S2 Geography | Farming Systems and Food Supply: Tutor Prep Guide (Intensive vs Extensive, Inputs and Outputs)

2026-11-12

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary Geography

Students think farming means only “growing things in the countryside” and cannot say why the same field is worked by machine in one place and by hand in another. This lesson does three things: turn a farm into a system with inputs and outputs, use two sets of numbers to show that high yield per hectare is not high efficiency per worker, and explain the choice of farming type with physical and human factors.

Objectives — Students can: (1) describe a farm as a system with four inputs (land, labour, capital, technology) and two outputs (output, profit), and say which output changes when an input changes; (2) distinguish intensive from extensive farming by input density and give one real example of each; (3) compute output for the same 2 hectares (8 tonnes per hectare gives 16 tonnes; 0.5 gives 1 tonne) and labour per tonne (25 days against 4 days), then state that high yield is not high efficiency; (4) explain a local farming type with climate, relief, population density and market distance.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Area units	How many square metres are in one hectare?	Ten thousand square metres
Multiplication	At 8 tonnes per hectare, what is the output of 2 hectares?	16 tonnes
Basic distinction	What most clearly separates farming from manufacturing?	Farming uses land and natural conditions directly; manufacturing processes raw materials

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Draw the system	Put the farm in the middle, inputs on the left, outputs on the right; students place the four inputs	Call out the input items
5-15 min	Intensive against extensive	On the same 2 hectares, write 8 tonnes per hectare and 0.5 tonnes per hectare; ask for the ratio	Compute 16 and 1 tonnes, answer 16 times
15-26 min	The efficiency reversal	Add 200 and 2 labour days per hectare, compute labour per tonne, name the reversal	Do both divisions themselves
26-36 min	Four location factors	Apply climate, relief, population density and market distance; ask which explains market gardening	Match factors to an example with a reason
36-41 min	Four wrong answers	Display four common errors; groups name the faulty step, the tutor adds one line	Explain one wrong answer
41-45 min	Exit check	Collect three questions, mark at once, name the act to reteach	Hand in three answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act 1: A farm is a system, not an adjective

“Start with the frame: four inputs on the left, land, labour, capital and technology; two outputs on the right, output and profit. Any question asking why output rose must name an input that changed. The commonest weak answer is that the farmer worked harder, which does map to labour, but intensive farms are already saturated in labour, so the real answer usually points to technology or capital. Require every answer to end with a phrase naming the input that changed; if a student cannot, the answer is unfinished.”

Four inputs, two outputs; every change starts on the left.

Scene 2: Act 2: Two numbers separate intensive from extensive

“On the same 2 hectares, intensive farming yields 8 tonnes per hectare, 16 tonnes in total; extensive yields 0.5, so 1 tonne. Output alone looks like a factor of 16, which makes students think intensive is always better. Now add labour: 200 days per hectare gives 400 days for 16 tonnes, 25 days per tonne; 2 days per hectare gives 4 days for 1 tonne, 4 days per tonne. Efficiency has reversed. Intensive is land productive, extensive is labour efficient. Write the two units explicitly, tonnes per hectare for land and days per tonne for labour, because mixing them is the most common error in long answers.”

Intensive is land productive, extensive is labour efficient.

Scene 3: Act 3: Four factors explain the choice

“Never answer a location question by feeling. Climate decides what can grow, relief decides whether machines can work, population density decides the price of labour, market distance decides whether produce can be perishable. Market gardening near a city is all four pointing the same way: dense population, high land rent forcing intensity, short distance to market allowing leafy crops. Chain two factors with because and therefore; a single factor usually earns half marks. Upland livestock is the mirror image, and students should state the contrast themselves.”

Climate, relief, population density, market distance; chain two factors.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Classify the farming type	A farm produces 8 tonnes per hectare with 200 labour days per hectare. Which type is it?	(1) Read input density (2) High labour and capital means intensive (3) Compare with 0.5 tonnes and 2 days (4) Confirm with a real example	Intensive, for example market gardening or glasshouse production
Output calculation	Two hectares at 8 tonnes per hectare. Total output?	(1) Read yield per hectare (2) Multiply by area (3) Write the unit in tonnes (4) Check the size is sensible	16 tonnes
Efficiency comparison	400 labour days for 16 tonnes against 4 days for 1 tonne. Which is labour efficient?	(1) Compute days per tonne for each (2) 400 divided by 16 (3) 4 divided by 1 (4) Compare and state the unit	Extensive: 4 days per tonne against 25
Explain the location	Why market gardening near the city and livestock in the uplands?	(1) State market distance and perishability (2) State land rent and the push to intensity (3) State relief and mechanisation (4) Chain two factors in one sentence	Near the city rents are high but the market is close, so perishable crops are grown intensively; uplands have land but little labour, so high value livestock is raised extensively

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity checks: (1) yield per hectare multiplies by area for total output; dividing gives 0.125, which is plainly wrong. (2) Days per tonne uses total days over total output; both per hectare figures give the same answer, but a unit slip produces 25 tonnes. (3) Intensive farming can be land productive and labour inefficient at the same time; these are not contradictory. (4) Extensive is not backward; where land is plentiful and labour scarce it is the rational choice, so never write that extensive farming is a mistake. (5) Profit needs revenue minus cost; when a question asks about profit, the word cost must appear.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Name the four inputs of a farm system.	Land, labour, capital and technology	Whether all four are present
Two hectares at 0.5 tonnes per hectare. Total output?	1 tonne	Whether multiplication was used
Intensive is 25 days per tonne and extensive is 4. State one conclusion.	Intensive is land productive but labour inefficient, suited to crowded regions	Whether both sides are stated

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Confusing output with efficiency	Intensive gives 16 tonnes, so it is the most efficient	Efficiency is output per unit of input: tonnes per hectare for land, tonnes per day for labour.
Reversing the unit	Writing 25 tonnes per day instead of 25 days per tonne	Output is the denominator for labour efficiency.
Single factor location answers	Market gardening is near the city because the market is close	Chain two factors: proximity plus high rent explains intensive leafy crops.
Calling extensive backward	Extensive farming should be phased out	Where land is abundant and rainfall low, extensive use is the rational input mix.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Secondary Geography chapter index — Other chapters in this subject follow the same order, physical systems before human systems
Redo the calculation — The water cycle chapter also uses area times a rate; both need units settled first
Lesson prep master index — Other subjects use the same draw-the-system then compute frame

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Name the four inputs.	Land, labour, capital and technology	Missing one means reteach Act 1
Which type is labour efficient?	Extensive, 4 days against 25 days per tonne	A wrong answer means reteach Act 2
Two hectares at 8 tonnes per hectare. Total output?	16 tonnes	Failure means reteach the numbers in Act 2

09 Tutor FAQ

Can Hong Kong farmland be the example?

Yes, and it is better. Local vegetable farms combine scarce land, high rent and a nearby market, which is exactly the intensive case, but add that local production is a small share of total supply.

Do students need the English terms?

Yes, three of them: intensive, extensive and market gardening. Other classifications belong to senior secondary and would bury the inputs and outputs thread.

Should technology be taught here?

Only as an input, such as glasshouses, irrigation or machinery. Genetic modification and sustainable farming are senior secondary topics.

Find a tutor — free Tutor Registration →

A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.