There are several ways that farmers who grow crops use intensive agriculture to produce higher yields. Tactics include the use of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, irrigation, and the use of genetically modified seeds. Intensive Versus Extensive Agriculture Methodology
How do farmers use intensive agriculture to produce higher yields?
There are several ways that farmers who grow crops use intensive agriculture to produce higher yields. Tactics include the use of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, irrigation, and the use of genetically modified seeds. Intensive farming focuses on investing a lot of resources and labor into small tracts of land in order to increase yield.
What is intensive agriculture in economics?
Intensive agriculture, in agricultural economics, system of cultivation using large amounts of labour and capital relative to land area. Large amounts of labour and capital are necessary to the application of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growing crops, and capital is
What are the pros and cons of intensive agriculture?
Intensive agriculture produces much higher yields per unit of land, requiring land modifications such as clearing forests and relying on huge amounts of inputs, which can include things like fertilizers, chemical pesticides and some might say a great deal of cruelty, particularly when it comes to animal operations.
Is intensive farming right for your precision farm?
We look at the advantages and disadvantages of using the intensive farming method and hopefully help you evaluate whether it is the right method for you to employ on your precision farm. Intensive farming on a basic level means using everything available to a precision farmer to maximise the output from their farms.
How are high yield in short in intensive agriculture?
Using high quality seeds of modern hybrid species. Using chemical fertilizers and insecticides in order to secure a good amount of agricultural production. Using and applying different types procedures to replenish natural contents of the harvesting soil.
How do you get high yield from crops?
What Are The Ways To Increase Crop Yield?Quality Of Seeds. Agricultural productivity depends on the quality of seeds with which farmers sow their fields. … Field Productivity Zoning. … Monitoring Crops Growth. … Accurate Weather Prediction. … Regular Scouting. … Crop Protection Methods. … Soil Testing & Its Quality.
Which methods are used to get high yield?
The three methods to increase the yield of crops are: Using high yielding variety seeds. Use of modern irrigation methods so as to obtain more amount of water. Crop rotation so as to increase the fertility of the soil.
What is highly intensive agriculture?
What Is Intensive Agriculture? Intensive agriculture is a method of farming that uses large amounts of labor and investment to increase the yield of the land.
How do you maintain yield?
4 Steps to Maintain High Yields Between Growing SeasonsRight source: Matches fertilizer type to crop needs.Right rate: Matches the amount of fertilizer type crop needs.Right time: Makes nutrients available when crops need them.Right place: Keep nutrients where crops can use them.
What are high-yielding crops?
The major high-yielding crops, in terms of land devoted to their culture and the total amount of produce, are wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, potatoes, and cotton. Each of these crops originated from a low-yielding native plant that was gradually converted into one of the highest-yielding plants in the world.
How can high-yielding crop varieties be improved?
By improving the crop variety through cross-breeding and hybridization, the crop yield can be increased. The crop becomes resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. For short-duration crops, the early maturing varieties can fit the crop into multiple cropping varieties.
How do you increase yield in organic farming?
Successful Organic FarmingRecycled and composted crop wastes & animal manures.The accurate soil cultivation at the right time.Crop rotation.Green manures and legumes.Mulching on the soil surface.
How can intensive farming be improved?
Intensive farming Food production can be increased by growing high-yield crops, removing other plants and pests and adding fertiliser to the soil. Other intensive farming practices include keeping animals indoors, often in restricted spaces.
How is intensive agriculture done?
The maximization is achieved through typical intensive farming practices like increased use of fertilizers, insecticides, abundant irrigation, heavy machinery land treatment, planting high-yield species, expansion of new areas, among others. This way, higher inputs in industrial agriculture condition higher outcomes.
What are advantages of intensive farming?
The major advantage of intensive farming is extreme yields and high outputs. Farm yields are higher than traditional farming methods with yield per hectare being significantly higher.
What crop has the highest yield?
The highest yielding crops are sugar cane, sugar beet, and tomatoes. Sugar cane accounts for about 80% of the world’s sugar production, while sugar beet the remaining 20%.
How do we increase the yield of crops and livestock?
METHODS TO INCREASE YIELDS OF CROPS AND LIVESTOCK:By including better crop management like mixed farming, crop and fodder yield.By improved varieties of seeds and cropping practices.It can improve the yield of crops which indirectly provides improved food for livestock.More items…
What are the ways to increase production on agricultural fields?
How to Improve Farming ProductivityImplementation of land reforms. For improving the production, land reforms are the first and predominant point. … Interplant. … Plant more densely. … Plant many crops. … Raised beds. … Smart water management. … Heat Tolerant Varieties. … Use nitrogen.More items…•
Why is intensive farming better than extensive farming?
Optimal use of these materials and machines produces significantly greater crop yields per unit of land than extensive agriculture, which uses little capital or labour. As a result, a farm using intensive agriculture will require less land than an extensive agriculture farm to produce a similar profit. In practice, however, the increased economies and efficiencies of intensive agriculture often encourage farm operators to work very large tracts in order to keep their capital investments in machinery productively engaged— i.e., busy.
Why do intensive farms require less land?
As a result, a farm using intensive agriculture will require less land than an extensive agriculture farm to produce a similar profit. In practice, however, the increased economies and efficiencies of intensive agriculture often encourage farm operators to work very large tracts in order to keep their capital investments in machinery productively …
Why is intensive agriculture important?
On the level of theory, the increased productivity of intensive agriculture enables the farmer to use a relatively smaller land area that is located close to market, where land values are high relative to labour and capital , and this is true in many parts of the world.
Why is capital important?
Large amounts of labour and capital are necessary to the application of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growing crops, and capital is particularly important to the acquisition and maintenance of high-efficiency machinery for planting, cultivating, and harvesting, as well as irrigation equipment where that is required. …
What is extensive agriculture?
extensive agriculture, in agricultural economics, system of crop cultivation using small amounts of labour and capital in relation to area of land being farmed. The crop yield in extensive agriculture depends primarily on the natural fertility of the soil, the terrain, the climate, and the…
What is an encyclopedia editor?
Encyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. …
Do farmers use intensive farming?
However, in practice many relatively small-scale farmers employ some combination of intensive and extensive agriculture, and many of these operate relatively close to markets. Many large-scale farm operators, especially in such relatively vast and agriculturally advanced nations as Canada and the United States, practice intensive agriculture in areas where land values are relatively low, and at great distances from markets, and farm enormous tracts of land with high yields. However, in such societies overproduction (beyond market demands) often results in diminished profit as a result of depressed prices.
Why is biofortification important?
Due to depleted soils caused by intensive agriculture, produce, grains and other crops can wind up with less robust nutrient profiles than their counterparts raised organically or using extensive farming practices. Biofortification – whereby nutrients are added back into food before it is consumed by humans – is seen as a solution by some, however, others view it as being more of a bandaid approach, unsustainable in its own right.
What is monocropping in agriculture?
Monocropping is a defining feature of intensive plant agriculture. Large areas of land are planted with a single species, such as wheat, corn, or soy, with the latter two used heavily in animal feed. The use of synthetic fertilizers allow crops to be grown year after year on soil that becomes more depleted as time goes on; because time is money, fields are not allowed to go fallow, which would allow the soil to naturally replenish the nutrients plants require.
Why are intensive agriculture corporations vertically integrated?
In the United States, intensive agriculture corporations tend to be vertically integrated, freeing them from setting prices for their products that are determined by supply and demand , such as traditional farmers are forced to. This enables intensive operations to undercut smaller farms and eventually force them out of the market. Combined with the significant financial and political cloud multinational agricultural corporations have, fewer traditional farmers than ever are able to compete.
How can intensive agriculture be sustainable?
However, one of the most effective and immediate steps that can be taken towards sustainability is for people to curtail the consumption of animal products since these are the most polluting, resource-intensive, and cruelest forms of agriculture. Particularly those in wealthy nations like the United States and New Zealand – two of the highest per-capita consumers of meat – ought to decrease animal product consumption, since consuming animal products can produce negative health outcomes like cardiovascular disease.
How long do pigs live in the wild?
In the wild, pigs can live upwards of 20 years. Intensive agriculture aims to grow animals as fast as possible in as short a time as possible since it is costly to provide feed.
What is extensive agriculture?
Intensive and extensive agriculture stands in opposition to one another in many ways. Extensive farming refers to systems that use relatively small amounts of inputs, such as human labor, machinery such as tractors, and investment. Fewer inputs are needed to produce yields, since extensive agriculture tends to make use of naturally-occurring resources, such as fertile soil. Pastoral production, where animals are grazed outdoors for their entire lives or are tended to by nomadic farmers – is a type of extensive agriculture, as are operations that favor greater plant and crop diversity.
What are the most effective steps towards sustainability?
However, one of the most effective and immediate steps that can be taken towards sustainability is for people to curtail the consumption of animal products since these are the most polluting, resource-intensive, and cruelest forms of agriculture.
What is intensive farming?
Intensive farming on a basic level means using everything available to a precision farmer to maximise the output from their farms. This can be through fertilising fields to sometimes extreme levels, keeping livestock inside in smaller spaces or using high levels of pesticides to maintain soil at an optimal level.
How does increased use of fertilisers and pesticides affect the wider environment?
Increased use of fertilisers and pesticides has a detrimental effect on the wider environment with bodies of water situated close to intensive farms being significantly more contaminated than traditional farms.
Why are intensive farms more pollutant?
Intensive farms are likely to me more pollutant in general due to more chemicals being used in smaller areas.
Why is it easier to supervise a farm?
Supervision of the farm becomes easier as time goes on, this is because the farm adapts to the new high output ratio and farmers become more experienced in keeping their farms running at this level. More economical. The process allows for greater control over input to maximise output and profit margins reflect this.
Which produce is more affordable?
Healthier produce types like fruits and veg are more affordable to the public when intensive farming practices are used.
Can intensive farming affect profit margins?
There are major criticisms levied at intensive farmers and they have at times been vilified, especially by activist groups and environmental agencies, this can have a very detrimental effect if people associate your farm with bad farming practices and negatively affect profit margins.
Is intensive farming safe?
Intensive farming meets the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) protocols so produce is considered healthy, safe for consumption and because it is mass produced it is also readily affordable.