The Farm System
In a farm, the inputs are all the things required for farming. These include
solar energy, rain, soil, the farmers' labour, machinery, fertilisers and
pesticides. The outputs from a farm are cash crops and animal products.
In modern farms, there is a lot of capital investment in the use of a skilled
and experienced work force.
Types of Farming 1) Arable and Pastoral farming 2) Intensive and Extensive farming 5) Monoculture and Mixed farming Wet Rice Farming
1) Subsistence farming in which chief crop is web padi. These padi fields
are often found in Asia as rice is the staple food. Almost 95% of the
world's rice is grown and eaten in Asia. Wet rice growing can be found
almost anywhere: in flood plains, river deltas, as long as it is well
watered, it can be planted. It can even be found on terraces like inn
China, Indonesia, Philippines and Indo-China. Plantation Agriculture 1) Large scale commercial monoculture of tropical crops. A single crop
such as rubber in Malaysia, tea in India and highlands of China, sugar
cane in Philippines are planted. This is mainly due to demands by Western
countries. Labour force is usually local, like harvesting oil palms, collecting
coffee berries and picking tea leaves.
- Cultivation of crops and grazing of animals, eg. In many countries
- Intensive farming: Market gardening, aims at getting highest yields
- Extensive farming: Using large land areas like extensive mechanised
wheat farming and large scale livestock farming of cattle and sheep and
plantation agriculture.
3) Shifting Cultivation
- Growing a few crops in temporary clearings, after soil becomes infertile,
farmers shifts to a new place and carry on farming
- Eg. Indonesia, forest fires created from burning of land
4) Subsistence and Commercial farming
- Subsistence: Provides crops sufficient only for the family
- Commercial: Crops produced for sale/export
- Cultivates single crops: eg. Rubber plantations in Malaysia
2) As plantation crops usually take five or six years to mature, cash
crops like cocoa, bananas and maize are usually planted in between the
plants. In this way, income is generated and to protect the newly cleared
lands, cover crops like cassava, yam and sweet potatoes are planted.
3) Major plantation crops include rubber. These are planted in both estates
and small-holdings in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand as it is vital
raw material in tyre making etc.