Food and farming in the UK

Agriculture means farming, and it’s one of our most important industries, because farming involves rearing animals and growing crops for our food.

Hi, I’m Tianna, and I’m at a farm in North Yorkshire, and here they have crops and animals. Livestock farming refers to keeping animals. Behind me is a herd of cows. During the summer, they live and feed in fields, but during the cold winter, they stay here inspecial pens in a barn. Cows can produce milk, which I like to put on my cereal. It’s also used to make cheese and is an ingredient in many other food products.

Dairy cows are kept to make milk. But some cows, like these, are reared for meat. There are sheep here too, which are reared from lambs to be eaten, like the cows. Some sheep are reared for their wool too, which is used to make clothes.

Some people choose not to eat meat, and they’re called vegetarians. And some people don’t eat anything that comesfrom animals - they are called vegans.

They don’t have milk from cows or eggs from chickens, and they try to avoid using other animal products.

Some chickens are reared to be eaten; these ones are reared to lay eggs. In the UK, we eat over 35 million eggs a day. Yes, in just one day!

Growing crops is called arable farming. Some land is better for livestock farming and some is better for arable farming.It depends on the soil quality, the climate and the landscape. The crops grown here include barley and wheat, which are used to make foods like cereal, bread, pasta and even cookies. The farmer grows a variety of vegetables too.

They grow at different times in the year. Once they’ve grown, they get harvested, sold to supermarkets and shops, and packagedready for people to buy.

Another type of animal that gets reared to be eaten is not one you usually think of when you think of farming, but it’s eaten alot. Fish…

There are fish farms across the UK, but this isn't agriculture, it's called aquaculture, because the fish live and grow in thewater. The farmer creates special pools for them and they’re provided with high quality water to thrive in. Some water, whether it’s fresh or salty, can contain pollution, so it has to be carefully sourced and checked.

There are different pools for each stage of the fish’s life. When they’re big enough, they’re put in the larger poolsand regularly fed, until they’re ready to be caught, sold to market and eaten by customers.

What food do you eat, and are there any farms near to you?