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Food Production » Types of Farming

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Cambridge spec: 10.1.1

Define subsistence and commercial farming, with an example of each
Tell arable, pastoral and mixed farming apart, and intensive from extensive
Explain hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics, and weigh up their advantages and limits
Write a short, clear definition for each farming type in the exam

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Why there are different types of farming

Farmers do not all do the same job. A family growing rice for its own dinner has very little in common with a huge machine-run farm selling wheat to a supermarket chain. Geographers sort farming into types by asking three questions. Who is the food for? What is being produced? How much effort and money goes into each hectare of land?

Key terms:

Farming type: a way of grouping farms by what they produce, why and how.
Subsistence farming: remember, this is growing food mainly to feed the farmer's own family, with little or none left to sell.
Commercial farming: remember, this is growing crops or keeping animals mainly to sell for profit.

Subsistence and commercial farming

🌾 Subsistence

The family eats most of what it grows. Farms are small, tools are simple and most work is done by hand. Example: a family growing rice on a small plot in monsoon Asia.

💰 Commercial

Food is grown to be sold, often to factories, shops or for export. Farms are often large, with machines, fertilisers and few workers. Example: huge wheat farms on the Canadian Prairies.

Notice that "commercial" is about the reason for farming (profit), not the size alone. A small farm that sells everything it grows is still commercial.

Arable, pastoral and mixed farming

This second way of sorting is about what the farm produces.

Arable farming: growing crops only, such as wheat, rice, maize or vegetables. Example: a wheat farm.
Pastoral farming: keeping animals only, for meat, milk, wool or hides. Example: dairy farms in the Netherlands, or cattle herding by the Maasai in East Africa.
Mixed farming: growing crops and keeping animals on the same farm. Example: a farm that grows barley and also keeps sheep. The animals can eat some crops and their manure fertilises the fields.

Intensive and extensive farming

This third way of sorting is about how much is put in for each hectare of land. A hectare is a patch of land about the size of a football pitch. The yield is the amount of food grown.

Type	What it means	Example
Intensive	Lots of labour, money or fertiliser put into a small area, so the yield per hectare is high	Small rice paddies in Asia, or greenhouse vegetables in the Netherlands
Extensive	Little labour or money put into a large area, so the yield per hectare is low	Sheep or cattle grazing over huge areas of Australia

Subsistence, commercial, arable, pastoral and mixed can all be intensive or extensive. A farm can therefore be, for example, commercial, arable and intensive all at once.

Worked example

Describe a sheep farm in the Australian outback that sells wool to other countries. It is pastoral (only animals), commercial (sold for profit) and extensive (few workers over a very large area).

Modern soil-free farming

Some farmers now grow food with no soil at all. The plant roots get what they need from water or air instead, and the farm is often indoors under LED lights. There are three methods you need to know.

Key terms:

Hydroponics: growing plants with their roots in a nutrient solution (water with dissolved plant food).
Aeroponics: growing plants with their roots hanging in the air and misted with nutrient solution.
Aquaponics: a system combining fish farming and plant growing, in which fish waste feeds the plants.
Vertical farm: a building where crops are grown in stacked layers, one above the other.

💧 Hydroponics

Roots sit in a tank or channel of nutrient solution. Often used for lettuce, herbs and tomatoes.

🌫️ Aeroponics

Roots dangle in air and are sprayed with a fine mist of nutrients. Needs very little water.

🐟 Aquaponics

Fish such as tilapia live in a tank. Their waste feeds the plants, and the plants help clean the water.

Advantages and limits of soil-free farming

✅ Advantages

Uses much less water, because it is recycled
Vertical farms can be built in cities, close to customers, so food travels less
Works where the soil is poor or there is little farmland
Food can be grown all year, whatever the weather

❌ Limits

Set-up costs are high (buildings, tanks, pumps, lights)
Uses a lot of energy for lights and pumps
Skilled workers are needed, and a power cut can ruin a crop
Suits leafy crops and herbs better than staple crops such as wheat or rice

So these methods are not likely to replace farming in fields. They are best used for high-value crops, in cities or dry places, where the extra cost is worth it.

Common mistakes

Saying "subsistence farms are always small and commercial farms are always big". The key difference is the purpose: food for the family or food to sell. Another mistake is mixing up hydroponics (roots in water) with aeroponics (roots in air). Remember "aero" means air. Finally, do not forget that soil-free farming is not "free": it needs a lot of energy and money.

Exam-style question

Study the information about three farms (made-up data).

Farm	What it produces	Where the food goes	Size and workers
A	Rice and vegetables	Eaten by the farmer's family	1 hectare, 5 family members
B	Wheat	Sold to a flour company	800 hectares, 4 workers and machines
C	Lettuce, grown in a city building	Sold to local supermarkets	Stacked layers, LED lights, nutrient solution

(a) Define the term subsistence farming and identify which farm is an example. [2]

(b) State two ways in which Farm B is commercial farming rather than subsistence. [2]

(d) Evaluate the advantages and limits of farming like Farm C for a large city. [6]

Model answer

(a) Growing food mainly to feed the farmer's own family (1). Farm A (1).
(b) The wheat is sold for profit (1). It uses machines and few workers over a large area (1).
(c) Hydroponics (1). The roots grow in a nutrient solution (water with plant food) instead of soil (1), under artificial light (1).
(d) Advantages: it is built in the city, so food travels a short way to the shops and stays fresh. It uses less water because the water is recycled, and crops can grow all year in any weather. Limits: the building, lights and pumps cost a great deal to set up, and the lights and pumps use a lot of energy, which raises costs. Skilled staff are needed and it only suits crops such as lettuce, not wheat. Overall it is useful for fresh, high-value food for a wealthy city, but it cannot feed everyone because it is expensive. (Levels: 1 to 2 marks for a list of points, 3 to 4 for explained advantages and limits, 5 to 6 for both sides with a balanced judgement.)

Exam tip

For "Evaluate", give advantages, limits and then a final judgement. Use words from the question ("for a large city") in your last sentence.

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