CL4 Listening Exam 3 – Level B2 January 2008
Prof. Peter Cullen
Text
Listen to the following text about organic and Fair-trade food.
(from the Economist: Dec. 9th, 2006)
If you think you can make the planet better by clever shopping, think again. You might make it worse.
The idea that shopping is the new politics is certainly seductive. If you are worried about the
environment, you might buy organic food. If you want to help poor farmers, you can support them by
purchasing Fair-trade products. You can express your dislike of evil multinational companies and
rampant globalisation by purchasing only local fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. The best part is that
shopping, unlike voting for politicians, is fun – so you can do good and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Sadly, it’s not that easy. Transforming the planet requires less enjoyable disciplines, like politics.
Organic food, which is food grown without man-made pesticides and fertilisers, is assumed to be more
environmentally friendly than conventional intensive farming, which relies heavily on chemicals. It all
depends, however, on what you mean by the term “environmentally friendly”. Agriculture is inherently
bad for the environment. Since humans began agricultural production 11,000 years ago, the result has
been deforestation on a massive scale. At present, agriculture accounts for approximately 14% of
greenhouse gas emissions, while deforestation accounts for a further 18.2%. Inefficient agricultural
production, therefore, accounts for a significant part of global warming.
Since the 1960’s, however, greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain production, but
resulted in very little increase in the area of land under cultivation. Organic methods, which rely on
crop rotation, and animal and vegetable based fertiliser, are much less intensive. Producing the world’s
current agricultural output by organic farming methods would require much more land than is currently
cultivated. There wouldn’t be much room for the rain forest.
Fair-trade food, as well, is designed to raise poor farmer’s incomes. It is sold at a higher price
than ordinary food, with a subsidy returned to the farmer. Fair-trade coffee is an example of this type
of commodity production. But the prices of agricultural commodities are low because of
overproduction. By guaranteeing a subsidy, therefore, the Fair-trade system encourages farmers to
produce more of certain types of commodities rather than diversifying into other types. This, overproduction lowers the overall price, and results in lower returns to the farmer – exactly the opposite of
the result intended.
Consumption of locally produced food should help minimise the amount of costly and
polluting transport used to get the food from the producer to the market. A study of Britain’s food
distribution system, however, found that nearly half the food-vehicle-miles (that is – the number of
miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) resulted from people driving from their homes to the
supermarket. Most people live closer to a supermarket than to a farmer’s market, so it appears that the
large-scale transportation of food used by supermarket retailers is the most efficient means of transport.
The best thing about the ethical or “slow” food movement is that it sends a message of great
frustration with governments that are not doing enough to preserve the environment. This suggests
that if politicians put the environment on the political agenda, people might vote for them. So if you
really want to make a difference to the environment, don’t forget to vote.
1
Listening Exam 3 – Level B2
Prof. Peter Cullen
January 2008
___________________________________________
Name, Date, and Registration Number
Questions: Answer only 5 of the following questions. ANSWER ONLY 5!!! NOT 6!!!
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE COMPLETE SENTENCES!!!!!
1. What is meant by the terms “organic food”, “Fair-trade food”, and “local food”?
2. What effect has agriculture had on the environment since humans began farming 11,000 years
ago?
3. What are the advantages of chemical fertilisers?
4. How might the Fair-trade system hurt agricultural producers?
5. What did the study of Britain’s food distribution system discover about the environmental
impact of “local food” consumption?
6. What positive effect can the “ethical” or “slow” food movement have?
2
Listening Exam 3 – Level B2
Prof. Peter Cullen
January 2008
Answer Sheet
1. What is meant by the terms “organic food”, “Fair-trade”, and “local food”?
Organic food is food grown without man-made pesticides and fertilisers.
Fair-trade food is food sold at a higher price, with a subsidy returned to the farmer.
Local food is food purchased and consumed close to the area of production.
2. What effect has agriculture had on the environment since humans began farming 11,000 years
ago?
Since humans began agricultural production 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation on a
massive scale. At present, agriculture accounts for approximately 14% of greenhouse gas
emissions, while deforestation accounts for a further 18.2%. Inefficient agricultural production,
therefore, accounts for a significant part of global warming.
3. What are the advantages of chemical fertilisers?
Since the 1960’s, greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain production, but resulted in very
little increase in the area of land under cultivation..
4. How might the Fair-trade system hurt agricultural producers?
By guaranteeing a subsidy, the Fair-trade system encourages farmers to produce more of certain
types of commodities rather than diversifying into other types. This, over-production lowers the
overall price, and results in lower returns to the farmer – exactly the opposite of the result intended.
5. What did the study of Britain’s food distribution system discover about the environmental
impact of “local food” consumption?
The study of Britain’s food distribution system found that nearly half the food-vehicle-miles (that is
– the number of miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) resulted from people driving from their
homes to the supermarket. Most people live closer to a supermarket than to a farmer’s market, so
it appears that the large-scale transportation of food used by supermarket retailers is the most
efficient means of transport.
6. What positive effect can the “ethical” or “slow” food movement have?
The best thing about the ethical or “slow” food movement is that it sends a message of great
frustration with governments that are not doing enough to preserve the environment. This
suggests that if politicians put the environment on the political agenda, people might vote for them.
3