Farmerama Transcript

Larry: Is that camera rolling, Bing?

Bing: Light’s on, Larry.

Bing: (he hums a fanfare and announces:- ) Farmerama…Farmerama…Bing and Larry’s Guide to Farms of the Future… future…future (he adds echoes for effect) L: (he clears his throat) Hello there. Have you ever thought about where our food comes from?

Bing: It doesn’t just appear out of thin air?

Larry: Most of our food comes from Australian farms.

Bing: This is the farm I drew. It has crops, a cow and a dirtbike track.

Larry: Farms don’t have dirtbike tracks.

Bing: Mine does. Check it out. Brmmm.

Larry: … without farms, we wouldn’t have food on our plates at dinnertime…

Bing: … we wouldn’t even have some of our clothes. That’s how important farms are.

Monster kid: Hey, where are all my…what are you doing!?

Larry: Do you know much about farms?

Bing: Errrr….

Larry: We asked this person about what it was like living on a farm.

Cow: I like working on a farm. It’s nice and farming can be fun …but if you’re a farmer, there’s a lot to think about and I couldn’t do it cause I have lots to think about already. (thinks) … It’s nice on the farm.

Larry: What else do we know about farms?

Bing: My great-great-great-grandparents were farmers. They had sheep and chickens and a dirtbike track.

Larry: You could have seen farms on TV shows or movies or in country music songs…

Bing: They make farming seem easy.

Larry: But it’s not really like that at all. Farmers are turning challenges into changes.

Bing: Change!

Larry: Farmers have started to really think differently.

Bing: It’s not like our farmers are going to start shearing herds of poodles or growing bubblegum trees…although that sounds like a good idea.

Larry: The changes are more about meeting new challenges and improving the way they do things!

Bing: They’re totally changing into the farms of the future.

Larry: One new idea is using technology like GPS.

Bing: Good… Pudding… Socks?

Larry: …it’s a satellite… that tells the farmer where stuff is.

Bing: GPS can control machines, and put seed and fertilizer exactly where it’s needed.

Bing: Victoria is getting more of this stuff.

Larry: Pretty soon it’ll be accurate to 2cm.

Bing: …and will help our farms use less fuel and fertiliser and to produce more food.

Larry: Farmers are also coming up with new products and finding new places to sell stuff.

Bing: They’re sending what they produce to countries where that food can’t be grown

Larry: … or they have no space to grow it…

Bing: … or can’t grow enough to keep up with the need.

Larry: Scientists are inventing new crops that don’t care if it doesn’t rain for ages.

Bing: Crops that don’t mind the cold.

Larry: And crops that even grow well in salty conditions.

Bing: But the farmers aren’t done there.

Larry: They’re creating designer sheep

Bing: With more of the best bits

Larry: When plants and animals are sick, there will be faster and better testing, so we can control the disease.

Bing: And they’re improving how cows and sheep work on farms – like changing their diets so they give more milk ….and less greenhouse gases.

Cow: Pardon me!

Larry: You know how some farmers use pitchforks and some use tractors, well lots are now using computers to work out the best way to farm.

Bing: These sorts of changes mean farmers are keeping up-to-date with the latest ways to get the most from their farms.

Larry: So that’s what’s changing on our farms. It sounds a bit weird at first but it’s all cool.

Bing: I wanna go back to the farm. Farm talk makes me hungry.

Larry: And that’s the end of our show. Tune in next week when we take a look at Bing’s special collection of mouldy cheese –Yeeech!

Bing: Hey!