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What is farming?

Cows in a field.

Farming is an activity carried out by people that involves:

  • Growing and harvesting crops

  • Raising livestock

Farming provides people with the food and materials they need to live. Most of the UK's rural areas are used for farming.

Cows in a field.

Watch: Find out more about farming in the UK

Find out more about the UK's different types of agriculture.

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How location affects farming

People farm all over the world, and depending on where they are, grow different crops and raise different animals.

How the land is used for farming depends on:

  • The climate of the area

  • The altitude (height) of the area

  • The type of soil

  • Landscape features, such as hills, mountains, rivers and lakes.

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Farming in the UK

There are three main types of farming in the UK:

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 3, Tihanna pointing at cows in a field., Dairy farming Farms that keep cattle (cows) for milk are called dairy farms. They are usually in wet parts of the country, mostly in the west, where there is enough fresh grass for the animals.

Some places are suitable for more types of farming, so there can be a mixture of the farmland use.

Map with areas of different farming labelled.
Image caption,
Map of the UK showing where different types of farming take place
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Did you know?

In the UK, there are also water farms found in the sea, lakes or rivers.

For example, in Loch Awe in Scotland, fish such as salmon are produced there.

Salmon fish farm in Loch Awe in Scotland.
Image caption,
Salmon fish farm in Loch Awe in Scotland.
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Food journey

The food people eat comes from farms; some of it has been from different countries.

In the past, people had to rely on their local farms for food with the farmers using roads and waterways such as canals to move their produce.

Today, the roads and railways are used to quickly transport food around the UK.

From the field to the table

Once the crops are ripe and ready, they are harvested. Farmers often use machines to make this quicker.

An orange arrow pointing downwards

From the fields, the food is transported to factories and plants. Here, it is sorted and sometimes made into a different product.

  • Some foods, such as potatoes or apples, arrive in people's homes looking the same as they were at the farm.
Picture flow chart showing how potatoes are farmed, then transported by a van to a shop to be sold and bought.
  • Other food gets processed in factories and is used to make a new product, such as bread or cheese.
A picture flowchart showing how crops are harvested by a tractor, sent to a factory and become bread.
  • Some foods such as milk and tinned vegetables are processed in factories to stop it from spoiling.
An illustration showing how a cow is milked, milk is then taken by a tanker to a factory before becoming a milk in a carton.
An orange arrow pointing downwards

Once the food is processed, it is packed and delivered to either a shop or market.

An orange arrow pointing downwards

In the shops, people can buy the food with money.

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Impact of farming

A farmer with two sheep

Farmers face many challenges and farming often changes the shape of the land.

  • Sometimes, water needs to be brought from rivers for irrigation.

  • Wetlands can get drained to create arable fields.

  • If the same plants are grown repeatedly in one field, the soil can be stripped of its nutrients.

  • Some of the chemicals used to protect the crops from illnesses and pests can be harmful to the environment and people.

Today, many farmers use less harmful ways of farming.

In organic farming, chemicals are not used to treat the crops and farmers use natural methods to protect the crops and soil.

A farmer with two sheep
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Activities

Quiz: Find the place

Quiz: Impacts of farming

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