Ex. 10. Answer the questions.
1. How many farms does the UK have? 2. What is the average size of the farm? 3. Do the British farmers own the farms on which they live? 4. What kind of farming do many British farmers practice? 6. Do the methods of mixed farming differ from each other? 7. What do farmers in the highlands of Scotland, Wales and western England use most of their land for? Why? 8. What do farmers in eastern England use most of their land for? 9. What are Britain’s most important crops? 10. What crops do farmers in southern and eastern England grow? 11. Why is Kent known as the Garden of England? 13.What are England’s chief agricultural products? 14. What principal fishes are caught in English waters? 14. Is soil fertile in Northern Ireland? 15. What is most of the land used for? 16. What are the most important agricultural products of Northern Ireland? 17. What crops are grown for animal feed? 18. Are there any orchards in the Northern Ireland? 19. What fishes does the fishing fleet of the Northern Ireland bring? 20. What is most of the land in Scotland used for? 21. What famous breeds of beef and dairy cattle did Scottish farmers develop? 23. What products account for three-fourths of Scotland’s farm production? 24. What grain crops do Scottish farmers mainly plant? 25. What is much of the barley used for? 26. Is fishing an important activity in Scotland? 27. What is the leading agricultural activity in Wales? 28. What are the main crops grown in Wales?
Ex. 11. Work with a partner. Make a dialogue about types of British farming in different regions of Britain. Use the following word combinations.
In the west, in the east, poor soil, fertile soil, rich area, arable farms, to grow crops, dairy farms, to breed animals, temperate climate, mixed farms, rainfall, tough competition, to produce, milk, eggs, potatoes, barley, oats, fruit, sugar, wheat.
Ex. 12. Imagine that you are having a talk with a British farmer. Ask him about his farm and his produce.
Ex. 13. Fill in the table and speak on the topic “British farming”
| England | Scotland | Northern Ireland | Wales | |
| Crop growing | ||||
| Livestock breeding | ||||
| Fishing | ||||
| Chief agricultural products |
Text C
British Farming
It is important to realise the position which farming today occupies in the life of Britain. In the course of the great industrial expansion of the industrial revolution and after when Britain became engaged more and more in the task of supplying manufactured goods to an ever-expanding world market, home production of food came gradually to be neglected, almost forgotten by the growing number of town-dwellers. Sorely strained by the First World War, the Second World War changed Britain from a creditor nation to a debtor nation forced to go out into the world and buy food and raw materials at competitive prices to be paid for by the exports no longer eagerly demanded by the world s markets.
In a broad sense British farming may be termed intensive as opposed to the extensive farming widely practised in newer lands, such as Canada, the United States, Australia and South America. In other words, the British farmer cultivates a comparatively small tract of land producing a variety of products – food crops and animal products.
There are very marked contrasts between one part of Britain and another in the type of farming. In the main, the reasons are to be found in the physical conditions of the land, in relief, soil and climate, though accessibility – especially to roads and markets – also plays a large part.
Hill sheep farms are usually found on the margins of mountain moorland – over several hundred acres of which the sheep roam except in winter – and the farmhouse is often some distance from a public road and so difficult of access.
The keeping of cows for milk has become the major occupation of farmers over a large part of Lowland Britain. Whilst much of the east of England is ploughland and the farmers sell wheat, barley, oats and sugar beet off the farm, most of them keep animals also and milk is often important. Such intensive and specialised types of farming as market gardening, horticulture and fruit farming exist only where there is a combination of favourable physical factors and economic factors (such as nearness or access to markets, casual labour supplies when needed for harvesting).
Although there are large farms in Britain, most of the farms are small; one third of them less than 100 acres and a half between 100 and 500. Where land is very fertile farms tend to be smaller; in East Anglia, where the land is drier and less fertile, the farms are bigger. By any calculation the 100 acres farm is three or four times too small for efficiency. So there is a tendency to combine small farms into bigger holdings of the kind more suitable for mechanised farming.