The farm Flashcards
What is arable farming?
Growing crops e.g. wheat, rice, barely, soya and cotton
What is capital intensive farming
Where money is invested into : machinery, fertilisers and pesticides, buildings with heating, irrigation etc. Few people are employed so output is high per hectare
What is labour intensive farming
High numbver if workers os a high output per hectare but low per worker, example - rice cultivation in Ganges vally
What is subsistence farming?
Mainly producing food for the land owner although any small surplus may be sold
What is pastoral farming
rearing animals for meat, milk, wool or leather
What is commercial farming
producing food for sale and profit and then the income generated provides a livelihood for the farm workers and is invested back into the farm
What is extensive farming
- relatively low input over a large area to produce low yields per hectare
- this can vary though
- low labour but high capital (quality of seeds) e.g wheat farming in Canada
inputs of the farm system
Physical : temp, wind, precipitation, soil type, altitude
Cultural: land ownership, inheritance, farm size, local diet, gender issues
Economic : labour storage and other facilities, prkcesing plant, farm machinery, fertilisers/pesticides
The farmer: age and expeerience, knowledge and skills, openness to new ideas, ambition/entrepreneurship
Processes on the farm
Jobs on the farm e.g
Ploughing
Sowing
Weeding
Fertiliser
Pewticide
Harvesting/threshing
Cakving/lambing
Feeding
Milking
Outputs on the farm
Cereal crops: wheat barley, oats, rice, maize
Vegetable crops: potatoes, cabbages, carrots
Market Garden crops: e.g. lettuce, beans, tomatoes
Animal products: beef, pork, lamb, milk, cheese, egg
Fruit
Losses on the farm
Soil erosion and leaching of soil nutrients
Poorly sorted crop
Hazards: drought, floods, pests/predators, fire, crop disease
How is agricultural productivity usually measured?
In terms of yield: how many kilograms of grain per hectare, kilograms of meat per animals or litres of milk per cow, etc. The most commonly used measurement of productivity is total factor productivity
What is the TFP
The ratio of agricultural outputs (gross crop and livestock output) to inputs (land, labour, fertiliser, machinery and livestock) in ecological terms, this can also be considered to be the ‘energy efficiency ratio’
What causes the TFP to improve
Fo crops :
Higher yielding, disease resistant and drought or flood tolerant crop varieties
More efficient and timely cultivation and harvesting practices
Using technologies that indicate precisely when and how much water and fertiliser to apply
For raising livestock
Breeding animals for favourable genetic qualities and behaviour
Using better animal care and disease management practices
Adoption of high quality feeds contribute to greater productivity
Why has there been an increase in agricultural productivity in the last 55 years
Expansion of land being used for agriculture (extensification)
Intensification- additional economic inputs such as machinery, fertilisers, pesticides and higher yielding seeds have had a major impact in increasing productivity. Intensification is used to increase yields in both the developed world, where it was associated with the ‘industrialisation’ of agriculture and in the developing world, where it was associated with green revolution tech
Total factor productivity - better and more precise use of inputs, particularly based on scientific research and development. This has been the more dominant factor in increasing productivity in the last 20-30 years
