www.whyfarmingmatters.co.uk

Why Farming Matters

Primary Schools

Classroom activities for KS2 Science, Geography and Citizenship

Primary Schools

ContentsForeword 1 Teachers’ introduction 2 Using the picture cards 5 Using the video 9 Main activities 11 Drama, drought and deluge 11 Postcards from vegetables 11 Fruity diaries 11 Wonderful diversity 12 Habitats and food chains 13 Hedge/Pond for sale 14 Fit to drink? 14 Fuel for the future? 15 Food from the flag 18 Farming diary 19 Country collage 21 What would you grow? 21 Food miles 22

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Why Farming Matters

Foreword Farming plays a vital part in all our lives; without it our very existence is at threat. The role of farming is increasingly topical in an era when sustainable management of scarce resources is of global concern. Our farmers:

produce our own food supplies

are environmental stewards and landscape managers

help us rise to the challenge of climate change

contribute to the rural economy. The contribution that farming makes to our immensely diverse landscape, wildlife habitats, thousands of rural jobs, and in sustaining rural communities is well established. However, public

of agriculture and horticulture; namely producing high quality, affordable food in a sustainable manner.

At a time when issues of children’s health and diet are

from any exploration of what food does for them and what they should expect from it. As increasingly sophisticated consumers of food, their opinions are of genuine interest. As they are people who will have families of their own in the future, it is entirely appropriate that their voices should be heard and their questions taken seriously. The aim of this booklet is to help children develop a better understanding of a part of their world about which few of them have direct

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Teachers’ introduction The aim of this booklet is to help Key Stage 2 children to develop a better understanding of a part of their world about which few of them may have direct knowledge and gain awareness of farming matters within the classroom. Children are often enthusiastic about food and the countryside

production. As they develop they become increasingly

informed about the way their foods are produced. They will begin to make important decisions about what they want for

public concern over issues wider than the price of food.

traceability and sustainability. Thinking about the issues and talking about what is important to them now and in the future is an important step in helping children develop into informed decision makers of the future. The activities address key themes in farming:

Providing food – food quality, local variety, traceability, animal welfare standards.

Maintaining the countryside – maintaining and creating wildlife and landscape features.

Tackling climate change – environmental management, role of bio-energy, water security.

Contributing to the rural economy – tourism, rural life.

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Why Farming Matters

The activities in this pack will encourage Key Stage 2 pupils to think more carefully about farming and food. They can be

means to stimulate thought and debate. They could be used

which teachers can dip into to complement other topics.

They will also help pupils to acquire Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills which will allow them to become:

team workers

self-managers

independent enquirers

creative thinkers

effective participators.

By engaging in these activities pupils are encouraged to participate and form opinions. They will need to:

listen to the opinions of others

change their views in the light of further information

work together in pairs and groups

develop individual work

suggest possible solutions

create new designs

evaluate their work.

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The following grid shows how the main activities relate to areas within the National Curriculum. In addition to the references given, all activities contribute to development within PSHCE.

English Maths Science ICT DT Art Geography

Drama, drought and deluge

Postcards from vegetables

Fruity diaries

Wonderful diversity

Habitats and food chains

Hedge/Pond for sale

Fit to drink?

Fuel for the future?

Food from the flag

Farming diary

Country collage

What would you grow?

Food miles

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Why Farming Matters

Using the picture cards

The picture cards in this pack show the following images:

The pictures have not been numbered or captioned to avoid restricting their use in the classroom; captions are provided on the Why Farming Matters DVD and can be printed out if required.

The pictures in this pack have been provided by www.ukagriculture.com a charity that helps to explain the role of agriculture in the countryside. The

including a photo library with over a 1000 free to use images for printing or including in school projects.”

Set two

Set three

Set one

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Using picture set one, Farming Landscapes

Show the pupils photographs of a variety of farmed landscapes, explaining that farm landscapes are created by generations of farmers: they bring us food, provide habitats but also maintain the countryside for us to walk in and enjoy.

a. Think of words to describe the landscape. If you have laminated the pictures, children could use sticky notes to attach to each with their ideas.

the photos?

c. Can they see any boundaries? What are these for? (Farmers use these boundaries to keep their animals from escaping and to mark the limits of their land and to provide habitat for wildlife.)

by man?

e. Which farm landscapes do the children like best? Why?

Ask each pupil to choose to be one of the following people who were seen walking through their chosen landscape on one day:

Birdwatcher Artist Shepherd Person having a picnic Hiker Wildlife enthusiast

Ask them to imagine what they might have seen during their walk.

Show them how to use pastels or chalk to produce pictures of scenes from their walk. Encourage them to smudge the colours with pieces of cotton wool or tissue paper to give realistic hills and sky. (When completed,

well ventilated area.)

During a circle time ask each pupil to talk about where they were going, what they saw and what they did on their walk through their landscape.

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Why Farming Matters

Using picture set two The Sheep Farming Year or three The Crop Farming Year

a. Ask pupils to put the cards in sequence and devise a series of captions explaining the main events during the year.

b. Alternatively pupils could sequence the cards in a farming year calendar e.g. an A2 circular display adding comments for the weather, main events and the kind of work a farmer might be doing at each stage.

Using picture set three The Crop Farming Year

Ask the children to think about how weather is important to farming.

When during the year would the farmer like rain? (water is needed for the seeds to germinate but too much rain before sowing means the ground is too wet to get

Heavy rain near harvest can spoil a crop and add to costs e.g. grain may need drying)

What might happen if the summer was very dry? (low yields, poor quality, need for irrigation and thus extra cost)

How might it be different for different farms? (e.g. a sheep or beef farmer whose main crop is grass may welcome more rain in summer as this keeps grass growing, but a cereal farmer may hope for less)

What might torrential spring rain do to a newly emerged crop? (damage it)

What might a drought do to crops? (poor establishment of young plants, extra cost to provide water to livestock)

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What might heavy rain near harvest do to a fruit crop, e.g. strawberries or raspberries? (knock them off onto the ground, or cause moulds to grow on them, spoiling the crop)

How might climate change affect what is grown and where?

Explain that global climate change might make weather unpredictable (very wet stormy winters and dry summers). This makes it harder for farmers to produce food, which will affect us all.

Extension activity

seeds – cress, beans or wheat, possibly obtained from a local farm through links you already have. Plant and water the seeds, keeping compost just moist until after germination. After germination set up plant groups as follows:

Group A: No water (to represent drought)

Group B: Excess water (to represent deluge/torrential rain)

Group C: Optimum water (control – perfect climate and weather).

Record the results at regular intervals using notes, drawings or photographs.

Electronic versions of these images are supplied on the DVD and can be used with software such as Microsoft Photo Story

recorded by pupils.

*Microsoft Photo Story 3 can be downloaded free of charge from www.microsoft.com

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Why Farming Matters

Using the video

The DVD contains a video of interviews with farmers talking about their lives, their farms and their attitudes to the environment, food production and the rural economy. The key themes explored are:

arable farming

beef farming

horticulture (strawberry growing)

environmental management.

The video can be used in sections or as a whole.

Plus, Minus, Interesting

in a PLUS, MINUS and INTERESTING circle like the one opposite – looking out for one thing about a farmer’s life they think

thing that surprised them.

b. Collect the individual pupils’ suggestions and create a class PMI circle. Discuss and compare results and derive class consensus on how their awareness of farming has been changed by the video.

This limited task and writing suits younger pupils and focuses activity during the video. Expressing/justifying personal choices encourages oracy and acceptance of other viewpoints as

Keep checking ‘NFU Tube’ for other farming videos that can be incorporated into classroom activitieshttp://uk.youtube.com/nfutube

+ –

i

Plus

Interesting

Minus

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Hitting the target

a. Working in groups ask pupils to create a target shape

b. Allow pupils to listen to the interviews and record any comments that they think are important about farming (food, environment or society) on sticky notes. Using a whiteboard create a whole class target and arrange pupils’ comments according to how important they think they are. Discuss the comments with the class and agree a

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Why Farming Matters

Main activitiesDrama, drought and deluge Assign pupils different roles in a farm environment e.g. trees,

timer to give each pupil one minute to explain in role how they would react in one of the extreme forms of weather that global warming is predicted to cause:

a summer drought

a winter gale

torrential spring rain.

Postcards from vegetables Invite each pupil to choose one of several vegetables found in a farmer’s store or on a shop shelf. Challenge the pupils to write in the role of the vegetable a postcard telling the reader when they were planted, how they were harvested and

Fruity diaries Provide each pupil with paper cut in the shape of a fruit such as a strawberry, apple or plum. Ask them to write a diary of their life as a fruit from growing to being sold. Encourage the pupils to include their hopes for the future.

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Wonderful diversity Ask children to think about the wide variety of fruit and vegetables that farmers grow for us to enjoy. Challenge children in groups, pairs or as individuals to write a list of as many fruits and vegetables as they can think of.

Give them an A to Z sheet to write them down on. This might link to a visit to a local supermarket, a farm shop or even a farmers’ market.

more vegetables and fruit names, including some they are not familiar with.

the different fruits and vegetables. Write these on paper cut in the shape of that particular fruit or vegetable. Extend this to consider in two lists, those that can be grown in the UK (lower food miles) and those that must be imported.

fruit and vegetables visit www.myredtractor.co.uk

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Why Farming Matters

Habitats and food chains Farmers are responsible for looking after land, grassland, ponds, ditches, hedges and woods. These are important as habitats for many different types of wildlife. Other than farm animals, what animals do the children think may live in these different habitats that the farmer creates and looks after? a. Ask pupils to imagine a stretch of hedge or a pond that

a farmer has created. Brainstorm a list of any animal, including mini-beasts and birds that might visit the hedge/

to research ideas. b. Help the pupils to consider which creatures are there all

the time and which visit in a particular season. Talk about why the creature visits/inhabits the place. Also discuss which creatures are unlikely to be there at the same time, why and what would happen if the creature wasn’t there.

c. Record the information by making models of hedges/ponds

for a season with card and scrap materials. Shredded green paper makes an excellent hedge whilst ponds can be created from silver foil. Alternatively, use white paint to make animal footprints on black paper or make the prints on rolled out clay to show which animals would be in the pond/hedge.

d. For the following farmland habitats, ask the children to create

appropriate food chains:

hedgerow

farm pond

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Hedge/pond for sale Ask the children to think about what makes a house a good place to live. Ask them to think about the local area as well as the house. (Possible responses include warm and dry, comfortable, nicely decorated, a garden to play in, functional and clean kitchen, near amenities like shops, recreation

from estate agents and/or newspapers to see how persuasive vocabulary and phrases are used to help sell homes. Now ask them to imagine being a pond or hedge dwelling animal. What makes the hedge or pond a good place to live? Ask the children to write persuasive adverts for a pond or hedge to indicate why it is an excellent habitat for a particular creature. Encourage the pupils to be persuasive and to mention the special features that their hedge/pond offers.

Fit to drink?

land. Make a list of the ways that farmers use water and also the ways that pupils use it.

b. Tell the pupils that farmers work hard to ensure that their

work growing crops and rearing animals does not pollute the environment or contaminate the rivers. Discuss why this is important.

c. Ask children to write on raindrop shaped pieces of paper

how water is used in everyday life and why clean water is so important. Display the raindrops hanging from a giant rain cloud made from card.

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Why Farming Matters

Fuel for the future? Talk to the pupils about fuel and how it is used to produce

may be: coal, gas (natural, butane and propane), bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, petrol and other fuels e.g. kerosene, wood, oil, wind, solar, wave/hydro.)

Do the children know which of these are renewable energy sources? What does renewable mean? Explain that electricity can be produced from these renewable sources or can be made (generated) by burning fuels in power stations and that a lot of our dependency has been on fossil fuels. Ask the children, what is the problem with burning fuels? (CO2 production). Go on to ask the children if they know what bio-fuels are.

pupil. Encourage the pupils to read the statements and to place them in a possible order. Ask them to explain why they think their order is correct. When everyone is happy with the orders, stick them into concertina books made from strips of paper cut from A3 sheets. Ask the pupils to illustrate the

are used and why they are important.

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What are bio-fuels?

Bio-fuels are fuels made from crops, wood and other organic materials, rather than those derived from fossil reserves of oil, gas or coal. As natural products made from natural materials they are also biodegradable, and will reduce problems of waste disposal. This is a very long list, including:

wood, wood chippings and straw

pellets or liquids made from wood

bio-gas (methane) from animals’ excrement

bio-ethanol, bio-diesel or other liquid fuels made from processing plant material or waste oil.

last category – bio-ethanol and bio-diesel, made from crops including corn, sugarcane and rapeseed. Bio-ethanol, an alcohol, is usually mixed with petrol, while bio-diesel is either used on its own or in a mixture.

Are bio-fuels climate-friendly? Bio-fuels are a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional transport fuels. Burning the fuels releases carbon dioxide; but growing the plants absorbs a comparable amount of the gas from the atmosphere. Even allowing for the energy used in growing, transporting and processing, bio-fuels still produce

recent UK Government publication.

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Why Farming Matters

Burn wood in an incinerator

Use heat to keep buildings warm

over winter

Put manure into a bio-gas container

Harvest oilseed

Burn methane gas Put oil in cars with adapted engines

Cut down some willow

Collect methane gas from manure

Crush seed to release oil

Transport wood to farm buildings

Spread manure Plough land

As trees grow they store carbon

Collect and store manure from animals

Plant oilseed

Plant willow trees Use heat to warm buildings in winter

Process the oil to purify it

WILLOW BIO-MASS OILSEED RAPE

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Food from the flag Using the image gallery on the DVD show the pupils the

a. Ask them to identify as many of the foods as they can and make lists of any items they think they have eaten and not eaten in the last year.

b. Classify the foods as: available in the shops all year round seasonal (e.g. summer only) usually grown in the UK or can be grown in the UK but often usually imported from abroad.

c.

Record the results on a bar chart or bar-line graph. It is quite possible that the children haven’t tasted some of these food items, in which case they are deciding which they think they would like better from its appearance and name. (As an extension, you could have a tasting table appropriate to your class/group, with some of the products available, e.g. fruits and cheese.)

d. collage on a paper plate in the style of Archimboldo of a balanced meal, using cut out images of foods produced on

UK farms.

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Why Farming Matters

Farming diary Either individually, in groups or as a class produce time lines

one farmer’s diary.

When the time line has been completed encourage the pupils to consider the farmer’s feelings throughout the day.

Extension

If possible invite a local farmer in to be interviewed about his day by the children. Ask the children to prepare the questions beforehand, e.g. What time do you get up? When do you have

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Called to help with lambing before dawn – freezing cold but six more lambs during

the night.

Milk tanker arrives after lunch to collect our milk – it’s good quality and the yield has been

School party arrives before lunch – full of enthusiasm and

keen to meet the cows and Cameron the old donkey!

Breakfast and it still isn’t light – typical gloomy

January morning.

Off to bed after a last check around the animals – miss the

10pm news again.

Mucking out milking parlour before the school

party arrives.

Feed the cows after morning milking – they need a bit more silage I think. Need to keep the

milk yield up at this time of year.

Milking by 6am – need to check feed levels if the litres

are down.

Late afternoon milking before tea time and of course more

mucking out.

Sit down at the computer to complete my paperwork once Suraj and Connie are in bed.

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Why Farming Matters

Country collage On a large display board create a collage of textures to represent elements of farming, countryside and food products. Possible elements include:

ploughed land – corrugated cardboard painted brown

soil – dried and stuck on with glue

trees or hedgerows – dried leaves and twigs or leaves made by printing or wax crayon rubbings

wool – sheep made from cotton wool balls with black sugar paper for legs and heads, knitted clothing

meat – representations made of card

milk – clean milk cartons.

Invite ideas for other elements from the pupils.

What would you grow? Tell pairs or small groups of children that they have been

allotment). Ask them what they would grow in the

eat and relate the food products back to the original crops. This could be extended to dairy, cattle, pigs and sheep to help pupils see that some foods are best reared on a farm rather than on a small plot. Use ICT to produce brochures

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Food miles Explain the concept of food miles to children using the following questions to help:

What do they think food miles means? (distance food

Where do we get our food from? (supermarkets, farmers’ markets, local shops, farm shops, pick your own, grow your own, even petrol stations!)

What transport is used to get the food to and from the shops? (aeroplanes and boats if from abroad, lorries from farms to processors, lorries from processor to shop, perhaps car from store to our houses)

Explain that the further the food has come from, the chances are that more fuel was used in getting it to us. Ask the children why this is bad for the planet (using up non renewable fuels, pollution, cost, etc.).

One way to reduce our impact on the environment is to eat more food produced, i.e. grown or reared, closer to home that has not been transported lots of times.

a. Ask the children to calculate the food miles using a ruler or string for the two identical meals opposite, having discussed how to use maps and scales to measure distance.

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Why Farming Matters

Using a world map

Using a UK map

Meal Where from? Approx distance (using maps

components (County) and knowing scale) (miles or km)

Chicken portions Herefordshire

Runner beans Warwickshire

Carrots Lincolnshire

New potatoes Cambridgeshire

Total food miles

(or km) for meal:

Meal Where from? Approx distance (using maps

components (Country) and knowing scale) (miles or km)

Chicken portions Thailand

French beans Kenya

Baby carrots Spain

New potatoes Egypt

Total food miles

(or km) for meal:

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b. Ask the children what other factors should they think about when buying food? Listed below are some possible issues to think about:

Environment damaged? e.g. rainforest destroyed for cattle, water pollution, soil erosion.

Fair-trade – were workers fairly paid?

Were animals well treated?

The amount of packaging.

Is it safe for us?

Is it healthy for us?

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Why Farming Matters

Some useful terms

FertiliserA product that is applied to soil to make it more fertile, that increases plant nutrition and quantities of crop grown. Farmers in the UK carefully follow guidelines on applying fertilisers and ensure that they do not harm the surrounding environment.

PesticideA substance, either natural or synthetic, that is used to protect the crop from pests e.g. insects, weeds or diseases. Farmers in the UK carefully follow guidelines on applying pesticides and ensure that they do not harm the surrounding environment.

Arable landLand that is fit for cultivation and used to grow crops.

Pasture landLand used for grazing by livestock.

TraceabilityThe ability to trace a product back to its source.

Find out more about farming

The following websites are a good source of background information that can be used to complement the exercises within this booklet

www.face-online.org.uk

www.growhow.co.uk/fertiliserfacts

www.myredtractor.co.uk

www.nfuonline.com

www.thinkfoodandfarming.org.uk

www.whyfarmingmatters.co.uk

AcknowledgementsAuthor: Roger KnillEditors: Rachel Sparks Linfield, Brian HainsworthDesign: Paula SayerPhotographs: www.ukagriculture.comVideo production: 22 Ten ProductionsProject management & Print: k2 Marketing

© National Farmers’ Union 2007

NFU supported by

The National Farmers’ Union represents the farmers and growers of England and Wales. Its central objective is to promote successful and socially responsible agriculture and horticulture, while ensuring the long term viability of rural communities.

The NFU’s Why Farming Matters campaign aims to give everyone a much clearer idea of the contribution that farming makes to the economy, to the quality and security of our food supplies, to the beauty and diversity of our countryside, to combating climate change and to the rural economy.

Farming & Countryside Education (FACE) helps young people learn more about food, farming and growing in a sustainable countryside. FACE members are organisations representing all aspects of the food and farming sector. FACE promotes visits to farms as part of the curriculum and provides easy access to resources and activities to

complement these visits. FACE has a national team and ten regional educational co-ordinators who network within all government regions in England and in Wales. FACE is a charity supported by the National Farmers’ Union, the Royal Agricultural Society of England and its members. Registered Charity Number: 1108241.

Think Food and Farming is the exciting legacy project building on the successes of the Year of Food and Farming. The long-term education programme is led by Farming and Countryside Education (FACE). Think Food and Farming will continue to work with

partner organisations at a national, regional and local level to promote visits to farms, and to provide easy access to a variety of educational activities to complement both school-based studies and outdoor visits. The Think Food and Farming website brings together offers of help and activities, details of events and curriculum resources to make food and farming an easily accessible topic for schools. For more information visit www.thinkfoodandfarming.org.uk.