Sustainable Farming Systems for Development

The Farm System
Any farm is a “system”. This means that it has inputs, processes and outputs, and the aim of this website is to give you an insight into all of these by looking at my farm.

The basic output of our farm is a range of crops, so we have an “arable” farm. The alternative farm system to an arable system is a pastoral system – where animals are looked after for animal outputs. On the land that we own and farm, we grow Barley, Wheat and Oilseed rape. On the farms where we work as contractors we also farm these crops on top of spring beans and oats.

Here is a photo of wheat – a crop  grow on temperate farms

Definition; “Arable” – A farm system that produces a plant derived output.
Definition; “Pastoral” – A farm system that produces an animal derived output.

Some farms are “mixed” farms, in that they have both plant and animal outputs, but they are less commercial (see later posts) as they do not benefit from the economies of scale (see later posts). Many farms in LEDCs are mixed farms, particularly if the farmer relies on them for subsistence (see later posts). Some farms in the UK are mixed farms because they have diversified (see later posts).

Commercial systems
In common with almost all farms in the UK, we aim to make as much money as possible. A farmer who farms for profit rather than to feed himself and his family is called “commercial”. In order to do this, an output for the market is grown (known as a “cash crop”). Farmers that produce outputs for their family to exist on are known as “subsistence” farmers.

Definition; “Commercial” – A farm system that produces a surplus output for sale to the market for profit
Definition; “Subsistence” – A farm system that produces a low output. There is little surplus for sale to the mark. Subsistence farmers often rely on consuming their own outputs.
Definition; “Cash crop” – A farm output produced specifically for sale to the market. Farmers do not rely on consuming their own cash crops.
The farm itself is where the inputs are added and the processes are carried out in order to create an output. Land can be regarded as a “natural” input to the farm system.

The Farm Land
Traditionally, farms were single locations, but it is increasingly common for farmers to own or work on more than one farm.
We farm 6 different ‘blocks’ of land and work as contractors on 3 of these farms. When a farmer ‘contracts’ they farm somebody else’s land for a fee. This means that the farmer is farming land which they do not own.
The land which we own is at Stoken Farm, Bull’s Bushes Farm and Harewood Farm. Stoken Farm and Harewood Farm are located about 40 minutes away from each other, and Bull’s Bushes is about 5 minutes from Stoken farm in Steventon. Stoken Farm is 121 hectares and Andover is 72 hectares, Bull’s Bushes is 42 hectares. This totals about 235 hectares. The average size of a farm in the UK is about 56 hectares, so we own above national average and therefore benefit from economies of scale (see later posts).


The farms which we work at as contractors are 650 acres, 105 acres, and 150 acres. This totals 905 acres. In all, this means we farm about 1,490 acres. This is clearly a large amount of land and so requires high levels of input, such as capital, labour, machinery and seeds.
Arable farms such as ours are said to be “extensive, which means that they are very large to produce the output to be commercial. Arable farms have a lower output per unit area than intensive farms such as battery farms, but they can make just as much total profit by being larger. Obviously we try to intensify as much as possible by getting more out of each hectare, but the farm still remains a relatively extensive system.
Definition; “Extensive”; A farm system with a relatively low output per unit area. Extensive farms have to be large to be commercial.
Definition; “Intensive” – A farm system with a relatively large output per unit area. Intensive farms can be small and still be commercial, but will need large inputs of labour or capital per unit area.

In contrast to the size of our farm, across the world 72% of all farms are less than 1 hectare (2.4 acres) – this huge gap is mainly due to the fact that in LEDCs, which are less industrialized, a larger proportion of the population relies on farming to support themselves – they are subsistence farmers. In Britain, farms have become larger and more efficient as the country has industrialized and people have moved to jobs in the cities. Nowadays, farmers have bought each other out, created large farms that are heavily reliant on mechanization so that less than 1% of the population now works in agriculture.

Labour

Labour is a “human” input to the farm system. Generally, farmers in the UK try to reduce the amount of labour used in their systems to increase the amount of output per person and increase their profit margin.
On our farm, we only have 6 workers, 5 of whom are male outdoor workers and 1 of whom is a female accountant.
The basic division in terms of human inputs to the farm system is between labour and capital, and generally those that invest more capital are able to be more commercial.
Definition; “Labour intensive” – Labour intensive farm systems may produce a high output per unit are, but they do so by the use of large amounts of labour as opposed to capital. This means that outputs per person are low, and thus the farm system is more likely to lead to subsistence than commerciality. Examples include rice farming.
Definition; “Capital intensive” – Capital intensive farm systems produce a high output per unit area and do this by investing large amounts of capital per unit area. With low labour input, outputs per worker are extremely high, thus making this system highly commercial. Examples include battery farming of pigs.
Definition; “Labour extensive” – Labour extensive farm systems produce a low output per unit areaa, and also per person because processes require large amounts of labour. Outputs per unit area and per person are low, meaning that this system is likely to be subsistence rather than commercial. Examples include nomadic herding of cattle in semi-deserts.
Definition; “Capital extensive” – Capital extensive farm systems might produce a relatively low output per unit area compared to intensive systems, but the amount of labour input per unit area is very small thanks to the capital investment. This means that output per person is very large, and thus the system is commercial. Examples include wheat farming in the Prairies of the USA.

From the definitions above, we can see that our farm is closest to “Capital extensive” as a system.
The ages of the workers are 21, 42, 49, 52, 53 and 65. The average of the workers on our farm is therefore 46. This is, surprisingly, well below the industry average, which is around 53 years. This is a large problem for the industry as younger people who live in the coutryside are choosing to migrate to the city where there are more ‘glamorous’ jobs. There are very few female farmers in MEDCs; however in LEDCs females often share the work on farms, and may even be the dominant workers on farms as the young males of the family are likely to migrate to the city. This leaves other family members (such as mothers) to work the land. Unfortunately, the women are likely to have lower productivity, which will increase rural poverty and people will become caught in the ‘poverty trap’.

Capital
Capital is the other main “human” input to a farm system. Examples of capital investment include machinery, chemicals, buildings, electricity and other fuels, seeds etc. The idea of capital input is to increase the output of the farm by making the system more efficient in terms of efficiency of processes and yield per unit area. Obviously the input of capital makes it more likely that your farm will make larger profits, which means that you can invest more capital in further improving your system. The inability of poor farmers to raise capital is an important reason for the continued poverty found in LEDCs.

Machinery
Machines are an example of a capital input to the farm system. The idea of machinery is to improve the efficiency of the system by doing all the processes in precise and rapid ways. Machines are normally capable of doing the job of many people at once, and can work for longer, whilst also not having the drawbacks of labour (such as illness and laziness).
On our farm, we use 12 main pieces of machinery, ranging from tractors, to combine harvesters, to sprayers. This excludes attachments such as ploughs, drills and cultivators, and at an estimate the value of all this machinery is around £500,000. This level of investment is worth it because for the size of farm that we own, the machinery more than pays for itself in increased efficiency and output.

A combine harvester!

A very old tractor…

An old tractor…

A new tractor!

A tractor and trailer

In LEDCs there is less mechanisation due to the fact that farmers have less capital to invest in their businesses. Moreover, it would not be beneficial for farmers in LEDCs to have the most advanced and sophisticated technology (such as GPS remote steering systems*) as it is not ‘appropriate technology’. In LEDCs the farmers would not be able to use the equipment as very few workers would have the skills required to operate the machinery and they would also struggle to service and repair the most sophisticated machines.