Interdependence was something that I wasn’t very knowledgeable of before this input. I learned that interdependence is the way in which two or more living things depend on each other to grow and remain healthy. The 3 key ways in which we are interdependent: economically, socially and environmentally. For our first input we had a talk with Sammi Jones who works with the Soil Association. Before today, I wasn’t aware of the organisation and what they do and I found it really interesting. The Soil Association is a UK- wide charity that was set up in 2002 which campaigns for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use. The three key strands of work with the charity are: Food For Life, Crofting Connections, and Future Farming Scotland. Food For Life is an education framework and awards caterers for their provision of freshly/healthy made meals using sustainable, ethical ingredients. The three levels of award that can be given are bronze, silver and gold. During the input we took part in a pub like quiz relating to fun facts about soil and I was shocked to learn some of the crazy statistics. For example, I was extremely surprised to find out that 95% of our food comes from soil and that just one spoonful of healthy soil contains as many living organisms as there are people in the world. I learned that soil is made up of 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air and 5% organic matters, and for soil to form it needs a mixture of time, climate, topography, parent materials and living organisms. The loss of organic matter is closely linked to intensive farming practices. Levels of SOM can fall by up to 50% when arable agriculture replaces natural vegetation, such as grassland or woodland. Sammi explained to us that some of the solutions for this could be green manures, crop rotation, composting and animal manures. Another issue is erosion, which is linked to deforestation and intensive farming. This is exacerbated by wind, drought and rainfall. Again, a solution for this would be green manures and covering crops. Some things we can do to help is value our soils, rethinking what we eat and public awareness of farming practices. I thought this input was very beneficial and I learned a lot of new facts. I had never really thought about soil in this way before and I didn’t understand the importance of it either. Since today’s input, I am now more aware of the things that I can do to help protect the soil.

Our second input was a visit to a dairy farm in Tarbolton. The main reasoning behind this in relation to our future career as teachers, was to help try overcome the issue of children being unsure of where their food comes from. The owners of the farm explained to us that nowadays, when you ask a child where their food comes from they say “Tesco” or “Asda”, and that the majority are all unaware that basically all food on their plate will have came from a farm. I found this interesting and it is definitely a topic I would want to explore with my class in the future. I think it is so important for children to know the importance of farming and understanding where their food comes from and the whole idea of organic foods etc. The technology in the farm was insane and I had no idea that the cows could now be milked by a machine instead of by the farmer himself. At first, I was a little concerned at how rough the process looked and wondered if it hurt the cows in any way. However, the farmer explained that they actually enjoy this process and wouldn’t return to the machine if they found it sore or didn’t like it. I was so unaware of how advanced technology in farms are nowadays and I think it is so important to pass this knowledge onto the children. It has definitely impacted my views on the whole subject as before I wouldn’t have saw this as priority in terms of teaching, whereas now, I believe that it is a must. My next step is to potentially visit another farm that is a little less technically advanced and compare the two, to be able to understand the important of this technology and how beneficial it is to us and our society.