Knowra Subsistence Subsistence Subsistence is a way of life centered on obtaining food and materials directly from local environments, through activities such as foraging, hunting, fishing, and cultivation.
Hunter-gatherer : A person or community that obtains food by hunting animals, fishing, and gathering wild plants. Hunting, fishing, and gathering are direct ways of meeting subsistence needs.
Subsistence agriculture : Farming primarily to produce food for the farmer's household or community rather than for sale. It is a cultivation-based form of subsistence, distinct from commercial farming.
Agroforestry : Land use that deliberately combines trees with crops or livestock. It can provide food, fuel, and materials from the same local landscape.
Carrying capacity : The population size an environment can sustain over time under specified conditions. Local resource limits constrain how many people a subsistence system can support.
Foraging : The collection of wild plants, animals, and other usable resources for food or materials. It describes resource gathering without domesticating crops or livestock.
Commercial agriculture : Agriculture organized mainly to produce crops or livestock for sale in markets. Market-oriented production differs from obtaining materials chiefly for direct use.
Traditional ecological knowledge : Knowledge developed through long-term relationships with local environments and passed between generations. Seasonal and ecological knowledge can guide resource gathering and cultivation.
Tragedy of the commons : The depletion of a shared resource when individuals acting independently overuse it. Unregulated harvesting can undermine resources on which subsistence communities depend.
Shifting cultivation : A farming system in which fields are cultivated temporarily and then left fallow as cultivation moves elsewhere. It combines food production with reliance on locally regenerating land.
Industrial agriculture : Large-scale farming that relies on mechanization, synthetic inputs, and specialized production. Its dependence on industrial inputs contrasts with direct reliance on local environments.
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