Subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture is farming primarily to supply a household’s food and other needs, leaving little surplus for sale or exchange.
Polyculture: The cultivation of multiple crop species in the same field or farming system. Growing several crops spreads risk when household food depends on each harvest.
Smallholder agriculture: Agriculture practiced on relatively small farms, often using family labor. Many subsistence farms are smallholdings, though small farms may also produce for markets.
Commercial agriculture: Farming in which crops or livestock are produced primarily for sale in markets. Its market orientation contrasts with production chiefly for household consumption.
Agrarian change: Long-term changes in agricultural structures, land relations, labor, and rural livelihoods. Shifts in land access and labor can reshape whether farming remains household-oriented.
Agricultural economics: The study of how resources, markets, policies, and institutions shape agriculture and food systems. It examines household production choices alongside prices, costs, and market access.
Crop rotation: The practice of growing different crops on the same land in a planned sequence. Rotations maintain soil fertility where farmers have limited access to purchased inputs.
Home gardening: The cultivation of fruits, vegetables, herbs, or other useful plants around a home. Household gardens supplement food supplies with produce grown close to home.
Plantation agriculture: Large-scale commercial farming focused on one or a few crops, often for export. Plantations concentrate production for distant markets rather than household needs.
Rural depopulation: A decline in the population living in rural areas, often driven by migration and demographic change. Household farms can lose labor when younger people migrate from rural communities.
Agrarian society: A society whose economy and social organization are substantially based on agriculture. Subsistence farming often sits within communities organized around land and agricultural labor.