A
farm is an area of land, including various
structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and
managing food (
produce,
grains, or
livestock),
fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility
in
food production. Farms may be owned
and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation
or a company. A farm can be a holding of any size from a fraction
of a
hectare to several thousand
hectares.
Types of farms
A business producing tree fruits or nuts is called
orchard; a
vineyard produces grapes. The
stable is used for operations principally
involved in the training of horses. Stud and commercial farms breed
and produce other animals and livestock. A farm that is primarily
used for the production of milk and dairy is a
dairy farm. A
market garden or
truck farm is a
farm that grows vegetables, but little or no grain. Additional
specialty farms include
fish farms,
which raise fish in captivity as a food source, and tree farms,
which grow trees for sale for transplant, lumber, or decorative
use. A
plantation is usually a large farm
or estate, on which
cotton,
tobacco,
coffee or sugar cane,
are cultivated, usually by resident laborers.
Farm produce on display at an
agricultural show, NSW.
Etymology
The word came via French
ferme from
Late Latin firma = "fixed payment" from
Latin firmus = "firm, solid", and
originally referred to a big
landowner
farming out his land among
other men to run it, rather than running it all himself. As times
have changed fewer people are needed to assist in running the farm
because of the increase of mechanization.
Farming
The term
farming covers a wide spectrum of
agricultural production work. At one end of this spectrum is the
subsistence farmer, who
farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only
enough
food to meet the needs of his/her
family. At the other end is commercial
intensive agriculture, including
industrial agriculture. Such
farming involves large fields and/or numbers of animals, large
resource inputs (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.), and a high level
of
mechanization. These
operations generally attempt to maximize financial income from
grain,
produce, or
livestock.
Traditionally, the goal of farming was to work collectively as a
community to grow and harvest crops that could be grown in mass
such as wheat, corn, squash, and other cash crops. Centuries later
these same farmers took charge of livestock, and began growing food
exclusively for the feeding of livestock as well as for the
community. With the growth of actual civilization the farmer's
focus changed from basic survival to that of financial gain. In
smaller towns on the outset of civilization the farmer did retain
the need to grow their own food, but the financially minded farmer
was largely spreading. With the Renaissance came the plantation, a
"Farm" primarily worked by others primarily for the gain of the
plantation's owner. Then came a new age of industry where the farm
could be manned by fewer men and big machines. This meant a
complete revolution for farming which will be discussed
below.
Types of farming
Specialized farms
Dairy farms
A milking machine in action
Dairy farming is a class of
agriculture, where female
cattle,
goats, or other
mammals are raised for their
milk, which may be either processed on-site or
transported to a
dairy for processing and
eventual retail sale.
In most
Western countries, a
centralized
dairy facility processes milk and
dairy products, such as
cream,
butter, and
cheese.
In the
United
States
, these dairies are usually local companies, while
in the southern
hemisphere
facilities may be run by very large nationwide or
trans-national corporations (such as Fonterra).
Dairy farms generally sell the male calves borne by their mothers
for
veal meat, as dairy
breeds are not normally satisfactory for commercial
beef production. Many dairy farms also grow their own
feed, typically including
corn,
alfalfa, and
hay. This is fed
directly to the cows, or stored as
silage for
use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are
added to the feed to improve milk production.
Poultry farms
Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens, turkeys, ducks, and
other fowl, generally for meat or eggs.
Ownership
Farm control and ownership has traditionally been a key indicator
of status and power, especially in
agrarian societies. The
distribution of farm ownership has
historically been closely linked to
form of government. Medieval
feudalism was essentially a system that
centralized control of farmland, control of farm labor and
political power, while the early American
democracy, in which land ownership was a
prerequisite for voting rights, was built on relatively easy paths
to individual farm ownership. However, the gradual
modernization and
mechanization of farming, which greatly
increases both the efficiency and capital requirements of farming,
has led to increasingly large farms owned by individuals or
corporations. This has usually been accompanied by the decoupling
of political power from farm ownership.
Forms of ownership
In some societies (especially socialist and communist),
collective farming is the norm, with
either government ownership of the land or common ownership by a
local group. Especially in societies without widespread
industrialized farming,
tenant
farming and
sharecropping are
common; farmers either pay landowners for the right to use farmland
or give up a portion of the crops.
History
The
practice of agriculture first began around 8000 BC in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia (part of present day Iraq
, Turkey
, Syria
and Jordan
which was
then greener).
The development of
farming and farms was an
important component in establishing
towns. Once
people have moved from hunting and/or gathering and from simple
horticulture to active farming, social arrangements of roads,
distribution, collection, and marketing can evolve. With the
exception of
plantations and colonial
farms, farm sizes tend to be small in newly-settled lands and
expand as transportation and markets become sophisticated.
Farms around the world
British Isles and Europe
In the UK,
farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes
the area of
pasture and other
fields together with its farmhouse,
farmyard and outbuildings. Very large farms, or groups of farms
under the same ownership, may be called an
estate. Conversely, a small farm surrounding
the owner's dwelling is called a
smallholding and is generally focused on
self-sufficiency with only the
surplus being sold.
North America
The land and buildings of a farm are called the
"farmstead."Enterprises where livestock are raised on
rangeland are called
ranches. Where
livestock
are raised in confinement on feed produced elsewhere, the term
feedlot is usually used.
In 1910 there were 6,406,000 farms and 10,174,000 family workers;
In 2000 there were only 2,172,000 farms and 2,062,300 family
workers.
In the United States, eighty-one percent of all farmworkers are
migrant workers, and seventy-one
percent are foreign-born. Eighty percent of farmworkers are men,
with the average age being 31. Additionally, farmworkers earn less
than $75,000 per year, making an average hourly rate of less than
$27.00. On average, farmworker families earn $10,000 per year,
which is significantly below the 2005 U.S. poverty level of $19,874
for a family of four.
In 2007, corn acres are expected to increase by 15% because of the
high demand for ethanol, both in and outside of the U.S. Producers
are expecting to plant 90.5 million acres (366,000 km²) of corn,
making it the largest corn crop since 1944.
Australia
Farming is a significant economic sector in Australia. A farm is an
area of land used for primary production which will include
buildings.
Where most of the income is from some other employment, and the
farm is really an expanded residence, the term
hobby farm
is common. This will allow sufficient size for recreational use but
be very unlikely to produce sufficient income to be
self-sustaining. Hobby farms are commonly around but may be much
larger depending upon land prices (which vary regionally).
Often very small farms used for intensive primary production are
referred to by the specialization they are being used for, such as
a dairy rather than a dairy farm, a piggery, a market garden, etc.
This also applies to feedlots, which are specifically developed to
a single purpose and are often not able to be used for more general
purpose (mixed) farming practices.
In remote areas farms can become quite large. As with
estates in England, there is no defined size or method of
operation at which a large farm becomes a
station.
Regardless of size, the term
station is only used for
farms where the main activity is grazing.
Some cotton farms in
north-western New South
Wales
or south-western Queensland
have been formed by combining previous sheep
stations once sufficient water has become available to allow cotton
to be grown.
Farm buildings
A pastoral farm scene with a classic
American red barn
Traditional Dutch farmhouse
Farms require
buildings to facilitate the
action of farming the material at hand. Such buildings can include
a
farm house (for the farmers), a grain
silo (for storing grain), and a
barn (for the storing of certain
animals.)
Farm equipment
See also
References
- Gregor, 209; Adams, 454.
- http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312380/dairy.htm
-
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:nMkUV-XqSlYJ:www.alabamapoultry.org/beginner.html+what+is+Poultry+farming&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Bibliography
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Search
