Barley can tolerate a greater range of climate conditions than any other cereal crop. It was first grown thousands of years ago in the temperate regions of the Middle East and is now an important crop in northern Europe. Malt obtained from the germinated grains is used in brewing beer and making whisky.

A Cornish onion grower with some of his produce. Onions are sensitive to the number of daylight hours during the growing season. By this measure they can be separated into three kinds: long-day, mid-day, and short-day. The amount of daylight they receive during the British summer favours the growing of long-day onions.

Over four thousand years ago, the invention of the plough marked a huge advance in human civilization. Though the principle of ploughing has remained unchanged, the history of the plough has been one of increasing technological sophistication. Even in the past thirty years, the advent of reversible ploughing and far more powerful four-wheel-drive tractors have greatly improved efficiency.

The first combine harvester designed for European conditions was developed by the German firm CLAAS in the 1930s. In 1953, the same firm began producing the first self-propelled harvester. The combine harvester is so-called because it is both a grain-harvesting machine and a threshing machine. The same machine cuts, threshes, and cleans the grain in one operation.

Farming in Turkey. One quarter of the land area in Turkey is used for the cultivation of crops, 80% of which are grains. Maize is the chief grain crop, grown primarily for cattle feed. Most farms in Turkey are small landholdings of less than 11 ha/25 acres.