intensive agriculture
System of cultivation using large amounts of labour and capitalrelative to land area. Large amounts of labour and capital are necessary for theapplication of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growingcrops, and capital is particularly important to the acquisition and maintenanceof high-efficiency machinery for planting, cultivating, and harvesting, as wellas irrigation equipment where required.
Optimal use of these materials and machines produces significantly greatercrop yields per unit of land than extensive agriculture, which uses littlecapital or labour. As a result, a farm using intensive agriculture will requireless land than an extensive agriculture farm to produce a similar profit. Inpractice, however, the increased economies and efficiencies of intensiveagriculture often encourage farm operators to work very large tracts in order tokeep their capital investments in machinery productively engaged--i.e., busy.
On the level of theory, the increased productivity of intensive agricultureenables the farmer to use a relatively smaller land area that is located closeto market, where land values are high relative to labour and capital, and thisis true in many parts of the world. If costs of labour and capital outlays formachinery and chemicals, and costs of storage (where desired or needed) andtransportation to market are too high then farmers may find it more profitableto turn to extensive agriculture. However, in practice many relativelysmall-scale farmers employ some combination of intensive and extensiveagriculture, and many of these operate relatively close to markets. Manylarge-scale farm operators, especially in such relatively vast andagriculturally advanced nations as Canada and the United States, practiceintensive agriculture in areas where land values are relatively low, and atgreat distances from markets, and farm enormous tracts of land with high yields.However, in such societies overproduction (beyond market demands) often resultsin diminished profit as a result of depressed prices.
extensive agriculture
System of crop cultivation using small amounts of labour and capital inrelation to area of land being farmed. The crop yield in extensive agriculturedepends primarily on the natural fertility of the soil, terrain, climate, andthe availability of water.
Extensive agriculture is distinguished from intensive agriculture in that thelatter, employing large amounts of labour and capital, enables one to applyfertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides and to plant, cultivate,and often harvest mechanically. Because extensive agriculture produces a loweryield per unit of land, its use commercially requires large quantities of landin order to be profitable. This demand for land means that extensive agriculturemust be carried on where land values are low in relation to labour and capital,which in turn means that extensive agriculture is practiced where populationdensities are low and thus usually at some distance from primary markets.
Descriptions courtesy of:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
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FAQs
The main difference between intensive and extensive agriculture lies in the level of input per unit of land. Intensive agriculture involves high levels of input, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and technology, to maximize crop yield, whereas extensive agriculture relies on lower levels of input and larger land areas.
What is the difference between extensive and intensive agriculture? ›
Methodology. Intensive farming focuses on investing a lot of resources and labor into small tracts of land in order to increase yield. Extensive agriculture, on the other hand, employs larger tracts of land and lower quantities of labor and resources.
What is extensive agriculture and examples? ›
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 availability of water.
What is the difference between intensive and extensive dairy farming? ›
Extensive farming uses fewer resources and less labor but uses a larger land area and often results in a lower yield. Dairy farming can be practiced using either method. Most cows that are raised for their milk spend their lives on factory farms, which are an intensive farming method.
What is an example of intensive farming? ›
"Concentrated animal feeding operations" (CAFO), or "intensive livestock operations", can hold large numbers (some up to hundreds of thousands) of cows, hogs, turkeys, or chickens, often indoors. The essence of such farms is the concentration of livestock in a given space.
What is difference between extensive and intensive? ›
Extensive properties vary with the amount of the substance and include mass, weight, and volume. Intensive properties, in contrast, do not depend on the amount of the substance; they include colour, melting point, boiling point, electrical conductivity, and physical state at a given temperature.
Is wet rice intensive or extensive? ›
Intensive subsistence: wet rice dominant (4)
What is extensive agricultural use? ›
Extensive farming practices involve low inputs of labor per unit land area. These systems rely more on natural resources and less on human intervention compared to intensive farming practices.
Where is extensive agriculture most common? ›
Extensive agriculture is practiced in most regions of the world including western Canada and the United States, Australia, Russian and most of central Asia, parts of Europe and South America and Africa. The only continent that does not support extensive farming is Antarctica as no plants grow here.
Is ranching intensive or extensive? ›
Ranching is the act of running a ranch, which is essentially an extensive farm for the sole purpose of raising livestock and crops.
Wise advice and as true today as ever. . . The production of garden vegetables, commonly called truck farming, is one of the most intensive types of farming, and requires a comparatively high capitalization as well a a large amount of labor.
Is fruit intensive or extensive? ›
The U.S. fruit and vegetable industry is labor intensive, pays higher wages than are paid in many other countries, and increasingly operates in a global economy.
Is poultry and eggs intensive or extensive? ›
Most of industrial poultry production, comprising broilers (bred for meat production) and layers (used for eggs production), is raised in intensive production farms.
What is the difference between intensive and extensive farming? ›
An agricultural practice known as "intensive farming" uses a lot of labor and resources compared to the amount of land it occupies. Extensive farming is a farming method that involves cultivating huge farms with comparatively smaller inputs, such as cash and labor.
What does extensive mean in agriculture? ›
Extensive farming or extensive agriculture (as opposed to intensive farming) is an agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labour, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed.
Is plantation farming intensive or extensive? ›
Answer and Explanation: Plantation agriculture is intensive. Intensive agriculture is agriculture in which the amount of capital per unit area of land farmed is high. Plantation agriculture involves a monoculture that is mechanically harvested.
What is the difference between intensive and extensive agriculture quizlet? ›
Intensive farming uses alot of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides and machinery. Whereas extensive farming relies on traditional methods of farming.
What is the difference between intensive and extensive breeding? ›
Extensive farming usually require no additional feeding but the grass and hay, intensively breeding cattle are being feeded additionally with supplements, silage, compound feeds, cereal – based feeds, etc.
What is the difference between intensive agriculture and intensive subsistence agriculture? ›
Subsistence farming is done with sole purpose of meeting the needs of the farmer's family while intensive farming is done with the sole purpose of sale of the farm produce.
What are key differences between extensive and intensive aquaculture? ›
Unlike extensive systems, intensive aquaculture relies on external food supplies and cleaning. They also have a much higher environmental impact than extensive systems.
