Farming and Food Production

Types of Farming Systems

1. Subsistence: provision of food for family and their community; little or no surplus; mixed crops; extensive use of human labor; low use of fossil fuels, chemicals, and capital; little technology.

2. Commercial: large profit generating scale; maximized yields, monocultures; high levels of technology, energy, and chemical inputs.

Farming can also be described as:

1. Extensive: uses more land with a lower density of animals or crops; lower inputs and outputs.

2. Intensive: intensive use of land; high inputs and outputs

And as:

i. Pastoral

ii. Arable

iii. Mixed