Agricultural Practices: From Plots to Production

Primary Sector Activities

The primary sector encompasses activities related to obtaining resources and food production. This includes agriculture, livestock farming, fishing, and forestry.

Agricultural Landscape

An agricultural landscape is a landscape modified to obtain products from nature. Key elements include plots, tillage systems, and settlements.

Understanding Plots

A plot is a division of agricultural land. Plots differ in size (large or small), shape (regular or irregular), and boundaries (open or enclosed).

• Openfield: Open plots without fences, typically small and regular in shape. Common in Central Europe.
• Enclosed fields or Bocage: Relatively large, irregular plots enclosed by walls or fences. Common in the European Atlantic region.

Polyculture vs. Monoculture

• Polyculture: The agricultural area is divided into many different plots where various species are grown.
• Monoculture: The farm specializes in cultivating a single product (e.g., cereal, olives).

Irrigation and Dryland Farming

• Irrigation: Water is extracted from underground sources, reservoirs, or rivers and transported to fields through canals, ditches, or sprinklers.
• Dryland farming: Fields primarily receive water only from rain.

Intensive vs. Extensive Farming

• Intensive farming: Maximizes product output in the smallest possible space. It often involves fertilizers, selected seeds, and intensive labor (e.g., fruit and vegetable production).
• Extensive farming: Utilizes large areas of land with minimal labor. It often involves large quantities of products grown at a low price, with machinery performing much of the work. Fallow is often practiced.

Fallow

Fallow is a cultivation technique where land is left uncultivated for a year to regain fertility.

Subsistence Agriculture

Subsistence agriculture aims to produce everything necessary for survival, with over two-thirds of land and labor dedicated to personal consumption.

Types of Subsistence Agriculture

• Shifting cultivation by burning: Practiced in equatorial regions of Africa, South America, and parts of Asia.
• Extensive dryland agriculture: Common in Africa.
• Irrigated rice farming: Common in monsoon Asia.

Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is a method that divides the agricultural parcel into two, three, or four parts (biennial, triennial, or quadrennial rotation). Crops are rotated successively, often including a section with legumes (which add nitrogen to the soil) and potentially a fallow section.