Different types of agricultural activity

Use an atlas to locate the many places named in this section.

There are many different types of agricultural activity including:

• commercial farming, e.g. dairy farming in Worcestershire, cereal crops in France and plantation agriculture, e.g. west coast of Malaysia for oil palm and tea

• subsistence farming, e.g. shifting cultivation in the Amazon Basin of Brazil and Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia

• intensive farming, e.g. market gardening in the Vale of Evesham, flowers and bulb cultivation in the Netherlands and wet rice cultivation on the Ganges Plain of India

• extensive cultivation, e.g. cereal growing in Norfolk, sheep farming in Australia.

Remember Subsistence farmers grow crops and rear animals mainly for their own use.

The video below explains the different types of agricultural activity around the World

Case Study I: Shifting cultivation in an LEDC

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Case Study II: Intensive farming in an LEDC

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KEY POINT: Commercial farmers grow crops and rear animals for sale to make a profit. Intensive farming uses high inputs, such as labour and capital, per unit area.

Case Study III: Intensive commercial farming in the EU

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Case Study IV: Extensive commercial farming in the UK

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Case Study V: Plantation agriculture

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