Farm

A farm is the basic unit in agriculture. It is a section of land devoted to the production and management of food, either produce or livestock.

It may be an enterprise owned and operated by a single individual, family, or community, or it may be owned by a corporation or company. A farm can be a holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares.

An enterprise producing tree fruits or nuts is called an orchard; a vineyard is an enterprise producing raisins, wine or table grapes. The stable is used for operations principally involved in the production of horses and other animals and livestock. A farm that is primarily used for the production of milk and dairy is a dairy farm. A market garden or truck farm is a farm that raises vegetables, but little or no grain.

The development of farming and farms was an important component in establishing towns. Once people have moved from hunting and/or gathering and from simple horticulture to active farming, social arrangements of roads, distribution, collection, and marketing can evolve. With the exception of plantations and colonial farms, farm sizes tend to be small in newly-settled lands and to extend as transportation and markets become sophisticated. Farming rights have been the central tenet of a number of revolutions, wars of liberation, and post-colonial economics.

British Isles and Europe

In the UK, farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes the area of pasture and other fields together with its farmhouse and farmyard, barns, cowsheds, stables, etc. In England there is a vague point when a large farm ceases to be referred to as a farm and becomes an estate; although this term can refer to a collection of farms in the same ownership.

North America

The land and buildings of a farm are called the "farmstead." Enterprises where livestock are raised on rangeland are called ranches. Where livestock are raised in confinement on feed produced elsewhere, the term feedlot is usually used.

Australia

Farming is a significant economic sector in Australia. A farm is an area of land used for primary production which will include buildings.

Where most of the income is from some other employment, and the farm is really an expanded residence, the term hobby farm is common. This will allow sufficient size for recreational use but be very unlikely to produce sufficient income to be self-sustaining. Hobby farms are commonly around 5 acres but may be much larger depending upon land prices (which vary regionally).

Often very small farms used for intensive primary production are referred to by the specialisation they are being used for, such as a dairy rather than a dairy farm, a piggery, a market garden, etc. This also applies to feedlots, which are specifically developed to a single purpose and are often not able to be used for more general purpose (mixed) farming practices.

In remote areas farms can become quite large. As with estates in England, there is no defined size or method of operation at which a large farm becomes a station.

Regardless of size, the term station is only used for farms where the main activity is grazing. Some cotton farms in north-western New South Wales or south-western Queensland have been formed by combining previous sheep stations once sufficient water has become available to allow cotton to be grown.

See also

• Agriculture
• Smallholding
• Museum of Scottish Country Life
• Collective farming

Vehicles and implements used for farming

• Farm equipment

• Baler
• Combine harvester
• Farm tractor
• Mower
• Pickup truck
• Plough

External Links

• Diary of US Farmer's Daughter in 1890's

Photo gallery

Bales of straw on a farm near Ames, Iowa	Cattle on an Amish dairy farm near Dundee, New York	Sheep eating grass on an Australian farm	Farming in North Carolina
Herd of Hereford cows in a field used for farming	A typical farm yard on the Canadian prairies.	An abandoned farm in Glen Arbor, MI.

da:Bondegård pdc:Bauerei de:Bauernhof es:Granja eo:Bieno fr:Ferme (agriculture) he:משק id:Sawah li:Haof (boerderie) nl:Boerderij nds-nl:Boerderieje ja:農場 no:Gård nn:Gard pl:Farma pt:Fazenda ru:Ферма (сельское хозяйство) simple:Farm sk:Farma (gazdovstvo) sv:Bondgård ii:ꁌꑗ zh:农场

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