Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. (indistinct) and I am so happy that we are going to be doing some geography learning together today.

Well, today's lesson is all about global food production and how it can impact our world.

This if from our unit on natural resources.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to identify some different sources of food, explain why food production can be harmful to the planet and understand what sustainable farming is.

So lots of great learning ahead of us today.

We've got four keyword for this lesson.

So I will say them first, my turn, and then you can say them out loud afterwards, your turn.

So our first word, my turn is, rear.

Great.

Arable farm.

Brilliant.

Pastoral farm.

Well done.

And the last one, sustainable farming.

Great.

We're going to be learning about these words today.

But rear means some farmers rear animals, which means they breed and raise them for food.

Arable farm, crops such as corn, fruit, vegetables, and rice are grown on arable farms. Pastoral farm, animals are reared for products such as meat and dairy items on pastoral farms. And finally, sustainable farming.

Sustainable farming means growing crops and rearing animals in a way that damages the environment as little as possible.

Right, I hope you've got your geography brains with you today.

I've got mine.

Let's get learning.

Our lesson today is split into two parts.

Where does our food come from and how is our food produced? So let's start with where does our food come from? Food, as I'm sure you are aware, is essential to life.

We cannot live without it, but where does our food come from? I'll let you have a quick think with the person next to you.

Great, well done.

The food we eat comes from plants and animals.

I'd like you to have a go at filling in these blanks.

Food is.

to life and the food we eat comes from.

and.

Did you get it? I'm sure you did.

Food is essential to life and the food we eat comes from plants and animals.

It doesn't matter which way you have those two around, obviously.

Well done.

The production of all food uses other natural resources.

So when we are growing crops, plants, we need to use water, another natural resource and if we are rearing animals, they also need water to drink.

Plants also need soil and energy from the sun.

And animals need plants to eat.

So to produce our food, we need to use lots of other natural resources.

Now, the food we eat needs to be grown, reared or caught.

Reared food is animals that are raised and bred on farms so that they can be produced for food.

We're going to be thinking first of all about the food that can be grown and the three most grown crops in the world are cereals, sugarcane, and rice.

They're the things that are grown the most in farms around the world.

What other foods do we eat that are grown? Have a talk to the person next to you.

Did you come up with lots of ideas? Some of the things I thought of are, cocoa, cocoa beans, which are used to make chocolate, coffee and tea also grown.

You might have thought of lots of other plants that make food like tomatoes or carrots or you might have thought of some other crops, such as wheat and oats.

We grow a lot of them in the UK.

Some farmers rear animals.

And this means they breed and raise the animals on farm for food.

What foods do people eat that are reared? Can you think of some examples? Lucas has helped me out here.

He said that pork, which comes from pigs, beef which comes from cows, lamb, which comes from sheep and chickens are all reared on farms. So they're all bread and raised so that they can produce food for us to eat.

Ooh, a bit of thinking time here.

What foods do people eat that are caught? Lots of fish that we eat is caught.

Here's some examples of some of the fish that we might catch to eat.

Salmon, tuna and cod.

Salmon, tuna and herring are the most eaten fish around the world.

Did you have any other examples? There's also seafood, which we catch.

Mussels, lobster and crab are all examples of seafood which we catch so that we can eat.

I wonder if you've tried to eat any of those.

True or false? The food we eat relies on natural resources.

Well done.

That's true.

Now you can have a think about which of these is going to help you justify your answer.

A, the production of all food uses other natural resources such as water, soil, plants, or energy from the sun.

Or B, the production of all food relies on natural resources such as fossil fuels.

Well done.

That one was A.

Here's your first task of the day then.

I'd like you to have a talk with the person next to you.

And I'd like you to come up with as many examples as you can of food that are grown, foods that are reared, and foods that are caught.

We've been through lots of examples in this lesson and I wonder if you can think of some extra examples of your own.

Once you've done that, I also want you to get a bit creative.

I'd love you to design a menu for a three course dinner and I'm going to give you some rules to follow though.

I'd like the starter to be with foods that are caught.

I'd like the main course to be made from foods that are reared and grown so you can have a mix there.

And for putting the dessert I would like that to be made from that are grown.

So a chance for you to be really creative.

Have fun.

Let's go through some of these examples.

I'm sure you talked about lots of these ideas.

Here were some of my ideas that you might have talked about.

So for foods that are grown, I thought of carrots, oats, tea, bananas.

For foods that are reared, I thought of chicken, lamb, pork and beef.

And for foods that are caught, I thought about crab, prawns, cod, and tuna.

Great job.

And here's my three course menu.

Yours may have been far more delicious than mine, but for my starter I thought about having smoked salmon and mussels, there both caught from the seas.

I thought about my main being made from foods that are reared and grown being roast beef with potatoes and carrots, quite a traditional dinner.

And for my pudding, which had to be made from foods that are grown, I thought of having a fruit salad with strawberry, blueberry, melon and banana.

I bet you came up with some delicious menus.

Well done.

So our second part of the lesson is about how our food is produced.

Today, about 60% of the earth surface is used for agricultural food production.

So if you split the whole earth surface into 10 equal parts, six of those parts would be used for farming, for producing food.

That's an awful lot, isn't it? And our global population, the number of people in the world has doubled since 1960.

So we are needing to use more and more land to produce food so that there's enough food to feed us all.

So an awful lot of the earth's surface is used for that food production for us to eat.

And there's two main types of farms that we're gonna think about.

And the first one is arable farms. On arable farms crops such as corn, tomatoes, and rice are grown.

What other arable crops can you think of? So those arable crops are the ones that are grown.

Have a think with the person next to you.

What other examples can you come up with? Well done.

I'm sure you had lots of ideas.

Wheat, potatoes, cocoa tea and oranges are all arable crops.

I'm sure you thought of lots of other ones as well.

And different crops which are grown on arable farms are grown in different areas around the world because they may need different conditions such as, the warmer climate or more water.

And I've got a list here to show you with the largest global producers of some of the crops.

So the United States of America is the biggest producer in the world of corn.

Brazil is the biggest producer of soya.

China is the biggest producer of rice and wheat.

India is the biggest producer of bananas.

Ivory Coast is the biggest producer of cocoa beans and Russia is the biggest producer of oats.

And that's because they've all got climates (indistinct) their temperature and rainfall is like, that matches what those crops need to grow.

And soya beans which are grown on arable farms are an important crop around the world.

And they're used for a range of different products.

I thought of a few different ideas of how soya beans are used.

Do you know any different ways that soya beans are used? Great.

They're used to be eaten.

They can be cooked and roasted so that they can be eaten and added to stews and things like that.

Green soya beans, which are also called edamame, are eaten as a vegetable.

Perhaps you've tried them as a snack.

Soya beans are also processed and they can be turned into soya milk, tofu and soy sauce.

So a range of things that we eat.

And lastly, soya beans are also processed to make a high protein animal feed.

So they're also used to feed animals on farms. So lots of different ways that one crop can be used.

I've got to check for you here.

Which of the following are examples of food that would be found on arable farms? Well done.

Wheat and cocoa are found on arable farms. Great job.

On pastoral farms animals are reared for products, such as meat and dairy items. Can you think of some different examples of food that would come from pastoral farms? Well done, meat would come from pastoral farms. Eggs would come from pastoral farms and so would milk.

There are lots of other meat and dairy items though that come from pastoral cow farming.

We can turn meat and milk from cows into a range of different items. Can you think of some different meat and dairy items that come from cows? Great thinking.

So for meat, you might have stakes that come from cows, beef burgers or beef mince.

They all come from cows.

Some people also eat offal from cows, which is the internal organs.

Things like kidney and liver.

How about the dairy items then? Well milk from cows can be turned into butter.

We can drink it as milk and it might also be turned into yoghourt and ice cream.

So lots of different things that can be produced for us to eat that all come from cows.

I've got another check for you.

If a farmer rears pigs and cows, what type of farming is this? A, meat farming, B, arable farming or C, pastoral farming.

Great job.

Pastoral farming.

Well done.

Now because we need to grow so many crops and rear so many animals, it does take up a lot of land.

Can you remember what percentage of the world we said was used for agricultural farming? Well done.

60%.

So lot of land is needed to grow crops and rear animals.

And as our global population increases, forests around the world are being cut down to make space for these farms for crops and animals.

Cutting down large areas of forests is called deforestation.

Soya bean production has more than doubled over the last 20 years.

And in the process, many forests have been turned into farmland.

They've been cut down.

There's been deforestation to turn more land into farmland.

Can you think of some problem with large-scale deforestation for growing crops and rearing animals? Great thinking.

Two problems with deforestation are that one, habitats can be lost, and two, biodiversity can be reduced.

There can be less diversity in the animals and plants that we find in an area.

We're gonna have a think about these two problems now.

Habitat loss.

So it's thought that more than half the world's land-based plants and animals, and three quarters of all birds live in and around forests.

So there's an awful lot of animals, plants, and birds, which all live in forests.

Deforestation is leading to many animal species in different forests, losing their habitats.

They don't have a safe space to live anymore.

And like we said, we're also reducing biodiversity.

Forests provide food, habitat and safety for a wide range of plants and animals.

When the forests are removed, some of these animals and plants will die.

That means there's less diversity in the plants and animals in the area.

Some species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction, not existing anymore.

So really serious problems with the deforestation for farming.

Got a check for you.

The biggest global cause of deforestation is due to people needing wood.

True or false? Well done.

That's false.

And here's the time for you to have a think about which of these suggestions would justify your answer.

A, the largest global cause of deforestation is due to mining for mineral resources.

Or B, the largest global cause of deforestation is due to agriculture.

Farming needs a lot of land and the global population is increasing.

Well done.

That was B.

The largest global cause of deforestation is due to agriculture.

We going to have a think about some sustainable farming methods, which are being used to address some of these problems of deforestation.

Farmers around the world are aware of the problems with some farming methods and they are trying to use more sustainable farming methods.

Sustainable farming aims to meet the needs of the current population in a way that is less harmful to the environment.

So a positive way of farming.

This helps to protect the environment so that people in the future can also meet their own farming needs.

We're going to have a look at an example of sustainable farming that's been very successful.

We're going to have a look at an example from Bwindi Forest, which is located in southwest Uganda in Africa.

And the Bwindi Forest has been recognised as a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its natural and scientific importance.

And you can see Uganda is shown to you on the map there in the middle of Africa.

Bwindi Forest contains around 160 different species of trees and is known to be one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth.

So it's got such a different range of animals and plants within Bwindi Forest.

Really importantly, Bwindi Forest is home to one of the two remaining mountain gorilla habitats in the world.

There's only two places in the world where mountain gorillas are now found and Bwindi Forest is one of them.

Although Bwindi Forest is protected, it has suffered from major deforestation and Bwindi Conservation for Generations Foundation was set up to try and help solve some of the problems in Bwindi Forest.

And they found that when local communities were using the forest for everyday resources such as food and medicine, they were slowly damaging the forest and putting wildlife in danger.

So what the Bwindi Conservation for Generations Foundation has done is they now work with community women teaching them new skills in areas, such as farming and kitchen gardening so that they're not having to cut down the forest area.

By helping these women with their new skills, it can provide an income for local families, helps them with their food supply and encourages them to stop destroying the forest.

And this is a really positive example of sustainable farming.

Your final check.

Which of the following options is the correct definition of sustainable farming methods? A, trying to meet the needs of people today while not impacting on the environment in a way that would harm future generations from meeting their own farming needs.

B, trying to make as much profit as possible and then trying to meet the needs of people today.

Or C, trying to meet the needs of people today without worrying about the environment.

Well done.

It was A.

Here's your next task then.

I'd like you to sort these foods into those produced on arable farms and those produced on pastoral farms. And once you've done that, I'd like you to have a think for question two.

I'd like you to think about some of the benefits of sustainable farming methods.

And also I'd like you to answer, do you think all farms should use sustainable farming methods? And tell me why you think your answer.

I'm sure you're going to have a great attempt at answering these questions and sorting these foods.

Good luck.

Well done.

So the soya beans and the rice are grown on arable farms and the eggs and mince meat would be grown on pastoral farms. Maybe you added in some of your own ideas as well.

That would've been a great idea.

And here's my answer for question two, and you might have included some of these ideas or you might have thought of some of your own.

I said that sustainable farming aims to meet the needs of the current population while not impacting on the environment in a way that would affect future generations from meeting their own farming needs.

I said I believe that all farms should use sustainable farming methods so that they are not impacting on the environment in a negative way.

As the global population is going to increase, we'll need more food in the future, and sustainable farming will allow us to meet these needs.

Great job.

I'm sure you wrote a brilliant answer as well.

So our learning today about global food production and its impacts has taught us that the food we eat comes from plants and animals, which can be grown, reared and caught.

Arable farming involves the production of crops, such as vegetables and fruits, and pastoral farming involves the production of meat and dairy products.

Food production can be harmful to the planet, however, sustainable farming methods are being used successfully all around the world.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's geography lesson.

You've done brilliant learning.

Well done.