A farm (also called an agricultural holding ) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialized units such as arable farms , vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fiber , biofuel , and other commodities . It includes ranches, feedlots , orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings, and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times, the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms , both of which can operate on land or at sea.
121-490: There are about 570 million farms in the world, most of which are small and family-operated. Small farms with a land area of fewer than 2 hectares operate on about 12% of the world's agricultural land, and family farms comprise about 75% of the world's agricultural land. Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on rangeland and finished in feedlots , and
242-560: A birthright . It is in these nations very often a political rallying cry against change in agricultural policy , most commonly in France , Japan , and the United States , where rural lifestyles are often regarded as desirable. In these countries, strange bedfellows can often be found arguing for similar measures despite otherwise vast differences in political ideology . For example, Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader , both candidates for
363-399: A hill farm , while large estates growing cash crops such as cotton or coffee may be called plantations. Many other terms are used to describe farms to denote their methods of production, as in collective , corporate , intensive , organic or vertical . Other farms may primarily exist for research or education, such as an ant farm , and since farming is synonymous with mass production,
484-448: A capacity of over 6,000 MW by 2012, with a goal of 20,000 MW by 2020. As of December 2020, the 1218 MW Hornsea Wind Farm in the UK is the largest offshore wind farm in the world . Individual wind turbine designs continue to increase in power , resulting in fewer turbines being needed for the same total output. Because they require no fuel, wind farms have less impact on
605-471: A drop in tourism. Some critics claim that wind farms have adverse health effects, but most researchers consider these claims to be pseudoscience (see wind turbine syndrome ). Wind farms can interfere with radar, although in most cases, according to the US Department of Energy, "siting and other mitigations have resolved conflicts and allowed wind projects to co-exist effectively with radar". Location
726-700: A farm may be worked by the same family over many generations, but what is inherited is not the farm's estate itself but the lease on the estate. In much of Europe, serfdom was abolished only in the modern period, in Western Europe after the French Revolution , in Russia as late as in 1861 . In contrast to the Roman system of latifundia and the derived system of manoralism, the Germanic peoples had
847-491: A farm to offspring. Conversion of a sole proprietorship family farm to a family corporation may also be influenced by legal and financial, e.g. tax, considerations. The Canadian Encyclopedia estimates that more than 90 percent of Canadian farms are family operations. In 2006, of Canadian farms with more than one million dollars in annual gross farm receipts, about 63 percent were family corporations and 13 percent were non-family corporations. Analysis of data for 59,000 farms in
968-541: A given year." The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines a "family farm" as one that relies primarily on family members for labour and management. In some usages, "family farm" implies that the farm remains within the ownership of a family over a number of generations. Being special-purpose definitions, the definitions found in laws or regulations may differ substantially from commonly understood meanings of "family farm". For example, In
1089-418: A greater share of total farming input expenditures towards the purchase of locally sourced input?(e.g. labour and organic fertilisers) and a local multiplier effect is expected to kick in. Overall, green farming practices tend to require more labour inputs than conventional farming (e.g. from comparable levels to as much as 30 per cent more) (FAO 2007 and European Commission 2010), creating jobs in rural areas and
1210-511: A higher return on labour inputs." Where most of the income is from some other employment, and the farm is really an expanded residence, the term hobby farm is common. This will allow sufficient size for recreational use but be very unlikely to produce sufficient income to be self-sustaining. Hobby farms are commonly around 2 hectares (4.9 acres) but may be much larger depending upon land prices (which vary regionally). Often very small farms used for intensive primary production are referred to by
1331-565: A holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares. A farm may operate under a monoculture system or with a variety of cereal or arable crops, which may be separate from or combined with raising livestock. Specialist farms are often denoted as such, thus a dairy farm, fish farm, poultry farm or mink farm. Some farms may not use the word at all, hence vineyard (grapes), orchard (nuts and other fruit), market garden or "truck farm" (vegetables and flowers). Some farms may be denoted by their topographical location, such as
SECTION 10
#17327651932311452-480: A key indicator of status and power, especially in Medieval European agrarian societies . The distribution of farm ownership has historically been closely linked to form of government. Medieval feudalism was essentially a system that centralized control of farmland, control of farm labor and political power, while the early American democracy, in which land ownership was a prerequisite for voting rights,
1573-528: A large farm becomes a station . A farm in Africa includes various structures. Depending on climate-related areas primarily farming is the raising and breeding of grazing livestock, such as cattle, sheep, ostriches, horses or goats. Predominantly domestic animals are raised for their meat, milk, skin, leather or fiber wool). You might even come across silk farms. Furthermore, there are plenty of hunting farms, guest farms and game farms . Arable] or irrigated land
1694-466: A list of capable areas is constructed, the list is refined based on long term wind measurements, among other environmental or technical limiting factors such as proximity to load and land procurement. Many independent system operators (ISOs) in the United States such as the California ISO and Midcontinent ISO use interconnection request queues to allow developers to propose a new generation for
1815-481: A maximum capacity of 1.65 MW, for a total of 24.75 MW. The 15 on-shore turbines are spaced 326 metres (1,070 ft) apart, each 70 metres (230 ft) high, with 41 metres (135 ft) long blades, with a rotor diameter of 82 metres (269 ft) and a wind swept area of 5,281 square metres (56,840 sq ft). Phase II was completed in August 2008, and added 5 more wind turbines with the same capacity, and brought
1936-430: A minimum of 3.5 times the turbine's rotor diameter of clear space between each adjacent turbine's respective spatial envelope. Closer spacing is possible depending on the turbine model, the conditions at the site, and how the site will be operated. Airflows slow as they approach an obstacle, known as the 'blockage effect', reducing available wind power by 2% for the turbines in front of other turbines. The capacity of
2057-559: A single family; but again, this fact does not imply that corporate farming is a small presence in Brazilian agriculture; rather, it simply reflects the fact that large farms with many workers cannot be legally classified under the family farm label because that label is legally reserved for smallholdings in that country. Farms that would not be considered family farms would be those operated as collectives, non-family corporations, or in other institutionalised forms. At least 500 million of
2178-499: A single wind turbine for testing purposes have been built. One such installation is Østerild Wind Turbine Test Field . Airborne wind farms have been envisaged. Such wind farms are a group of airborne wind energy systems located close to each other connected to the grid at the same point. Wind farms consisting of diverse wind turbines have been proposed in order to efficiently use wider ranges of wind speeds. Such wind farms are proposed to be projected under two criteria: maximization of
2299-460: A specific given area and grid interconnection. These request queues have both deposit costs at the time of request and ongoing costs for the studies the ISO will make for up to years after the request was submitted to ascertain the viability of the interconnection due to factors such as ATC. Larger corporations who can afford to bid the most queues will most likely have market power as to which sites with
2420-631: A system based on heritable estates owned by individual families or clans . The Germanic term for "heritable estate, allodium " was *ōþalan ( Old English ēþel ), which incidentally was also used as a rune name ; the gnomic verse on this term in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem reads: In the inheritance system known as Salic patrimony (also gavelkind in its exceptional survival in medieval Kent) refers to this clan -based possession of real estate property, particularly in Germanic context. Terra salica could not be sold or otherwise disposed; it
2541-678: A system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60 per cent of the European Union's annual budget, and as of 2013 accounts for around 34 per cent. According to the World Bank , "most empirical evidence indicates that land productivity on large farms in Pakistan is lower than that of small farms, holding other factors constant." Small farmers have "higher net returns per hectare" than large farms, according to farm household income data. Nepal
SECTION 20
#17327651932312662-511: A technologically and economically conventional manner, produce crops and animal products oriented to national and international markets, rather than to local markets. In assessing this complex economic situation, it is important to consider all sources of income available to these farms; for instance, the millions of dollars in farm subsidies which the United States government offers each year. As fuel prices rise, foods shipped to national and international markets are already rising in price. In 2012,
2783-465: A total capacity of 539 MW. An important limiting factor of wind power is variable power generated by wind farms. In most locations the wind blows only part of the time, which means that there has to be back-up capacity of dispatchable generation capacity to cover periods that the wind is not blowing. To address this issue it has been proposed to create a " supergrid " to connect national grids together across western Europe , ranging from Denmark across
2904-879: A tractor", increasing their debt and their production capacity. This in turn required larger, more distant markets, and heavier and more complex financing. The public willingly purchased increasingly commoditized, processed, shipped and relatively inexpensive food. The availability of an increasingly diverse supply of fresh, uncured, unpreserved produce and meat in all seasons of the year (oranges in January, freshly killed steers in July, fresh pork rather than salted, smoked, or potassium-impregnated ham) opened an entirely new cuisine and an unprecedented healthy diet to millions of consumers who had never enjoyed such produce before. These abilities also brought to market an unprecedented variety of processed foods, such as corn syrup and bleached flour. For
3025-648: A tunnel like pass towards areas of lower pressure and flatter land. Passes used for wind farms like the San Gorgonio Pass and Altamont Pass are known for their abundant wind resource capacity and capability for large-scale wind farms. These types of passes were the first places in the 1980s to have heavily invested large-scale wind farms after approval for wind energy development by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. From these wind farms, developers learned much about turbulence and crowding effects of large-scale wind projects, which were previously unresearched, in
3146-803: Is a German wind turbine manufacturer. In the end of 2011 49.6 MW was expected to be completed. The Pakistani government also issued a Letter Of Interest in a 100 MW Wind power plant to FFCEL. The Pakistani government had plans to achieve electric power generation of up to 2500 MW by the end of 2015 from wind energy to bring down an energy shortage. Currently four wind farms are operational (Fauji Fertilizer 49.5 MW (subsidiary of Fauji Foundation), Three Gorges 49.5 MW, Zorlu Energy Pakistan 56 MW, Sapphire Wind Power Company Limited 52.6 MW) and six are under construction phase ( Master Wind Energy Limited 52.6 MW, Sachal Energy Development Limited 49.5 MW, Yunus Energy Limited 49.5 MW, Gul Energy 49.5 MW, Metro Energy 49.5 MW, Tapal Energy) and were expected to achieve COD in 2017. In
3267-485: Is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity . Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore . Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in China, India, and the United States. For example, the largest wind farm in the world , Gansu Wind Farm in China had
3388-624: Is a growing backlash, due mostly to companies using intellectual property law to prevent farmers from having the legal right to fix their equipment (or gain access to the information to allow them to do it). This has encouraged groups such as Open Source Ecology and Farm Hack to begin to make open source hardware for agricultural machinery. In addition on a smaller scale Farmbot and the RepRap open source 3D printer community has begun to make open-source farm tools available of increasing levels of sophistication. Family farm A family farm
3509-461: Is a tall building where grains, such as wheat and oats are stored. Farmers also use small round metal buildings to store their grain. These buildings are called grain bins . Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, where female cattle , goats , or other mammals are raised for their milk , which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale There are many breeds of cattle that can be milked some of
3630-617: Is an agricultural country and about 80% of the total population are engaged in farming. Rice is mainly produced in Nepal along with fruits like apples. Dairy farming and poultry farming are also growing in Nepal . Farming is a significant economic sector in Australia . A farm is an area of land used for primary production which will include buildings. According to the UN, "green agriculture directs
3751-545: Is attainable where a significant number of affluent urban and suburban consumers willingly pay a premium for the ideals of "locally produced produce" and "humane treatment of animals". Sometimes, these farms are hobby or part-time ventures, or supported by wealth from other sources. Viable farms on a scale sufficient to support modern families at an income level commensurate with urban and suburban upper-middle-class families are often large scale operations, both in area and capital requirements. These farms, family owned and operated in
Farm - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-651: Is called the Neolithic Revolution and first began around 12,000 years ago, near the beginning of the geological epoch of the Holocene around 12,000 years ago. It was the world's first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. Farming spread from the Middle East to Europe and by 4,000 BC people that lived in the central part of Europe were using oxen to pull plows and wagons. Subsequent step-changes in human farming practices were provoked by
3993-416: Is critical to the overall success of a wind farm. Additional conditions contributing to a successful wind farm location include: wind conditions, access to electric transmission, physical access, and local electricity prices. The faster the average wind speed, the more electricity the wind turbine will generate, so faster winds are generally economically better for wind farm developments. The balancing factor
4114-408: Is crucial to determining site potential in order to finance the project. Local winds are often monitored for a year or more, detailed wind maps are constructed, along with rigorous grid capability studies conducted, before any wind generators are installed. The wind blows faster at higher altitudes because of the reduced influence of drag. The increase in velocity with altitude is most dramatic near
4235-508: Is fed directly to the cows, or stored as silage for use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are added to the feed to improve milk production. Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens (egg layers or broilers ), turkeys , ducks , and other fowl , generally for meat or eggs . A pig farm is one that specializes in raising pigs for bacon, ham, and other pork products. They may be free range , intensive, or both. Farm control and ownership has traditionally been
4356-449: Is finding areas with adequate available transfer capability (ATC). ATC is the measure of the remaining capacity in a transmission system available for further integration of two interconnected areas without significant upgrades to existing transmission lines and substations. Significant equipment upgrades have substantial costs, potentially undermining the viability of a project within a location, regardless of wind resource availability. Once
4477-739: Is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family . It is sometimes considered to be an estate passed down by inheritance . Although a recurring conceptual and archetypal distinction is that of a family farm as a smallholding versus corporate farming as large-scale agribusiness , that notion does not accurately describe the realities of farm ownership in many countries. Family farm businesses can take many forms, from smallholder farms to larger farms operated under intensive farming practices. In various countries, most farm families have structured their farm businesses as corporations (such as limited liability companies ) or trusts , for liability, tax, and business purposes. Thus,
4598-463: Is likely to be near the high end of this range, for two reasons. The partners in a [Canadian] farm partnership are typically spouses, often forming the farm partnership for tax reasons. Also, as in the US, family farm succession planning can use a partnership as a means of apportioning family farm tenure among family members when a sole proprietor is ready to transfer some or all of ownership and operation of
4719-466: Is often used for raising crops such as feed grains and hay for animal feeding. On some farms (Astro Farm) star-gazing became very popular because of the excellent optical quality in the desert. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) which investigates cosmic gamma rays is situated on Farm Göllschau in Namibia . Farm equipment has evolved over the centuries from simple hand tools such as
4840-410: Is one of the most important policies of the European Union and is helping in the change of farms from traditional family farms to larger production units. The policy has the objectives of increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilizing markets, and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers. It was, until recently, operated by
4961-597: Is pursuing several proposed locations in the Great Lakes , including the suspended Trillium Power Wind 1 approximately 20 km from shore and over 400 MW in size. Other Canadian projects include one on the Pacific west coast. In 2010, there were no offshore wind farms in the United States, but projects were under development in wind-rich areas of the East Coast, Great Lakes, and Pacific coast; and in late 2016
Farm - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-525: Is significantly below the 2005 U.S. poverty level of $ 19,874 for a family of four. In 2007, corn acres are expected to increase by 15% because of the high demand for ethanol, both in and outside of the U.S. Producers are expecting to plant 90.5 million acres (366,000 km) of corn, making it the largest corn crop since 1944. In the UK, farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes the area of pasture and other fields together with its farmhouse, farmyard and outbuildings. Large farms, or groups of farms under
5203-543: Is sourced largely from communal work groups through kinship ties, and support services needed to sustain production are minimal." On commercial family farms, "cash input costs are high, little non‐family labour is used and strong support services are necessary." At the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly , 2014 was formally declared to be the "International Year of Family Farming" (IYFF). The Food and Agriculture Organization of
5324-465: Is that strong gusts and high turbulence require stronger more expensive turbines, otherwise there is a risk of damage. The average power in the wind is not proportional to the average wind speed. For this reason, the ideal wind conditions would be strong but consistent winds with low turbulence coming from a single direction. Mountain passes are ideal locations for wind farms under these conditions. Mountain passes channel wind, blocked by mountains, through
5445-510: Is the first wind power plant in Pakistan. The wind farm is being developed in Jhimpir, by Zorlu Energy Pakistan the local subsidiary of a Turkish company. The total cost of the project is $ 136 million.[3] Completed in 2012, it has a total capacity of around 56MW. Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited, has built a 49.5 MW wind Energy Farm at Jhimpir. Contract of supply of mechanical design was awarded to Nordex and Descon Engineering Limited. Nordex
5566-526: Is the most common word for 'farm', while the archaic Meierhof designated a manorial estate. Historically, the unmarked term Hof was increasingly used for the royal or noble court . The estate as a whole is referred to by the collective Gehöft (15th century); the corresponding Slavic concept being Khutor . Höfeordnung is the German legal term for the inheritance laws regarding family farms, deriving from inheritance under medieval Saxon law . In England,
5687-422: Is the norm, with either government ownership of the land or common ownership by a local group. Especially in societies without widespread industrialized farming, tenant farming and sharecropping are common; farmers either pay landowners for the right to use farmland or give up a portion of the crops. Agribusiness is the industry , enterprises , and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in
5808-480: The Block Island Wind Farm was commissioned. Installation and service / maintenance of off-shore wind farms are a challenge for technology and economic operation of a wind farm. As of 2015 , there are 20 jackup vessels for lifting components, but few can lift sizes above 5 MW. Service vessels have to be operated nearly 24/7 (availability higher than 80% of time) to get sufficient amortisation from
5929-643: The British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, and the Green Revolution of the second half of the 20th century. Farming originated independently in different parts of the world, as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, soon to be followed by
6050-676: The Second Punic War and increasingly replaced the former system of family-owned small or intermediate farms in the Roman Empire period. The basis of the latifundia in Spain and Sicily was the ager publicus that fell to the dispensation of the state through Rome's policy of war in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. In the collapse of the Western Roman Empire , the largely self-sufficient villa-system of
6171-752: The Western Cape region. These include the 100 MW Sere Wind Farm and the 138 MW Gouda Wind Facility . Most future wind farms in South Africa are earmarked for locations along the Eastern Cape coastline. Eskom has constructed one small scale prototype windfarm at Klipheuwel in the Western Cape and another demonstrator site is near Darling with phase 1 completed. The first commercial wind farm, Coega Wind Farm in Port Elisabeth,
SECTION 50
#17327651932316292-574: The bio-economy , in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology , farms, food , forestry , fisheries , fuel , and fiber . Studies of business growth and performance in farming have found successful agricultural businesses are cost-efficient internally and operate in favorable economic, political, and physical-organic environments. They are able to expand and make profits, improve
6413-619: The hoe , through ox- or horse-drawn equipment such as the plough and harrow , to the modern highly technical machinery such as the tractor , baler and combine harvester replacing what was a highly labour-intensive occupation before the Industrial Revolution . Today much of the farm equipment used on both small and large farms is automated (e.g. using satellite guided farming). As new types of high-tech farm equipment have become inaccessible to farmers that historically fixed their own equipment, Wired magazine reports there
6534-426: The peasant population under the jurisdiction of himself and his manorial court . Manorialism died slowly and piecemeal, along with its most vivid feature in the landscape, the open field system . It outlasted serfdom as it outlasted feudalism: "primarily an economic organization, it could maintain a warrior, but it could equally well maintain a capitalist landlord. It could be self-sufficient, yield produce for
6655-455: The village -centered settlements of manoralism. In German-speaking Europe , a farmyard is known as a Hof ; in modern German this word designates the area enclosed by the farm buildings, not the fields around them, and it is also used in other everyday situations for courtyards of any type ( Hinterhof = 'back yard', etc.). The recharacterized compound Bauernhof was formed in the early modern period to designate family farming estates and today
6776-484: 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. In the US, in 1910 there were 6,406,000 farms and 10,174,000 family workers; In 2000 there were only 2,172,000 farms and 2,062,300 family workers. The share of U.S. farms operated by women has risen steadily over recent decades, from 5 percent in 1978 to 14 percent by 2007. In
6897-986: The 12 member states of the European Community found that in 1989, about three-quarters of the farms were family farms, producing just over half of total agricultural output. As of 2010, there were approximately 139,900 family farms in Ireland, with an average size of 35.7 hectares per holding. (Nearly all farms in Ireland are family farms.) In Ireland, average family farm income was 25,483 euros in 2012. Analysis by Teagasc (Ireland's Agriculture and Food Development Authority) estimates that 37 percent of Irish farms are economically viable and an additional 30 percent are sustainable due to income from off-farm sources; 33 percent meet neither criterion and are considered economically vulnerable. In Brazil, there are about 4.37 million family farms. These account for 84.4 percent of farms, 24.3 percent of farmland area and 37.5 percent of
7018-593: The Asian Development Bank amounting to $ 300 million to invest in renewable energies. From this funding as well as $ 80 million from the Sri Lankan Government and $ 60 million from France's Agence Française de Développement, Sri Lanka was expected to build two 100MW wind farms from 2017 due to be completed by late 2020 in northern Sri Lanka. As of September 2015, a number of sizable wind farms have been constructed in South Africa mostly in
7139-556: The Chinese wind industry appeared unaffected by the financial crisis of 2007–2008 , according to industry observers. According to the Global Wind Energy Council , the development of wind energy in China, in terms of scale and rhythm, is unparalleled in the world. The National People's Congress permanent committee passed a law that requires the Chinese energy companies to purchase all the electricity produced by
7260-547: The Gharo wind corridor, two wind farms (Foundation Energy 1 & II each 49.5 MW) are operational while two wind farms Tenaga Generasi Limited 49.5 MW and HydroChina Dawood Power Pvt. Limited 49.5 are under construction and expected to achieve COD in 2017. According to a USAID report, Pakistan has the potential of producing 150,000 megawatts of wind energy, of which the Sindh corridor can produce 40,000 megawatts. The Philippines has
7381-553: The Industrial Revolution contributed to the emergence of a system of family estates in the Americas ( Homestead Act of 1862 ). Thomas Jefferson 's argument that a large number of family estates are a factor in ensuring the stability of democracy was repeatedly used in support of subsidies. In developed countries the family farm is viewed sentimentally, as a lifestyle to be preserved for tradition's sake, or as
SECTION 60
#17327651932317502-576: The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with a combined operating capacity of 2,396 MW. More than 100 GW (or 100,000 MW) of offshore projects are proposed or under development in Europe. The European Wind Energy Association set a target of 40 GW installed by 2020 and 150 GW by 2030. As of 2017 , The Walney Wind Farm in the United Kingdom is the largest offshore wind farm in
7623-468: The U.S. due to the lack of operational wind farms large enough to conduct these types of studies. Usually sites are screened on the basis of a wind atlas , and validated with on-site wind measurements via long term or permanent meteorological-tower data using anemometers and wind vanes . Meteorological wind data alone is usually not sufficient for accurate siting of a large wind power project. Collection of site specific data for wind speed and direction
7744-400: The United Nations was invited to facilitate its implementation, in collaboration with Governments, International Development Agencies, farmers' organizations and other relevant organizations of the United Nations system as well as relevant non-governmental organizations. The goal of the 2014 IYFF is to reposition family farming at the centre of agricultural, environmental and social policies in
7865-501: The United States are considered "small family farms" (with sales of less than $ 250,000 per year), and those farms produce twenty-seven percent of U.S. agricultural output. Depending on the type and size of independently owned operation, some limiting factors are: Over the 20th century, the people of developed nations have collectively taken most of the steps down the path to this situation. Individual farmers opted for successive waves of new technology, happily "trading in their horses for
7986-403: The United States had 2,039,093 family farms (as defined by USDA), accounting for 97 percent of all farms and 89 percent of census farm area in the United States. In 1988 Mark Friedberger warned, "The farm family is a unique institution, perhaps the last remnant, in an increasingly complex world, of a simpler social order in which economic and domestic activities were inextricably bound together. In
8107-495: The United States, there are over three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers; 72% are foreign-born, 78% are male, they have an average age of 36 and average education of 8 years. Farmworkers make an average hourly rate of $ 9–10 per hour, compared to an average of over $ 18 per hour for nonfarm labor. Their average family income is under $ 20,000 and 23% live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. One-half of all farmworker families earn less than $ 10,000 per year, which
8228-798: The United States, under federal Farm Ownership loan regulations, the definition of a "family farm" does not specify the nature of farm ownership, and management of the farm is either by the borrower, or by members operating the farm when a loan is made to a corporation, co-operative or other entity. The complete definition can be found in the US Code of Federal Regulations 7 CFR 1943.4. In the Roman Republic , latifundia , great landed estates , specialised in agriculture destined for export, producing grain, olive oil, or wine, corresponding largely to modern industrialized agriculture but depending on slave labour instead of mechanization, developed after
8349-408: The United States. About 98 percent of US family corporations owning farms are small, with no more than 10 shareholders; average net farm income of family corporate farms was $ 189,400 in 2012. (In contrast, 90 percent of US non-family corporations owning farms are small, having no more than 10 shareholders; average net cash farm income for US non-family corporate farms was $ 270,670 in 2012.) In Canada,
8470-500: The basis of rural society and social stability. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, ninety-eight percent of all farms in the U.S. are family farms. Two percent of farms are not family farms, and those two percent make up fourteen percent of total agricultural output in the United States, although half of them have total sales of less than $ 50,000 per year. Overall, ninety-one percent of farms in
8591-666: The best producing ones include Holstein , Norwegian Red , Kostroma , Brown Swiss , and more. In most Western countries, a centralized dairy facility processes milk and dairy products, such as cream , butter , and cheese . In the United States, these dairies are usually local companies, while in the southern hemisphere facilities may be run by very large nationwide or trans-national corporations (such as Fonterra ). Dairy farms generally sell male calves for veal meat, as dairy breeds are not normally satisfactory for commercial beef production. Many dairy farms also grow their own feed, typically including maize, alfalfa , and hay. This
8712-736: The country's economy. With its large land mass and long coastline, China has exceptional wind resources. Researchers from Harvard and Tsinghua University have found that China could meet all of their electricity demands from wind power by 2030. By the end of 2008, at least 15 Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components. Turbine sizes of 1.5 MW to 3 MW became common. Leading wind power companies in China were Goldwind , Dongfang Electric , and Sinovel along with most major foreign wind turbine manufacturers. China also increased production of small-scale wind turbines to about 80,000 turbines (80 MW) in 2008. Through all these developments,
8833-575: The country's power. In Japan's electricity sector , wind power generates a small proportion of the country's electricity. It has been estimated that Japan has the potential for 144 gigawatts (GW) for onshore wind and 608 GW of offshore wind capacity. As of 2023, the country had a total installed capacity of 5.2 GW. As of 2018, government targets for wind power deployment were relatively low when compared to other countries, at 1.7% of electricity production by 2030. The 117 MW Tafila Wind Farm in Jordan
8954-406: The cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialize in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world. A farm may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation or a company, may produce one or many types of produce, and can be
9075-455: The different purposes for which definitions are coined. The 2012 United States Census of Agriculture defines a family farm as "any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the operator and individuals related to the operator, including relatives who do not live in the operator’s household"; it defines a farm as "any place from which $ 1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during
9196-658: The emergence of a smaller number of large farms, with the displaced population partly contributing to the new class of industrial wage-labourers and partly emigrating to the New World or the Russian Empire (following the 1861 emancipation of the serfs ). The family farms established in Imperial Russia were again collectivized under the Soviet Union , but the emigration of European farmers displaced by
9317-474: The energy produced by the farm and minimization of its costs. The Australian Greens have been significant supporters of Australian wind farms, however the party's previous leader Bob Brown and former leader Richard Di Natale have now both expressed concerns about environmental aspects of wind turbines, particularly the potential danger they impose for birds. In July 2022 Brazil reached 22 GW of installed wind power in about 750 wind farms In 2021 Brazil
9438-412: The environment than many other forms of power generation and are often referred to as a good source of green energy . Wind farms have, however, been criticised for their visual impact and impact on the landscape. Typically they need to be spread over more land than other power stations and need to be built in wild and rural areas, which can lead to "industrialization of the countryside", habitat loss , and
9559-919: The family farm this new technology and increasingly complex marketing strategy has presented new and unprecedented challenges, and not all family farmers have been able to effectively cope with the changing market conditions. In the last few decades there has been a resurgence of interest in organic and free range foods. A percentage of consumers have begun to question the viability of industrial agriculture practices and have turned to organic groceries that sell products produced on family farms including not only meat and produce but also such things as wheat germ breads and natural lye soaps (as opposed to bleached white breads and petroleum based detergent bars). Others buy these products direct from family farms. The "new family farm" provides an alternative market in some localities with an array of traditionally and naturally produced products. Such "organic" and "free-range" farming
9680-513: The farm to supplement farm income and children sometimes have no interest in farming as their chosen field of work. Bolder promoters argue that as agriculture has become more efficient with the application of modern management and new technologies in each generation, the idealized classic family farm is now simply obsolete, or more often, unable to compete without the economies of scale available to larger and more modern farms. Advocates argue that family farms in all nations need to be protected, as
9801-741: The first windfarm in Southeast Asia. Located in the northern part of the country's biggest island, Luzon, alongside the seashore of Bangui , Ilocos Norte . The wind farm uses 20 units of 70-metre (230 ft) high Vestas V82 1.65 MW wind turbines, arranged on a single row stretching along a nine-kilometre shoreline off Bangui Bay, facing the South China Sea . Phase I of the NorthWind power project in Bangui Bay consists of 15 wind turbines, each capable of producing electricity up to
9922-451: The form of Manorialism , the essential element of feudal society, and the organizing principle of rural economy in medieval Europe. Manorialism was characterised by the vesting of legal and economic power in a Lord of the Manor , supported economically from his own direct landholding in a manor (sometimes called a fief), and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of
10043-582: The highest European wind power production with 43 TWh compared to Germany's 35 TWh. In addition to the ' London Array ', an off-shore wind farm in the Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom , with a capacity of 630 MW (the world's largest off-shore wind farm when built), other large wind farms in Europe include Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm near Constanța , Romania with 600 MW capacity, and Whitelee Wind Farm near Glasgow , Scotland which has
10164-451: The idea of a family farm as a unitary concept or definition does not easily translate across languages, cultures, or centuries, as there are substantial differences in agricultural traditions and histories between countries and between centuries within a country. For example, in U.S. agriculture , a family farm can be of any size, as long as the ownership is held within a family. A 2014 USDA report shows that family farms operate 90 percent of
10285-516: The installed capacity, from wind energy, from 280 MW in 2010 to 2000 MW in 2020. Pakistan has wind corridors in Jhimpir, Gharo and Keti Bundar in Sindh province and is currently developing wind power plants in Jhimpir and Mirpur Sakro (District Thatta). The government of Pakistan decided to develop wind power energy sources due to problems supplying energy to the southern coastal regions of Sindh and Balochistan. The Zorlu Energy Putin Power Plant
10406-491: The latifundia remained among the few political-cultural centres of a fragmented Europe. These latifundia had been of great importance economically, until the long-distance shipping of wine and oil, grain and garum disintegrated, but extensive lands controlled in a single pair of hands still constituted power : it can be argued that the latifundia formed part of the economic basis of the European social feudal system , taking
10527-428: The majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers , feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market. The word in the sense of an agricultural land-holding derives from the verb "to farm" a revenue source, whether taxes, customs, rents of a group of manors or simply to hold an individual manor by the feudal land tenure of "fee farm". The word is from the medieval Latin noun firma , also
10648-526: The market, or it could yield a money rent." The last feudal dues in France were abolished at the French Revolution . In parts of eastern Germany, the Rittergut manors of Junkers remained until World War II . The common law of the leasehold estate relation evolved in medieval England . That law still retains many archaic terms and principles pertinent to a feudal social order. Under the tenant system,
10769-402: The mechanization of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and
10890-445: The most resource and opportunity are eventually developed. After the deadline to request a place in the queue has passed, many firms will withdraw their requests after gauging the competition in order to make back some of the deposit for each request that is determined too risky in comparison to other larger firms' requests. A major factor in wind-farm design is the spacing between the turbines, both laterally and axially (with respect to
11011-443: The nation's farmland, and account for 85 percent of the country's agricultural production value. However, that does not at all imply that corporate farming is a small presence in U.S. agriculture; rather, it simply reflects the fact that many corporations are closely held . In contrast, in Brazilian agriculture , the official definition of a family farm ( agricultura familiar ) is limited to small farms worked primarily by members of
11132-445: The national agendas by identifying gaps and opportunities to promote a shift towards a more equal and balanced development. The 2014 IYFF will promote broad discussion and cooperation at the national, regional and global levels to increase awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by smallholders and help identify efficient ways to support family farmers. Wind farm A wind farm or wind park , or wind power plant ,
11253-571: The number of "family farms" cannot be inferred closely, because of the nature of census data, which do not distinguish family and non-family farm partnerships. In 2011, of Canada's 205,730 farms, 55 percent were sole proprietorships, 25 percent were partnerships, 17 percent were family corporations, 2 percent were non-family corporations and <1 percent were other categories. Because some but not all partnerships involve family members, these data suggest that family farms account for between about 73 and 97 percent of Canadian farms. The family farm percentage
11374-415: The office of President of the United States , held rural rallies together and spoke for measures to preserve the so-called family farm. On other economic matters they were seen as generally opposed, but found common ground on this one. The social roles of family farms are much changed today. Until recently, staying in line with traditional and conservative sociology, the heads of the household were usually
11495-448: The oldest man followed closely by his oldest sons. The wife generally took care of the housework, child rearing, and financial matters pertaining to the farm. However, agricultural activities have taken on many forms and change over time. Agronomy , horticulture , aquaculture , silviculture , and apiculture , along with traditional plants and animals, all make up aspects of today's family farm. Farm wives often need to find work away from
11616-1316: The past few years, however, American agriculture has suffered huge losses, and family farmers have seen their way of life threatened by economic forces beyond their control." However, by 1981 Ingolf Vogeler argued it was too late—the American family farm had been replaced by large agribusiness corporations pretending to be family operated. A USDA survey conducted in 2011 estimated that family farms account for 85 percent of US farm production and 85 percent of US gross farm income. Mid-size and larger family farms account for 60 percent of US farm production and dominate US production of cotton, cash grain and hogs. Small family farms account for 26 percent of US farm production overall, and higher percentages of production of poultry, beef cattle, some other livestock and hay. Several kinds of US family farms are recognized in USDA farm typology: Small family farms are defined as those with annual gross cash farm income (GCFI) of less than $ 350,000; in 2011, these accounted for 90 percent of all US farms. Because low net farm incomes tend to predominate on such farms, most farm families on small family farms are extremely dependent on off-farm income. Small family farms in which
11737-409: The prevailing winds). The closer the turbines are together, the more the upwind turbines block wind from their rear neighbors (wake effect). However, spacing turbines far apart increases the costs of roads and power cables, and raises the amount of land needed to install a specific capacity of turbines. As a result of these factors, turbine spacing varies by site. Generally speaking, manufacturers require
11858-413: The principal operator was mostly employed off-farm accounted for 42 percent of all farms and 15 percent of total US farm area; median net farm income was $ 788. Retirement family farms were small farms accounting for 16 percent of all farms and 7 percent of total US farm area; median net farm income was $ 5,002. The other small family farm categories are those in which farming occupies at least 50 percent of
11979-1028: The principal operator's working time. These are: Low-sales small family farms (with GCFI less than $ 150,000); 26 percent of all US farms, 18 percent of total US farm area, median net farm income $ 3,579. Moderate-sales small family farms (with GCFI of $ 150,000 to $ 349,999); 5.44 percent of all US farms, 13 percent of total US farm area, median net farm income $ 67,986. Mid-size family farms (GCFI of $ 350,000 to $ 999,999); 6 percent of all US farms, 22 percent of total US farm area; median net farm income $ 154,538. Large family farms (GCFI $ 1,000,000 to $ 4,999,999); 2 percent of all US farms, 14 percent of total US farm area; median net farm income $ 476,234. Very large family farms (GCFI over $ 5,000,000); <1 percent of all US farms, 2 percent of total US farm area; median net farm income $ 1,910,454. Family farms include not only sole proprietorships and family partnerships, but also family corporations. Family-owned corporations account for 5 percent of all farms and 89 percent of corporate farms in
12100-401: The productivity of land , labor , and capital , and keep their costs down to ensure market price competitiveness. Agribusiness is not limited to farming. It encompasses a broader spectrum through the agribusiness system which includes input supplies, value-addition , marketing , entrepreneurship , microfinancing , and agricultural extension . The land and buildings of a farm are called
12221-599: The renewable energy sector. In 2011 the European Union had a total installed wind capacity of 93,957 MW. Germany had the third-largest capacity in the world (after China and the United States), with an installed capacity of 29,060 MW at the end of 2011. Spain had 21,674 MW, and Italy and France each had between 6,000 and 7,000 MW. By January 2014, the UK installed capacity was 10,495 MW. But energy production can be different from capacity – in 2010, Spain had
12342-410: The same ownership, may be called an estate. Conversely, a small farm surrounding the owner's dwelling is called a smallholding and is generally focused on self-sufficiency with only the surplus being sold. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units where industrial agriculture and mechanization brings large crop yields. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
12463-598: The source of the French word ferme , meaning a fixed agreement, contract, from the classical Latin adjective firmus meaning strong, stout, firm. As in the medieval age virtually all manors were engaged in the business of agriculture, which was their principal revenue source, so to hold a manor by the tenure of "fee farm" became synonymous with the practice of agriculture itself. Farming has been innovated at multiple different points and places in human history. The transition from hunter-gatherer to settled, agricultural societies
12584-589: The southern North Sea to England and the Celtic Sea to Ireland, and further south to France and Spain especially in Higueruela which was for some time the biggest wind farm in the world. The idea is that by the time a low pressure area has moved away from Denmark to the Baltic Sea the next low appears off the coast of Ireland. Therefore, while it is true that the wind is not blowing everywhere all of
12705-478: The specialization they are being used for, such as a dairy rather than a dairy farm, a piggery, a market garden, etc. This also applies to feedlots, which are specifically developed to a single purpose and are often not able to be used for more general purpose (mixed) farming practices. In remote areas farms can become quite large. As with estates in England, there is no defined size or method of operation at which
12826-410: The surface and is affected by topography, surface roughness, and upwind obstacles such as trees or buildings. At altitudes of thousands of feet/hundreds of metres above sea level, the power in the wind decreases proportional to the decrease in air density. Often in heavily saturated energy markets, the first step in site selection for large-scale wind projects, before wind resource data collection,
12947-686: The time, it will tend to be blowing somewhere. In July 2022, Seagreen , the world's deepest fixed-bottom wind farm, became operative. Located 26 miles off the Angus coastline, in Scotland, it has 114 turbines that generate 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. India has the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. As of 31 March 2014, the installed capacity of wind power was 21136.3 MW mainly spread across Tamil Nadu state (7253 MW). Wind power accounts nearly 8.5% of India's total installed power generation capacity, and it generates 1.6% of
13068-410: The title of yeoman was applied to such land-owning commoners from the 15th century. In the early modern and modern period, the dissolution of manoralism went parallel to the development of intensive farming parallel to the Industrial Revolution . Mechanization enabled the cultivation of much larger areas than what was typical for the traditional estates aimed at subsistence farming , resulting in
13189-729: The total capacity to 33 MW. All 20 turbines describes a graceful arc reflecting the shoreline of Bangui Bay. Adjacent municipalities of Burgos and Pagudpud followed with 50 and 27 wind turbines with a capacity of 3 MW each for a Total of 150 MW and 81 MW respectively. Two other wind farms were built outside of Ilocos Norte, the Pililla Wind Farm in Rizal and the Mindoro Wind Farm near Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro . Sri Lanka has received funding from
13310-657: The value of agricultural production. In sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of the farms were family owned and worked by 2014. Sub-Saharan agriculture was mostly defined by slash-and-burn subsistence farming , historically spread by the Bantu expansion . Permanent farming estates were established during colonialism , in the 19th to 20th century. After decolonisation, white farmers in some African countries have tended to be attacked, killed or evicted, notably in South Africa and Zimbabwe . In southern Africa, "On peasant family farms ..., cash input costs are very low, non‐household labour
13431-612: The wind accelerates over a ridge. The additional wind speeds gained in this way can increase energy produced because more wind goes through the turbines. The exact position of each turbine matters, because a difference of 30 metres could potentially double output. This careful placement is referred to as 'micro-siting'. Europe is the leader in offshore wind energy, with the first offshore wind farm (Vindeby) being installed in Denmark in 1991. As of 2010, there were 39 offshore wind farms in waters off Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland,
13552-457: The wind turbines. Therefore, special fast service vehicles for installation (like Wind Turbine Shuttle) as well as for maintenance (including heave compensation and heave compensated working platforms to allow the service staff to enter the wind turbine also at difficult weather conditions) are required. So-called inertial and optical based Ship Stabilization and Motion Control systems (iSSMC) are used for that. Experimental wind farms consisting of
13673-449: The word "farm" may be used to describe wind power generation or puppy farm . Farms have special buildings. Some buildings, such as barns , may hold animals. There may be separate buildings for chickens and pigs. On dairy farms, a milking parlor is an important building. It is where dairy cows are milked. The milk is kept in a milking parlor until a milk tanker comes to get it. There are also special buildings for keeping grain . A silo
13794-541: The world at 659 MW , followed by the London Array (630 MW) also in the UK. Offshore wind turbines are less obtrusive than turbines on land, as their apparent size and noise is mitigated by distance. Because water has less surface roughness than land (especially deeper water), the average wind speed is usually considerably higher over open water. Capacity factors (utilisation rates) are considerably higher than for onshore locations. The province of Ontario, Canada
13915-410: The world in wind energy production, going from 2,599 MW of capacity in 2006 to 62,733 MW at the end of 2011. However, the rapid growth outpaced China's infrastructure and new construction slowed significantly in 2012. At the end of 2009, wind power in China accounted for 25.1 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity, and China has identified wind power as a key growth component of
14036-819: The world's [estimated] 570 million farms are managed by families, making family farms predominant in global agriculture. An "informal discussion of the concepts and definitions" in a working paper published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2014 reviewed English, Spanish and French definitions of the concept of "family farm". Definitions referred to one or more of labor, management, size, provision of family livelihood, residence, family ties and generational aspects, community and social networks, subsistence orientation, patrimony, land ownership and family investment. The disparity of definitions reflects national and geographical differences in cultures, rural land tenure, and rural economies, as well as
14157-468: The world's first wind farm was 0.6 MW, produced by 20 wind turbines rated at 30 kilowatts each, installed on the shoulder of Crotched Mountain in southern New Hampshire in December 1980. Onshore turbine installations in hilly or mountainous regions tend to be on ridges generally three kilometres or more inland from the nearest shoreline. This is done to exploit the topographic acceleration as
14278-421: Was built on relatively easy paths to individual farm ownership. However, the gradual modernization and mechanization of farming, which greatly increases both the efficiency and capital requirements of farming, has led to increasingly large farms. This has usually been accompanied by the decoupling of political power from farm ownership. In some societies (especially socialist and communist ), collective farming
14399-399: Was inaugurated in December 2015, and is the first large scale wind farm project in the region. Morocco has undertaken a vast wind energy program, to support the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the country. The Moroccan Integrated Wind Energy Project, spanning over a period of 10 years with a total investment estimated at $ 3.25 billion, will enable the country to bring
14520-527: Was not alienable . Much of Germanic Europe has a history of overlap or conflict between the feudal system of manoralism, where the estate is owned by noblemen and leased to the tenants or worked by serfs, and the Germanic system of free farmers working landed estates heritable within their clan or family. Historical prevalence of the Germanic system of independent estates or Höfe resulted in dispersed settlement ( Streusiedlung ) structure, as opposed to
14641-510: Was the 7th country in the world in terms of installed wind power (21 GW), and the 4th largest producer of wind energy in the world (72 TWh), behind China, USA and Germany. The largest wind farm in the country is the Complexo eólico Lagoa dos Ventos in the State of Piauí , onshore with a current capacity of 1,000 MW being expanded to 1,500 MW. In just five years, China leapfrogged the rest of
#230769