farming

Question 1

What is farming in a Developed country - East Anglia, South East England

Answer 1

This is an area of COMMERCIAL farming (farming as a money making business)
It has many successful ARABLE farms (farms which grow crops)
For the following reasons.

1. Plenty of flat land
2. Very fertile soils
3. Near to a large market in Paris
4. Mild sunny weather
5. Adequate rainfall but not too much.

In recent years many changes have occurred in farming in this area. PTO

Question 2

what are the changes to farming in East Anglia?

Answer 2

GOVERNMENT POLICY (THE EU)

Most recent changes have been affected by the policies of THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU)

THE EU’s FARMING POLICIES ARE KNOWN AS CAP (COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY)

Policy 1 GUARANTEED PRICE Policy

The EU encouraged farmers to grow more of certain crops by guaranteeing them a good price for their produce. This caused the following changes, which involved

THIS LED TO INCREASED TECHNOLOGY on farms - (MODERNISATION OF FARMS)

1. Farmers specialised in certain crops (MASS PRODUCTION makes more money)
2. Genetically modified seeds (GM Seeds) which grow more quickly and are resistant to drought and disease
3. More machines nowadays instead of workers (more efficient)
4. More chemicals
   - Fertilizers make crops grow quicker and produce more food.
   - Pesticides protect crops from disease.
   - Insecticides protect crops from insects which may eat them.
5. Fields are now much bigger (better for machines and mass production).
6. Small farms have amalgamated (joined up) into bigger ones for mass production)

Policy 2 & 3 SET ASIDE LAND / MILK QUOTAS

Guaranteed Price Policy has been very successful but nowadays there is overproduction of food (too much food which has to be stored and destroyed – this is called a FOOD SURPLUS)

The EU therefore now pays farmers to leave fields empty –
SET ASIDE LAND POLICY
And fines them money if they produce too much milk –
MILK QUOTAS