Farming

[Chookie]

This thread is related to Buttercups one on GMOs.

A comment Sheryl made about farms getting bigger got me thinking. I made some passing references to subsistence farming, but never got the point that Sheryl is used to a very different type of farming. Thus, a small comparison.

Commercial farming -

In the 1930s the crop yields in the United States were comparable to those of India, England, and Argentina. Since the 1950s the use of petroleum-derived pesticides, fertilizers and a host of governmental policies have vaulted the U.S. into the biggest farming economy in the world. Today, fewer farmers feed more people than ever before in the history of food production.

http://www.vegsource.com/articles/chemical.farming.htm



Subsistence farming

Form of farming in which nearly all the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and his family, leaving little surplus for sale or trade. Pre-industrial agricultural peoples throughout the world practised subsistence farming. As urban centres grew, agricultural production became more specialized and commercial farming developed, with farmers producing a sizeable surplus of certain crops, which they traded for manufactured goods or sold for cash. Subsistence farming persists today in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing areas.

Depending on climate, soil conditions, agricultural practices, and the crops grown, it generally requires between 1,000 and 40,000 m² (between 0.25 and 10 acres) per person.

http://www.theecologist.org/archive_det ... tent_id=31

http://www.indianpad.com/view/68435