What Does Farming Look Like?

0–5 min | Starter Activity – What Does a Farm Look Like?

Sketch & Discuss (5 mins)

Task:

• Students quickly sketch a farm or list what they imagine is on one
  (e.g. barn, fields, hedges, tractor, animals outdoors)

Class discussion prompts:

• Where do these images come from? (books, TV, adverts)
• Do farms always look like this?

Sentience Question (introduce gently):

Do you think farmed animals can feel pain, happiness, or form bonds?

Briefly explain:

• Sentience means the ability to feel pain, pleasure, fear, and comfort
• Scientists agree farmed animals are sentient beings – recognised in UK law
• Recognising the sentience of farmed animalsis pivotal, catalysing a necessary shift away from the inhumane treatment they endure within food systems.

 Charles Darwin – “… animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery.” The Descent of Man (1871)

5–15 min | Overview: Types of Farming

Types of Farming (Teacher input – 5 mins) Explain with examples:

• Animal farming – animals raised for food or products
• Arable farming – crops only
• Mixed farming – crops and animals
• Aquaculture – farming fish and aquatic animals

Farming Systems & Methods (5 mins)

Range of approaches:

More intensive / industrial:

• Large Scale, High animal numbers, Technology & chemicals used to maximise output

More extensive / ecological:

• Organic, Vegan Organic, Regenerative, Agroforestry, Permaculture

Modern & tech-driven systems:

• Precision agriculture (data & sensors), Hydroponics, Vertical farming

Key idea: Different systems have different impacts on animals, people, and the environment.

15–35 min | Focus on Farmed Animal Welfare & Rights

CIWF Film: Farm Animals and Us (approx. 18–20 mins)

Factory farming is a modern system of farming animals which use highly intensive methods. The number of these large facilities are increasing globally and have many names. In the US, they are called concentrated animal feeding operations or “CAFOs” and routinely hold over 125,000 chickens or 1000 beef cattle in one facility. In the UK, they are commonly called “factory farms” or “megafarms”.  

• Factory farms often confine farmed animals in small cages or crates.
• Factory farms house large numbers of animals in a small space (known as “high stocking density”)
• There are an estimated 1,824 intensive farms in the UK (2023). Every year over a billionanimals are raised in factory farms -that’s 85% of all UK farmed animals

🎥 Play full CIWF video or selected sections. Film and the associated activities in the teachers pack for students aged 10-15. https://www.ciwf.org.uk/education/films/farm-animals-us/  [Trigger warning – contains scenes of animals which may be upsetting.]

Start times of individual sections:

• Introduction and animal sentiency
• Development of intensive farming (4.56)
• Intensive chicken farming, including selective breeding (5.47)
• Intensive dairy farming, including effects of selective breeding (9.02)
• Intensive pig farming (10.02)
• Intensive egg production (12.10)
• Food chains and efficient food production (13.30)
• Alternative systems of production and personal choices (14.45)

While Watching – Student Focus:

Students note:

• One way animals are affected by farming systems
• One benefit mentioned by farmers or society
• One concern raised about animal welfare

35–45 min | DEBATE – How Should We Treat Farmed Animals? (10 mins)

Use CIWF Activity Cards https://www.ciwf.org.uk/education/downloads/how-should-we-treat-farm-animals/ 
Flexible options:

• Small group discussion
• Sorting arguments (agree / disagree / unsure)
• Short role-play (farmer, consumer, animal welfare scientist)

Encourage students to consider:

• Animal welfare, Food prices, Efficiency, Ethics, Environmental impact

45–50 min | Weighing Animal Farming Systems

Teacher-led Reflection (5 mins) – Compare briefly:

Intensive systems:

• Produce large amounts of food
• Lower prices (although cost in the supermarket is not the only factor. There are hidden costs. Factory farms are heavily subsidised by the taxpayer, they have imposed significant costs to the environment and public health, and destroyed farming jobs. The expansion of factory farming is estimated to have cost 14,000 jobs in farming as the industry is increasingly dominated by a handful of agribusinesses, and farming jobs are replaced by automation).
• Often involve animal welfare trade-offs,
• Often harmful to the environment

Less intensive / alternative systems:

• Higher welfare potential
• Often higher costs (but less intensive systems of animal farming have historically been subsidised less than intensive (factory) farming largely due to past policies that tied payments to land area, a system that implicitly favours large scale high- input farming operations
• Often reduce environmental harm

Key idea: There are trade-offs in farming choices.

50–55 min | Plenary – Exit Question

Students answer in writing or verbally:

Should food production prioritise low cost, animal welfare, or environmental protection – or a balance of all three? Explain your answer.

Encourage use of: Sentience, Farming systems, Evidence from the video

Assessment Opportunities

• Starter sketch & discussion, Video notes, CIWF Worksheets, Debate participation, Exit question response

Optional Extension / Homework

• Research one animal farming system and list one benefit and one challenge
• Write a paragraph answering: “Is intensive farming necessary in today’s world?”