Unit 12: Agriculture

Aims and Objectives

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

You will practise the following skills and functions:

• listening for detail
• passing on messages

The grammar focus of this unit is:

• Reported Speech

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

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

1. rotación [?]
2. cereales [?]
3. manada [?]
4. hábitat [?]
5. ganado [?]
6. a gran escala [?]
7. orgánico [?]
8. cebada [?]
9. agricultura [?]
10. silvicultura [?]
11. caballos [?]
12. vaca [?]
13. horticultura [?]
14. fruta [?]
15. oveja [?]
16. matadero [?]
17. maíz [?]
18. field [?]
19. de alta rendimiento [?]
20. a pequeña escala [?]
21. paisaje [?]
22. biodiversidad [?]
23. trigo [?]
24. vegetales [?]
25. pesticida [?]
26. fértil [?]
27. flores [?]
28. tierra [?]
29. pasto [?]
30. cosecha [?]
31. cerdo [?]
32. sembrar [?]
33. cultivar [?]
34. medio ambiente [?]
35. cultivos de raíz [?]
36. subvención [?]
37. cultivo [?]
38. labrar [?]
39. semilla [?]
40. granja [?]
41. aves de corral [?]
42. política [?]
43. habas [?]
44. fauna [?]
45. mecanizado [?]
46. industria lechera [?]
47. fertilizante [?]

Section 2: Listening Comprehension

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. 
   

   [?]

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. 
   

   [?]

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. 
   

   [?]

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. 
   

   [?]

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

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.

    
    
    

    [?]

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

Press Play to listen to the instructions:

Section 4: Grammar Practice

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:

1. A. Mr Hill said: "I don't grow bananas."
   B. [?]
2. A. He said: "We only use natural fertiliser."
   B. [?]
3. A. He said: "We began market gardening in 1984."
   B. [?]
4. A. He said: "We sell some of our vegetables to the local shops."
   B. [?]
5. A. Mr Bullock said: "Farming has changed a lot."
   B. [?]
6. A. He said: "My father and grandfather were farmers too."
   B. [?]

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:

1. A. Mr Hill said they didn't use chemical pesticides.
   B. [?]
2. A. He said they used a system of rotation.
   B. [?]
3. A. Mr Bullock said he grew wheat and barley.
   B. [?]
4. A. He said he thought environmental subsidies were a good idea.
   B. [?]
5. A. Mr Bullock said he had been a farmer for 23 years.
   B. [?]
6. A. Mr Bullock said his father had been a farmer too.
   B. [?]

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:

1. A. The interviewer asked Mr Bullock: "Where is your farm?"
   B. [?]
2. A. She asked Mr Bullock "How long have you been a farmer?"
   B. [?]
3. A. She asked him: "How many cows are there on your farm?"
   B. [?]
4. A. She asked him: "Have you many pigs?"
   B. [?]
5. A. She asked him: "What do you grow on your farm?"
   B. [?]
6. A. She asked him: "Do you think subsidies are a good idea?"
   B. [?]

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:

1. A. The reporter asked him how long he had been a farmer.
   B. [?]
2. A. She asked him how he got into farming.
   B. [?]
3. A. She asked him if farming had changed much.
   B. [?]
4. A. She asked him how big his farm was.
   B. [?]
5. A. She asked him how he sold his produce.
   B. [?]
6. A. She asked him if he did mixed farming?
   B. [?]

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

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.

    
    
    

    [?]

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

[?]

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.

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:

• listen for detail
• pass on messages

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

• Reported Speech