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Topic
Task 6
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Agriculture
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You
need to know some basic definitions. Depending on the exact wording
of your syllabus these might include:
•
arable farming
• pastoral farming
• mixed farming
• commercial
• subsistence
• extensive
• intensive (both capital-intensive
and labour-intensive)
• plantation agriculture
Then
you probably need to know about the inputs, processes and outputs
of farming systems.
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Inputs
include:
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Physical
inputs
• sunshine
• rainfall
• minerals and humus from the soil
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Human
inputs
• labour
• skill and knowledge
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Capital
inputs
• machinery
• seeds
• fertiliser
• pesticides
• new breeding stock
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You
ought to learn a system diagram for your case study farms. The diagram
should show the main inputs, processes and outputs like this:
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Inputs
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Processes |
Outputs
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For
your farm case studies you should know:
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where
the farm is located (perhaps you could learn to draw a sketch map
to show the location)
how the climate presents opportunities to grow some crops, and restricts
the growing of some others
the influence of markets, making some crops profitable, but not others
the size and specialist skills of the labour force
how government subsidies and other policies affect the farm
how the farm is changing to meet changing economic and political situations.
For instance is it becoming:
more intensive?
more environmentally aware?
less profitable, so its continued existence is threatened?
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There
are many issues associated with the study of farming in various parts
of the world. You will almost certainly need to consider some of these
with reference to each farming area that you study. Here are two examples:
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Soil
erosion
What
causes soil erosion?
Consider the physical geography of the area that is liable to erosion
(soils, slopes, climate).
Then think about what human activity has done to make soil erosion
more likely (over-farming, over-grazing, becoming more intensive,
spreading into marginal areas, ploughing straight up and down slopes,
leaving the soil unprotected, deforestation).
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What
are the consequences of soil erosion?
Loss of farmland is obvious, but think about blocked streams, loss
of wildlife habitat, climate change - because if there is less soil
there is less vegetation, so less evapo-transpiration and more
run-off.
Has the loss of farmland led to people leaving the land and moving
to the cities, or to rural poverty, or have people been able to change
their farming practices and restore the soil?
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How
can people tackle soil erosion?
Schemes include:
contour
ploughing
strip farming
strips of stones along the contours (mainly in LEDCs)
multi-cropping and inter-cropping (mainly in LEDCs)
leaving land fallow to accumulate moisture
reforestation
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Over-production
and falling prices
This has mainly occurred in MEDCs as a result of schemes to encourage
farmers to produce more crops. The European Union's Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) is the best example.
What
is the CAP?
What was the big success of the CAP?
Why did the CAP lead to surpluses of wheat, milk, wine, olive oil
and other commodities?
Now the EU is introducing many schemes to reduce production including:
• set aside
• quotas for milk production
• subsidies to encourage diversification
into non-farm activities
What
affect are the changes in the CAP having on farmers' incomes?
What
other pressures are making farming in the UK less profitable? Consider:
• competition from overseas
• stricter animal welfare laws
• the bargaining power of the
supermarket chains and pressures for cheaper food
• rising fuel prices
Intensification of agriculture affects the environment
In the section above you looked at some of the pressures that
are making farmers farm more intensively. All this has had a big
affect on the natural environment in the UK and in other countries.
Your syllabus will tell you which of these examples you should learn.
In each case you need to know the following:
(a)
the nature of the issue involved
(b) the geographical reasons for the issue arising
(c) how better management could improve the situation
The
possible issues for study include:
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draining of wetlands has destroyed many wildlife habitats
• over-use of fertiliser is polluting
the groundwater supply
• pulling up hedges means the
loss of habitats and also of windbreaks
• planting more winter wheat (rather
than spring wheat) means the loss of winter stubble fields and important
wildlife habitats
• intensive feeding of animals
led to the spread of BSE (and possibly of other animal diseases)
• trials of genetically modified
(GM) crops are causing concerns that the modified genes may escape
and damage other plants, or they may affect humans who eat the products
• over-use of antibiotics in the
intensive rearing of animals may render these antibiotics useless
for human protection, and encourage the spread of germs that are
'antibiotic resistant'
• intensive farming and export
of live animals can be seen as cruel to the animals
You should try to think about these issues from different points
of view. For instance, you might consider the views of the following:
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farmers who have to make a living
• naturalists who are concerned about wildlife (e.g.
World Wildlife Fund - WWF)
• consumers who want cheaper food
• animal rights activists
• the Environment Agency which has to monitor water
quality as well as having general responsibility for the environment
• tourists and people who live in the countryside, but
who are not farmers
• workers in industries allied to farming (e.g. fertiliser
manufacturers; lorry drivers; millers and bakers)
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foot
and mouth disease |
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You
may not have covered this in class, but you need to know:
· it is a very infectious
disease which affects cattle, sheep and pigs
· it is spread when animals
come into contact with an infected beast
· the outbreak seems to have
started in Northumberland, probably because the animals on that
farm were fed with swill that had some imported meat which was
infected
· it spread when the farmer
sent animals to market, probably not realising that they were
already infected
· animals from that market
near Carlisle were taken to several farms in Cumbria, carrying
the disease with them
· others were sent to a slaughterhouse
in Essex, so the disease spread there
· others were sent to a large
farm in Devon, carrying the disease to the southwest
· the owner of the Devon farm
also owned several other farms, and when he moved stock from
one farm to another they carried the disease to each farm in
turn
· the government is insisting
that all infected animals should be slaughterd and burnt to
stop the disease spreading - but it seems as though they do
not have enough trained people to do the job properly - so the
disease is still spreading
· and so on...keep up to date
becasue this issue is still developing. |
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