Have you ever wondered where the food on your plate comes from?
Over the last two years we have seen a big growth in interest in gardening. During lockdown gardens have become more important places than ever. With people appreciating the outdoors they have been experimenting with growing vegetables, fruit and plants of all kinds in beds in the garden, in pots in the backyard or even in boxes on the window sill.
Gardens are an important place for insects and pollinators to visit.
Flowers are important to pollinators, and pollinators such as bumblebees, wasps, hoverflies etc. are essential to the food we eat.
Growing vegetables and planting fruit trees in the garden enables us to live a more self-sufficient life and reduce carbon footprints. Allotments and community gardens are also becoming increasingly popular for growing various seasonal foods.
Gardening programmes have become popular on television and a number of websites offer tips on how to grow food and plants successfully.
Gardening clubs are popular in our schools and some experts like Adam Jones from the Amman Valley offer gardening training to gardeners old and new through videos, articles and blogs.
Marketing farm products
Early people had various skills and so rural families and tribes would exchange foods in order to vary their diet. This was the first method of human marketing. The 'barter’ approach to trade continues today in communities in underprivileged countries.
The exchange of foodstuffs through export and import has been part of our countries’ trade for decades. Britain was part of the European Community from 1973 to January 2020 and its agriculture was managed by the Common Agricultural Policy. Following the referendum in June 2016, 51.9% voted in favour of leaving the European Union and 48.1% in favour of remaining in the Union.
This vote caused a lot of controversy and protests throughout the country causing prime minister David Cameron to resign! It took Britain three years and seven months to get through the process of leaving. 'Brexit' was the most commonly used word during these years!
The production and sale of food crops is a marketing chain. Welsh companies market their food products successfully around the world.
Farmer - marketer / gatherer - maker / processor - wholesaler - retailer.
We buy our food from shops and supermarkets. The food we get in a packet or tin has gone through a costly production process between the soil and the plate as it were. Sales of two products can vary greatly due to changes in price, packaging and labelling factors. This is the reason for competition in food prices.
Dosbarth 6
Ystafell Derwen
Ysgol Llanonnen
Rhyd-y-wern
02/10/2021
Dear family,
The children in our class at Ysgol Llanonnen have been studying food and farming this term. We have visited a local farm and seen the farm's big machinery picking potatoes and storing them in the sheds. There was also a field full of carrots and beetroot. We are going to learn to cook some vegetables.
Unfortunately, a great many parents cannot afford to buy food to support their families. That is because they can’t get work.
We will be holding a Harvest thanksgiving service in church on 25 October to give thanks for everything we have had this year. Parents are welcome to the service and there will be an opportunity to see it on Zoom by contacting Mrs Francis to get the Zoom connection password. As part of the service, we want to collect dry foods for the Food Bank in town.
We wondered if you would be willing and able to contribute a couple of packets/tins/cans of food to the Bank. If we do get some donations two members of class will be allowed to go to the Food Bank to help for a morning and we look forward to seeing how it works and supports the local society.
Yours sincerely,
Mali, Jessica and Max.
Agriculture
Agriculture is arguably the most important industry in the world. Without food it would not be possible to survive. It is vital to our personal health and well-being.
Farmers past and present have faced the task of feeding the nation.
The first farmers in the Celtic era grew enough food and hunted enough animals to sustain themselves. The farmers' ability evolved over time and they learned to produce crops in the soil, and to domesticate animals such as sheep, cattle and chickens.
Today farmers produce more food than we need. The weather in Wales is not harsh yet it is very varied. The weather is one particular factor affecting the prices of foodstuffs, which rise and fall with demand. Other factors affecting today's production costs are the price of fertiliser, fuel, machinery, wages and location.
Most fruit and vegetables have a particular growing season. Foods need to be imported when out of season in Wales. Fruit can also be grown in heated greenhouses but this makes the produce more expensive at certain times of the year.
White vegetable soup
Equipment:
Saucepan, spoon, vegetable chopping knife, vegetable scraper.
Ingredients:
Carrot 1
Potato 1
Onion 1
Celery (small piece) 1
Turnip (small piece) 1
Bouquet garni 1
Margarine 15g
Chicken stock 500ml
Salt pinch
Pepper sprinkling
TO THICKEN (500ml of purée)
Plain flour 15g
Milk 125ml
ACCOMPANIMENT
Chopped parsley 1 x 15ml spoonful
Method: