Organic Farming and Diversification

Farming in the UK is sedentary, that is to say, farmers do not move from place to place. In general, in the upland areas of the UK, farming is pastoral with farmers raising cattle or sheep. These farms tend to be the smaller farms, whereas in the lowlands, farming is mixed and quite often the farms are larger. Farming in Britain these days is not as profitable for everybody as it was in the past - small farms in particular suffer the most. The reasons for this are that supermarkets buy in bulk and if farmers don't agree to accept lower prices, the supermarkets will buy from someone else. Supermarkets also sell a lot of food that has been imported - much of this comes from LEDCs where production and transport costs are much lower. Even with the costs of importing the food, it is still cheaper than home-produced foods. Mechanization and changes to subsidies for farmers causes problems for smaller lowland farms and hill farms.

In order to continue to make money, farms can diversify (increase the range of products) or specialise (produce fewer but more expensive products). An example of diversification is a farm in the south of England used to grow just watercress, however they realized that the expensive vegetable, wasabi, could grow in similar conditions. Normally, this vegetable is grown in Japan and is used in Japanese cuisine, including sushi. The market for sushi is increasing in the UK so they have successfully increased their income by diversifying. Some pastoral farms have diversified to farm alpaca for wool, ostrich for food and there is even a crocodile farm! Other farms have diversified by offering non-farming activities such as paintballing, creating a golf course, trekking with llamas, selling produce through a farm shop, starting a brewery or winery or offering tourist accommodation.

An example of specialization is organic farming. Only natural fertilizers are used on the land (e.g. manure or chicken dung) and organically-farmed animals are not given any food additives, hormone treatments or antibiotic injections to increase their growth. No pesticides are used and crops are protected using biological pest control, for example, using ladybugs to eat aphids. This is more like farming was before the Industrial Revolution and many people believe that organic food is healthier than non-organic food as pesticides and herbicides (weedkillers) are not good for human health. Unfortunately, since yields are lower, organic produce is more expensive so not everyone, even in a MEDC, can afford organic produce. Organic farming is better for the environment as there are no pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers that can pollute water supplies. The soil on an organic farm is much better than that on a non-organic farm and an organic farm will have a greater biodiversity because no chemicals that harm bees and other insects are used.