ESL Lesson 1
Oil in Our Every Day Life
ESL Lesson 2
The History of Mining
ESL Lesson 3
Economic growth
ESL Lesson 4
Delivery Systems
ESL Lesson 5
Cities and Population Movement
ESL Lesson 6
Recycling
ESL Lesson 7
Rubber
ESL Lesson 8
Farming
ESL Lesson 8
Farming
Lesson Objective: To have students discuss modern farming and what is commonly used to grow the plants we eat, including plants to make ethanol and bio-diesel.
Open Discussion Topic:
Take a look at the country or society you are in right now, ask students about their grandparents; where they lived, what they did for work, and if they grew their own vegetables and used natural medicines. Explain that in England in 1900 a full 40% of people worked in the fields in some way, and 90% grew their own food in addition to what they bought in stores. Compare life 100 years ago to our modern society and make sure to ask if anyone in their family farms or grows their own vegetables.
Discussion Topic 1:
Summary from Jeremy Leggetts' article published in The Guardian 29 Jan 2007, Take it to the Fields. http://www.energybulletin.net/25427.html So oil-dependent is modern industrial agriculture, and so relatively few are the people employed in it, that we will need to redefine (re-think) the very concept (idea) of a farmer after the peak hits us. Today our typical (average) farmer might tend 500 acres with tractors and other expensive bits of oil-addicted kit (slang for machinery). But in the post-peak era - with the oil price sky high, and oil supplies fast-shrinking (quickly becomes smaller) and therefore probably rationed (controlled by the government) our farmers will need to be tending (using) an area of maybe one-tenth (1/10th) the size, using more human labor and strategic (pinpoint) use of a tractor powered by something other than petroleum, plus good old-fashioned draft animals (buffalos and cows). Many more people will need to be working the land if we are to feed ourselves. When the collapsing Soviet Union turned the oil taps off on Cuba, 15-25% of the population had to take to the fields in some form (way) or other. The good news is that they succeeded, to the extent that nobody starved. Today in the UK, 1% of the population farms, in 1900, before mass addiction to oil, fully 40% did.
We will need to be farming in the cities and towns as well as the countryside. The conference heard encouraging (favourable) stories of urban farming in Cuba, and how surprising (larger than expected) amounts of fruit and vegetables can be grown on astonishingly (amazingly) small areas of land in cities. What do your students think about this article?
Unit 8 Focus:
To understand what exactly he means and how dependent (reliant) the farming industry is on fossil fuel and natural gas lets look at the ingredients (main parts) of the modern farm.
What is Pesticide?
Pesticide is a generic (common) name given to chemicals designed (made) to kill a variety of pests such as insects (insecticides), unwanted plants or weeds (herbicides), fungi (fungicides), soil worms (nematicides) and rodents (rodenticides).
Insecticide: Chemical, biological, or other agents used to destroy insect pests.
Fungicide: Any substance used to destroy fungi. Fungi is plural for fungus, one fungus, two fungi.
Herbicide: Chemical compound that kills plants or inhibits (interferes with) their normal growth to kill unwanted weeds. The most famous and dangerous cancer causing is DDT, but Agent Orange is more of a defoliant (takes leaves off of plants) and a distant third is its toxic cousin Round-Up, available in stores now.
Spraying: Horticultural (cultivation) practice of applying (putting on the plants) fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides, usually in solution (mixed with water) to plants. It may be accomplished (done) by various means (different styles), e.g., the watering can, sprinkler attachment, spray gun, power spraying machine, or airplane. The spraying of powdered chemicals is called dusting, which is done by airplane. A common measure used is that it takes the equivalent of a gallon of diesel fuel to make one pound of active ingredient of pesticides.
Fertilizer: Compound (mixture) given to plants to promote (help) growth. Commercial fertilizers are made from anhydrous ammonia, which is made from natural gas. Fertilizers provide the three major plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), called N-P-K fertilizers and manufactured or chemically-synthesized inorganic fertilizers (not in nature, must be done in a factory to mix the ingredients so the stay together) include ammonium nitrate and potassium sulfate.
Nitrogen: Nitrogen is the most important element you can add to your lawn, it is the element needed to make the grass grow and get its green color. It also helps to create thickness, shoot density, and sturdy growth to help fight-off weeds and pests.
Phosphorus: Phosphorus is used primarily to encourage strong grass root growth and establishment. You will commonly see an increase in phosphorus during times of new planting and renewing old lawns.
Potassium: Potassium is used to enhance (make stronger) your lawn's resistance (fight off) to disease, drought, wear, and cold weather. You will commonly see an increase in potassium during fall and winter fertilizations and times of new planting and renewing old lawns.
Reliable estimates from the Department of Energy show that 5 pounds of nitrogen has the energy equivalent of a gallon of diesel fuel. In other words, 100 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer would have the energy of 20 gallons of diesel fuel.
Extension topic: Talk about the cost increases of these ingredients (components) if the price of (petroleum) oil and natural gas increases. How will this affect the price of food? The farmer must pass along the higher cost of growing the food. The fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers (makers) must charge more to produce those things in the factory. The trucks charge more to deliver goods to the factory.
As reference include these facts below:
Most farming machinery such as tractors, plows and combines (a kind of harvesting machine) are constructed (built) and powered using oil or natural gas of some sort. These machines also plough, plant, and harvest the crops on large farms.
Food storage systems such as refrigerators are manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed (moved) across oil-powered transportation networks and use electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or coal.
In the US, the average piece of food is transported almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. In Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed (eaten). Ask students if they know in their country what the distance is from the field to the plate?
Discussion Topic 2:
Ethanol and Bio-fuels: Knowing 100% for sure the total amount of corn being grown will increase, ask these questions:
- Growing corn takes double the fertilizer and fuel vs. the same amount of soybeans, will there be enough fertilizer produced worldwide to meet demand if corn production increases?
- What will happen to countries that import corn and grain if their shipments are stopped because these exports will now be used to produce ethanol and bio-diesel instead of food?
- Can we produce enough ethanol and bio-diesel to continue worldwide economic growth as crude oil supplies shrink?
- Which industries will benefit and increase profits during the switch over to ethanol and bio-fuel? Which industries will decline, more likely drop off of a cliff?
- Can we continue to feed the world using organic farming techniques without modern pesticides and fertilizers? http://www.soilassociation.org
what-is-fertilizer-and-why-do-i-need-it.php
Continue to: Iraqi regime to hand over oil reserves to US energy giants
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Farming
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Iraqi regime to hand over oil reserves to US energy giants
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Iraqi Oil Reserves
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