Intensive farming

Intensive farming of wheat in Lund, Sweden

Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital, labour, agrochemicals and water, and higher crop yields per unit land area.[1]

Most commercial agriculture is intensive in one or more ways. Forms that rely heavily on industrial methods are often called industrial agriculture, which is characterised by technologies designed to increase yield. Techniques include planting multiple crops per year, reducing the frequency of fallow years, improving cultivars, mechanised agriculture, controlled by increased and more detailed analysis of growing conditions, including weather, soil, water, weeds, and pests. Modern methods frequently involve increased use of non-biotic inputs, such as fertilizers, plant growth regulators, pesticides, and antibiotics for livestock. Intensive farms are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of the meat, dairy products, eggs, fruits, and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced by such farms.

Some intensive farms can use sustainable methods, although this typically necessitates higher inputs of labor or lower yields.[2] Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, especially on smallholdings, is an important way to decrease the amount of land needed for farming and slow and reverse environmental degradation caused by processes such as deforestation.[3]

Intensive animal farming involves large numbers of animals raised on a relatively small area of land, for example by rotational grazing,[4][5] or sometimes as concentrated animal feeding operations. These methods increase the yields of food and fiber per unit land area compared to those of extensive animal husbandry; concentrated feed is brought to seldom-moved animals, or, with rotational grazing, the animals are repeatedly moved to fresh forage.[4][5]

  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen. "'s definition of Intensive Agriculture". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  2. ^ Lichtfouse, Eric; Navarrete, Mireille; Debaeke, Philippe; Souchère, Véronique; Alberola, Caroline, eds. (2009). Sustainable Agriculture (PDF). Dordrecht: Springer. p. 5. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2666-8. ISBN 978-90-481-2665-1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  3. ^ "Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders". Project Drawdown. 2020-02-06. Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  4. ^ a b Undersander, Dan; Albert, Beth; Cosgrove, Dennis; Johnson, Dennis; Peterson, Paul (2002). Pastures for profit: A guide to rotational grazing (PDF) (Report). Cooperative Extension Publishing, University of Wisconsin. p. 4. A3529. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019. rotational grazing involves a higher level of management with greater paddock numbers, shorter grazing periods, and longer rest periods.
  5. ^ a b "Getting Started with Intensive Grazing". Manitoba Agriculture. Manitoba Government. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019. There are many reasons why producers move to intensive grazing systems. These include...