Economic Activity: factors affecting location.
Agriculture
What is the farming system?
Farming is an example of a primary industry. Like a factory, a farm can be seen as a system with a series of inputs, processes and outputs.
Inputs can be divided into human and physical factors. Human inputs include labour, capital (money), machinery, seeds, fertiliser and young stock. Physical inputs include climate and weather, soil, relief (shape of the land) and slope.
Processes are the things that go on within the farm. This includes harvesting, ploughing, rearing animals and milking.
How can farms be classified?
Farming systems are determined by the type of farm. Farms can be classified as being arable, pastoral, mixed and market gardening.
Arable farms grow crops. Pastoral farms specialise in rearing animals. Mixed farms are both pastoral and arable.
Farms that have a high level of inputs are intensive. These achieve a high yield per hectare. An example would be arable farming in East Anglia or rice farming in South East Asia.
Those farms that have low input ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Processes are the things that go on within the farm. This includes harvesting, ploughing, rearing animals and milking.
How can farms be classified?
Farming systems are determined by the type of farm. Farms can be classified as being arable, pastoral, mixed and market gardening.
Arable farms grow crops. Pastoral farms specialise in rearing animals. Mixed farms are both pastoral and arable.
Farms that have a high level of inputs are intensive. These achieve a high yield per hectare. An example would be arable farming in East Anglia or rice farming in South East Asia.
Those farms that have low input and output per hectare are extensive. An example would be a sheep farm in North Wales or a cattle ranch in Brazil.
Farms can also be classified by what happens to their outputs. On subsistence farms the produce is consumed by the farmer. Any surplus is usually sold to buy other goods. Farms that sell the majority of their produce are known as commercial farms.
Examples of farm types:
Secondary Industry
Hi-Tech Industry
Secondary Industry
Steel Industry
Why is there a modern coastal steel works at Redcar-Lackenby?
The initial advantage of this area was the availability of raw materials such as coal (Durham Coalfield), Lime stone (North Yorkshire and Durham) and Iron Ore (Cleveland Hills) for the early iron and steel industry.
Nowadays the main heavy industry in this area is steel manufacturing. In 1976 one of the four remaining integrated iron and steel works in The UK was constructed at Red-Car Lackenby on the River Tees. The steel works is located at the mouth of the River Tees. Can you find it on the map below? (Move your mouse over its location)
There are a number of reasons for this location:
1. There are large areas of flat, reclaimed land near the mouth of the river.
2. The River Tees is a deep water port. This is essential for importing raw materials (coals, iron ore and Limestone) from cheaper markets in Europe and exporting steel around the world.
3. The river provides water necessary in the manufacturing process
4. The estuary is downwind from the main urban areas on Teeside. Therefore air pollution disperses over the North See
4. Skilled labour force
Shopping Hierarchy
What is a shopping hierarchy?
Shops can be placed into a hierarchy based on the services they provide. At the bottom of the hierarchy are small shops selling low order, convenience goods (e.g. bread and milk). At the top are the shops selling high order goods (e.g. furniture and electrical goods).
What was the British shopping hierarchy of the 1960's and 1970's?
The shopping hierarchy for Britain in the 1960s/70s. At the bottom are corner shops. These sell low order goods. They are greater in number than any other shopping area. Above the corner shops are suburban parades and secondary centres. These sell middle order goods. This is usually a mixture of convenience and specialist goods. There are usually several of these areas within a large settlement. At the top is the CBD (central business district - town/city centre). There is usually only one CBD in a town or city. The CBD contains shops which sell comparison goods (shops containing goods which you will compare the prices of - due to their expense!), luxury and specialist shops.
What is today's British shopping hierarchy?
The CBD is no longer at the top of the shopping hierarchy It has been superseded by regional shopping centres (e.g. Meadowhall, The Metro Centre and Merryhill). Due to increased mobility (the result of increased car ownership) people can travel further to shops, visit shops with a wider range and volume of stock and buy in bulk.
There have also been other, less obvious, changes in the settlement hierarchy For example the number of corner shops have reduced. This is the result of greater mobility, the limited and often expensive range of goods available and due to more people being paid monthly they buy in bulk from supermarkets.
In some areas CBDs have declined due to competition with regional shopping centres. Dudley is an examples of this. The construction of the Merryhill Shopping Centre has caused huge problems in Dudley the local CBD. Many shops have closed or moved to the shopping centre
Factors effecting the location of industry
Flat land with good stable soil
Good power supply e.g. near power station
A market near by where the goods can be sold
Government policies (grants and incentives)
Technology available in the area
Local facilities
Transport links
Labour (workers living near by)
Raw materials
Natural route for transport
