A Level students took a trip to Northney Farm on Hayling Island to back up learning of 'agricultural processes' as part of the People and the Environment Geography topic.

In class the students learnt about the inputs, processes and outputs of various types of farming so this was putting in to practice what they had learnt.  We were given a tour of the small dairy farm by the farmer who talked us through the day to day workings of the farm.  He was very detailed in what he told us - even breaking down the cost of producing each litre of milk versus how much they were paid per litre of milk.  He explained how they grow their own feed so that they can monitor the 'inputs' of nutrients to the dairy cattle.  He also explained how they have diversified and are now offering products like raw milk an ice cream (outputs) because the price of milk to shops and supermarkets is currently so low.  We were also shown how ICT enables them to track the productivity of each cow and how the automated milking and feeding works.