The Roadmap Report
B2+ Unit 2: Growing Underground Corresponds with Lesson 2C
3 Read the article again and answer the questions.
BEFORE YOU WATCH
1 How much more food will need to be produced globally by 2050?
1 Work in groups. Which of the following factors
do you think about when you buy food? 2 What percentage of land in the UK is used for farming?
• cost • sustainability
3 What type of food is produced in vertical farms?
• origin • health
2 a Work in pairs. Read the title and introduction 4 What type of buildings have been used for vertical farms?
of the article. What new ways of growing
food do you think the writer talks about? 5 Why can crops be grown throughout the year in vertical farms?
b Read the whole article and check your ideas.
6 Why is it good for the environment to produce food in cities?
The future of food: the urban farming revolution
Dan Edgar | 31 May 2020
When we think of farms,
most of us picture open
countryside with farmers
ploughing the fields and
cows grazing in the distance.
However, with a shortage
of arable land and an
ever-increasing population
to feed, entrepreneurs are
finding new, innovative
ways to grow food.
The world’s population is
predicted to increase by two
billion over the next 30 years,
from 7.8 billion today to around
9.7 billion in 2050. In order to
match this population growth,
global food production will have Pioneers of urban farming say that they have the solution and there has been a huge
to increase by around 70%. growth in urban farms in recent years. One type of urban farm which is increasingly
However, producing more food popular is vertical farming, where towers of fruit and vegetable trays are grown under
will be difficult for countries electric lights. Most vertical farms are built in repurposed old buildings, such as
which already use the majority abandoned warehouses, old shipping containers and disused road and rail tunnels.
of their land for farming; for The produce is grown in a climate-controlled environment which means that it can
example, in the UK, we use be produced all year round and isn’t affected by bad weather. Also, because the food is
almost three quarters of our land grown indoors, there is no need to use any pesticides and much less water is used in
for agriculture, but we still have comparison with traditional farming methods. Another benefit of urban farming is that
to import almost half of the food food is produced in cities, where the majority of it is consumed, thereby avoiding the
we consume. economic and environmental cost of transporting it long distances.
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The Roadmap Report
B2+ Unit 2: Growing Underground Corresponds with Lesson 2C
4 a You’re going to watch a film about an 6 Watch the video again. Complete the sentences with no more
urban farm in London called ‘Growing than three words and/or a number.
Underground’. Work in pairs and 1 Will says that there’s an increasing that
discuss the questions. traditional farming has a negative impact on the environment.
1 What kind of building do you think the 2 Growing Underground is the world’s first .
farm has taken over? Why? 3 The farm is beneath the ground.
2 Which crops do you think they produce? 4 Will describes going down to the farm as .
5 Will says the bio-security area is more like a
b Watch the video to check your answers.
than a visit to a farm.
6 During the War, around people could
WHILE YOU WATCH shelter in each tunnel.
7 The length of the tunnel is approximately .
5 a Work in pairs and answer the questions. 8 All features of farming at Growing Underground are designed to
1 How do Will and Richard get down to lower its environmental .
the farm? 9 Traditional farming methods use more
water than Growing Underground.
2 What do they put on in the bio-security 10 Growing Underground harvests pea shoots around
area? times a year.
3 What were the tunnels originally 7 a Work in pairs. Read the extract from the video. What do you think
built for? ground-breaking means?
’I had no idea it was possible to grow all those fresh things underground
4 What were they used for after the War? – it is literally ground-breaking.’
b What other recent developments would you describe as ground-
5 Which crop does Will try?
breaking? Think about science, technology and medicine.
6 Where does the water for the plants
come from? AFTER YOU WATCH
7 What are the seeds sown onto? 8 Work in pairs. What do you think are the disadvantages of vertical
or indoor farms like Growing Underground?
8 How long does it take the produce to
9 a Think of an abandoned or neglected building or area in your town
reach the customer after it’s harvested?
or city. Make notes about what it used to be and what you would
like to turn it into and why.
b Watch the video to check your answers.
b Present your idea to your group then choose whose idea you think
is the best and why.
c Present your idea to the class.
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