The most fundamental differences in agricultural practices are between those in developing countries and those in developed countries. Farmers in developing countries generally practice subsistence agriculture, whereas farmers in developed countries practice commercial agriculture.

Subsistence agriculture, found in developing countries, is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family. Commercial agriculture, found in developed countries, is the production of cash crops primarily for sale off the farm. A cash crop is one that is grown for sale, rather than for the farmer’s own use. The main features that distinguish commercial agriculture from subsistence agriculture include the percentage of farmers in the labor force, the use of machinery, and farm size.

Farmers: Fewer Grow More

All people must secure food in order to survive. In developing countries, a large percentage of people are subsistence farmers who work in agriculture to produce the food they and their families require. In developed countries relatively few people are engaged in farming, and most people buy food with money earned by working in factories or offices or by performing other services.

In developed countries, around 3 percent of workers are engaged directly in farming, compared to around 35 percent in developing countries. The percentage of farmers is even lower in North America—only around 1 percent. Yet the small percentage of farmers in the United States and Canada produces not only enough food for themselves and the rest of the region but also a surplus to feed people elsewhere. Although farmers account for only 1 percent of U.S. jobs, 10 percent of U.S. jobs are in other elements of the food industry, primarily in restaurants and supermarkets.

Agricultural Workers, 2017

The percentage of the workforce engaged in agriculture is much higher in developing countries with subsistence agriculture than in developed countries with commercial agriculture.

U.S. Employment in Food and Agriculture, 2017

Figures are in millions of jobs. Note that the graph represents 11 percent of all U.S. employment, totaling 21 million jobs in food and agriculture. Most of the jobs are in restaurants and stores, rather than on farms.

The number of farmers declined dramatically in developed countries during the twentieth century. The number of farms in the United States declined from about 6 million in 1940 to 4 million in 1960 and 2 million in 1980. Both push and pull migration factors have been responsible for the decline: People were pushed away from farms by lack of opportunity to earn a decent income, and at the same time they were pulled to higher-paying jobs in urban areas. The number of U.S. farmers has stabilized since 1980, though, at around 2 million.

Technology: Agriculture’s Game Changer

In developed countries, a small number of commercial farmers can feed many people because they rely on machinery to perform work rather than on people or animals. In developing countries, subsistence farmers do much of the work with hand-tools and animal power.

Traditionally, the farmer or local craftspeople made equipment from wood, but beginning in the late eighteenth century, factories produced farm machinery. The first all-iron plow was made in the 1770s and was followed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by inventions that made farming less dependent on human or animal power. Today, farmers use tractors, combines, corn pickers, planters, and other factory-made farm machines to increase productivity.

Experiments conducted in university laboratories, industry, and research organizations generate new fertilizers, herbicides, hybrid plants, animal breeds, and farming practices, which lead to higher crop yields and healthier animals. Access to other scientific information has enabled farmers to make more intelligent decisions concerning proper agricultural practices. Some farmers conduct their own on-farm research.

Electronics also help commercial farmers. Farmers use Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to determine the precise coordinates for planting seeds and for spreading different types and amounts of fertilizers. On large ranches, they also use GPS devices to monitor the locations of cattle and tractors. They use satellite imagery to measure crop progress and yield monitors attached to combines to determine the precise number of bushels being harvested.

Farm Size: Is Bigger Better?

In commercial agriculture, the average farm is relatively large. Farms average 178 hectares (441 acres) in the United States, compared to about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in South Asia. Farm size partly depends on mechanization. Combines, pickers, and other machinery perform most efficiently at very large scales, and their considerable expense cannot be justified on a small farm. As a result of the large size and the high level of mechanization, commercial agriculture is an expensive business. Farmers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy or rent land and machinery before beginning operations. This money is frequently borrowed from a bank and repaid after output is sold.

Tractors Per Area of Farmland

Farmers practicing commercial agriculture in developed countries generally have more tractors with which to work their land than do farmers practicing subsistence agriculture in developing countries. The machinery makes it possible for commercial farmers to farm extensive areas, a practice necessary to pay for the expensive machinery.

Commercial agriculture is increasingly dominated by a handful of large farms. In the United States, the largest 3 percent of farms produce 42 percent of the country’s total agriculture. Despite their size, most commercial farms in developed countries—99 percent in the United States—are family owned and operated. Commercial farmers frequently expand their holdings by renting nearby fields.

Although the United States had fewer farms and farmers in 2000 than in 1900, the amount of land devoted to agriculture increased by 13 percent, primarily due to irrigation and reclamation. However, in the twenty-first century, the United States has been losing 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) per year of its 365 million hectares (910 million acres) of farmland, primarily because of the expansion of urban areas.

Pause & Reflect 9.2.2

What combination of factors explains the relatively small number of farmers in developed countries?

Summary

• Where did Agriculture Originate?

• Before the invention of agriculture, most humans were hunters and gathers.

• Agriculture was invented in multiple hearths beginning approximately 10,000 years ago

• Modern agriculture is divided between subsistence agriculture in developing countries and commercial agriculture in developed countries. They differ according to the percentage of farmers, use of machinery, and farm size