National Farmers' Union Children's Knowledge of Food and Farming

Technical details

Q1 Thinking about cows and milking, how often do you think most cows are milked?

 

  1997 1999 Diff 99-97
  % % %
More than three times a day 8 6 -2
Three times a day 11 11 0
Twice a day 32 31 -1
Once a day 25 24 -1
Once every 2-6 days 7 7 0
Once a week 8 8 0
Less than once a week 2 6 +4
Don't know 7 7 0
More than twice a day 19 17 -2
Once a day or less 42 46 +4

Q2 Which of these foods do you think come from cows' milk and which do not?

  Do Do Not Don't know/not sure
  1997 1999 1997 1999 1997 1999
  % % % % % %
Butter 85 84 9 9 6 6
Cheese 80 80 13 12 8 8
Cream 88 84 7 10 5 6
Lard 19 18 56 61 25 21
Margarine 48 46 36 38 16 16
Yoghurt 68 67 19 24 12 9

Q3 Which of these foods do you think are grown in Britain and which are not?

 
Are Grown
Are Not Grown
Don't know/not sure
  1997 1999 1997 1999 1997 1999
  % % % % % %
Cherries 55 54 29 32 16 14
Oranges 33 31 58 57 9 11
Peas 81 74 11 14 8 12
Spinach 43 41 35 38 22 21
Sugar beet 27 24 42 49 31 27
Tomatoes 87 87 8 8 5 5

Q4 Which one of these do you think is the main ingredient in bread?

  1997 1999 Diff 97-99
  % %  
Wheat 76 76 0
Barley 6 4 -2
Flour 6 5 -1
Rice 4 3 -1
Potato 1 2 +1
Yeast 1 1 0
Other 1 * *
Don't know /None of these 6 9 +3

Q5 On average, how many eggs do you think a hen lays a week?

  1997 1999 Diff 99-97
  % %  
One 2 1 -1
Two 2 3 +1
Three 2 4 +2
Four 4 4 0
Five 10 9 -1
Six 7 8 +1
Seven 8 9 +1
Eight 1 1 0
Nine 2 1 -1
Ten 12 10 -2
11-15 13 10 -3
16-20 10 10 0
21-30 8 10 +2
31-40 5 3 -2
Over 40 7 9 +2
Don't know 6 9 +3
Mean 16 17 +1
Less than Five 10 13 +3
Five or six 17 16 -1
More than six 67 62 -5

Q6 Which animal do you think we get 'ham' from?

  1997 1999 Diff 99-97
  % %  
Pigs 87 81 -6
Cows 5 6 +1
Sheep/Lamb 1 * *
Chicken * 1 *
Turkey - * -
Other * * 0
Don't know/None of these 6 12 +6

Q7 I am now going to read out a list of vegetables - and I would like you to tell me during which months of the year you think they are typically harvested in Britain?  You can choose as many categories on this card as you think are appropriate. It does not matter if you are not sure or if you get it wrong - this is not a test!

  Jan to Feb Mar to Apr May to June Jul to Aug Sept to Oct Nov to Dec Don't know May to August All Year
  % % % % % % % % %
Apples 7 17 28 35 19 3 16 n/a n/a
Broccoli 9 21 18 17 20 7 28 6 n/a
Cabbage 15 18 22 24 16 10 20 n/a 2
New potatoes 14 20 25 22 17 8 22 n/a n/a
Peas 10 19 27 29 17 9 22 n/a n/a

Technical details

356 Interviews conducted with children aged 8-11 in England and Wales Fieldwork conducted 2 April - 3 May, 1999 Data weighted All questions are based on the total sample An asterisk (*) indicates a percentage less than 0.5% Correct answers are underlined In 1997 485 interviews were conducted with 8-11 year olds between 20-30 March

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