{{farming}}

'''Intensive farming''' or '''intensive agriculture''' is an [[agricultural]] production system characterized by a low [[fallow]] ratio and the high use of inputs such as [[Capital (economics)|capital]], [[Labour (economics)|labour]], or heavy use of [[pesticides]] and chemical [[fertilizers]] relative to land area.<ref name="britannicaRef">[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9042533 Encyclopaedia Britannica's definition of Intensive Agriculture]</ref><ref name="bbcFactSheet">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/biology/livingthingsenvironment/4foodandsustainabilityrev5.shtml BBC School fact sheet on intensive farming]</ref>

This is in contrast to many sorts of [[traditional agriculture]] in which the inputs per unit land are lower. With intensification, labor use typically goes up, unless, or until, it gets replaced by machines (energy inputs) at which point labor use can decrease dramatically. Agricultural intensification has been the dominant response to population growth, as it allows for producing more food on the same amount of land.

Intensive animal farming practices can involve very large numbers of animals raised on limited land which require large amounts of food, water and medical inputs (required to keep the animals healthy in cramped conditions).<ref name="bbcFactSheet"/> Very large or confined indoor intensive livestock operations (particularly descriptive of common US farming practices) are often referred to as [[factory farming]]<ref name="britannicaRef"/><ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Factory%20farming Factory farming. Webster's Dictionary definition of Factory farming]</ref><ref name="britannicaRefFactoryFarm">[http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9364147 Encyclopaedia Britannica's definition of Factory farm]</ref> and are criticised by opponents for the low level of animal welfare standards<ref name="britannicaRefFactoryFarm"/><ref name="pigIntensiveHealth">[http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/oldcomm4/out17_en.html The Welfare of Intensively Kept Pigs]</ref> and associated pollution and health issues.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/07/28/000727farming.html Commissioner points to factory farming as source of contamination]</ref><ref name="epaUKPDF">[http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/105385/rebuildag_908097.pdf Rebuilding Agriculture - EPA of UK]</ref>

Modern day forms of intensive crop based agriculture involve the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical [[fertilizer]]s, plant growth regulators or [[pesticide]]s. It is associated with the increasing use of [[Mechanised agriculture|agricultural mechanization]], which have enabled a substantial increase in production, yet have also dramatically increased environmental pollution by increasing erosion and poisoning water with agricultural chemicals.

==Advantages==

Intensive agriculture has a number of benefits:<ref name="britannicaRefIntensiveAgriculture">[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9042533/intensive-agriculture ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' - Intensive Agriculture]</ref>

* Significantly increased yield per acre, per person, and per GBP relative to extensive farming and therefore,

* Food becomes more affordable to the consumer as it costs less to produce.

* The same area of land is able to supply food and fibre for a larger population reducing the risk of starvation.

* The preservation of existing areas of woodland and rainforest habitats (and the ecosystems and other sustainable economies that these may harbour), which would need to be felled for extensive farming methods in the same geographical location. This also leads to a reduction in anthropogenic CO2 generation (resulting from removal of the sequestration afforded by woodlands and rainforests).

* In the case of intensive livestock farming: an opportunity to capture methane emissions which would otherwise contribute to global warming. Once captured, these emissions can be used to generate heat or electrical energy, thereby reducing local demand for fossil fuels.

==Disadvantages==

{{Refimprove section|date=February 2010}}

Intensive farming, however, alters the environment in many ways.

* Limits or destroys the natural habitat of most wild creatures, and leads to soil erosion.<ref>Rayner, Jay.

[http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-for-intensive-farming.html], ''Advantages and Disadvantages of Intensive Farming'', October 11, 2011. </ref>

* Use of [[fertilizers]] can alter the biology of [[rivers]] and [[lakes]].<ref name="epaUKPDF"/> Some environmentalists attribute the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico as being encouraged by nitrogen fertilization of the algae bloom.

* Pesticides generally kill useful insects as well as those that destroy crops.<ref>Rayner, Jay.

[http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-for-intensive-farming.html "Advantages and Disadvantages of Intensive Farming"], October 11, 2011.</ref>

* Is often not [[sustainable]] if not properly managed—may result in [[desertification]], or land that is so poisonous and eroded that nothing else will grow there.

* Requires large amounts of energy input to produce, transport, and apply chemical fertilizers/pesticides

* The chemicals used may leave the field as runoff eventually ending up in rivers and lakes or may drain into groundwater aquifers.

* Use of pesticides have numerous negative health effects in workers who apply them, people that live nearby the area of application or downstream/downwind from it, and consumers who eat the pesticides which remain on their food.

===Terrace===

[[Image:Terrace field yunnan china denoised.jpg|right|thumb|Terrace rice fields in Yunnan Province, China]]

{{Main|Terrace (agriculture)}}

In [[agriculture]], a [[Terrace (agriculture)|terrace]] is a leveled section of a [[hill]]y cultivated area, designed as a method of [[soil conservation]] to slow or prevent the rapid [[surface runoff]] of [[irrigation]] water. Often such land is formed into multiple terraces, giving a stepped appearance. The human landscapes of [[rice]] cultivation in terraces that follow the natural contours of the escarpments like [[contour ploughing]] is a classic feature of the island of [[Bali]] and the [[Banaue Rice Terraces]] in [[Benguet]], [[Philippines]]. In [[Peru]], the [[Tahuantinsuyu|Inca]] made use of otherwise unusable slopes by [[drystone wall]]ing to create terraces.

===Rice paddy===

{{Main|Paddy field}}

A '''paddy field''' is a flooded parcel of [[arable land]] used for growing [[rice]] and other [[Aquatic plant|semiaquatic crops]]. Paddy fields are a typical feature of [[rice]]-growing countries of [[East Asia|east]] and [[southeast Asia]] including [[Malaysia]], [[China]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Korea]], [[Japan]], [[Vietnam]], [[Taiwan]], [[Indonesia]], [[India]], and the [[Philippines]]. They are also found in other rice-growing regions such as [[Piedmont]] (Italy), the [[Camargue]] (France) and the [[Artibonite Valley]] (Haiti). They can occur naturally along [[river]]s or [[marshes]], or can be constructed, even on hillsides, often with much [[manual labour|labour]] and materials. They require large quantities of water for [[irrigation]], which can be quite complex for a highly developed system of paddy fields. Flooding provides water essential to the growth of the crop. It also gives an environment favourable to the strain of rice being grown, and is hostile to many [[species]] of [[weed]]s. As the only [[draft animal]] species which isn [[wetlands]], the [[water buffalo]] is in widespread use in Asian rice paddies. World methane production due to rice paddies has been estimated in the range of 50 to 100 million tonnes per annum.<ref>[http://www.ghgonline.org/methanerice.htm Methane gas generation from rice paddies]</ref>

Paddy-based rice-farming has been practiced Korea since ancient times. A pit-house at the Daecheon-ni site yielded carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates indicating that rice cultivation may have begun as early as the Middle [[Jeulmun Pottery Period]] (c. 3500-2000 BC) in the [[Korean Peninsula]] (Crawford and Lee 2003).{{Page needed|date=September 2010}} The earliest rice cultivation in the Korean Peninsula may have used dry-fields instead of paddies.

The earliest Mumun features were usually located in low-lying narrow gulleys that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. Some Mumun paddies in flat areas were made of a series of squares and rectangles separated by bunds approximately 10&nbsp;cm in height, while terraced paddies consisted of long irregularly shapes that followed natural contours of the land at various levels (Bale 2001; Kwak 2001).{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}

Mumun Period rice farmers used all of the elements that are present in today's paddies such terracing, bunds, canals, and small reservoirs. Some paddy-farming techniques of the Middle Mumun (c. 850-550 BC) can be interpreted from the well-preserved wooden tools excavated from archaeological rice paddies at the Majeon-ni Site. However, [[iron]] tools for paddy-farming were not introduced until sometime after 200 BC. The spatial scale of individual paddies, and thus entire paddy-fields, increased with the regular use of [[Iron Age|iron]] tools in the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea]] Period (c. AD 300/400-668).

==Modern intensive farming types==

{{Main|Industrial agriculture}}

Modern intensive farming refers to the [[Industry|industrialized]] production of animals (livestock, poultry and fish) and [[Crop (agriculture)|crops]]. The methods deployed are designed to produce the highest output at the lowest cost; usually using economies of scale, modern machinery, modern medicine, and [[Globalization|global trade]] for financing, purchases and sales. The practice is widespread in [[developed nation]]s, and most of the [[meat]], [[dairy]], [[Egg (food)|egg]]s, and crops available in [[supermarket]]s are produced in this manner.

===Sustainable intensive farming===

{{Main|Sustainable farming}}

[[Biointensive]] agriculture focuses on maximizing efficiency: yield per unit area, yield per energy input, yield per water input, etc.

[[Agroforestry]] combines agriculture and orchard/forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. [[Intercropping]] can also increase total yields per unit of area or reduce inputs to achieve the same, and thus represents (potentially sustainable) agricultural intensification. Unfortunately, yields of any specific crop often diminish and the change can present new challenges to farmers relying on modern farming equipment which is best suited to [[monoculture]]. [[Vertical farming]], a type of intensive crop production that would grow food on a large scale in urban centers, has been proposed as a way to reduce the negative environmental impact of traditional rural agriculture.

===Intensive aquaculture===

{{Main|Aquaculture}}

Aquaculture is the cultivation of the natural produce of [[water]] ([[fish]], [[shellfish]], [[algae]], [[seaweed]] and other aquatic organisms). Intensive Aquaculture can often involve tanks or other highly controlled systems which are designed to boost production for the available volume or area of water resource.<ref name="AmericanHeritageDef">[http://www.answers.com/topic/aquaculture American Heritage Definition of Aquaculture]</ref><ref name="McGrawHillDef">[http://www.answers.com/topic/aquaculture McGraw Hill Sci-Tech Encyclopedia]</ref>

===Intensive livestock farming===

{{Main|Factory farming}}

[[Image:Florida chicken house.jpg|thumb|right|A commercial chicken house raising broiler pullets for meat.]]

"Factory farming" is a term referring to the process of raising [[livestock]] in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a [[factory]] — a practice typical in [[Industrial agriculture (animals)|industrial farming]] by [[agribusiness]]es.<ref>Sources discussing "intensive farming", "intensive agriculture" or "factory farming":

*Fraser, David. [http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0158e/a0158e00.HTM ''Animal welfare and the intensification of animal production: An alternative interpretation''], Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005.

*Turner, Jacky. [http://www.unsystem.org/SCN/archives/scnnews21/ch04.htm#TopOfPage "History of factory farming"], United Nations: "Fifty years ago in Europe, intensification of animal production was seen as the road to national food security and a better diet ... The '''intensive systems''' – called ''''factory farms'''' – were characterised by confinement of the animals at high stocking density, often in barren and unnatural conditions."

*Simpson, John. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,475210,00.html Why the organic revolution had to happen], ''The Observer'', April 21, 2001: "Nor is a return to 'primitive' farming practices the only alternative to '''factory farming''' and highly '''intensive agriculture'''."

*Baker, Stanley. [http://century.guardian.co.uk/1960-1969/Story/0,,105655,00.html "Factory farms — the only answer to our growing appetite?], ''The Guardian'', December 29, 1964: "'''Factory farming''', whether we like it or not, has come to stay ... In a year which has been as uneventful on the husbandry side as it has been significant in economic and political developments touching the future of food procurement, the more far-seeing would name the growth of '''intensive farming''' as the major development." (Note: Stanley Baker was the Guardian's agriculture correspondent.)

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1205545.stm "Head to head: Intensive farming"], BBC News, March 6, 2001: "Here, Green MEP Caroline Lucas takes issue with the '''intensive farming''' methods of recent decades ... In the wake of the spread of BSE from the UK to the continent of Europe, the German Government has appointed an Agriculture Minister from the Green Party. She intends to end '''factory farming''' in her country. This must be the way forward and we should end '''industrial agriculture''' in this country as well."</ref><ref>Sources discussing "industrial farming" , "industrial agriculture" and "factory farming":

*[http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y2772E/y2772e0c.htm "Annex 2. Permitted substances for the production of organic foods"], Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: "''''Factory' farming''' refers to '''industrial management systems''' that are heavily reliant on veterinary and feed inputs not permitted in organic agriculture.

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1205545.stm "Head to head: Intensive farming"], BBC News, March 6, 2001: "Here, Green MEP Caroline Lucas takes issue with the '''intensive farming''' methods of recent decades ... In the wake of the spread of BSE from the UK to the continent of Europe, the German Government has appointed an Agriculture Minister from the Green Party. She intends to end '''factory farming''' in her country. This must be the way forward and we should end '''industrial agriculture''' in this country as well."</ref><ref name="Kaufmann">Kaufmann, Mark. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501785.html "Largest Pork Processor to Phase Out Crates"], ''The Washington Post'', January 26, 2007.</ref><ref name="mc1">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1046184.stm "EU tackles BSE crisis"], BBC News, November 29, 2000.</ref><ref>"Is factory farming really cheaper?" in ''New Scientist'', Institution of

Electrical Engineers, New Science Publications, University of Michigan, 1971, p. 12.</ref> The main product of this industry is [[meat]], [[milk]] and [[egg (food)|eggs]] for human consumption.<ref>Danielle Nierenberg (2005)'' Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry''. Worldwatch Paper 121: 5</ref> The term is often used in a pejorative sense, criticising large scale farming processes which confine animals.<ref name="encyc-organic">{{cite book|last=Duram|first=Leslie A. |title=Encyclopedia of Organic, Sustainable, and Local Food|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=0-313-35963-6|page=139}}</ref>

===Managed intensive grazing===

{{Main|Managed intensive grazing}}

This sustainable intensive livestock management system is increasingly used to optimize production within a sustainability framework and is generally not considered [[Factory farming]].

Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs of capital, labour, or heavy usage of technologies such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica's definition of Intensive Agriculture</ref>

This is in contrast to many forms of sustainable agriculture such as permaculture or extensive agriculture, which involve a relatively low input of materials and labour, relative to the area of land farmed, and which focus on maintaining long-term ecological health of farmland, so that it can be farmed indefinitely.

Modern day forms of intensive crop based agriculture involve the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, plant growth regulators and pesticides. It is associated with the increasing use of agricultural mechanization, which have enabled a substantial increase in production, yet have also dramatically increased environmental pollution by increasing erosion, poisoning water with agricultural chemicals, and destroying forests to make room for farmland.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica's definition of Intensive Agriculture</ref>

Very large or confined indoor intensive livestock operations (particularly descriptive of common US farming practices) are often referred to as [[Factory farming]]<ref>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Factory%20farming</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_farming#cite_note-britannicaRef-1</ref> and are criticised by opponents for the low level of animal welfare standards<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_farming#cite_note-britannicaRef-1</ref> and associated pollution and health issues.<ref>http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/07/28/000727farming.html</ref>

==Individual industrial agriculture farm==

Major challenges and issues faced by individual industrial agriculture farms include:

* [[Integrated farming]] systems

* [[Crop sequencing]]

* [[Water use efficiency]]

* Nutrient audits

* [[Herbicide resistance]]

* Financial instruments (such as futures and options)

* Collecting and understanding own farm information

* Knowing products / markets / customers

* Satisfying [[customer needs]]

* Securing an acceptable [[profit margin]]

* Cost of servicing debt

* Ability to earn and access off-farm income

* Management of machinery and stewardship investments<ref name="information management">[http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1995/roc1995001.htm The Regional Institute] article ''EVOLUTION OF THE FARM OFFICE''</ref>

===Integrated farming systems===

{{See also|Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture|Zero waste agriculture}}

An integrated farming system is a progressive biologically integrated [[sustainable agriculture]] system such as [[Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture]] or [[Zero waste agriculture]] whose implementation requires exacting knowledge of the interactions of numerous species and whose benefits include sustainability and increased profitability.

Elements of this integration can include:

* Intentionally introducing flowering plants into agricultural ecosystems to increase pollen-and nectar-resources required by natural enemies of insect pests<ref>[http://ifs.orst.edu/insect.html Oregon State University - Integrated Farming Systems - Insectary Plantings - Enhancing Biological Control with Beneficial Insectary Plants]</ref>

* Using crop rotation and cover crops to suppress nematodes in potatoes<ref>[http://ifs.orst.edu/pubs/nscc.html Oregon State University - Integrated Farming Systems - Nematode Supression by Cover Crops]</ref>

===Crop rotation===

{{Main|Crop rotation}}

[[Image:Crops Kansas AST 20010624.jpg|thumb|300px|Satellite image of circular crop fields in [[Haskell County, Kansas]] in late June 2001. Healthy, growing crops of [[maize|corn]] and [[sorghum]] are green (Sorghum may be slightly paler). [[Wheat]] is brilliant gold. Fields of brown have been recently harvested and plowed under or have lain in fallow for the year.]]

Crop rotation or crop sequencing is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of [[Crop (agriculture)|crops]] in the same space in sequential seasons for various benefits such as to avoid the build up of [[pathogens]] and pests that often occurs when one species is continuously cropped. Crop rotation also seeks to balance the fertility demands of various crops to avoid excessive depletion of soil nutrients. A traditional component of crop rotation is the replenishment of [[nitrogen]] through the use of [[green manure]] in sequence with cereals and other crops. It is one component of [[polyculture]]. Crop rotation can also improve [[soil structure]] and [[fertility (soil)|fertility]] by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants.

===Irrigation===

{{Main|Water conservation}}

[[Image:PivotIrrigationOnCotton.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Overhead irrigation, [[center pivot irrigation|center pivot]] design]]

Crop [[irrigation]] accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water use.<ref>Pimentel, Berger, et al., "Water resources: agricultural and environmental issues", BioScience 54.10 (Oct 2004), p909</ref> The agricultural sector of most countries is important both economically and politically, and water subsidies are common. Conservation advocates have urged removal of all subsidies to force farmers to grow more water-efficient crops and adopt less wasteful irrigation techniques.

Optimal water efficiency means minimizing losses due to evaporation, runoff or subsurface drainage. An [[evaporation pan]] can be used to determine how much water is required to irrigate the land. [[surface irrigation|Flood irrigation]], the oldest and most common type, is often very uneven in distribution, as parts of a field may receive excess water in order to deliver sufficient quantities to other parts. [[Irrigation#Overhead (sprinkler) irrigation|Overhead irrigation]], using center-pivot or lateral-moving sprinklers, gives a much more equal and controlled distribution pattern. [[Drip irrigation]] is the most expensive and least-used type, but offers the best results in delivering water to plant roots with minimal losses.

As changing irrigation systems can be a costly undertaking, conservation efforts often concentrate on maximizing the efficiency of the existing system. This may include chiseling compacted soils, creating furrow dikes to prevent runoff, and using soil moisture and rainfall sensors to optimize irrigation schedules.<ref>US EPA, "[http://www.epa.gov/ow/you/chap3.html Clean Water Through Conservation]", Practices for Agricultural Users</ref>

[[Water catchment]] management measures include [[recharge pit]]s, which capture rainwater and runoff and use it to recharge ground water supplies. This helps in the formation of ground water wells, etc. and eventually reduces soil erosion caused due to running water.

===Herbicide resistance===

{{Main|Weed control}}

In agriculture, large scale and systematic weeding is usually required, often performed by machines such as cultivators or liquid herbicide sprayers. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often based on plant [[hormones]]. [[Weed control]] through [[herbicide]] is made more difficult when the weeds become resistant to the herbicide. Solutions include:

* Using cover crops (especially those with [[allelopathic]] properties) that out-compete weeds or inhibit their regeneration.

* Using a different herbicide

* Using a different crop (e.g. genetically altered to be herbicide resistant; which ironically can create herbicide resistant weeds through [[horizontal gene transfer]])

* Using a different variety (e.g. locally adapted variety that resists, tolerates, or even out-competes weeds)

* Ploughing

* Ground cover such as mulch or plastic

* Manual removal

==See also==

{{portal|Agriculture and Agronomy}}

*[[Environmental issues with agriculture]]

*[[Green Revolution]]

*[[Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture]]

*[[Permaculture]]

*[[Polyculture]]

*[[Small-scale agriculture]]

*[[System of Rice Intensification]]

*[[Dryland farming]]

=External Links=

*[http://www.fcc-fac.ca/en/Products/Property/FLV/Fall2012/index.asp#on Fall 2012 Farm Values Report]

==References==

{{Reflist|2}}

*[http://www.springerlink.com/content/604h6722654qr826/fulltext.html Juri Nascimbene1 ,Lorenzo Marini, and Maurizio G. Paoletti1. Environmental Management; May2012, Vol. 49 Issue 5, p1054-1060, 7p.]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Intensive Farming}}

[[Category:Agriculture]]

[[Category:Industrial agriculture]]

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[[da:Industrialiserede landbrug]]

[[de:Landwirtschaft#Extensive und intensive Landwirtschaft]]

[[et:Intensiivpõllundus]]

[[es:Agricultura intensiva]]

[[eo:Intensa agrikulturo]]

[[eu:Nekazaritza intentsibo]]

[[fr:Agriculture intensive]]

[[id:Pertanian intensif]]

[[it:Coltura intensiva]]

[[mn:Эрчимжсэн фермийн аж ахуй]]

[[nl:Intensieve landbouw]]

[[ja:集約農業]]

[[pa:ਉਦਯੋਗਿਕ ਖੇਤੀਬਾੜੀ]]

[[pl:Rolnictwo intensywne]]

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[[simple:Intensive farming]]

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