UrbanIntroductionNational 5Rural

GM Crops and Biofuels [Date]

Today I will: - Know what GM crops and biofuels are- Be able to explain the advantages and disadvantages of

biofuels and GM crops

GeographyNational 5

What is a

Biofuels are fuels made from plants. Crops are grown to produce biofuels.

GeographyNational 5

GeographyNational 5

But biofuels are not actually that new….

- Henry Ford originally designed the Model T to run on ethanol. And people have been running diesel engines on vegetable oil much longer than they have been running diesel engines on petroleum-based diesel fuel.

- Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, originally designed it to run on vegetable oil. In fact, one of his early demonstrations, at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1897, had a diesel engine running on peanut oil.

- During World War II, the demand for biofuel increased once again as fossil fuels became less abundant.

GeographyNational 5

Case Study – BIOFUELS: The United States is the world’s largest producer of biofuels, like ethanol and biodiesel. Most of that production is concentrated in

the Midwest.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to biofuels.

[Task One] Read the section in the textbook.

[Task Two] Create two columns in your jotter: Advantages and disadvantages.

[Task Three] Cut out and glue in the answer to the appropriate column.

GeographyNational 5

Genetically Modified (GM) crops are plants used in agriculture, where the DNA has been modified using genetic engineering

techniques.

GeographyNational 5

Which one would you buy?

GeographyNational 5

Case Study 2 – GM crops: More genetically modified crops are being grown in the Great Plains

There are many advantages and disadvantages to GM crops

[Task One] Read the section in the textbook.

[Task Two] Create two columns in your jotter: Advantages and disadvantages.

[Task Three] Cut out and glue in the answer to the appropriate column.