Farming Types

1
Farming Types
2
Distribution

• The factors mentioned in the previous section all
  contribute to the pattern of farming seen in both
  the UK and the world.
• The map below shows the very general pattern of
  farm types from around the world.
• The examples used in this section relate to
  farming types found in many world areas shown on
  the map.

3
Commercial Farming

• Involves farming for a profit. The farmer is
  growing crops or rearing animals to sell for as
  much money as possible.
• These farms can be arable (just growing crops),
  pastoral (just rearing animals) or mixed (both
  arable and pastoral).
• Increasingly farms are becoming more mixed
• due to the impact of farming subsidies and
  regulations.
• Most of the farming in MEDC's is commercial
  farming of one type or another.
• The arable farms of East Anglia are a good
  example of commercial farming, as are the cereal
  farms of the central United States and the
  Canadian Prairies.

4
Intensive Farming

• Generally take up a fairly small area of land,
  but aim to have a very high output, through
  massive inputs of capital and labour.
• These farms use machines and new technologies to
  become as efficient and cost-effective as
  possible.
• Intensive agriculture can be seen in many places
  around the world, such as the Canterbury Plains
  of New Zealand, pig farming in Denmark and rice
  cultivation in the countries of South East Asia.
• All use technology appropriate to their country
  to enable them to get the highest yields from
  their land.

5
Extensive Farming

• This is the direct opposite of intensive farming.
  
• The farms are large in comparison to the money
  injected into them or the labour used.
• The cattle ranches of central Australia area good
  example of extensive agriculture, where often
  only a few farm workers are responsible for
  thousands of acres of farmland.
• Another example of extensive farming can be seen
  in the massive cattle ranches of Brazil.
• These involve clearing vast areas of rainforest
  (the trees are often burnt rather than chopped
  down and sold) to make way for the cattle ranch.
• The cattle quickly eat the remaining vegetation
  and begin to cause massive problems of soil
  erosion.

6
Subsistence Farming

• Only produce enough to feed themselves and their
  family, without having any more to sell for
  profit.
• This is the most common form of farming in
  LEDC's.
• Some of them are nomadic, meaning that they move
  around the country using a piece of land for a
  while and then moving on.
• This type of subsistence farming is also called
  shifting cultivation.
• The traditional tribes of the Amazon rainforest
  use system of shifting cultivation.
• They chop down a clearing in the trees and use it
  for a few years before moving on and allowing the
  soil and vegetation to recover.
• For thousands of years this form of agriculture
  has allowed the people to live, without the
  rainforest being unduly damaged.

7
Types Of Farming
Intensive Extensive
Commercial Pig farming in Denmark. Cereal farming on the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand. East Anglian cereal farming and market gardening. Market gardening in the Netherlands. Cereal farming on the Canadian Prairies and central United States. Ranches in central Australia, the Brazilian rainforest and the South American Pampas.
Subsistence Rice cultivation in South-East Asia, especially the Ganges valley. Terraced padi fields of Indonesia. Shifting cultivation in the Amazon rainforest. Nomadic pasturalism in central Africa.