Farm / Ranch Articles

Basics of a Farm
By Ryan Fyfe

A farm: "Land that is being operated by one producer with equipment, labor, accounting system, and management substantially separate from that of any other unit. Land on which tenants provide their own labor and equipment shall not be considered a separate farm."

A farm is a section of land devoted to the production and management of food, either produce or livestock. The land and buildings that are associated with a farm are called the farmstead. This is the basic unit of agriculture. A farm can be owned by a enterprise, a single individual, family, or community, or it may be owned by a corporation or company, like a state farm. There are several vehicles used for farming a few of which are: Combine harvesters, Farm tractors, Pickup trucks, Tractors and Trailers, swathers,etc. Farms range greatly in range from a small hectare section or fraction of, to several thousand hectares. The english word "Farm", goes back to the Anglo-Saxon word "feorm", which means provisioning and food supply. It started out being a way of taxation, where agricultural goods had money value, and were to be given to the king. This kind of rental taxation still exists, however we use money as the standard currency today.

Developing farms and farming in general was one of the most important components in establishing a town. Once people began to get involved in active farming, roads, and a market evolved, which meant the community would also grow as a town. 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 central to a number of revolutions, wars of liberation, and post-colonial economics.

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Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Farm Spot - http://www.farm-spot.com, which is the best site on the internet for all farm related information.