Resources

The physical resources of an economy are conventionally termed the factors of production - land, labour and capital. Land includes the free gifts of nature, such as the earth itself, forests and minerals. Labour is the term used to describe the human resources, men and women, who can and do produce goods and services. Capital is the name given to man-made aids to further production, such as tools, machinery and factories.

Unit 1

Land

The quantity of land in existence, from an economic point of view, needs to be seen relative to the quantity of other resources. In contrast to countries such as the USA and Australia, for example, land in the UK is scarce relative to the size of the population. The majority of land (24 million hectares) is, of course, agricultural rather than rural, and 18 million hectares, representing about three-quarters of the total, lies in what we would call rural areas. Not all could be described as good agricultural land. Only about two-thirds of the total is used for tillage crops and grasses, much of the remainder being at or below the margin of cultivation - classified as ‘rough grazing’ and woodland. The remainder is available for houses, factories, other urban uses, such as golf courses.

Nearly three-quarters of land is devoted to cereal production, for both human and livestock consumption. Barley replaced oats as the foremost grain crop around 1960, though the area used for wheat has been greater than that for barley since the mid-1980s. The remaining land is used for rape, fodder crops, horticulture and sugar beet, the principal ‘other’ category being potatoes.

The shortage of good land suitable for arable cultivation makes the livestock population of the country a vital part of its agriculture, for, by and large, livestock can thrive on poorer soils than those used for growing crops like cereals and vegetables. In 1991 there were about 120 million chickens, 30 million sheep, 12 million head of cattle and just fewer than 8 million pigs on farms in the country.

The term land, as used by economists, conventionally include those free gifts of nature commonly called natural resources, such as minerals and other raw materials laying above or below the land itself. Britain is not well endowed with high-grade mineral deposits.

The principal natural resource in Britain at the present time is energy. For a very long time the main source of energy was coal. Discoveries of North Sea gas and oil led to the displacement of coal from its dominant position as supplier of energy consumed in the UK.

Notes*

conventionally termed - умовно названі free gifts of nature - вільні дари природи man-made aid - штучна допомога machinery - механізми, машини, обладнання scarce land - бідна, не родюча земля tillage crop - просапні культури remainder - залишок rough grazing - утримування худоби на пасовищі, на паші cereal production - виробництво зернових	livestock consumption - споживання продукції тваринництва barley - ячмінь rape crops - врожай ріпакових культур fodder crops - корм для худоби (фураж) horticulture - садівництво sugar beet - цукровий буряк arable cultivation - землеробство, орні землі to be endowed with - бути матеріально забезпеченим, бути наділеним чимось high-grade mineral - високосортний мінерал

Talking points*

What’s the principal natural resource in Britain?

What does the term “land” mean as used by economists?

What is the main quantity of land devoted to?

Do they have enough land suitable for arable cultivation in Britain?

Unit 2

Labour

The supply of human resources is referred to by economists as labour - another factor of production. The amount that is available is called the labour force and depends, in the first instance, on the size of the population.

In 1801, when the first census was taken, the total population of Britain was roughly 12 million. Thereafter it grew at an astonishing rate. The population reached 57,5 million by 1991, and is expected to attain 60 million early in the twenty first century.

The population of Britain is by no means evenly spread over the whole country. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have very unequal shares of the total. If the population of each of these countries is related to its size, however, the inequality is even greater, since England has over four-fifths of the people and only just over half the land, whilst Scotland has a third of the land but only about a tenth of the people. Wales has a tenth of the land but only a twentieth of the people and Northern Ireland has a twentieth of the land but a mere 3 per cent of the population.

The reasons for the unequal densities of population are to be found partly in differences in climatic conditions, but the overwhelming causes are economic.

At present something like four-fifths of the entire population live in urban areas and only one-fifth in the country. Even a good many of the latter work in town. The regional distribution of the population is continually changing. Rural depopulation and the growth of cities began with the industrial revolution, but not all urban areas have grown at the same rate. The greatest increases in population were witnessed in the Midlands, South West, East Anglia, South East England, while Scotland, Wales, Northern and North West England experienced relative declines.

These changes are the result of internal migration of workers and their families, attracted by employment opportunities in the areas involved, and natural increases of the populations themselves.

However, only half of the community can be regarded as being available for work in the ordinary sense of the word. The labour force numbers about 28 million, other 30 million are not part of the labour force. Most of them are not counted as part of the working population, because they are not paid a wage for doing so. (These people are pupils under the age of 16, students, housewives, the infirm, convicts, people taking early retirement).

Notes*

labour force - продуктивна сила	internal migration - внутрішня міграція
to be available - бути наявним	a decline, n. - занепад, спад
rate, n. - рівень	infirm, adj. - нестійкий, слабкий
whilst, adv. - в той час як, не дивлячись на те, що	overwhelming causes - переважаючі причини

Talking points*

Is the population of Great Britain evenly spread?

What are the reasons of unequal densities of population of Britain?

What’s the difference between the labour force and the working population?

What’s the explanation for depopulation of the large rural areas and overgrowth of population in rural areas?

What is meant by working population?

Learn something about farming in Great Britain…

Farming in Britain contributed £5.6 billion to the UK economy in 2006. The total area of agricultural land in 2006 was 18.7 million hectares, about 77 per cent of the total land area in the United Kingdom (excluding inland water).

Farming in Britain has changed a great deal in the last 30 years. Farming used to employ a great many people in Britain but nowadays, with machinery, a few people can run a huge farm of thousands of hectares. Agriculture provides around 60 per cent of Britain's food needs even though it employs just 1.4 per cent of the country's labour force. Britain's agriculture is under pressure to change at the moment. Farmers are under pressure to adopt more environmentally friendly methods such as organic farming. Organic farming does not use artificial chemicals that can damage the environment and human health. Its popularity has grown rapidly in recent years. Agriculture Products: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish.

There are many types of farming in Britain:

•arable (growing of crops and cereals)

The UK is the fourth largest producer of cereal and oilseed crops in the EU (after France, Germany) accounting for about 8% of total EU production.

•pastoral (rearing and production of animals including pigs, chickens, hill farming sheep, beef and dairy cattle)

•mixed farming (combination of arable and pastoral)

•horticulture (production of flowers, fruit, vegetables or ornamental plants)

•market gardening (production of fruit and vegetables) and viticulture.

Unit 3

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