Types of farming: intensive, extensive, subsistence and commercial

Overview

Recall questions on intensive, extensive, subsistence and commercial farming, cattle ranching, why intensive and subsistence are not opposites, rice cultivation in monsoon Asia, shifting cultivation and its breakdown, pastoral nomadism, monoculture, intensive livestock units and their criticisms, and agroforestry.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define intensive farming.

   Model answer

   Intensive farming applies high inputs of labour or capital to a small area of land in order to achieve a high yield per hectare.

2. 2

   Define extensive farming.

   Model answer

   Extensive farming uses a large area of land with low inputs per hectare, so output per hectare is low even though total output may be large.

3. 3

   Give an example of an extensive farming system and say where it is typically found.

   Model answer

   Cattle ranching is extensive, occupying vast areas of low-value grassland with very few workers, as on the Australian interior and the Argentine pampas.

4. 4

   Define subsistence farming.

   Model answer

   Subsistence farming produces food mainly for the farmer's own household, with little or no surplus sold.

5. 5

   Define commercial farming.

   Model answer

   Commercial farming produces crops or livestock primarily for sale, with the aim of making a profit.

6. 6

   Explain why intensive and subsistence are not opposites.

   Model answer

   They describe different things, because intensity measures the level of input per hectare while subsistence and commercial describe who the output is for, so intensive subsistence rice growing and extensive commercial ranching both exist.

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