# Extensive farming

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Extensive_farming
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Extensive_farming.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensive_farming
> Source revision: 1353913027
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{short description|Agriculture system that involve low inputs and outputs relative to land area}}
[[File:Herdwicks Lake District.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Herdwick sheep in an extensive [hill farming](/source/hill_farming) system, [Lake District](/source/Lake_District), England. The sheep are free to climb to the unfenced upland area.]]
'''Extensive farming''' or '''extensive agriculture''' (as opposed to [intensive farming](/source/intensive_farming)) is an [agricultural](/source/Agriculture) production system that uses small inputs of [labor](/source/manual_labour), [fertilizers](/source/Fertilizer), and [capital](/source/Capital_(economics)), relative to the land area being farmed.

==Systems==
[[File:Grazing, continuous.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Continuous [grazing](/source/grazing) by sheep or cattle is a widespread extensive farming system, with low inputs and outputs.]]

Extensive farming most commonly means raising [sheep](/source/sheep) and [cattle](/source/cattle) in areas with low agricultural productivity, but includes large-scale growing of [wheat](/source/wheat), [barley](/source/barley), [cooking oils](/source/Cooking_oil) and other [grain crops](/source/Cereal) in areas like the [Murray-Darling Basin](/source/Murray-Darling_Basin) in [Australia](/source/Australia). Here, owing to the extreme age and poverty of the soils, yields per hectare are very low, but the flat terrain and very large farm sizes mean yields per unit of labor are high. [Nomadic herding](/source/Pastoralism) is an extreme example of extensive farming, where herders move their animals to use feed from occasional rainfalls.

==Geography==
Extensive farming is found in the [mid-latitude](/source/Middle_latitudes) sections of most continents, as well as in desert regions where water for cropping is not available. The nature of extensive farming means it requires less rainfall than intensive farming. The farm is usually large in comparison with the numbers working and money spent on it. In 1957, most parts of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia) had pastures so poor that only one [sheep](/source/sheep) to the square mile could be supported.<ref>Wadham, Sir Samuel; Wilson, R. Kent; and Wood, Joyce (1957). ''Land Utilization in Australia'' (3rd edition). Melbourne University Press.</ref>

Just as the demand has led to the basic division of cropping and pastoral activities, these areas can also be subdivided depending on the region's rainfall, [vegetation type](/source/vegetation_type) and agricultural activity within the area and the many other parentheses related to this data.

==Advantages and disadvantages==
===Advantages===
Extensive farming has a number of advantages over intensive farming:

# Less labour per unit areas is required to farm large areas, especially since expensive alterations to land (like terracing) are completely absent.
# Mechanisation can be used more effectively over large, flat areas.
# Greater efficiency of labour means generally lower product prices.
# [Animal welfare](/source/Animal_welfare) is generally improved because animals are not kept in stifling conditions.
# Lower requirements of inputs such as [fertilizers](/source/fertilizers).
# If animals are grazed on grassland native to the locality, there is less likely to be problems with exotic species.
# The meat of the livestock will taste better and appeal to customers.
# Local environment and soil are not damaged by overuse of chemicals.
# The ecological impact is lower.
# Animals bred in larger areas develop more efficiently.<ref> https://study.com/academy/lesson/extensive-agriculture-overview-examples-farming.html#:~:text=Extensive%20agriculture%20requires%20less%20labor,land%2C%20lowering%20the%20input%20cost. </ref>

===Disadvantages===
Extensive farming can have the following problems:<ref>Thomas, Tyrone (2000) ''My Environmental Exposé'', Hill of Content, pp. 42–50; {{ISBN|0-85572-301-7}}</ref>

# Yields tend to be much lower than with [intensive farming](/source/intensive_farming) in the short term.
# Large land requirements limit the habitat of wild species (in some cases, even very low stocking rates can be dangerous), as is the case with [intensive farming](/source/intensive_farming).
# Less profitable than intensive farming per unit of area.

Extensive farming was once thought to produce more [methane](/source/methane_emissions) and [nitrous oxide](/source/nitrous_oxide) per kg of milk than intensive farming.<ref name="Johnson">{{cite journal |pmid=8567486 |date=August 1995 |last1=Johnson |first1=K. A. |last2=Johnson |first2=D. E. |title=Methane emissions from cattle |volume=73 |issue=8 |pages=2483–92 |journal=Journal of Animal Science |doi=10.2527/1995.7382483x}}</ref> 
One study estimated that the carbon "footprint" per billion kg (2.2 billion lb.) of milk produced in 2007 was 37 percent that of equivalent milk production in 1944.<ref name="Capper">{{cite journal |doi=10.2527/jas.2009-1781 |title=The environmental impact of dairy production: 1944 compared with 2007 |date=June 2009 |last1=Capper |first1=J. L. |last2=Cady |first2=R. A. |last3=Bauman |first3=D. E. |journal=Journal of Animal Science |volume=87 |issue=6 |pages=2160–7 |pmid=19286817 |url=https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jas/pdfs/87/6/0872160 |doi-access=free |access-date=2018-11-04 |archive-date=2017-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921202034/https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jas/pdfs/87/6/0872160 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, a more recent study by {{lang|fr|[Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement](/source/Centre_de_coop%C3%A9ration_internationale_en_recherche_agronomique_pour_le_d%C3%A9veloppement)}} found that extensive livestock systems impact the environment less than intensive systems.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vigne |first=M. |date=January 2014 |title=Efficiency of livestock systems in harsh environment. |department=Perspectives 25 |website=Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260201457 |access-date=30 September 2022}}</ref>

==See also==

<!--*maybe something about coconut cultivation/[copra](/source/copra) harvesting in Polynesia?-->
* ''[Dehesa](/source/Dehesa)'' in [Spain](/source/Spain), or ''[montado](/source/montado)'' in [Portugal](/source/Portugal), with [cork oak](/source/cork_oak) and [Black Iberian pig](/source/Black_Iberian_pig).
<!--* [''Dendê'' agroecology](/source/Dend%C3%AA_agroecology) with [African oil palm](/source/African_oil_palm) in [Bahia](/source/Bahia), [Brazil](/source/Brazil), and similar traditional [West Africa](/source/West_Africa)n practices.-->
* [Herding](/source/Herding)
* [Pastoralism](/source/Pastoralism)
* [Polyculture](/source/Polyculture)
* [Ranch](/source/Ranch)ing
* [Slash-and-burn agriculture](/source/Slash-and-burn_agriculture)
* [''Taungya''](/source/Agroforestry) in [Myanmar](/source/Myanmar)
* [Transhumance](/source/Transhumance)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{agriculture footer}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Extensive Farming}}
Category:Agriculture by type

[de:Landwirtschaft#Extensive und intensive Landwirtschaft](/source/de%3ALandwirtschaft)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Extensive farming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensive_farming) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensive_farming?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.