How to Keep Small Dairy Farms in Business

Farming types in the UK and characteristics

Our favourite foods

Food and Farming on PhotoPeach

GM crops are not the answer

A talk her on this. Not the most exciting video but there is good info here if you listen carefully.

Farming Intro?

Ok for a veggie I feel guilty laughing at this but I do like it!

Extreme farming

OK this is a bit rude in bits but it made me laugh. Don't think this is all real but who cares?

Farming controversy.

I don’t have time to write more about this just now but Prince Charles caused a lot of discussion about the use of GM crops this week and the guardian has two good articles for and against their use. See these here and here. The paper has lots of other articles on this if you want a look

Rice shortage

The global rice shortage has prompted one leading supermarket to ration sales to shoppers. Rice is as much a staple of the modern British diet as bread and potatoes.
So the news that supermarket chain Lidl has decided to ration sales to 20kg per family has sent ominous rumblings through the nation's stomachs.
Read what the alternatives are here

Factory Farming - The Meatrix

Thanks to Alan Parkinson for reminding us of this one. See former links in the farming section on the right here and the revision posts for grade too.

Farmers face losing EU subsidies unless they promise to go green

The European Commission is to announce today an end to the controversial set-aside payment scheme - under which farmers were paid to leave about 8 per cent of their fields fallow - as part of further reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
The payments, intended originally to prevent the creation of grain mountains in Europe, are regarded as outdated, given the worldwide shortage of grain that is being driven by demand from China and India.
The payments were suspended this year, but the European Union has ruled that this should now be permanent. Farmers will continue receiving payments from the EU, however, if they make environmental improvements to between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of their land. They will have to agree to keep field margins next to rivers, canals and streams out of production and free from pesticide sprays.
Defra has commissioned a series of reports to help it to reach a decision. The British Trust for Ornithology has been asked to conduct scientific modelling on the impact that the loss of set-aside land has had on farmland birds.

Rural Change in the UK

Good introduction here to the changes which have taken place over the last couple of thousand years in Britain and the impact these have had on the countryside. This is a potential Higher question folks. Watch the whole movie if you can and then read the info -the written text is better for us than the movie but the film is beautifully done. Explore the tabs at the top especially all the sections of the “modern” section. Changes in the structure of agricultural support, which started in 2005 meant far reaching changes for British and European agriculture. In practice this means that farm support is no longer be linked to production. Support is independent of the number of livestock carried or the hectares of a crop grown and made through a Single Farm Payment (SFP) based on the historic production claims of the years 2000 – 2002.

Integrated Farm Management (IFM)Integrated Farm Management is a whole farm system providing efficient and profitable production that is environmentally responsible. IFM works by integrating beneficial natural processes into modern farming techniques and ensures that high standards of stewardship and environmental care are practiced. Practitioners of IFM need to be able to clearly demonstrate improvement to the quality of soil, water, air, wildlife habitat and the landscape. Read more about this by clicking on the Key Subjects link to the left of the page and then under the “Issues” tab on Integrated Farming. Lots of good stuff here for S grade as well as Higher / Int 2. Link here.

2008: The year of global food crisis

Millions more of the world's most vulnerable people are facing starvation. More than 73 million people in 78 countries that depend on food handouts from the United Nations World Food Programme.
The threat of malnutrition is the world's forgotten problem'', says the World Bank. The increasing cost of grains is also pushing up the price of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. High prices have already prompted a string of food protests around the world, with tortilla riots in Mexico, disputes over food rationing in West Bengal and protests over grain prices in Senegal, Mauritania and other parts of Africa. In Yemen, children have marched to highlight their hunger, while in London last week hundreds of pig farmers protested outside Downing Street. In India last year, more than 25,000 farmers took their own lives, driven to despair by grain shortages and farming debts. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that, over the next 100 years, a one-metre rise in sea levels would flood almost a third of the world's crop-growing land. Another key driver is the soaring cost of oil. Increased food prices and their threat - not only to people but also to political stability.

Why are we growing food to feed cars instead of people?

Biofuels, have been sold as the solution to global warming. Making fuels from growing crops is the way to cut climate pollution while continuing to drive, we are told. Is this correct? But now experts are warning that this could all be a huge mistake. Converting large amounts of land to crops for biofuels is reducing food production just when the world needs to increase it. There are plans by more than 20 countries to boost production of biofuels over the next decade. The European Union is aiming to make biofuels 10% of all transport fuels by 2020. Read the rest here. Read the comments too Lizzy.

Sales of factory-farmed chickens have slumped since a high-profile campaign raised awareness of the cruelty at the heart of the poultry industry. Sales of free-range poultry shot up by 35 per cent last month.Fearnley-Whittingstall intends to produce a new television show on chickens later this year, updating viewers on the campaign and urging more people to join what he hopes will turn into a free-range revolution. Read about the life of a battery chicken here.

Organic food 'is no healthier'

Consumers who pay extra for organic produce and so-called 'superfoods' are being misled by claims that they are healthier than ordinary foods, according to leading scientists. But the Soil Association, which promotes organic food, insists that organic products are healthier. One of the directors, said: "In November a study showed a significant reduction in the incidence of eczema in children fed organic dairy products."
Read more here and make up your own mind.

Organic food

Try the veggie trumps game here to see if you really know your onions! You can also sign up to support Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's CHICKEN OUT campaign...

There is a good site here which allows you to access different farms around England and Wales to see what goes on in each. Look at the types of diversification . Link here

Sheep Farming
What has this video got to do with the state of farming in Britain

Chicken farming to change in Britain .

A campaign to raise the standards of chicken production has been launched by chefs, the RSPCA and an animal rights group. Farmers in the UK will have to stop battery farming their egg-laying chickens by 2012, under new government proposals. A wee video relevant for S3 doing the farming unit at the moment and for S4 to revise is found here. This article here tells you what factory farming means and why it is cruel to the animals and the government has now agreed.

The true cost of cheap chicken

Watch this video if you can on the life of a chicken. This will be the topic of a TV programme over the next week. You need to make up your own mind if this is a true picture and then if you want to eat these products. Most of you know my thought s on this but no one can tell you what to think. You should look at all sides of the argument however.

Is organic food a load of nonsense?

Organic produce is better for you than ordinary food, a major European Union-funded study says. A recent study found a general trend showing organic food contained more antioxidants and less fatty acids. The FSA (Food Standards Agency), the body which provides advice and information on food, currently states: "Consumers may also choose to buy organic food because they believe that it is safer and more nutritious than other food. "However, the balance of current scientific evidence does not support this view." What do you think? Read the rest here.

Store wars

May the Farm be with you - a funny video featuring Cuke Skywalker, Princess Lettuce, Ham Solo and other brave vegetables!Just have a look at this one. I’ll not comment ‘til later. I like Ham Solo though! click here.

One farm, one family

This case study in Devon has lots of amazing information on how farming has changed over the last 350 years and how agribusiness as well as more recent issues of foot and mouth and changing EU legislation have affected farming. If you don’t have time or really face reading all the info at least listen to the videos from each person. Go into these sections.

Farming: A family tradition
Farming: Where it's at
This is brill for S grade farming, Higher Rural which we will cover soon and Int 2 conflict. click the link on the photo above.