Farming Systems

Intensive Commercial

        Feedlots – cattle (California)

        Intensive commercial farming is a highly complex industry in Californian cattle feedlots.  Common to this type of system—the cattle are associated with high transport costs, bulky mass and their perishable output (milk / meat).  The cattle require frequent attention—milking up to twice a day, and adequate feeding two to three times daily.  Although intensive commercial farming is most prevalent in eastern USA and northwest Europe, it can be found near all major cities.  Feedlots require large initial capital for investment in high technology and persistent capital for the numerous workers.  Due to the small land space required, yet intensive labour--the output, likewise, provides the highest output per hectare and highest productivity per farm worker.

        The difficulty of intensive commercial farming is its high surplus.  The increased efficiency in recent years of feedlots have allowed cows to be marketed at 18-24 months of age; instead of the many years required in the past for cattle to reach market weight and condition.  Even though surplus in meat or milk from cattle is required for world trade—the higher than world market subsidized price distorts the overall market and leads to inaccessibility from developing nations.  There are 38 million acres of ranges and pastures in California—however feedlots are concentrate large numbers of cattle to efficiently utilize the large abundance of grains and by-products as feed.  This not only speeds of production of cattle, but efficiently & intensively utilizes resources from a small plot of land.

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Most feedlots can be found in central and northern California—where the coast provides characteristics of a Mediterranean climate and intermountain regions provide suitable conditions for the growth of grains and herding of cattle.

Extensive Commercial

        Cereals (Great Plains, USA)

        Cereals are an important crop grown in the steppe regions of the world—very popularly in the Great Plains of the USA and the Canadian prairies.  Here, vast land is sold cheaper than that of other regions.  In many parts of the Great Plains—extending from the states of Wyoming to Texas, there are remote regions of low population density.  Hence—there is cheap ...

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