Unit 12: Agriculture

Index:

Aims and Objectives

In this unit you will learn and practise vocabulary related to agribusiness.

You will practise the following skills and functions:

The grammar focus of this unit is:

Vocabulary

matadero
agricultura
cebada
habas
biodiversidad
ganado
cereales
paisaje
vaca
cultivo
industria lechera
medio ambiente
granja
fértil
fertilizante
field
flores
silvicultura
fruta
pasto
hábitat
cosecha
manada
de alta rendimiento
caballos
tierra
a gran escala
ganado
maíz
horticultura
mecanizado
orgánico
pesticida
cerdo
política
aves de corral
cultivos de raíz
rotación
semilla
oveja
a pequeña escala
tierra
subvención
cultivar
cultivar
sembrar
labrar
vegetales
trigo
fauna

Exercises

Section 1: Vocabulary Practice

Exercise 1: Test Yourself

Exercise Help

Fill in the correct translation for each of the terms below.

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Section 2: Listening Comprehension

Exercise 1: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. How many people worldwide work on farms?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. Where do the majority of farmers live?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. How is most food produced in developed countries?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. Large-scale farming depends on:
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as part of integrated food production?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. Who are farms mostly owned by in the developing world?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. What do these small farmers do mostly with their produce?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. How have small farmers started to generate income?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. Which of the following would you NOT consider to be 'household essentials'?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Exercise 3: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. What did Mr. Bullock do when he left school?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. How long has Mr Bullock been a farmer?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. How did Mr. Bullock get into farming?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. What kind of animals does he have most of?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  5. Who do farmers sell their livestock to nowadays?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  6. How has this change affected the farmer's profits?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Exercise 4: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. What does Mr. Bullock grow on his farm?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. What does Mr. Bullock feed the young stock?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. Does Mr. Bullock think that subsidies are a good idea?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. What does Mr. Bullock find a nightmare?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  5. What are arable crops?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Exercise 5: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. What does a market gardener do?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. Originally the Hills wanted to:
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. What do they grow?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. How do the Hills grow vegetables without using chemical pesticides?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  5. Why did the Hills start selling their produce?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Section 3: General Comprehension

Exercise 1: True/False Statements

Exercise Help

For each of the statements below, choose True or False.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. If you don't use pesticides you can grow organic food.


    ?
  2. Some crops can be grown both in winter and in summer.


    ?
  3. Supermarkets never buy organic vegetables or fruit from local market gardens.


    ?
  4. Most small farmers have control over the distribution of their produce.


    ?
  5. Natural fertiliser comes from farm animals such as cows, horses and pigs.


    ?
  6. Large-scale commercial farming damages the environment.


    ?
  7. More and more people want to know where the food they eat comes from.


    ?
  8. Large-scale farmers sell nearly all their produce.


    ?
  9. Most food in developed countries is organically grown.


    ?
  10. Farmers need to know what crops to rotate.


    ?

Exercise 2: Sentence Completion

Exercise Help

Speaking Practice. Complete the sentences you hear, using the example as a model.

Press Play to listen to the instructions:

Section 4: Grammar Practice

Exercise 1: Transformation

Exercise Help

In this exercise, we are going to change Direct Statements into Reported (or Indirect) Statements.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
Example:

Mr Hill said: "I don't use pesticides."
Mr Hill said he didn't use pesticides.

  1. A.
    B. ?
  2. A.
    B. ?
  3. A.
    B. ?
  4. A.
    B. ?
  5. A.
    B. ?
  6. A.
    B. ?

Exercise 2: Transformation

Exercise Help

In this exercise, we are going to change Reported (or Indirect) Statements into Direct Statements.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
Example:

Mr Hill said they grew vegetables.
We grow vegetables.

  1. A.
    B. ?
  2. A.
    B. ?
  3. A.
    B. ?
  4. A.
    B. ?
  5. A.
    B. ?
  6. A.
    B. ?

Exercise 3: Transformation

Exercise Help

In this exercise, we are going to change Direct Questions into Reported (or Indirect) Questions.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
Example:

She asked him: "What's your name?"
She asked him what his name was.

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    B. ?
  2. A.
    B. ?
  3. A.
    B. ?
  4. A.
    B. ?
  5. A.
    B. ?
  6. A.
    B. ?

Exercise 4: Transformation

Exercise Help

In this exercise, we are going to change Reported (or Indirect) Questions into Direct Questions.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
Example:

She asked him what his name was.
What's your name?

  1. A.
    B. ?
  2. A.
    B. ?
  3. A.
    B. ?
  4. A.
    B. ?
  5. A.
    B. ?
  6. A.
    B. ?

Exercise 5: Selections

Exercise Help

Chose the correct answer.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. a. 
    b. 
    ?
  2. a. 
    b. 
    ?
  3. a. 
    b. 
    ?
  4. a. 
    b. 
    ?
  5. a. 
    b. 
    ?

Section 5: Consolidation

Exercise 1: True/False Statements

Exercise Help

For each of the statements below, choose True or False.

Recording: show transcript
This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. Farming hasn't changed in the last 50 years.


    ?
  2. In large-scale farming, pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers are used.


    ?
  3. Modern farmers need to protect monocrops.


    ?
  4. Large-scale farming has become known as agribusiness.


    ?
  5. Nowadays, people are worried about health and nutrition.


    ?
  6. People want farming systems to be ecologically friendly.


    ?
  7. Government policies encourage sustainable use of land.


    ?
  8. Plants and animals don't depend on the maintenance of their habitat.


    ?
  9. In modern farming, economics is secondary to habitat maintenance.


    ?
  10. Farmers don't always protect the wildlife on their farms.


    ?

Exercise 2: Dictation

Exercise Help

Listen to the complete recording first. Then go to the textbox and use the > key to listen to the text section by section. Type what you hear into the textbox. For detailed instructions, read the Exercise Help.

Recording: show transcript
?

Exercise 3: Cloze

Exercise Help

Listen to the recording carefully and then fill in the gaps in the text below using the same words.

Recording:

This has led to a growing ? for ecologically friendly farming systems. Government policies encourage rational farming programmes, in ? the sustainable use of the plant and animal population and ? maintenance of habitats ? which they depend form ? integral part of ? a farm. In ? words, ecology and economics are now ? regarded ? being aspects of modern farming.

Exercise 4: Gap Filling

Exercise Help

Choose the correct option to fill the gaps in the following sentences.

This exercise can be also done purely aurally/orally:
  1. Many farms are ____ by the same family for generations.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  2. Successful farming depends on the good use of many ____ .
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  3. John Smith runs a very large ____ farm.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  4. Small farmers usually ____ just enough to cover the needs of their family.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  5. ____ -gardening can be quite profitable.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  6. What sort ____ vegetables do you grow in your garden?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  7. In organic farming no chemical pesticides or fertilisers are ____ .
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  8. How ____ago did you buy your farm?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  9. The Hills sell their produce ____ local markets and shops.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  10. Rotation forms an important ____ of ecological farming systems.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  11. Today's generation must take the ____ care of the environment
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  12. Farms in the developed world are ____ mechanised.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  13. Many species of birds and animals cause damage to a farmer's ____.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  14. Some areas are tilled ____ few years.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  15. Increases in agricultural production do not always ____ increases in income for farmers.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  16. It is very difficult to ____ birds from eating cereal crops.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  17. Each farmer has to complete a lot of paper work to stay ____ the law.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  18. How did you get ____ farming, Mr Bullock?
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  19. I went to work ____ a farm when I was eighteen.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?
  20. Arable work can be ____ by using contractors and outside labourers.
    a. 
    b. 
    c. 
    ?

Checklist

Use the following list to check whether you have obtained full benefit from this unit. You should be able to:

You should also have greater skill and confidence in the use of:

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