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The activity (continued)
- Hand out the Farm Web cards (one per student). You may wish to use the cards from one, two or three different industries depending on how many students are in your class.
- Ask students to look at their card and then walk around the room to see what other parts of different supply chains they may link with. After five minutes ask students to form industry groups (Hint: each industry has the same colour border). You may wish to place objects around the room that students can gather around for example milk bottle - dairy, apple - fruit, woollen jumper - wool.
- Ask students to identify one of the cards that has an end product on it (for example butter, bread, meat - these have a star on them). Working in their industry groups, ask students to decide what the next stage in the production chain would be working from the plate to the paddock. Use the prompting questions in the Farm Web Information Tables to help students work out the next step in the chain. Students can pass string or wool to each other to visibly show the connections. (To assist students to work out the order, you may wish to cut the edges of the cards so that they fit into each other like a puzzle and only one card may precede another).
- Once students have finished putting their industry supply chains in order ask the 'industry groups' to decide if they have any need for transport or food scientists in their chain. Groups should pick up a transport card if required and add it to their chain (an indication of where these could fit in the chain are given in the Farm Web Information Tables). Groups can then present their 'supply' chains to the other students in the class. (Note: there is no right or wrong order, students may put the farmer before the tree, this will lead to an interesting discussion).
- After students have created their industry webs, discuss with students the impact of a number of events on each industry for example drought, pests and disease, increasing petrol prices, buying local vs buying imported products, salinity (salt affected soil) or erosion (weathering of land).
- Discuss what will happen at each stage of the production chain starting from the paddock (for example cow, fruit tree) and ending with the plate (final product for example butter, tinned fruit). Students who are holding cards depicting a stage or person that be negatively impacted should sit down.
- Discuss with students what can be done to reduce the impact of these events on our food and fibre production industries. Students should stand up if these activities help the situation of the card they hold.
- Drought (be careful not to waste water, install a grey water system at home)
- Pests and Disease (take notice of quarantine information when travelling - fruit fly bins)
- Increasing petrol prices (buy products produced locally to reduce the cost of transport to shops)
- Buying local vs buying imported products (buy local produce to support Australian jobs)
- Salinity (plant trees or reduce the amount of land clearing)
- Discuss as a class the role of agriculture in Victoria and the ways in which their choices affect food production, the environment and their lives. As a class you could also brainstorm other careers that may be dependent on the food and fibre production chains for example vets, shop assistants, mechanics, factory workers.
Related LandLearn activities
'Fruit Fly Game' from Fruit Fly Frenzy, 'Food, Fibre and Us' from Biodiversity in Balance, and 'Red or Green Tomatoes' and 'Food Miles' from Learning in the Garden on the LandLearning CD.
'Have You Ever Eaten Grass?' and 'Squeezing Oil from Seeds' from the Super Seeds! CD.
'A Bit of Butter' and 'Curds and Whey' from Grow and Gobble and 'Measuring Tree Height' from Biodiversity in Bushland, Community and Agricultural Landscapes from the LandLearn Resource Booklets CD.
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Linking the Paddock to the Plate Part 3
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