Farms are places where food grows.
Some grow grains, or vegetables or fruit.
Some farms grow flowers or herbs.
The farmer plants seeds and sun and rain help them grow.
Grain plants are cut and the grains are taken off.
Fruit and vegetables and flowers are picked and taken to markets.
Some farms are organic, meaning the farmers do not use any chemicals to control insect pests or weeds, to feed stock or to fertilise the soil.
More farmers are beginning to convert to organic farming because they believe it is better for the land and results in healthier produce.
Grain growing farms
Some farms grow grains like wheat, barley, oats or rice. Machines plant the grain seeds in rows, but first the farmers plough the soil.
Tractors plough the fields. ©iStock
Ploughing opens up the soil and makes it ready for planting the seeds. After the seeds are planted they will need water and sun to help them grow tall.
Grains grow at the top of the plant stems. When the grains are big, the plants are ready to be cut. This is called harvesting.
A harvester is a machine that cuts the grain. ©iStock
Big machines called harvesters cut the plants and take the grains off the stems.
Oats ©Getty Images
These are oats. Oat grains are made flat in between big rollers. Porridge is made from oats.
Wheat ©Getty Images
This is wheat. Wheat grain is taken to a mill. The mill grinds the wheat into flour. Flour is used to make bread and cakes.
Rice ©Getty Images
These are rice grains. Rice is cooked and eaten. Sometimes it is made into flour or crackers or used to make breakfast cereal.
This is barley.
Barley is often put into soups. It can be made into flour.
©Getty Images
This is rye. Rye is ground into flour. It is often used to make a bread.
What about corn?
Corn is a cereal grass. It is grown on farms. The seeds can be eaten whole as a vegetable. But the seeds can also be made into cereal such as corn flakes. Corn flour is used to make corn bread.
Vegetable farms
Some farms grow only vegetables. The farmer ploughs the soil and plants seeds. The seeds are planted in rows. Seeds need sun and rain to help them grow.
Vegetables at a market ©Getty Images
Farms that grow only vegetables are called 'market gardens'. Market gardens grow many different kinds of vegetables. Just some of the vegetables grown on a market garden are carrots, parsnips, cabbages of all kinds, pumpkins, beans of all kinds, tomatoes, radishes, lettuces of all kinds, broccoli, cauliflower and capsicums.
Farmers must water the vegetable fields if there is not enough rain. When the vegetables are ready, they are picked. They are packed into boxes and taken to the vegetable markets to be sold. Shopkeepers buy the vegetables to sell in their shops.
Orchards
Some farms grow only fruit. Fruit farms are called orchards. In orchards there are rows and rows of fruit trees or bushes or vines. Some fruit grows on trees and some in low plants or bushes.
Some fruits that grow on trees are apples, pears, peaches, plums, oranges, mandarins and apricots
A strawberry farm ©Getty Images
Berries grow on low bushes.
Some fruit grows on long vines. Grapes and kiwifruit grow on vines.
A bee on apple blossom ©Getty Images
In spring some fruit trees are covered with blossoms. Many bees visit the blossoms to collect nectar to make into honey. As the bees visit each flower, powder called pollen sticks to them and they take it to the next flower. At each flower, the pollens mix. The mixed pollen makes a fruit begin to grow when the flower dies.
Leaves grow on the branches to shade the fruit as the weather gets hotter.
Peaches ripen in summer ©Getty Images
All through summer the fruit grows bigger and bigger. Many fruits are ripe and ready to pick in summer. Some fruits are ready in autumn.
The fruit is picked when it is ready. The picked fruit is packed into boxes. Some boxes are sent to the markets where people can buy the fruit to sell in their shops. Some boxes are sent to factories to be put in tins, made into juice or cordial, or made into jams or pies. Some fruit is dried in the sun, then put into packs and sent to shops.
In autumn most fruit trees lose their leaves.
In autumn, most fruit trees lose their leaves. In some countries the season of autumn is called 'fall'. The leaves change colour and fall off. When trees do this, they are getting ready for winter.
Some fruit trees do not lose their leaves. Citrus fruit such as lemons, oranges, grapefruit and mandarins stay green all year round. Fruit trees like coconuts and dates also stay green all year.
In winter, most fruit trees rest, ready to produce flowers in spring.
An orchard in winter. ©Getty Images
Watch a video showing a strawberry growing:
http://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/86335815207
Read kidcyber pages about other kinds of farms:
Watch radish seeds beginning to grow:
More educational games on plants at NeoK12
