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Part 3 Agriculture

This document defines and describes different types of agriculture. It explains that agriculture includes the cultivation of plants, animals, and fungi for food and other products to sustain human life. The types of agriculture used depends on climate, culture, technology, and economics. Agriculture can be classified based on whether it is subsistence or commercial, arable or pastoral, and extensive or intensive. Subsistence farming focuses on meeting family needs while commercial farming focuses on selling surplus for cash. Arable farming produces plants and pastoral farming produces animals or animal products. Extensive farming uses more land for lower yields while intensive farming uses less land for higher yields.

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Simon Drury
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186 views5 pages

Part 3 Agriculture

This document defines and describes different types of agriculture. It explains that agriculture includes the cultivation of plants, animals, and fungi for food and other products to sustain human life. The types of agriculture used depends on climate, culture, technology, and economics. Agriculture can be classified based on whether it is subsistence or commercial, arable or pastoral, and extensive or intensive. Subsistence farming focuses on meeting family needs while commercial farming focuses on selling surplus for cash. Arable farming produces plants and pastoral farming produces animals or animal products. Extensive farming uses more land for lower yields while intensive farming uses less land for higher yields.

Uploaded by

Simon Drury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PART 3: AGRICULTURE

While there is no one definition, agriculture is typically defined as 'the


cultivation of animals, plants and fungi for food and other products used to
sustain human life'. It is relatively easy to identify the food items, but the
'other products' can include growing timber in a plantation for house building
or fuel, growing plants to produce medicines, breeding fish for fish oils or
growing roses to produce table decorations in up-market restaurants.
Agriculture therefore has a much wider meaning than you might realise, and it
does not even need to use soil. The type of agriculture used in different parts
of the world depends on a number of factors, including:
• climate
• culture
• technology
• economics.

Types of agriculture
With such a range of different products, grown in different ways, it is useful to
group types of agriculture together using various classifications.
Subsistence versus commercial

Subsistence farming is the


cultivation and production of
food to meet the needs of the
farmers and their families.
There is very little surplus food;
if there is any surplus it is often
exchanged (bartered) for other
things the family needs, and
perhaps a small amount of
Table 1 A subsistence farm in India cash.
Subsistence farmers aim to grow almost everything they need. Commercial
farming is the cultivation of products with the main focus of selling them for
cash. While some of the food may be used by the farmers (and their families),
this is only a very small proportion compared with the amount that is sold.
Commercial farms often use technology to increase yields and reduce the costs
of production. Commercial farmers aim to grow crops to obtain money to buy
the things they need.

Table 2 Commercial farms often use modern technology to increase yields.

While it is possible for both farming systems to provide a farmer with money, it
is the proportion of food that is used for each purpose that is important.
Arable versus pastoral
Another way of describing the type of farming is by the type of product.
Arable farming is the production of plants for
consumption by humans. Examples include
growing rice, maize, wheat and soybeans. The
scale of production (size and number of fields)
can vary greatly and there are examples of
subsistence arable farmers and commercial
arable farmers.
Pastoral farming is the production of animals
or animal-related products. This may also be
known as livestock farming or grazing. Plants
such as grass or grain may be grown on the
farm but they will be used to feed the animals.
Pastoral farms can produce meat or other
Table 3 Wheat
animal by-products, such as milk, wool or eggs.

Table 4 Cattle ranching is a form of pastoral agriculture.

A third type of farming exists: farms that grow crops for food and rear animals.
This is commonly referred to as mixed farming.
Extensive versus intensive
Farm production can also be described by evaluating the relative yield
compared with the size of space used.
Extensive production occurs when there is a relatively small amount of
production (either crops or animals) from a large area of land.
Intensive production occurs
where large amounts are
produced from small areas
of land. This style of
production tends to have
high 'inputs', such as a lot of
labour, fertilisers or
Table 5 Cattle ranching requires large amounts of land for grazing and is machinery.
therefore extensive.
Intensive production is often considered to be very efficient, so why do we not
see it used more widely? The answer to this question is quite complex. While
yields are high, so are the costs involved, which can be a barrier for many
farmers. Similarly, some people choose to ignore intensive production on
ethical or environmental grounds: it can have an increased impact on the local
ecosystem and, in the case of livestock, there are welfare issues associated
with keeping animals in small confined spaces.
These descriptions can be
combined, for example you
can have an intensive,
commercial, arable farm, or
an extensive, subsistence,
pastoral farm.

Table 6 Intensive farming


SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
Place the letter for each of the following farms/ production types into a copy of
Table 1:
a. An intensive banana plantation in the Caribbean
b. Battery (caged) hens used to produce eggs
c. Rice production by a farmer on a small scale in Asia using hillside terraces
d. Tree plantations grown for the timber industry
e. Nomadic farmers keeping sheep or goats
f. A small family farm in North America growing a range of vegetables and
keeping chickens, trying to be self-sufficient.
SUBSISTENCE COMMERCIAL
ARABLE
PASTORAL
MIXED
Table 7

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