Smallholder Agriculture - Smallholdings in Britain

Smallholdings in Britain

In British English usage, a smallholding is a piece of land and its adjacent living quarters for the smallholder and stabling for farm animals, on a smaller scale than that of a farm but larger than an allotment, usually under 50 acres (0.20 km2). It is often established for the breeding of farm animals on an organic basis on free-range pastures. Alternatively, the smallholder may concentrate on the growing of vegetables by various traditional methods or in a more modern way using plastic covers, Polytunneling or cloches for quick growth.

Generally, a smallholding offers its owner a means of achieving self-sufficiency as to his and his family's own needs which he may be able to supplement by selling surplus produce at a farmers market and/or temporary booths or more permanent shop facilities are often part of a smallholding.

In a separate development, so-called pick-your-own-fruit soft fruit (or vegetable) farms (farm being a convenient term rather than a reflection on its size) have appeared over the years in the vicinity of towns, which in type of management do belong to the category of smallholdings rather than farms. Pick your own Strawberries were pioneered in the UK by Ted Moult in 1961.

They usually consist of a large field which has been subdivided into strips of areas for fruit trees, shrubs or various types of vegetables, all the kinds of produce which come to ripen in their different seasons. In this type of establishment, once the initial layout and investment (in plants, trees, shrubs, etc.) has been completed, only the replanting of annual vegetables, the maintenance of perennials, the minimum weeding of the area needs to be undertaken, while the consumers themselves do their own harvesting. Additionally, of course, facilities have to be set up so that the customer may pay for the amount of produce they have been able to 'pick'.