Farm and Farming System
Muhammad Waseem Abbas, Dr. Nadeem Akbar, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Anjum, Nazer Manzoor, Iftikhar Ali, Ali Usman, Muhammad Qasim, Abdul Shakoor
Agro-Biology Laboratory, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 38040.
Farm is a piece of land where crops or livestock or both enterprises are done. System deals with an arrangement of components by which inputs are processed into output. Farming system deals with the collection of several distinct enterprises such as crops, livestock, their processing, and investment as well as marketing activities to satisfy the objectives of farmer. A farming system is not a simple collection of crops or animals but it also involves soils, plants, animals, workers as well as environment. Faming system is a resource management strategy with high farm production and preserving the resource bases with high quality of environment.
Arable farming is growing of crops, meadows for mowing or land for kitchen gardening or farming (ploughed or tilled) regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. Farming dealing with production of milk and processing it for products is Dairy Farming. Livestock produce manure which has high pollution potential and has been using ass fertilizer. These can be used as cost effective. Poultry faming is raising of birds for meat or eggs. Other species did not get well bloom as broiler get. More than half of the people live in urban areas and generally people are migrating from rural to urban areas in developing countries. Growing of vegetables with the main objective of nutrition concerning with pest and weed control. As a solution to waste water treatment, Aquaponics vegetable farming is done. Purpose is to provide nitrification and removal of biochemical oxygen demand. Initially fish and vegetable forming in aqua-culture was done which give significant results. Vegetable farming also can be on raised beds. Fruit farming is growing of fruits in orchards for commercial purpose, mostly in hilly areas where weather is suitable for fruit farming. A new enterprise ‘truck farming’ was introduced in 1865, developed sufficiently to move perishable produce to long distance marketable conditions. To reduce the environmental burden of agriculture, suitable methods to comprehend and to assess the impact on natural resources are needed. One of the methods considered is the grassland farming. It is a system of farming in which grass is the basic crop taken from the land whether as a direct cash crop or as a source of income through further processing (as by feeding cattle). Grazing is a way of making economic use of grassland that is not suited to more intensive agricultural enterprises. Organic farming approach utilizes natural cycles and biologically involved interactions for crop production as well as protection. Its aim is at harmony with nature and producing without destroying the environment. Crops grown through organic farming are not exposed to any chemical from starting to post harvest. It involves judicially use of natural resources.
Farming system depends on different climatic factors and enterprises to become adapted by people. Soil is the main farming system determining factor. Soil is the priming media for growth and development of plant. Soil also provides micro-habitat for microbes to support a system. Water also plays a crucial role in farming system. Water is the basic need of life. Water is required for normal functioning of plant. It plays a role in survival of a plant during chilling as well as drought stress. For a farming system to be adapted in an area, human labor is also required to perform functionally. If labor is not available at required time, system becomes less adapted. For all these enterprises do functionally, capital is the main requiring factor. Capital is the key which leads towards a farming system to be well developed in an area.
