Lesson video
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Hello, my name is Ms. Jearetjan, you've made a great choice to learn geography with me today.
I'm so pleased that you've decided to complete your learning with me.
We are going to do brilliantly.
Let's start our learning for today.
Welcome to today's lesson from our unit on land use.
How diverse are local and UK landscapes? This lesson is called Farming In the UK.
You'll be learning to explain how different parts of the UK are used for different types of farming.
Some of the learning is brand new, but I am here to help you.
This links back to previous learning you might have done exploring your local area and identifying types of land use.
For example, agricultural.
We will build on and develop learning you may have done on the UK and what kind of place it is.
I'm really excited to get started, I hope you are too.
The key words we'll be using today are farming, farmer, livestock, agriculture, and land use.
Let's do my turn, your turn.
Farming.
Farming.
Farmer.
Farmer.
Livestock.
Livestock.
Agriculture.
Agriculture.
Land use.
Land use.
Well done.
I want you to be using these keywords throughout our lesson as well.
Let's think in more detail about what our keywords mean.
Here are the definitions of our keywords.
Farming is the growing and harvesting of crops or rearing animals for food or raw materials.
A farmer is a person who grows and harvests crops or raises animals for food or raw materials.
Livestock means the animals, but not birds that are farmed.
Agriculture is the science and practise of cultivating soil and farming.
Land use is the function or purpose of a particular area.
These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.
First, we'll be looking at which factors affect farming in the UK.
Then we'll be looking at where different types of farming are found.
Are you ready to start your learning today? Fantastic.
Let's begin.
In the UK, farming or agriculture is one of our most important industries.
There are three main types of farming, arable farming.
That means growing crops like wheat or vegetables.
Livestock farming.
That means raising animals like sheep and cows or mixed farming, which is a mixture of arable and livestock farming.
In England, more than two thirds of the land is used for farming and agriculture.
That's all of the green that you can see in this chart.
All other land uses are purple and they make up only one third of how the land is used in the UK.
So that's about 70% of all the land in the UK is used for farming and for agriculture.
Different parts of the UK are suited to different types of farming.
How the land is used for farming depends on the climate of the area, the quality of the soil or the height, which could be called altitude of the land.
Let's look at the climate of the UK first.
Climate is the general weather conditions of an area or region over a long time.
When we talk about climate, we look at the amount of rainfall or temperature of an area.
This map shows the UK, places that are shaded pale blue have the lowest amount of rainfall in January, 2023, and areas that have been coloured in dark blue receive the most amount of rainfall.
Talk to your geography buddy about which parts of the UK have the wettest climate and which areas have the lowest rainfall.
Pause the video now, did you identify that the wettest areas are in the west of the UK? And that the lowest rainfall occurs in the east of the UK? Good job.
The west coast is much wetter, largely because most of the rain comes from the Atlantic Ocean.
Let's have a check here.
Which of these areas received the most rainfall in January, 2023? Was it A? The east coast of England, Scotland and Wales.
B, the west coast of England, Scotland and Wales, or C, the south coast of England.
Pause the video now and answer this question.
How did you get on? Did you answer B? West coast of England, Scotland and Wales.
That's right.
Well done, you can give yourselves a thumbs up.
We also look at temperature when we talk about the climate of the UK.
Now let's look to see if the temperature of the UK has the same pattern as the rainfall.
This time, our map shows the areas that were the coolest as white or light pink and the hottest areas as dark red.
Discuss with your partner, which areas of the UK were the warmest and coldest in June, 2023.
Pause the video now.
How did you get on with your discussion? Did you identify that warmer areas are in the south of the UK? And did you identify that colder areas are in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the north of England and the mountainous areas of Wales? Fantastic, good job.
Let's check our learning so far by answering this question.
Which of these areas were the coldest in June, 2023? Was it A, Southern England, B, West Wales, or C, Northern England and Scotland? Pause the video now and answer this question.
Did you say C, northern England and Scotland? That's right.
Well done.
These were the coldest areas in the UK in June, 2023.
Give yourselves a thumbs up to stay healthy, humans need good and nutritious food.
The same is true of the soil that crops grow in.
They also need rich and nutritious soil to grow and thrive.
Soil that is good quality is often called fertile soil.
Although soil covers the land, its quality can vary.
The height of the land and quality of the soil are often linked.
Higher areas usually have poorer quality soil, low lying flat areas usually have rich fertile soil.
So where in the UK would these areas with fertile soil be? This topographic map shows the height or altitude of the land in the UK.
Yellow areas are higher and green areas are low lying.
Talk to your partner about where the highest areas in the UK are and where the lowest lying areas are.
Pause the video now.
Did you identify that higher areas in the UK are in Scotland, Wales, and parts of Northern Ireland and Northern England? Good, and did you also identify that flatter land is mostly found in the east and south of England? Good job.
In general, we could say that rich fertile soils are therefore in the south of the UK while poor quality soils are in the north.
But again, that's just a generalisation based on what we can see, it is now time for you to complete your first task.
Your first task is to write a summary about the climate, land, and soil in the UK.
This will help you to understand why certain types of agriculture are found in different areas.
Complete the sentences about climate, soil, and land in the UK.
Use the maps to help you, and there's also a word bank to help you as well.
Pause the video now and complete this task.
How did you get on with that task? Here are my answers to task A.
In the UK, the wettest areas are usually in the west.
The driest parts are usually in the east.
The warmest part of the UK is usually the south.
The coldest is usually the north, flat areas in the UK are mostly found in the south and east of England.
Well done for completing that everyone.
And I should point out that we use the words usually and mostly because in some cases there are examples where it is hotter in the north and that flat areas could be in the north as well.
Let's continue with our learning now.
We are going to look at where different types of farming are found, growing crops like wheats and barley is called arable farming.
Farmers in the UK use seasons to plan the year ahead.
Farmers plant or sow the crops in spring, then harvest and sell the crops when they're ready in the autumn.
So in the UK we grow crops like barley and wheat, which are used to make food such as bread cereals and pasta.
Arable farming needs flat land so that heavy machinery can be driven across the fields.
Crops also need rich fertile soil to grow well.
This would be found in lower lying areas.
Crops also benefit from warm weather and irrigation means that all of the crops have enough water to grow.
So these are all of the things that usually help arable farming.
Let's have another little check here.
This is a true or false question, so you need to think carefully about if this statement is true or not.
Arable farming usually needs land that is flat.
Pause the video and answer this question.
Is this statement true or false? Did you answer true? Well done, that's correct.
Arable farming needs land that is flat.
Now let's think about justifying our answer and explaining why it's true.
So is this true because heavy machinery cannot be used on steep slopes or B, because plants do not grow on hills? Pause the video now and think about justifying your answer.
Did you say A? That's right.
Arable farming needs land that is flat because heavy machinery cannot be used on steep slopes.
Well done everyone.
Give yourselves a thumbs up.
Dairy farmers keep cows or cattle.
Cows like these ones produce milk, which is collected by the dairy farmer and either sold as milk or used to make other dairy products like cheese or butter.
Cows need to eat lots of grass.
Grass needs lots of rain to grow.
That means that dairy farms need to be located in areas with lots of rainfall so that there is enough grass that grows to feed all of the cows.
Let's have another check here.
Which of these things do dairy farms need? A, warm temperatures, B, high rainfall, or C, low rainfall? Pause the video now and answer this question.
Did you say B? High rainfall? That's right, and that's because cows eat lots of grass and high rainfall is needed for the grass to grow.
Well done.
Like dairy farms, sheep farming requires grass for sheep to graze on.
Sheep farms can be located in hilly areas where it is colder areas that are too hilly and too cold for growing cereals.
Fruit and vegetables are often used as sheep farms. Sheep graze on the grass and they don't mind the steep land.
This map shows where each type of farming commonly occurs in the UK.
You can use the map key to help you identify which type of farming is coloured in which colour.
So for example, all the sheep farms are coloured in green, all the arable farms are coloured in orange, and if they're dairy, they're coloured in light blue.
Can you see any patterns here? Pause the video and discuss this with your class.
Did you notice that arable farms are mostly on the east coast of Scotland and England and dairy farms are mostly on the west coast of England and Scotland where there's more rainfall? Remember, the rainfall helps the grass to grow, which feeds the cows.
It's important to note that this is a generalisation, and there might for an example be dairy farms on the east coast of England.
So let's have another little check here.
Sheep farming is mostly found in northeast Scotland, northwest England, and in the west of Northern Ireland.
Why do you think sheep farming is located where it is? Pause the video now and answer this question.
Did you say something like, "The dark pink areas match the highest points of the UK because sheep farming happens on higher ground?" That would be a perfect example that explains why sheep farming is found where it is.
Well done, give yourselves another thumbs up.
Now, let's think about arable farms. Arable farms are usually found on the east coast of England and Scotland.
Why is there a lot of arable farming on the east coast of England and Scotland? Pause the video now and answer this question.
How did you get on? Did you say something like, "The land on the east coast is mainly flat and the soils are good quality?" Well done.
That's right.
Now moving on to dairy farms. Dairy farms are usually found in the west of England, the south west of Scotland, and across most of Northern Ireland.
Why is a lot of dairy farming along the west coast of the UK? Pause the video now and answer this question.
Did you say something like "The Atlantic Ocean brings the most rain to this side of the UK so it is very wet, which helps the grass to grow." And you might have talked about the cows needing to eat the grass to help them grow and survive.
So well done, that's right.
Give yourselves another thumbs up.
It's now time for task B.
Use your knowledge of the climate, soil, and land in the UK to help these farmers choose the best location for their farms, farmer Izzy wants to grow crops of wheat on her arable farm.
Farmer Sam wants to have a sheep farm.
Choose a site for their farm and explain the geographical reasons for your choice.
Pause the video and have a go at task B.
How did you find that task? Here are my answers to task B.
So site A would be the perfect one for Farmer Sam, and I've justified that using geographical reasons such as "I think farmer Sam should locate her sheep farm Here.
The land is steep and cold, but there's plenty of grass for the sheep." And then I've identified site B as being the perfect place for Izzy.
I think this would be a great place for farmer Izzy to grow her crops.
The land is flat so her machinery will be able to drive on it, and the climate is warm and sunny to help the crops grow.
Well done.
If you helped these farmers choose the right place for their farms, give yourselves another thumbs up.
Well done, geographers.
You've worked really hard today.
Let's go through a summary of the learning that we've completed together today.
More than two thirds, 70% of the land in the UK is used for farming.
How UK farmers use the land depends on weather conditions, land and soil.
The UK is mostly cooler in the north, warmer in the south, and wetter in the west.
Poorer soils and colder conditions in hilly areas are often best suited to sheep farming and rich grassy soils to dairy farming.
You've been fantastic today.
Give yourselves one last thumbs up and well done for joining me today and sharing your learning with me.
See you next time for more geography learning soon, bye.
