most of the
work is done by hand or using oxen - eg rice farming in S.E. Asia
Slide 34 Cycle of farming Slide 35 Case Study - Subsistence Rice
Farming in the Ganges Valley Physical Factors A five month growing
season with temperatures over 21degrees centigrade Monsoon rainfall
over 2000mm Flat land to allow the fields to flood A dry period for
harvesting Rich alluvial soils to provide nutrients A large labour
force (intensive) Slide 36 Case Study - Subsistence Rice Farming in
the Ganges Valley Slide 37 Human factors Rice gives high yields per
hectare which helps to feed the large population. Water buffaloes
are used for work and as a source of manure for the fields Rice
seeds are stored from one year to provide the next year's crop Rice
growing is labour intensive so many people can be employed in the
paddy fields looking after the crops. Slide 38 Problems of rice
growing Flooding - This provides water and fertile silt to grow the
rice but sometimes disaster strikes when the floods are so severe
that they destroy the rice crop. Drought - In some years the
monsoon rains fail and the rice crop is ruined. Shortage of land
and a growing population - many patches of land are far too small
to support the family. The situation is made worse by the ever
increasing population. Food shortages are a real problem. Slide 39
Plantation farming South Africa, Marias Pineapple Plantation
Plantation farming involves the growing of one type of crop over a
large area such as Bananas as in Ecuador, Sugar Cane and coffee It
requires a lot of investment, usually from a wealthy company in an
MEDC. Plantations are well organised to get the highest possible
yields. Slide 40 Advantages to LEDCs Plantations can provide
employment They provide investments in modern machinery and workers
are trained They provide export earnings for LEDC's Slide 41
Disadvantages to LEDCs They can destroy large areas of natural
vegetation Much of the profit from plantations goes to MEDC's
Workers are low paid and usually exploited If world prices in the
crop fail the country gets very little income Monoculture
plantations are vulnerable to pests diseases or climatic hazards
can wipe out a whole years crop Slide 42 Slide 43 Background to the
Green Revolution In the mid 1960's scientists working in Mexico and
the Philippines and backed by money from the USA developed new
varieties of wheat, maize and rice. With these new varieties
farmers could increase yields from each hectare by two or three
times. These hybrid varieties became known as HYV's or high-
yielding varieties The use of chemical fertilisers was also
increased In less than 5 years yields of rice, wheat and maize rose
by up to 40% in many countries in Asia including India and
Bangladesh. Grants and loans were made available to buy the new
seeds and fertilizers Although there were many advantages of HYV's
there were also disadvantages Slide 44 Advantages of the Green
Revolution Yields increased three times Multiple cropping Other
crops grown which varied the diet Surplus to sell in cities
creating a profit improving the standard of living Allows purchase
of fertilizers, machinery etc Slide 45 Disadvantages of the Green
Revolution Poor farmers could not afford HYV's fertilizers and
machinery. Some borrowed and ended up with large debts HYV's need
more water and fertilizer, which is expensive New machinery
replaced manual labour leading to unemployment and rural-urban
migration Slide 46 Irrigation Despite the monsoon rains the water
supply can be inadequate for growing rice, especially if more than
one crop is grown. So irrigation is needed In the Ganges valley
there are: Wells - holes dug to reach underground water supplies,
the water is lifted from the well using a shaduf or waterwheel or
electric pumps - The water is then fed along open channels to the
fields Inundation canals on the river banks which fill up as the
river floods and takes the water to the fields Slide 47 Appropriate
Technology This is technology suited to the needs, skills,
knowledge and wealth of the people. Large expensive irrigation
projects and dams have many disadvantages. Appropriate technology
is needed, for example, Individual wells with easy to maintain
pumps Renewable energy sources which use local resources such as
wind power, solar power and biogas Projects which use local labour
rather than machinery No Hi-tech machines needing expensive fuel
and foreign spares Low cost schemes which are sustainable Slide 48
Questions you need to be able to answer What are the main
physical/Human inputs into a farm What physical/ Human factors
affect farming What is a subsistent/commercial/extensive/intensive
farmer Define the term - Arable Farming Slide 49 Questions you need
to be able to answer Using an example, explain what changes have
taken place on a farm you have studied Describe and explain the
pattern of farming in the United Kingdom What are the factors that
make East Anglia suitable for Arable farming For an extensive
farming system you have studied explain the physical and human
factors that affect this type of farming Slide 50 Questions you
need to be able to answer In what ways do the EU have an effect on
the farming type in the UK Using an example explain how farms have
increased production in the EU Explain how modern farming can have
an effect on the environment Explain the ways farmers are
increasing their income by diversifying Slide 51 Questions you need
to be able to answer Using an example explain how physical and
human factors affect the farming type in an LEDC country Why is S.
E. Asia an ideal location for Rice farming What are the advantages
and disadvantages of plantation farming in tropical countries
Explain how one of the following improvements can bring changes in
LEDCs - Irrigation, appropriate technology or soil conservation
Slide 52 Questions you need to be able to answer What is the Green
Revolution What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Green
Revolution to farmers
