Farming

Human Population Growth Pop Clock

How does this huge human population affect the environment? Habitat destructionincl. deforestation, building, quarrying, etc. Farmingfarms are not natural environments! Pollutionof land, water and air We’ll look at all these issues in the next few lessons, starting with farming.

The human population is over 7 billion. We can feed all these humans due to intensive farming, which maximises the farm yield i.e. the mass of food produced per area of farmland per year (kg/m 2 /y). This is also known as productivity. How do farmers increase their productivity (try comparing a modern industrial farm with an African subsistence farm)? Intensive Farming Intensive farming film from Home

Intensive Farming Selective breedingfor fast-growing crops and animals Fertilisersto increase plant growth Pest controlto kill animals who might eat our crops Greenhousesto increase growth of certain crops Factory farmingto increase growth of farm animals Mechanisationto increase efficiency of all aspects of farming and reduce labour costs Fish farmingTo conserve fish stocks

Work in groups of four, each person to study a different topic: 1.Glasshouses 2.Fertilisers 3.Pest control 4.Fish farming Put a subheading for your topic in your book and use p of your textbook to write notes that answer the questions on the worksheet. Then teach the rest of your group about that topic, so you all end up with lovely notes. Intensive Farming

Farming breaks the nitrogen cycle, so farmers need some form of fertiliser to replace the lost nitrates.Fertilisers

Fish Farming Fish farm clip from BBC