human enviroment

Question 1

what are the changes in farming inputs?

Answer 1

 More money spent on chemicals and farm machinery
 Less people employed in farming
 As the population declines the local services begin to close down for example schools, shops
and health centres. This makes the area even less an attractive place to live.
 Pollution is increasing which is a major problem. There is an increase in the air and noise pollution from machinery and more water pollution from chemical use.
 More machinery means farms have become bigger and have larger fields
 Hedgerows have been removed meaning animal habitats have gone reducing wildlife
 Grants available for farms to restore hedgerows and not use chemicals (become organic farms)
 Some market gardens have changed to Pick Your Own PYO farming which is popular with
customers. This is because the produce is cheaper than the shops and also fresher. For the farmer this means fewer employees.

Question 2

what are the changes in farming output?

Answer 2

 For many years the EU gave higher prices for some crops which have led to more being grown but not all being sold. This creates Food Mountains which are surplus.
 In the 1960s a common agricultural policy (CAP) was devised. The policy aimed to improve the living standards of farmers and make EU countries more self sufficient. The first
policy was a system of guaranteed prices.
 The EUs policy of guaranteed prices was very successful, in a lot of ways too successful. Farmers grew too much meaning they could not sell it all. For this reason in 1992 the EU brought in a new policy of set aside schemes and quotas.

Question 3

what are the solutions to farming inputs and outputs?

Answer 3

The government is trying to stop this by improving living standards in the countryside.
 Grants for people taking over a farm from a retired farmer.
 Farmers are now paid not to grow crops but to leave the land unfarmed. This is called set aside land
 Farmers are encouraged to use their unfarmed land for other purposes like camp sites. This is called diversification.
 Use farm worker cottages as holiday homes giving extra money to the farmer.
 More industries setting up in the countryside which brings more jobs to the area.