1. Farming Systems
This page introduces farming systems in terms of inputs, processes and outputs. It compares different farming systems in terms of scale of production and methods of organisation and products.
Teacher only boxThis page provides a well supported route through farming systems. It first classifies farms by type before then looking at different types of farming systems.
1. Study the image below and identify the following:
- The physical and human inputs into the farm
- The processes (jobs that need to be done)
- The outputs
Farming Systems
2. Complete the heads and tail activity matching the farm type to the correct definition
3. Follow the gallery and for each image call out the type of farm from the list provided on the worksheet. It may fit more than one type
Most farms follow a linear farming system.
- Study the diagram below and complete the gaps in the diagram on your worksheet
- How do you think inputs, processes, and outputs vary depending on the type of farm system?
Most farmers in LEDCs are subsistence farmers. They farm to feed their families. In contrast, farmers in MEDCs are commercial farmers as they farm for profit.
Your teacher will read each of the farmers' accounts. Make notes on the following:
- The key features and differences between the two types of farmers.
- What do you consider to be the main challenge of the subsistence farm system?
- What do you consider to be the main advantage of the commercial farm system?
Subsistence Farming
I get up early in the morning. My wife normally gets up earlier to fetch water and prepare food, a basic type of porridge. My wife stays at home in the morning to tend the kitchen gardens, where we grow vegetables and herbs. Later, she joins me in the fields.
I head to the fields, which are a 4km walk from my village. I spend the day carrying water from a local river to the fields and removing weeds. This is back-breaking work. I make my own compost from dung and mulch, which is the leftover plant after harvest. My tools are basic. They include a machete and a hand-held hoe.
Like most farmers in my region, I farm corn, which we store near our home throughout the year. In good years, the corn can last the year, and we may sell a small amount at the market.
Commercial Farming
Depending on the time of year, there are always jobs to be done. When it's lambing season, it seems like a 24/7 job. We keep pigs and hens, and if the weather is poor, we keep the cows in the barns, too.
If the animals are out, then we need to head out in the tractors to refill the water tanks and take them the supplement feeds. In the winter we rely on silage to feed the animals. We grow and harvest it towards the end of summer.
We also grow a variety of vegetables as well as wheat and rape seed. We employ people during the harvest periods but we are mainly family-run.
The most profit comes from lambs. Despite modern technologies for milking cows, the price of milk is low and it's tough to make a profit there. Because we buy in bulk costs are kept low and good storage means we can sell at the right times.
We also have access to combine harvesters, which we rent through our local agricultural office, we work alongside other farmers and share many of the expensive machines.
Both subsistence and commercial farms can be monocultures. Examples of commercial monocultures are plantations, such as cocoa, banana, and soya. The problem with monocultures is that the crop needs the same nutrients from the soil, so over time, nutrients are lost. In commercial plantations, these nutrients are replaced by chemical fertilizers, but in the long term, this damages the natural properties of the soil.
In subsistence farming, most farmers cannot afford chemical fertilizers so monocultures degrade the soil over time.
A way of improving soil fertility and reducing risk is crop rotation
1. Watch the video and annotate the diagram of crop rotation with the different benefits it brings.
Watch up to 2.15
Some HICs farms have invested in indoor farms. Examples include the following:
- Aeroponics - is the practice of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil
- Aquaponics - is the practice of growing plants in water-based nutrient solutions rather than soil. This sometimes includes fish tanks
- Hydroponics - is the practice of growing plants in nutrient-rich water alongside fish. Fish provide the nutrients
Study the following gallery showing the three types. Are these farms:
- Intensive or extensive?
- Arable or pastoral?
- Commerical or subsistence?
- Discuss whether vertical farms are energy-efficient
Summary
- There are different ways of classifying farming. They can be intensive or extensive. Intense farms require a lot of inputs for the yields produced. Extensive farms require fewer inputs relative to the yields but tend to need large areas
- Farms can be commercial or subsistence. Commercial farms are businesses that aim to make a profit. Subsistence farms work to feed their family and only if there is excess can anything be sold.
- Farms can be arable (crops), pastoral (animals), or mixed
- Farming systems can be linear with inputs, processes, and outputs. Some byproducts like manure might be recycled in the system. Examples include a cattle ranch or wheat farm
- Other farm systems may be more cyclical where the maximum use of byproducts are recycled and fewer man-made inputs are used. Examples include organic farming and permaculture
- Inputs into a farm are both natural (sunlight, mineral, soil, rainfall) and man-made (labour, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery)
- Processes include sewing seed, plowing, harvesting, and storage.
- Outputs include the final produce and byproducts as well as profits
- Intensive farming systems use high amounts of inputs, labour chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery for large yields. Plantations and cattle ranches are good examples.
- Monocultures plant just one crop and so therefore need the same nutrients from the soil. Over time, nutrients are lost.
- In commercial plantations, these nutrients are replaced by chemical fertilizers, but in the long term, this damages the natural properties of the soil.
- Farms can be subject to weather shocks which impact yields
- Vertical farming systems that farm indoors look to control these uncertainties. Examples include:
- Aeroponics - is the practice of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil
- Aquaponics - is the practice of growing plants in water-based nutrient solutions rather than soil. This sometimes includes fish tanks
- Hydroponics - is the practice of growing plants in nutrient-rich water alongside fish. Fish provide the nutrients
- These vertical farm systems control, temperature, light, and humidity and use fertilizers and water extremely efficiently to maximize yields. These systems mainly grow salads, small fruits, and vegetables and can be located close to urban centers