Farm

:''For other meanings, see Farm (disambiguation)

A typical North American grain farm with farmstead in Ontario

A farm is the basic unit in agriculture. It is a section of land devoted to the production and management of food, either produce or livestock.
It may be an enterprise owned and operated by a single individual, family, or community, or it may be owned by a corporation or company. A farm can be a holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares.

An enterprise producing tree fruits or nuts is called an orchard; a vineyard is an enterprise producing raisins, wine or table grapes. The stable is used for operations principally involved in the production of horses and other animals and livestock.A farm that is primarily used for the production of milk and dairy is a dairy farm.A market garden or truck farm is a farm that raises vegetables, but little or no grain.

History of farming

Many farms have fallen into disrepair, such as the ruins of Higher Hempshaw's in Anglezarke, England

The word farm has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon word feorm, which relates to provisioning and food supply, and was originally indicative of a form of taxation, whereby goods or monetary equivalents were liable to the king. Over time, this taxation was translated into a form of rental tax.

The development of farming and farms was an important component in establishing towns. Once people have moved from hunting and/or gathering and from simple horticulture to active farming, social arrangements of roads, distribution, collection, and marketing can evolve. With the exception of plantations and colonial farms, farm sizes tend to be small in newly-settled lands and to extend as transportation and markets become sophisticated. Farming rights have been the central tenet of a number of revolutions, wars of liberation, and post-colonial economics.

British Isles and Europe

In the UK, farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes the area of pasture and other fields together with its farmhouse and farmyard, barns, cowsheds, stables, etc.In England there is a vague point when a large farm ceases to be referred to as a farm and becomes an estate; although this term can refer to a collection of farms in the same ownership.

North America

Farming near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania.

The land and buildings of a farm are called the farmstead. Enterprises where livestock are raised on rangeland are called ranches. Where livestock are raised in confinement on feed produced elsewhere, the term feedlot is usually used.

See also

*Agriculture
*Smallholding

Vehicles and implements used for farming

*Farm equipment
*Baler
*Combine harvester
*Farm tractor
*Mower
*Pickup truck
*Plough

Photo gallery

Image:Bales of hay.jpg|Bales of straw on a farm near Ames, IowaImage:Dairycattle2173.JPG|Cattle on an Amish dairy farm near Dundee, New YorkImage:Sheep eating grass edit02.jpg|Sheep eating grass on an Australian farmImage:88725503 c90d939110.jpg|Farming in North CarolinaImage:Cows in green field - nullamunjie olive grove03.jpg|Herd of Hereford cows in a field used for farmingImage:Sifton (Manitoba).jpg|A typical farm yard on the Canadian prairies.

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