FARMING LESSON PLANS

Cereal crops after a thunderstorm, near Hillington, Norfolk. Picture by Mister P.

1. A fabulous INTERACTIVE site produced by the NATIONAL TRUST. I'll need to investigate it more, and it's likely that you'll need a fast connection to use it with a group of students, but it's got a FLASH based game looking at a decision to develop an area of farmland, and at the various viewpoints surrounding the decision, and the influence of NIMBYs. There is an interactive series of exercises to work through, along with a series of PDF format worksheets which are suitable for Key Stage 3 age group. Go there now and work through the activity which is called WHOSE LAND ? Excellent graphics. Well done to the National Trust for taking a lead on this.

NIMBY: standing for 'Not in my backyard' - an attitude held by some people that development is needed, but that they wouldn't want it next to their house e.g people objecting to wind farms they may see from their bedroom window, despite the obvious need to increase the use of alternative energy

Here's the HOME PAGE to give you a flavour of the excellent animation - click to enlarge if required.

2. FARM SYSTEMS diagram - using the information on your farm of choice (from textbook, video or farm visit) fill in the Inputs, Processes and Outputs on Mr. Francis' patented sheet.

3. Farm TYPES: Looking at the various types of farming. Fill in the blanks exercise.

This is an idea referred to in the PL @ NET.COM video series. There are often choices of brands when we visit the supermarket. Some of these will be locally produced and some of them will have travelled thousands of miles. The idea is to consider how much mileage students can clock up by choosing certain of the foreign brands. For example, compare Cheddar from Somerset with Cheddar from Australia, Lamb from Wales or New Zealand. 'From the plough to the plate', or 'from the field to the fridge' are phrases that can also be used. When goods are transported by air, nearly 40 times the amount used in sea transport is used.

6. Visit the VIRTUAL GREENHOUSES at the TOMATO ZONE, which has been produced by the British Tomato Growers' Association

7. Try the Oxfam COOL PLANET resource.

It's called MILKING IT. It looks at the differences between dairy farmers in different countries. It has some good FLASH online quizzes and activities such as 'You're the Farmer'. Recommended.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/milking_it/milkingit/ - new URL for 2008

8. The NFU or FACE ONLINE sites will give you farm case studies. You can then start to fill in sheets with boxes like the ones below, so that students can get a feel for a particular type of farming and the sorts of jobs the farmer will have to do through the year. They can then compare the FARMING CALENDAR for a series of types, or produce a display of their particular farm type.

Name of Farm:

Location:

(Where is it ?)

Labour

(Workforce)

Buildings and Machinery

(Human Inputs)

Outputs

(What the farm produces)

How else does the farm make money

FARM CALENDAR: What jobs are done in each month ?

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Another update to the FACE ONLINE site is the FIELD TO FRIDGE section. This is a nice illustrated set of notes on the production of certain items including pork products, milk and potatoes. I use these to ask Year 7 pupils to prepare a short presentation on the process of getting the products: download a separate WORD DOCUMENT for use with research / farm systems by clicking the link.

Those people who use the Places and People videos will perhaps be familiar with Marietta, a subsistence farmer and part time animal health worker in Kenya.

As an alternative to the commercial farming, we look at the lives of the millions of subsistence farmers who drive the economy of countries like Kenya irrespective of the ebbs and flows of foreign capital earning industries such as tourism. They have a daily struggle to overcome the environment, soils, weather and lack of water to feed their families.

We use the example of a woman called Marietta, who lives on the border of the Tsavo National Park in Kenya, and is featured in the People and Places video series. Teachers' notes provide a useful background to her life in a small compound or shamba.

She struggles to feed her 7 children. Her husband works away from home to raise money for boarding school fees (the only way to escape from poverty is education...or luck)

Nomadic pastoralists - many of these are now being forced to become settled, as Governments around the world have tended to prefer their populations settled in one place. The Maasai have had their traditional lands confiscated to allow for the wildlife reserves which draw in the tourists.

Plantations: in the highlands of Kericho, companies such as Brooke Bond have huge areas of some of the best land in the country (surprise surprise...) where they grow cash crops for export to the UK and other MEDCs. Workers get certain benefits, although this is countered by the very low wages that most of them receive for their efforts. Pick just the tips and the first bud for the best flavour!

The fragile nature of monoculture was exposed in a recent report that suggested that Bananas may disappear, as they are a sterile crop and prone to disease.

Large scale cattle ranching: e.g the Delamere estate on the shores of Lake Elementaita on the floor of the Rift Valley.

WATER: She currently has to walk 2km to get to the river. Perhaps provide a shared tube well with hand pump. Water purification tablets or filters could be produced.

ANIMALS: She has to walk miles in her capacity as a trained animal health worker or wasaidizi. (Wonder if Google would produce anything for that...) Perhaps provide cheap medicines.

FUEL: She currently relies on fuelwood, like the majority of people in the continent. Alternatives include solar panels. Could also introduce more energy efficient stoves which use less fuel.

ADVICE: How best to prepare her land. She could also have access to HYV's or hybrids: genetically modified, or specially bred seeds or root stock which is better prepared for the conditions in Africa, and produces higher yields.

All of these are low cost and would result in less damage to the local environment and require less construction work and outside agencies

10. JUICY GEOGRAPHY FARM ENQUIRY

Another quality production by Noel Jenkins. An exploration of farm diversification on a farm in Devon. Includes use of ICT in various ways.

11. Explore some ideas for DIVERSIFICATION at RURAL INDEX. These can be used to produce some information on the relative merits of the different suggestions. There are some interesting ones here: include various animals that can be farmed.

A resource produced by a group of teachers who were lucky enough to visit the islands...

Has interviews with the farmer, Google Earth maps and lots of other goodies. Nice one Tom !

Recognise this Aardman creation ? They are the face of the COUNTRY CODE. Send off for a free pack - excellent resource !

15. New for April 2007. Thanks to Paul Williams from Thailand for this mystery which delves into the changes that are taking place in Mexican agriculture related to the themes of bioethanol...

It's a MYSTERY, entitled

"Why can't Maria Gonzalez afford enough tortillas to feed her family ?" (WORD document)

Farms are finding it increasingly hard to make money out of farming. This is because of a number of issues to do with how much farmers are paid for their produce, and the growing power of supermarkets.

I recently met Jason Borthwick at a Climate Change conference. He is a diversification consultant, who looks at ways that people can make alternative use of their assets.

ARABLE	PASTORAL	SECONDARY
TURNIP	POTATO	LETTUCE
TRACTOR	COMBINE HARVESTER	TELEPHONE