Friends in Farming Go around your class or group and ask if anyone knows of people in the farming industry. People in the farming industry can include farmers, farm equipment mechanics, large animal veterinarians, market analysts and many more. As you can see, there are people working in this industry who don't wear rubber boots to work every day.

Although Canada is the world's second largest country, due to poor climate and soil conditions, less than 10 per cent of our land is suitable for agriculture (less than one per cent is considered high quality farmland). Despite this, our agriculture and food industry is big business. It generates 130 billion dollars in sales annually and accounts for almost two million jobs.

During the twentieth century, the world's population grew rapidly, and continues to grow today. It has been estimated that by about 2100 the world population will reach between 10 to 12 billion people. Human ingenuity and ever changing technology have allowed people to produce and process more food than ever before. Modern conventional farming practices such as the use of advanced machinery and chemical pesticides have made it possible to grow more food. However, this success has come at a cost to the environment, its wildlife and its people.

The world's population increases by about 160 babies a minute - that's more than 230,000 people every day! No one knows how many people can live on the Earth. It depends on how much food we can grow without ruining the environment and endangering other species. - The Canadian Junior Green Guide