Intensive Farming

Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by a low fallow ratio and the high use of inputs such as capital, labour, or heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area.

This is in contrast to many sorts of traditional agriculture in which the inputs per unit land are lower. With intensification, labor use typically goes up, unless, or until, it gets replaced by machines (energy inputs) at which point labor use can decrease dramatically. Agricultural intensification has been the dominant response to population growth, as it allows for producing more food on the same amount of land.

Intensive animal farming practices can involve very large numbers of animals raised on limited land which require large amounts of food, water and medical inputs (required to keep the animals healthy in cramped conditions). Very large or confined indoor intensive livestock operations (particularly descriptive of common US farming practices) are often referred to as factory farming and are criticised by opponents for the low level of animal welfare standards and associated pollution and health issues.

Modern day forms of intensive crop based agriculture involve the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical fertilizers, plant growth regulators or pesticides. It is associated with the increasing use of agricultural mechanization, which have enabled a substantial increase in production, yet have also dramatically increased environmental pollution by increasing erosion and poisoning water with agricultural chemicals.