Academic/General Training Module by Adam Smith First Published in 2015

List of Headings  
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The probable effects of the new international trade 
agreement
The environmental impact of modern farming
Farming and soil erosion
The effects of government policy in rich countries
Governments and management of the environment
The effects of government policy in poor countries
Farming and food output
The effects of government policy on food output
The new prospects for world trade
 
1 Section A  
2 Section B  
3 Section C  
4 Section D  
Example 
  Section E vi 
5 Section F 
Section A  
The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable. 
Sometimes, the state tries to manage the resources it owns, and does so badly. Often, 
however, governments act in an even more harmful way. They actually subsidise the 
exploitation and consumption of natural resources. A whole range of policies, from farm-
price support to protection for coal-mining, do environmental damage and (often) make 
no economic sense. Scrapping them offers a two-fold bonus: a cleaner environment and a 
more efficient economy. Growth and environmentalism can actually go hand in hand, if 
politicians have the courage to confront the vested interest that subsidies create.
 
 
 

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 IELTS
 JOURNAL 
 
62 
Section B  
No activity affects more of the earth's surface than farming. It shapes a third of the 
planet's land area, not counting Antarctica, and the proportion is rising. World food 
output per head has risen by 4 per cent between the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result 
of increases in yields from land already in cultivation, but also because more land has 
been brought under the plough. Higher yields have been achieved by increased irrigation, 
better crop breeding, and a doubling in the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in the 
1970s and 1980s.