9Ag
Farming Systems
Glossary
Output anything produced by the farm
Input anything brought onto the farm to be used in an enterprise
Process actions or activities that convert inputs into outputs
Boundary limitations placed on a farm, including physical, financial, cultural and legal
Stocking density the number of animals in a given area
Intensive farming usually involves high stocking densities and many inputs and outputs for a given area (e.g. chickens)
Extensive farming usually involves big farms less inputs and labour for a given area (e.g. broadacre cropping)
Ecosystem an area containing living things that interact with each other and the non-living environment
Biodiversity the variety of living things found in an environment
Activity
- Draw a picture of a farm. (An example is shown above).
- List all of the inputs, outputs, and boundaries that you can think of.
- Choose the correct category (intensive farming or extensive farming) and write it under the picture.
Questions
- Classify each of these enterprises as intensive or extensive:
- Cage egg farming.
- Sheep station in the pastoral zone (e.g. Walgett)
- Hydroponics vegetable farm in your back yard.
- Salmon farm.
- Cattle station in the Northern Territory.
- Dairy farm.
Your opinion: The perfect farm
What do you think about the ideas in the video? Here are some points to help you remember:
- Farming enabled civilisation
- The farming methods of the past cannot be used for the future.
- Smart machines will help farms use less inputs and produce more outputs.
- Farming used to hurt ecosystems, but it can help them if we do farming differently.
- We can use land better by reducing food waste and eating plant-based diets.