Types of farming (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography): Revision Note

What are the different types of farming?

• To obtain food, humans use and modify the ecosystems through farming

• There are four groupings commonly used to categorise farming:

  • By inputs:

    • Intensive farming use large amounts of labour, machines, technology or money often resulting in high yields per acre/hectare

    • Extensive farming uses low levels of labour, machines, technology or money often resulting in low yields per acre/hectare

  • By what is grown/raised (processes):

    • Arable is the cultivation of crops

    • Pastoral is the rearing of livestock

    • Mixed is a combination of arable and pastoral

  • By the outputs:

    • Commercial farming is growing crops or rearing livestock for profit

    • Subsistence farming is when crops are grown and livestock is raised to feed the farmer and their family

• Classification of farms is not easy because:

  • each type of farm belongs in more than one category

    • a sheep farm is commercial, extensive and pastoral

  • activities within the farm are subject to change

    • If a subsistence farmer has a particularly good harvest then they will sell some of the crops for profit

• As well as the main categories farming can also be categorised by location

  • Nomadic farming occurs where farmers move from one place to another

    • This usually happens in areas where farmers need to search for grassland for grazing their livestock

  • Sedentary farms are located in one place and do not move

Other types of farming

Vertical farming

• Vertical farming is the growth of crops vertically (upwards), in layers

• This type of farming usually occurs in large buildings, greenhouses or shipping containers to reduce land use

• The systems produce more food for the land available 

• Examples include:

  • Aeroponics - crops hang in the air, with their roots exposed. A nutrient-rich condensed mist waters the plants 

  • Hydroponics - growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient-rich water instead

  • Aquaponics - using aquaculture with hydroponics. Waste from marine animals nourishes the water used for crop growth

• Vertical farming is seen in countries across the world, from Germany and the Netherlands to Japan and Singapore 

• Examples of vertically farmed foods include:

  • Lettuce, kale, broccoli, garlic

  • Strawberries

  • Tree seedlings

  • Plants used for medicine

  • Fish 

Aeroponics

• This method involves growing plants inside using a mist system

• The plants are not grow in soil but are suspended in the air and the roots take in the nutrients and water they need from the mist

• Costs of aeroponic systems are high

• The system is only suitable for some crops such as:

  • lettuce

  • kale

  • strawberries

  • tomatoes

• Aeroponics uses less water than traditional systems

• It may also produce higher yields

Hydroponics

• In a hydroponic system plants are grown in a nutrient rich liquid

• Unlike aeroponics where the roots are suspended in the air, in hydroponics the roots sit in the liquid

Aquaponics

• An aquaponic system combines aquaculture and hydroponics

• As in hydroponics the plant roots sit in a nutrient rich water

• The difference is that in aquaponics the water is an environment for fish

  • The fish waste provides nutrients for the plant growth

  • The plants remove nitrates from the water which filters it, keeping it clean for the fish