Agricultural Around the World

What can we learn about agriculture around the world and food production? If we produce so much of the  top commodities like wheat, corn, sugar cane, rice, why do some people go hungry?     Students will begin exploring and investigating these and other questions in our integrated unit of study.

What are the top foods produced in your location?

Do people face a shortage of food and go hungry where you live?

Students in my classes  (K-5th grade) are coming up with many questions as we begin our unit during the season of harvest festivals around the world and study of The First Thanksgiving in America.

If you can help answer our questions we’d love to have a comment from you.  We want to learn about agriculture around the world.

10 thoughts on “Agricultural Around the World

  1. Hello Roadrunners!
    We live in a very rural part of England, but only a few crops are grown here. The land is not very fertile or good for growing crops, and so a lot of the land is given over to sheep farming, especially the moorland and the the higher ground. In the valleys where the land is more fertile, some crops are grown: turnips and swede are often grown to feed the animals in winter. Many farmers will grow hay for silage, which they feed to the cows in the winter months.
    Cows are farmed either for beef or for milk, but at present the price of milk is very low and dairy farmers are finding it hard to make ends meet.
    The picture is not much better for small sheep farmers – the cost of shearing a sheep is greater than the value of the wool produced. The cost of feeding a sheep through a harsh winter is greater than the value of that sheep at market. Sheep farmers don’t make a lot of money.

    Hardy crops like sprouts and kale are sometimes grown, as well as rape, which is used to make oil. In more fertile parts of England a lot of potatoes, carrots, swede, turnip, parsnips and other root vegetables are grown as staple foods. Cauliflowers, cabbage and corn are also common crops, but not in our area. In other parts of the country, fruit is also grown – soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants, and then apples and pears in orchards.

    Because of our climate, many things don’t grow very well and so we import a lot of our food from warmer countries in Europe, or even further afield. Some of the things we import from abroad are sweet peppers, chilli, aubergines, green beans, bananas, kiwi, oranges and lemons, peaches, nectarines, grapes and pomegranates… Often we also import food because we want to eat it all year round, and with our climate, it is seasonal. So if we want strawberries in winter, we will import them from a warmer country. This is costly and a bit thoughtless – to get the products here, they come on aeroplanes which pollute our atmosphere – do you think that’s a good idea? Do you think we should be able to eat what we want, when we want, or do you think it would be better for our planet if we ate the food that was in season? We are lucky where we live because we never go short of food – but do other people in other countries suffer for us to have what we want, when we want it?

  2. Dear Room with a View and Mrs. Monaghan,
    We look forward to discussing your post as we are returning from our winter break and getting back into things. Watch for questions and/or answers.

  3. Hello Roadrunners,

    We are the students from ‘If Only the Best Birds Sang’ in Ireland. Here are the answers to the questions you asked.

    Do we import a lot of food in Ireland?

    Yes we do. Half the annual 16 billion euro spent on food and drink in Ireland is spent on goods that have been imported. That is 8 billion euro.

    Some imports are a result of our climate. Here in Ireland we can’t grow coffee, cocoa or oranges.

    Many food brands that we assume to be Irish are in fact imported.

    For example the Boyne Valley is a beautiful place in Ireland but Boyne Valley Honey is imported from Europe and South America.

    This is because of our wet climate, the lack of beekeepers and the decline of Irish bees.

    Siucra is the word that means sugar in Ireland. Last century we had sugar beet factories but they have been closed down.

    Now we import sugar from Germany on account of a political decision to shut down the factories.

    What foods do we export?

    We import 8 billion euros worth and we export €10 billion.
    One third of our exports and meat and livestock and prepared foods (e.g. fat-filled milk powders, cooked meats, pizza, sauces, bakery and confectionary) accounts for 1.65 billion euros worth. We also export seafood.

    Nearly half our exports go to our neighbours in the United Kingdom. We also export a lot to Europe. We export beef and dairy to the USA and luxury speciality foods. Irish people living in the USA like to eat Irish rashers and sausages.

    Do we have an international aisle in the supermarket?

    Again yes.

    The Census in 2011 tells us that nearly 3% of our population are Polish. There are also a lot of people from other parts of Eastern Europe living in Ireland. We also have many European, Asian and African people living in Ireland. Irish people who travel enjoy foreign food. The result of this is that we find lots of international food in the supermarket. We like to eat Chinese food and Italian food. The people from other countries like Poland like to eat food from their country.

    Oreos from the USA are a popular product here among the children in Ireland.

    Sadly the 2014 Census tells us that In 11% of children (aged 0-17) lived in poverty and so would not have enough food to each.This is one in nine children.

    We are going to take some photos in our local supermarket for homework tonight. We will write this up on our blog and send you the link.

    With every good wish
    Merry Beau and Students

    • Good morning Merry Beau and Students,
      It’s 8:00 a.m. here.
      Thank you for your help with our project. We will discuss and perhaps have a few more questions.

      Mrs. Todd and the Roadrunners

    • Thank you for your help. We will share this next week. We are having a global presentation this week about Africa and going to a special program so we are not in our usual class.

  4. Great. Thanks. Classrooms are such busy places. Hard to find time to do everything 🙂

  5. Just seen these series of posts – we’re in rural New Zealand we’d love to contribute if it was possible. There’s lots of videos that are farming based and related on our class page in New Zealand. Let us know if we can help.
    Mr Webb and Room Three, Auroa Primary School, Taranaki, New Zealand
    mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com

    • Mr. Webb and Room Three,
      We’ve love for you to take part in this project. Are you in school now? We’ve done some work with Australian schools and know they are on summer vacation. Feel free to add to our project. We always love to learn about other places around the world and make comparisons plus make new blogging friends.

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