Agriculture in the country and the world
Farming gives food, fibre and fuel crops to a growing world. Places differ: some have many tiny family farms, others have a few huge farms. Some grow mostly rice or wheat, others raise cattle or grow vegetables.
- Many people, limited land: farmland is limited, so we need higher yield from each hectare.
- Trade links countries: many places import some food and export other food.
- Food self-sufficiency means how much of a country's food comes from its own farms.
- Climate and weather risks such as drought and floods affect farms everywhere.
Compare your own area with the world: what is grown, how large are farms, and who farms them?
Trends in farm management
- Fewer, larger farms. Some farmers leave farming, and others rent or buy their land. The total number falls but the average size grows.
- Ageing farmers. The average age rises because fewer young people start farming. This is the successor problem.
- More technology. Tractors, drones, sensors and farm software save labour and use water and fertiliser carefully (smart farming).
- Farm as a business. Farms use accounts, plan costs, sell directly to shops or online, and add value by processing (jam, cheese, flour). This mix of growing, processing and selling is sometimes called the sixth industry.
- Groups and companies. Neighbours form cooperatives or farm companies to share machines and work.
- Care for the environment. Less chemical use, more organic and sustainable methods.
Food, agriculture and rural policy and laws
Governments make policy because food is a basic need and farming is hard to do alone. Three big aims:
- Steady food supply: price support, stockpiles, support for farmers who face disaster, and aims for more home-grown food.
- Safe food: laws on food labels, hygiene and pesticide limits.
- Living villages: rural development with roads, schools, jobs and protection of farmland and the countryside.
Other tools: subsidies and loans, rules on land use, support for young farmers and training. Laws differ by country, so look up the main law of your own country, and ask what each is for.
Consumption trends and the social and economic setting
- Diets change. As incomes rise, people often eat less grain and more vegetables, fruit, dairy, eggs and meat, and more ready-to-eat food.
- Smaller households and busy lives raise demand for ready meals and eating out.
- Health and the environment push demand for safe, local, organic and low-waste food.
- Ageing and falling population in some places shrinks the market; growing cities enlarge it elsewhere.
- Prices and trade: world prices, costs of fuel and fertiliser, and exchange rates affect farm income.
- Food waste is a big loss: reducing it is part of good food policy.
Try it yourself
Ask a grandparent or older neighbour: how many farms were in the village when you were young, and how many now? What did families eat then, and now? Write two trends you find. In the 3D, drag the year slider from the start to the end and compare with your answers.
Key formulas and definitions
- Average farm size = total farmland / number of farms
- Food self-sufficiency (%) = home-grown food / food eaten x 100
- Four trends: fewer farms, ageing farmers, changing diets, policy support
Worked examples
1. A district has 1000 ha of farmland and 100 farms. What is the average farm size?
1000 / 100 = 10 ha per farm.
2. Years later the same 1000 ha is held by 40 farms. What is the new average size, and how many times bigger is it?
1000 / 40 = 25 ha. 25 / 10 = 2.5 times bigger.
3. A country eats food worth 200 units a year and grows 120 units at home. What is its self-sufficiency?
120 / 200 x 100 = 60 percent.
Common mistakes
- Thinking fewer farms means less farmland. Land can stay the same while farm size grows.
- Treating teaching numbers as real statistics. Always check your own country's data.
- Believing every place follows the same trends at the same speed.
- Forgetting that policy and law exist to keep food safe and supplies steady, not only to help farmers.