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New
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Year 8

Food production and supply chains

I can explain what a supply chain is and how this impacts the food we eat.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 8

Food production and supply chains

I can explain what a supply chain is and how this impacts the food we eat.

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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Supermarkets are the main way that people shop for food.
  2. Many supermarkets in the UK are global companies and operate in different countries around the world.
  3. Supermarkets sell many different goods and food items which all have their own complex supply chains.

Keywords

  • Supply chain - all of the stages involved in producing goods, transporting them and selling them to customers

  • Import - goods and services brought in from another country

  • Export - goods and services sold to another country

  • Processing - making changes to a food’s natural state, e.g. cooking beans in tomato sauce and preserving them in tins

  • Raw materials - things that can be grown or dug out of the ground and processed or used in the manufacture of goods

Common misconception

Supply chains start at the manufacturing stage.

Supply chains start when raw materials have been taken from the earth.


To help you plan your year 8 geography lesson on: Food production and supply chains, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Bring in a variety of packaging from food items to see where they have come from. Could set this as a homework for students too.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Where do most people in the UK buy their weekly shop?
Correct answer: supermarkets
greengrocer
butchers
Q2.
What is a "supply chain"?
The process of making food from raw materials
Correct answer: Steps that move products from the producers to the consumer
The transportation of food from one country to another
A type of food processing method
Q3.
Match the key words.
Correct Answer:import,goods and services brought in from another country
tick

goods and services brought in from another country

Correct Answer:export,goods and services sold to another country
tick

goods and services sold to another country

Correct Answer:raw materials,things that can be used to make goods
tick

things that can be used to make goods

Q4.
What does the term 'food miles' mean?
Correct answer: The distance food travels from the farm to your plate
The number of miles a food product is processed
The time it takes for food to reach a supermarket
The distance food is shipped within the same country
Q5.
Food with more food miles has __________ of an impact on the environment.
Correct answer: more
less
no
Q6.
Why is the supply chain important for food production?
It ensures food is grown in large quantities
Correct answer: It helps move food from producers to consumers in an organised way
It prevents food from being exported
It focuses only on packaging food for delivery

4 Questions

Q1.
A describes all of the stages involved in producing goods, transporting them and selling them to customers. (2 words)
Correct Answer: supply chain, supply-chain
Q2.
What word is defined as "goods and services brought in from another country"?
Correct answer: import
export
processing
Q3.
Raw are things that can be grown or dug out of the ground and processed or used to manufacture goods.
Correct Answer: materials
Q4.
Food with more food __________ has a greater impact on the environment.
Correct answer: miles
emissions
chains