Episode 3 Food, Fire and Water. 19'20''
Fill in the gaps
The largest engineering project on Earth is being carried out for the purpose of 1__________ water. However, what is changing our planet is our need to feed ourselves
Families had a small 2_________ of land on the local 3____________ to provide fruit and veg for the family. Providing you spent a few hours a week 4___________ it. Len Spaulding has been doing so for more than 40 years. These are some 5___________ carrots. This is a monster. I'm going to need a bigger 6_________. Look at that! What is it about growing your own veg that's so satisfying? "Well, it's the excitement of what's coming out. I've got carrots here, 7___________ there, potatoes there, 8___________ there, plums, 9___________ , 10_____________, blackberries..."
Nowadays others grow our food for us. Just think about how much food we 11________/ _________ globally each day. Every single day, we produce nearly a million 12___________ of meat. And nearly three of grain. It is absolutely 13_______________ just how much food the human race now consumes.
We're currently controlling nature on a 14________/ ________. This is happening on the south coast of Spain. I just love landscapes like this...just 15______________ and dramatic, but, you know, not very productive. You can feel that the 16_________ is very dry, there is absolutely no 17_________ at all. Obviously, you've got the kind of desert 18____________ plants which kind of 19__________/ _______/ _____/ _______.
This region is one of the driest parts of Europe. On the face of it, it's a 20________/ ________. But in this 21___________ landscape an agricultural revolution is taking place. In the 1950s, local farmers found that when crops managed to 22_______/ _________, they were just blown down by the wind. Until they made a remarkable discovery by chance. 23____________ would put up this vertical plastic sheeting in order to protect their crops from the wind. But then they had this 24__________ moment when they realised that it it also made their crops 25___________ earlier.
In this way farmers could make the 26_________ landscape fertile.
Inside this 27_____________ greenhouse, there are a quarter of a million kilos of tomatoes. But it's not just growing under cover that's the key to their success. Nature itself no longer always 28________/ ________/ ___________________.
Lola Gómez Ferrán has spent her working life perfecting a very different way of growing tomatoes. None of the tomato plants are actually growing in the ground. "Yes, normally they grow 29______________ ." Yeah. So just in 30._________/ _________, like you might get in the garden centre at home. And this isn't soil in here, is it? This is basically 31__________/ ___________. Moreover, they get the water through these 32______________ tubes, and their nutrients, so water 33_________/ _________ here and at the bottom. And the result is these beautiful tomatoes, absolutely 34_____________.
It's an industrial way of growing crops and there's not just one big greenhouse. There are quite a few. We can appreciate them better from the air. It's a 35_____________ sea of greenhouses.
The desert just 36___________/ ___________, suddenly there's a clean line and then it just becomes white. It is just like it's been snowing down here, it's as if we're flying over a 37___________. It is 38____________, like someone's covered the whole thing in 39________________.
Suddenly, we hit a 40____________ of rising air. You can just feel the warm air picking us up and carrying us, exactly like a bird flies on a 41___________.
Every corner of the land is covered, which makes our next move a little 42_________. Luckily for us, 43_________ of plastic makes for the perfect soft landing. This plastic-coated corner of the Costa del Sol has now become one of the most 44______________ spots on the entire planet.
A quarter of all those tomatoes end up in the UK. Some of us need to eat a bit more than others. "My name is James, I'm a cycle 45_____________. I need to keep 46__________ to keep riding. If you're constantly cycling, you can 47________/ _________. So you need to 48______________."
But it's not just James. Today, the amount of food we eat is increasing all over the world and our hunger for one particular kind is growing 49______________. Meat.
Key
1. harnessing (harness something: to control and use the force or strength of something to produce power or to achieve something. E.g. attempts to harness the sun's rays as a source of energy. We must harness the skill and creativity of our workforce.)
2. plot a small piece of land that is used or intended for a special purpose. E.g. She bought a small plot of land to build a house on. A vegetable plot
3. allotment: /əˈlɒtmənt/ a small area of land in a town which a person can rent in order to grow vegetables on it.
4. tending (tend: to care for somebody/ something. E.g. tend somebody/ something a shepherd tending his sheep. Doctors and nurses tended the injured. Well-tended gardens. Tend to somebody/something Ambulance crews were tending to the injured.)
5. fine-looking
6. fork: a garden tool with a long or short handle and three or four sharp metal points, used for digging.
7. asparagus
8. parsnips /ˈpɑːsnɪp/ a long pale yellow root vegetable with a sweet flavour. Sp. chirivía.
9. raspberries (raspberry: /ˈrɑːzbəri/ a small dark red soft fruit that grows on bushes. Sp. frambuesa E.g. raspberry jam.
10. gooseberries (gooseberry: /ˈɡʊzbəri/ a small green fruit that grows on a bush with thorns. Gooseberries taste sour and are usually cooked to make jam, pies, etc. Children are sometimes told that babies come from ‘under the gooseberry bush.’ Sp. grosella espinosa. E.g. a gooseberry bush. Play gooseberry (idiom) (British English) to be a third person with two people who have a romantic relationship and want to be alone together.
11. get through (to use up a large amount of something. E.g. We got through a fortune while we were in New York!)
12. tonnes (tonne / tʌn/)
13. mind-blowing (very exciting, impressive or surprising. E.g. Watching your baby being born is a mind-blowing experience. The mind-blowing beauty of Africa)
14. vast scale (vast: extremely large in area, size, amount, etc. Huge)
15. unforgiving (of a place, situation, etc.) unpleasant and causing difficulties for people. E.g. The island is an unforgiving place in winter.
16. soil /sɔɪl/ the top layer of the earth in which plants, trees, etc. grow. E.g. poor/ dry/ acid/ sandy/ fertile, etc. soil. The study of rocks and soils. Soil erosion.
17. moisture /ˈmɔɪstʃə(r)/ very small drops of water that are present in the air, on a surface or in a substance. E.g. the skin's natural moisture. A material that is designed to absorb/ retain moisture.
18. scrub / skrʌb/ small bushes and trees. Sp arbustos, matorrales. E.g. The bird disappeared into the scrub.
19. eke out a living (to manage to live with very little money. E.g. many traders barely eked out a living)
20. dust bowl an area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, especially as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice.
21. arid /ˈærɪd/
22. take root ((of a plant) begin to grow and draw nourishment from the soil through its roots.
23. Growers
24. eureka /juˈriːkə/ used to show pleasure at having found something, especially the answer to a problem.
25. ripen / ˈraɪpən/
26. barren (of land or soil) not good enough for plants to grow on it. E.g. a barren desert. A barren landscape (= one that is empty, with few plants).
27. ginormous /dʒaɪˈnɔːməs/ extremely large. E.g. The monster was ginormous, Dad!
28. (Not) get/have a look-in: (not) to get a chance to take part or succeed in something. E.g. She talks so much that nobody else can get a look-in. The issue of freedom of information did not get a look-in (= it was not even discussed).
29. hydroponically (grown in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil. Hydroponics: [ˌhaɪdrəʊˈpɒnɪks] cultivation of plants in nutrient solution rather than in soil. )
30. grow bags ( a plastic bag containing a sufficient amount of a sterile growing medium and nutrients to enable a plant, such as a tomato or pepper, to be grown to full size in it, usually for one season only)
31. loft insulation (loft insulation is any kind of insulation that is installed in the loft of a building to help prevent the escape of heat)
32. irrigation
33. drips along (drip(+ adverb/preposition) (of liquid) to fall in small drops. E.g. She was hot and sweat dripped into her eyes. Water was dripping down the walls.
34. gorgeous
35. shimmering (shimmer: to shine with a soft light that seems to move slightly. E.g. The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. The surface of the road shimmered in the midday heat.)
36. drops off (drop off: to slope steeply downwards. E.g. In front of them the valley dropped sharply away from the road.)
37. snowfield: a large area that is always covered with snow, for example in the mountains.
38. bizarre /bɪˈzɑː(r)/ very strange or unusual. Weird. E.g. a bizarre situation/ incident/ story. Bizarre behaviour.
39. clingfilm a thin transparent plastic material that sticks to a surface and to itself, used especially for wrapping food.
40. pocket
41. Thermal: An upward current of warm air, used by gliders, balloons, and birds to gain height.
42. tricky: difficult to do or deal with. E.g. a tricky situation.
43. acres
44. eye-catching: immediately noticeable because it is particularly interesting, bright or attractive. Sp. llamativo, vistoso. E.g. an eye-catching advertisement. Beautiful clothes in eye-catching colours.
45. courier /ˈkʊriə(r)/ a person or company whose job is to take packages or important papers somewhere. E.g. We sent the documents by courier.
46. fuelled
47. burn out: to become extremely tired or sick by working too hard over a period of time. E.g. If he doesn't stop working so hard, he'll burn himself out. By the age of 25 she was completely burned out and retired from the sport.
48. replenish /rɪˈplenɪʃ/ to make something full again by replacing what has been used. Sp. reponer, volver a llenar. E.g. to replenish food and water supplies. Allow me to replenish your glass. All creatures need sleep to replenish their energies.
49. spectacularly /spekˈtækjʊləli/
Transcript
Harnessing water has led to the largest engineering project on Earth. But it's our need to feed ourselves that's really transforming the face of our planet.
A small plot of land on the local allotment used to be a common way to provide fruit and veg for the family. If you were prepared to spend a few hours a week tending it. And, for some people, that's never changed. Len Spaulding has been growing veg on his allotment for over 40 years. "During the war they were created because no one had no food. And that's what they were made for". Wow, these are some fine-looking carrots. There we go, let's get this one, this is a monster. I'm going to need a bigger fork. Look at that! That's the kind of carrot that's going to win prizes. "That surprised me more than it surprised you, quite frankly. It's a beauty, isn't it?" This is a proper Bugs Bunny carrot. What is it about growing your own veg that's so satisfying? "Well, it's the excitement of what's coming out. I've got carrots here, asparagus there, potatoes there, parsnips there, plums, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries...And I can't think of anything else."
But we can't all grow our own food. In the modern world, others tend to do it for us. After all, it's become a fairly big operation.
Try to imagine just how much food we get through globally each day. Every single day, we produce nearly a million tonnes of meat. And nearly three million tonnes of grain. The amount we produce has almost tripled in just 50 years. It is absolutely mind-blowing just how much food the human race now consumes, so much so we've had to completely rethink the way that we produce it.
When we first started growing food, our farming was dictated by nature. But today we're controlling nature and on a vast scale. It may not look like it, but one place where that's happening, is right here, on the south coast of Spain. I just love landscapes like this...just unforgiving and dramatic, but, you know, not very productive. You just come down, you can feel just how dry the soil is, absolutely no moisture at all. Obviously, you've got the kind of desert scrub plants which kind of eke out a living.
This region is one of the driest parts of Europe. On the face of it, it's a dust bowl. But this arid landscape has become the site of an agricultural revolution. In the 1950s, local farmers found that any crops they could actually get to take root were just blown down by the wind. Until they made a remarkable discovery.
It's interesting just how much human innovation happened by chance. Growers would put up this vertical plastic sheeting in order to protect their crops from the wind. But then they had this eureka moment when they realised that it had an added benefit- in that it actually made their crops ripen earlier.
Protecting crops meant farmers could make the barren landscape fertile, with the added bonus of an extended growing season. It was the start of an amazing physical transformation. Farmers here had spotted an opportunity to change this arid region into a gigantic market garden.
So, production on that scale, you can forget about your greenhouse at the bottom of your garden, you're going to need something a little bigger. Inside this ginormous greenhouse, there are a quarter of a million kilos of tomatoes. But it's not just growing under cover that's the key to their success. Nature itself no longer always gets a look in.
Lola Gómez Ferrán has spent her working life perfecting a very different way of growing tomatoes. "The variety, the name is angel. It's very good". What I notice here. you know, the interesting thing, here we are, we're inside this huge greenhouse and none of the tomato plants are actually growing in the ground. "Yes, normally they grow hydroponically." Yeah. So just in grow bags, like you might get in the garden centre at home. And this isn't soil in here, is it? This is basically loft insulation. "Yes, the advantage is that the system permits reuse all the water and all the nutrients. Never contaminate underground". It's interesting to know that they get the water through these irrigation tubes, and their nutrients, so water drips along here and at the bottom. And the result is these beautiful tomatoes, absolutely gorgeous.
It's an industrial way of growing crops, a factory farm for vegetables. It's nice to think that, when you buy your tomatoes from the supermarket and it says Product of Spain, this is actually where they come from. They can grow two entire crops like this one over the year. But there's not just one big greenhouse. There's quite a few, which means there's really only one way to appreciate them. From the air! "Keep running". Wow!, we're up! That was great! It's a shimmering sea of greenhouses. The largest concentration in the world and a monument to the way we now produce food.
That arid desert just drops off, suddenly there's a clean line and then it just becomes white. It is just like it's been snowing down here, it's as if we're flying over a snowfield. It is bizarre, like someone's covered the whole thing in clingfilm.
Suddenly, we hit a pocket of rising air. Woo! Agh! "This is the hot air from the plastic". Oh, man! What is it, the hot air from the plastic? "Yeah". Amazing! You can just feel the warm air picking us up and carrying us, exactly like a bird flies on a thermal- warm air rising from all this plastic, carrying us up even higher. Oh, just glorious.
The wind and the heat is exactly what made growing crops here so difficult until all these greenhouses were built. As far as the eye can see, almost every corner of the land is covered, which makes our next move a little tricky.
OK, we're coming into land. Oh. Luckily for us, acres of plastic makes for the perfect soft landing. This plastic-coated corner of the Costa del Sol has now become one of the most eye-catching spots on the entire planet.
A quarter of all those tomatoes end up here, in the UK. Londoners eat over half a million tonnes of fruit and veg a year, enough to fill Trafalgar Square over half-way to the top of Nelson's Column. Of course, some of us need to eat a bit more than others. "My name is James, I'm a cycle courier. I eat a lot, you know, you definitely have to eat a lot. I need to keep fuelled to keep riding. On an average day, I suppose it's about 50, 60 miles. I burn a lot of calories throughout the day. If you're constantly cycling, you can burn out, and I have burned out before when the day is very hot and you haven't hydrated enough, when you haven't eaten enough. So you need to replenish. I've got a very healthy appetite. My girlfriend says, "How can you eat so much and not get fat?"
But it's not just James. Today, the amount of food we eat is on the increase the world over and our hunger for one particular kind is growing spectacularly. Meat.
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