1. Topic: Types of Agriculture
Aim: In What Ways Can We Distinguish Subsistence from Commercial Agriculture?

2. 2 Types of Agriculture: Commercial Agriculture
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Dairy Farming
Grain Farming
Livestock Ranching
Mediterranean Agriculture
Truck Farming
Subsistence Agriculture (3 types)
Shifting Cultivation
Pastoral Nomadism
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

3. Key Terms:
Extensive Agriculture: uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital relative to the land area being farmed
Intensive Agriculture: uses high inputs of capital, labor, and heavy use of technology (pesticides, fertilizers) relative to the land area being farmed; more work is needed for production
The small farm in Swiss mountains. The land here is mostly rock and the slopes are very steep - likely unusable for agriculture, but can provide productive conditions for pigs

4. Differences between Commercial & Subsistence Agriculture
Discussion: based on our definitions of subsistence and commercial agriculture, what are some of the differences that exist between them? Where do you think each is practiced in the world?

5. Five main differences:
purpose of farming
percentage of farmers in labor force
use of machinery
farm sizes
relationship of farming to other businesses

6. Purpose of Farming: Subsistence Farming
World-wide most farmers are subsistence-growing just enough to feed their families. They find building material and fuel in the natural environment
Small fields- methods and tools used are generally very low tech. Found in South & Central America, Africa, South Asia, and South East Asia
Iranian farmer harrowing a field with mules
Iranian farmer harrowing a field with mules 6

7. Ecuador Ermelinda and her husband Orlando cultivate a potato field, a ten minute walk from home-note Ermelinda has her baby strapped to her back. Before working the field, they said a prayer to “Pacha Mamma” (Mother Earth).
A family in Ecuador; Ermelinda and her husband Orlando cultivate a potato field, a ten minute walk from home-note Ermelinda has her baby strapped to her back. Before working the field, they said a prayer to “Pacha Mamma” (Mother Earth). 7

8. Purpose of Farming: Commercial Farming
Farmers grow crops and raise animals for sale rather than their own consumption
Products not sold directly to consumers, but to food-processing companies, refineries, stores, distilleries, and manufacturers
Found in most MDC’s
Wheat farm in Montana.

9. Percentage of Farmers in Labor Force: In MDC’s less than 1/10th of workers engage in farming, compared to more than 1/2 in LDC’s
Figure 10-5

10. Use of Machinery:
These combine machines are reaping, threshing, and cleaning wheat in Sherman County, Kansas.
In MDC’s, farming done primarily with more technology, scientific advances (herbicides, hybrid plants/animal breeds, fertilizers, etc)
Commercial farming also aided by GPS units used in fertilization and Satellite imagery to monitor crop progress

11. On the Greek island of Crete, a peasant plows a field with a donkey11

12. Farmers in more developed countries possess more machinery, such as tractors, than do farmers in less developed ones. The machinery makes it possible for commercial farmers to farm extensive areas, a necessary practice to pay for the expensive machinery.

13. Farm Sizes:
Left - A wheat field in Montana. Farms in the United States are relatively large, and the buildings of one farm are typically isolated from those of other farms.
Commercial agriculture required larger tracts of land. While fewer farms are owned today than 100 years ago, the amount of land used by farms has increased due to increase production use of machines. Most are family owned in the U.S.
U.S. has lost over 500,000 acres of the most productive farmland known as prime agricultural land, as urban areas sprawl into surrounding countryside

14. FIGURE 10-8 FARM SIZE The average size of a family farm in China is much smaller than in the United States. (left) Family farm in Anhui Province, China. (right) Family farm in West Brooklyn, Illinois.
FARM SIZE The average size of a family farm in China is much smaller than in the United States. (left) Family farm in Anhui Province, China. (right) Family farm in West Brooklyn, Illinois.

15. Relationship of Farming to Other Businesses:
Commercial farming tied to the business world
Agribusiness: system of commercial farming found in MDC’s. Family farming is integrated into a large food-production industry
Although less than 2% of U.S. labor force are direct farmers, 20% of laborers work in food production and services related to agribusiness (slaughterhouses, processing, technology development, etc)
Although farms are family owned, many other aspects are controlled by large corporations