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Encyclopedia > Husbandman
Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field.
Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field.

A farmer is a person who is engaged in agrarian business by using land. This is a lifeway that has been dominant occupation of the majority of human beings since the dawn of civilisation. The term farmer usually applies to a person who grows field crops, or has orchards, vineyards or market gardens with a view to selling to others as food. They may, however, provide raw materials for industrial purposes, such as cereals for alcoholic beverages, fruit for juices, hides for leather, and wool or flax for yarns and cloth-making. Farmers may also be involved in rearing cattle for meat or milk. Often, a narrow range of crops or produce is sold for money with which the farmer buys everything else in a market. Download high resolution version (640x640, 299 KB)Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ... Download high resolution version (640x640, 299 KB)Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ... Families Grasshoppers are herbivorous insects of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. ... Bait has several different meanings: Bait (dogs) - using dogs to worry or torment a chained or confined animal Bait (fish) - food to lure fish Baitware - limited or defective computer software Bait car - vehicle rigged by the police to catch auto thieves Bait and switch - a form of fraud The Bait... Binomial name Medicago sativa L. Subspecies subsp. ... Agriculture (a term which encompasses farming) is the art, science or practice of producing food, feed, fiber and many other desired goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. ... For the religious publishing house, see LifeWay Christian Resources. ... An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production. ... A vineyard Vineyard with bird netting Wine grapes with netting as protection against birds A vineyard (vignoble in French, vigna or vigneto in Italian, vinha in Portuguese, viña or viñedo in Spanish, Weinberg in German) is a place where grapes are grown for making wine, raisins, or table... Look up Cereal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bottles of cachaça, a Brazilian alcoholic beverage. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... Juice is a fluid naturally contained in animal or plant tissue. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ... See Alpaca wool, Angora wool (of rabbits) and Cashmere wool (of goats) for information about other wools. ... Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... Various meats Cold Meat Salad Meat, in its broadest modern definition, is all animal tissue intended to be used as food. ... A glass of cows milk Milk is the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals (including monotremes). ... An example of Money. ... A market is, as defined in economics, a social arrangement that allows buyers and sellers to discover information and carry out a voluntary exchange. ...


A farmer engaged in raising horses or in large-scale cattle or sheep raising for meat is usually referred to as a rancher, grazier (Australia) or stockman. Special terms also apply to other people who husband domesticated animals, namely shepherd for sheep farmers and goatherd for goat farmers. The term dairy farmer is applied to those engaged milk production. A poultry farmer is one who concentrates on raising chickens, turkeys, domesticated ducks and geese, or is involved in egg production. A person who raises a variety of vegetables for market may be called a truck farmer or market gardener. Many North American farmers prefer to be referred to as growers due to negative stereotypes associated with the former term. On the other hand, "farmer" is seen as having greater prestige than the conventional English translation for the corresponding word in Chinese and some other languages: "peasant". Ranching is the raising of cattle or sheep on rangeland, although one might also speak of ranching with regard to less common livestock such as elk, bison or emu. ... A Grazier is an Australian farmer who owns and lives on a large-sized rural property called a Sheep station or a Cattle station. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 The domestic sheep (Ovis aries), the most common species of the sheep genus (Ovis), is a woolly ruminant quadruped which probably descends from the wild mouflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... A goatherd is a person who herds goats for a living. ... Species See Species and subspecies The goat is a mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Dairy farm near Oxford, New York A dairy is a facility for the extraction and processing of animal milk (mostly from cows, sometimes from buffalo, sheep or goats) and other farm animals, for human consumption. ... Ducks amongst other poultry The Poultry-dealer, after Cesare Vecellio. ... Trinomial name Gallus gallus domesticus A chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a type of domesticated bird which is often raised as a type of poultry. ... Domesticated animals, plants, and other organisms are those whose collective behavior, life cycle, or physiology has been altered as a result of their breeding and living conditions being under human control for multiple generations. ... // Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Merginae For other uses, see Duck (disambiguation). ... Genera Anser Branta Chen Cereopsis Cnemiornis (extinct) † see also: Swan, Duck Anatidae Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. ... A carton of free-range chicken eggs Ostrich egg Bird eggs are a common food source. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...


In the context of developing nations or other pre-industrial cultures, most farmers practice a meager subsistence agriculture - a simple organic farming system employing crop rotation or other techniques to maximize yield, using saved seed which is native to the ecoregion. In developed nations however a person using such techniques on small patches of land might be called a gardener and be considered a hobbyist - or may be driven into such primitive methods simply by poverty or, ironically, against the background of large-scale agribusiness, be an organic farmer growing for discerning consumers in the local food market. A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ... Subsistence agriculture is agriculture carried out for survival — with few or no crops available for sale. ... Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables in Capay, California. ... Crop rotation: grain crop, fallow land, legumes Crop rotation is the practice of growing two (or more) dissimilar type of crops in the same space in sequence. ... An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... A developed country is a country that is technologically advanced and that enjoys a relatively high standard of living. ... A gardener is any person involved in the growing and maintenance of plants, notably in a garden. ... This article is about pastimes. ... A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ... Local food (also regional food) is a principle of sustainability relying on consumption of food products that are locally grown. ...


In developed nations, a farmer (as a profession) is usually defined as someone with an ownership interest in crops or livestock, and who provides labor or management in their production. Those who provide only labor but not management, and do not have ownership, are most often called farmhands, or, if they supervise a leased strip of land growing only one crop, as sharecroppers or sharefarmers. In the context of agribusiness, a farmer can be almost anyone - and can legally qualify under agricultural policy for various subsidies, incentives and tax reliefs. Agriculture (a term which encompasses farming) is the art, science or practice of producing food, feed, fiber and many other desired goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... Sharecropping is a system of farming in which employee farmers work a parcel of land in return for a fraction of the parcels crops. ... In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In economics, a subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government to lower the price faced by producers or consumers of a good, generally because it is considered to be in the public interest. ...


Because of this diversity of terms, and the availability of money for those who "qualify" as farmers, grower is a more neutral word for this lifeway.


The Dutch word for farmer is boer, from which the Boer people of South Africa took their name. In the Netherlands calling someone a "farmer" is considered a derogatory term. Boer is the Afrikaans (and Dutch) word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans-speaking migrating farmers of the expanding eastern Cape frontier. ...

Contents


Occupational Information

The income for farmers is quite varied. In the US the average farmer earns about $45,000 per year. However since most farmers have to provide their own benefits, their real pay is less than someone making the same amount working for a large business. Many farmers find themselves "land rich but cash poor", and it is not unusual for a farm to lose money year after year, gradually eroding the value of the business.


A large percentage of farmers received on the job training as they grew up on a family farm. Many in the developed world also received training in high school or vocational classes. As advances in technology are applied to agriculture, it is becoming more common for these farmers to get 2 year or 4 year degrees in agriculture management.


Use in other professions

A curious offshoot of the term farmer was in common use in the British Merchant Navy until the latter part of the 20th century. Before the advent of automatic helmsmen, sea watches consisted of three seamen covering three four-hour watches: 4-8, 8-12, 12-4. During the hours of darkness the first seaman would do two hours on the wheel, followed by one hour below on standby then one hour lookout. Another would do the first hour on lookout, one hour below then two hours wheel. The third man would do no spells on the wheel having the first hour on standby followed by two hours lookout followed by another hour standby. The non-steerer was known as 'the farmer', but the connection with the agricultural term is not known. The three spells of wheels/lookout etc were rotated so each would get a different turn on following nights.


Notable farmers and agriculturalists

See also: Category:Farmers

James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... George Washington Carver, 1906 George Washington Carver (c. ... Thomas Jefferson(April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and an influential founder of the United States. ... John Worlidge (1640-1700) was a noted agriculturalist. ... Grant MacEwan Dr. John Walter Grant MacEwan, known as Grant MacEwan, (August 12, 1902–June 15, 2000) was a farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, Mayor of Calgary and both an MLA and Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. ... Herbert Greenfield (November 25, 1869 - August 23, 1949), Canadian politician, was Premier of Alberta between 1921 and 1925. ... Anthony Edward Martin (born 1944) is a Norfolk farmer and cause célèbre as a result of his action in shooting two burglars who were robbing his home; he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but his conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal. ... Michael Eavis (born October 17, 1935) is a British dairy farmer most famous as the founder of the Glastonbury Festival. ... Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 1857 - 2 September 1935) was a pastoralist in Australia. ... Thomas Chirnside (1815-1887) was an Australian pastoralist who developed much of what would become western Melbourne. ... Masanobu Fukuoka (福岡 正信 Fukuoka Masanobu), born February 2, 1914, author of The One-Straw Revolution, The Road Back to Nature and The Natural Way Of Farming, is one of the pioneers of no-till grain cultivation. ... Rudolf Steiner. ... James G. (Jim) Boswell, II, is a farmer with significant holdings in California Central Valley. ... Lee Kyung Hae (이경혜, 1947 - September 10, 2003) was a South Korean activist who opposed foreign commerce and supported farmers, fishers and their issues in his home country. ...

Farmers in fiction

Farmer Giles of Ham (written in 1947, published in 1949) is a short story written by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) is best known as the author of The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings. ... Farmer In The Sky is a 1950 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a boy who emigrates to Jupiters moon Ganymede, which is in the process of being terraformed, and who creates a farm out of gravel. ... Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ... Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... costa: A Fairy Story is a satirical novella (which can also be understood as a modern fable or allegory) by George Orwell, ostensibly about a group of animals who oust the humans from the farm on which they live. ... The Tale of Peter Rabbit is the first of many childrens tales written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. ... ʔ Potters illustration of her anthropomorphic rabbits — in this case the married cousins, Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny (with Peter Rabbit in the background), from The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies Beatrix Potter, or Helen Beatrix Potter (July 28, 1866 – December 22, 1943) was a British childrens book author and... Farmer Palmer is a character in the British comic, VIZ. As the name suggests, Farmer Palmer is a parody of farmers in Britain. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Grapes of Wrath is a work of fiction written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. ... John Ernst Steinbeck III (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was one of the best known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century. ... Kent Harufs [pronounced to rhyme with sheriff] novel The Tie That Binds (1984), is the fictitious story of 80 year-old Edith Goodnough of Holt County, Colorado, as told to an unnamed inquirer on a Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1977 by her 50 year-old neighbour, a... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Fred Dagg is a fictional archetype satirist from New Zealand created and acted on stage, film and television by John Morrison Clarke. ... The Archers is a British radio soap opera broadcast on the BBCs main national spoken-word radio channel, Radio 4. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest public broadcasting corporation in the world. ... Jonathan Kent, also known as Pa Kent, is a fictional character published by DC Comics. ... Superman is a fictional character regarded as one of the most famous and popular comic book superheroes of all time, and one of the first to embody several qualities associated with them. ... Smallville is an American television series that debuted in September 2001 on the WB Network. ...

See also

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables in Capay, California. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ... Landed gentry is a term traditionally applied in Britain to members of the upper class with country estates often (but not always) farmed on their behalf by others, and who might be without a peerage or other hereditary title. ... A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. ... A gardener Gardening is the art of growing plants with the goal of crafting a purposeful landscape. ... This page aims to list articles related to the natural environment. ... The list of conservation topics is a link page for the conservation of both the natural environment and the built environment. ... This page aims to list articles on Wikipedia that are related to sustainable agriculture. ...

References



 

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