Hydroponics & Aeroponics

Hey all!

I found this amazing farm, located all the way in the Middle East! They grow fruits and vegetables, and delivery straight to their customers' doorsteps! I doubt they do delivery to Singapore though. ;-)

Please follow this link and check out the amazing photographs.

Sec 2 WB 4.3 Answer

Express
Qn 1(a)
Wet Rice Cultivation
Qn 1(b)
Land: Flat land with clayey soil
Capital: Money to pay for inputs such as seeds or tools
Labour: Farmers, animals (e.g. water buffaloes)
Qn 1(c)
1. B/ The padi fields are first ploughed with the help of animals. The fields are then flooded with water channelled from rivers or obtained from direct rainfall.
2. A/ Padi seeds are scattered onto the nursery where they sprout into seedlings.
3. D/ After 3 to 4 weeks, seedlings are transplanted into flooded fields. The fields are regularly weeded and fertilisers are added.
4. C/ After 3 to 4 months, the fields are drained and the padi harvested by hand using sickles.

Qn 2
Traditional Wet Rice Cultivation - F and G
Photographs F and G show a number of workers working on the fields. This suggests that the farms use low capital and high labour inputs which are characteristics of traditional wet rice cultivation.

Commercial Wet Rice Cultivation - E and H
Photographs E and H show the use of machinery (e.g. tractors and harvesters) which suggests that a large amount of capital is used on the farm to buy machines. The level of technology used is high. This is a characteristics of commercial rice cultivation.

Qn 3(a)
The climograph shows that the country has a hot and wet climate. This is idel for wet rice cultivation because rice seeds require high temperatures to grow. The high rainfall also provides abundant water to flood the fields as wet rice needs a lot of water to grow.

Qn 3(b)
Indonesia, China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam (any 3)

Normal (Academic)
Qn 1(a)
Wet Rice Cultivation
Qn 1(b)
Land: Flat land with clayey soil
Capital: Money to pay for inputs such as seeds or tools
Labour: Farmers, animals (e.g. water buffaloes)
Qn 1(c)
2. A/ Padi seeds are scattered onto the nursery where they sprout into seedlings.
3. D/ After 3 to 4 weeks, seedlings are transplanted into flooded fields. The fields are regularly weeded and fertilisers are added.
4. C/ After 3 to 4 months, the fields are drained and the padi harvested by hand using sickles.

Qn 2
In photograph E, we can see that machinery such as combine harvesters are used for harvesting today.
In photograph F, pesticides are used to help farmers produce high quality rice.
In photograph G, canals are built to carry water from water sources such as rivers to the fields.

Of Eggs and Roosters!

As we study about high-technology farms and chicken egg farm, I suppose some of us will be wondering... How on earth do chickens lay eggs so often?! And (horrors!) does it mean chickens need to mate everyday?
Well here are some facts.

1. Chickens will start laying eggs when they are about 20 weeks old.
2. A healthy chicken will lay an egg about every 24 hours.
3. Chickens lay eggs in response to daylight. They need sunlight to stimulate a gland in their eye to lay more eggs.
4. Chickens do not need to mate with a rooster in order to lay eggs. It just means the eggs will never be fertilised and hatched into a chick. In fact, egg-laying farm chickens might never have seen a rooster in their life!
5. The older the chicken, the larger the egg.

There... Bet your parents never knew about some of these facts!

Underground Farms... Impossible?

I am so excited about this! Imagine growing vegetables and flowers underground; right at the basement of high-rise office buildings, in the middle of overcrowded cities!
Of course, we'll have to look into issues of power consumption and economic-viability. In the mean time, feast on this - Pasona O2!

[Official Japanese website: Pasona O2 If any of you are able to read Japanese please come and see me. I'll pay you to do some translation work! Haha...]

[Note to self: Must convince husband to visit this fantastic farm!]

Quiz Me

Here's a wonderful website to help you revise your knowledge of Oceans and Continents. Good for the Secondary 3 students too! Pass the word around.

Quiz

Maps of Yesteryears.

Keep your street directories!

Take a look at what this man found - Singapore's street directories from long ago, before you were even born! As you already know, street directory is a collection of maps. So, if you're able to get hold of a really old street directory, you'll be able to have a pretty good idea how Singapore was like in the past. It's really like traveling back in time!

I don't know about you, but I'll definitely love to find out how Bt. Panjang was like 50 years ago! Will I find HDB estates? Vegetable farms?