Picture Gallery
Planting seeds - or "drilling" as it is known in farming circles - is dusty work in late summer. Most cereal seeds are drilled before the winter, though some are also planted in the spring.
Farming shapes the way the British countryside looks. Hedgerows and trees make for an attractive landscape.
Cattle are raised on a combination of grass and cereal-based rations to provide a wide range of beef products - including steak, mince and burgers. Their skins are also used for leather production to make shoes, jackets and furniture.
Fields of wheat and barley are harvested every summer by combine harvesters. The grain is used for making a range of products, including bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals, beer, whiskey and animal feed.
Sugar beet is an important crop in the east of the country. It is harvested in the autumn and then processed at a sugar factory, where it is turned into the white stuff we put on our cereal or in our tea and coffee.
Metal ploughs are used to turn the earth, necessary to create a suitable soil structure for planting crops. Farmers also compete in special competitions (ploughing matches) to see who is best at this skilled task.
Dairy cows are milked in a parlour twice a day. Much of their milk goes for drinking, though lots is also used to make butter, cream, yoghurts, pro-biotic drinks and a wide range of cheeses. The average dairy cow makes enough milk to fill 26,000 cans of drink a year.
There are 35 million sheep in the UK - more than the entire population of Canada. Adult sheep are clipped every year to provide wool, while their lambs are killed for meat at about six months of age. Some sheep are also milked to produce speciality sheep's cheese.
Chickens are kept for eggs and meat. In the UK we eat over 10bn eggs a year, or 20m every day. Some are kept in battery cages, some in open barns and some are free range, where the chickens can wander outside.
Pigs are distant relatives of the hippopotamus. They have no sweat glands so roll in the mud to keep cool. Some are reared outdoors and some indoors. Their meat is used for bacon, pork chops and sausages.