Factors Affecting Farm Type - mrbgeography



|Factors Affecting Farm Type |

|Capital: Money is vitally important when setting up a farm, or trying to run one. Subsidies and government policies have helped in |

|some cases but they have also meant that farming is having to become more efficient and technological to survive. As prices fall for |

|farm products, so the farmer's profits also fall, meaning he can employ less people and buy less seeds and animals for the following |

|year. It is a vicious downward trend experienced in many farming communities. |

|Choice: the farmer may have a number of choices over which type of farming he is going to follow. Normally this is determined by the |

|climate, soils and the relief. However farmers are increasingly having to turn to farming crops or animals that will bring them the |

|most money, rather than which ones may be best suited to the area. |

|Climate: One of the most important factors in deciding what type of farming might occur in a certain area. The important |

|considerations for farmers are the hours of sunshine, the average temperature and the amount of rainfall. |

|Labour: Every farm needs workers, and so farms need these sources of labour. In the old days there would have been many people doing |

|very labour intensive jobs around the farm. However, with farming becoming increasingly mechanised the numbers of people working on |

|farms has diminished and many of those people tend to be more like farm managers rather than actually getting out and doing the dirty |

|work. |

|Market: The market is very important for a farmer. He must know that he is going to be able to sell his produce at a good price, in |

|order to make a profit. Quotas and subsidies have been brought in to try to help farmers as the prices of their produce have fallen |

|over the last twenty years. Farmers increasingly have to decide exactly what they are going to grow by the price that they will get |

|for their produce. |

|Politics: Government and International farming policies have had a huge impact on many farms around the world. In Europe the Common |

|Agricultural Policy and EU regulations have meant that farmers are protected and that their produce will be bought. However they have |

|also meant some farmers have had to completely change what they are growing to suit the new regulations. |

|Relief: The relief of the land is a very important factor in determining the type of agricultural activity that can take place on it. |

|Flat, sheltered areas are usually best for crops as it is easy to use machinery and there will be the best climatic conditions for |

|crop growth. Steep slopes are more likely to be used for sheep and cattle farming, such as in the valley of South Wales. However in |

|countries such as Indonesia the steep slopes have been terraced to allow rice to grow. |

|Soils: Thick, well-irrigated, often alluvial (deposited by a river) soil is usually the best for crop farming. In Britain the best |

|soil for arable farming can be found in Norfolk and other Eastern areas of the country. In hilly areas the soil tends to be thinner |

|and less fertile, meaning it is more suitable for pasture farming. |

|Farming Types |

|[pic] |

|The factors mentioned in the previous section all contribute to the pattern of farming seen in both the UK and the world. The map below shows |

|the very general pattern of farm types from around the world. The examples used in this section relate to farming types found in many world |

|areas shown on the map. |

|[pic] |

|Commercial farming |

|Commercial farming involves farming for a profit. The farmer is growing crops or rearing animals to sell for as much money as possible. These |

|farms can be arable (just growing crops), pastoral (just rearing animals) or mixed (both arable and pastoral). Increasingly farms are becoming |

|more mixed due to the impact of farming subsidies and regulations. Most of the farming in MEDC’s is commercial farming of one type or another. |

|The arable farms of East Anglia are a good example of commercial farming, as are the cereal farms of the central United States and the Canadian |

|Prairies. |

|  |

|Intensive farming |

|Intensive farms generally take up a fairly small area of land, but aim to have a very high output, through massive inputs of capital and labour.|

|These farms use machines and new technologies to become as efficient and cost-effective as possible. |

|Intensive agriculture can be seen in many places around the world, such as the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand, pig farming in Denmark and rice|

|cultivation in the countries of South East Asia. All use technology appropriate to their country to enable them to get the highest yields from |

|their land. |

|  |

|Extensive farming |

|Extensive farming is the direct opposite of intensive farming. The farms are large in comparison to the money injected into them or the labour |

|used. The cattle ranches of central Australia are a good example of extensive agriculture, where often only a few farm workers are responsible |

|for thousands of acres of farmland. |

|Another example of extensive farming can be seen in the massive cattle ranches of Brazil. These involve clearing vast areas of rainforest (the |

|trees are often burnt rather than chopped down and sold) to make way for the cattle ranch. The cattle quickly eat the remaining vegetation and |

|begin to cause massive problems of soil erosion. |

|  |

|Subsistence farming |

|Subsistence farmers only produce enough to feed themselves and their family, without having any more to sell for profit. This is the most common|

|form of farming in LEDC’s. |

|Some of them are nomadic, meaning that they move around the country using a piece of land for a while and then moving on. This type of |

|subsistence farming is also called shifting cultivation. The traditional tribes of the Amazon rainforest use system of shifting cultivation. |

|They chop down a clearing in the trees and use it for a few years before moving on and allowing the soil and vegetation to recover. For |

|thousands of years this form of agriculture has allowed the people to live, without the rainforest being unduly damaged. |

| |

|Types of Farming: |

| |

|Intensive |

|Extensive |

| |

|Commercial |

|Pig farming in Denmark |

|Cereal farming on the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand |

|East Anglian cereal farming and market gardening |

|Market gardening in the Netherlands |

|Cereal farming on the Canadian Prairies and central United States |

|Ranches in central Australia, the Brazilian rainforest and the South American Pampas. |

| |

|Subsistence |

|Rice cultivation in South-East Asia, especially the Ganges valley. |

|Terraced padi fields of Indonesia |

|Shifting cultivation in the Amazon rainforest |

|Nomadic pasturalism in central Africa |

| |

|  |

| |

| |

|Farming in the UK |

|The main types of farming that you would find in the UK are arable, dairying and hill farming. Many farms are actually mixing some or all of |

|these in an attempt to make more money. Most farming in Britain tends to be intensive although some of the hill farms of Wales and Scotland |

|could be described as extensive. All of them are commercial. |

| |

|The only other farm type that is not really shown on the map is market gardening. This is the growing of vegetables and fruits, usually in huge |

|greenhouses. |

|Farming Types in Britain: |

| |

|Climate |

|Soils |

|Relief |

| |

|Arable (e.g. East Anglia) |

|Warm summers, cold frosty winters. Average temperatures of 18°C or more. Low rainfall, falling during the growing season mainly. |

|Fertile boulder clays, which are easy to plough. |

|Generally flat, so it easy for machinery to be used on it. |

| |

|Dairying (e.g. Devon) |

|Warm summers and mild winters mean that pasture is available all year long. High rainfall also encourages fast grass growth. |

|Fertile enough for good pasture growth, but not for arable crops. |

|Gently sloping, the green rolling hills of the UK. Cattle can not cope with land that is too steep. |

| |

|Hill Farming (sheep) (e.g. Wales) |

|Cool summers, cold winters and plenty of rainfall all contribute to these areas being unsuitable for arable farming but good for grass growth. |

|Thin, poor soils that can be easily eroded and would not be good enough for other forms of farming. |

|Hilly, steep land that would not be suitable for machinery or cattle. Sheep can cope with the slopes though. |

| |

|Market Gardening* (e.g. East Anglia) |

|Temperature and water is usually controlled carefully by being in huge greenhouses. |

|Soil is brought in to provide the best nutrients for the crops. Fertilisers are used extensively. |

|The greenhouses themselves need flat land on which to be built. |

| |

|* Often the biggest requirement of market gardening is the transport routes needed to take the products |

|to shops and supermarkets for sale. Often products have to be sold within 24 hours of being produced. |

|Human factors also play a huge role in determining where different farming types are located. The Common Agricultural Policy and other |

|regulations have encouraged arable farming more than dairying or hill sheep farming, and this has led to many farms becoming mixed farms. Both |

|dairy farms and market gardens require excellent transport links to their markets as they are producing goods that will quickly go off. Arable |

|farming and market gardening require large capital inputs, whilst sheep farming and dairying require much less. However arable farms and market |

|gardens tend to be the more profitable also. |

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