Emanuel and Iulian

COLEGIUL “COSTACHE NEGRUZZI’ IASI

A farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production.

Farms may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation or a company. A farm can be a holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares.

The development of farming and farms was an important component in establishing towns.Once people have moved from hunting and/or gathering and from simple horticulture to active farming, social arrangements of roads, distribution, collection, and marketing can evolve. With the exception of plantations and colonial farms, farm sizes tend to be small in newly-settled lands and expand as transportation and markets become sophisticated. Farming rights have been the central tenet of a number of revolutions, wars of liberation, and post-colonial economics

The term farming covers a wide spectrum of agricultural production work. At one end of this spectrum is the subsistence farmer, who farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only enough food to meet the needs of his/her family.

At the other end is commercial intensive agriculture, including industrial agriculture. Such farming involves large fields and/or numbers of animals, large resource inputs (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.), and a high level of mechanization. These operations generally attempt to maximize financial income from grain, produce, or livestock.

Traditionally, the goal of farming was to work collectively as a community to grow and harvest crops that could be grown in mass such as wheat, corn, squash, and other staples. Centuries later these same farmers took charge of livestock, and began growing food exclusively for the feeding of livestock as well as for the community.

With the growth of actual civilization the farmer's focus changed from basic survival to that of financial gain. In smaller towns on the outset of civilization the farmer did retain the need to grow their own food, but the financially minded farmer was largely spreading. With the Renaissance came the plantation, a "Farm" primarily worked by others primarily for the gain of the plantation's owner. Then came a new age of industry where the farm could be manned by fewer men and big machines. This meant a complete revolution for farming which will be discussed below.

The word came via French ferme from Late Latin firma = "fixed payment" from Latin firmus = "firm, solid", and originally referred to a big landowner farming out his land among other men to run it, rather than running it all himself. As times have changed fewer people are needed to assist in running the farm because of the increase of mechanization.

Collective farming In Romania, land collectivization began in 1948 and continued

over more than a decade until its virtual completion in 1962.But this type of farming broke up after 1990. Now there are private investors in this area and local owner farmers.

Factory farming Intensive farming This type of farming is used often nowadays in our country . The

productivity is specific for this type of farming. Organic farming Its used for a long time in our country by the local farmes or owner

farmer who grow their animals with natural, ecological cereals where are used natural fertilizer. They don`t know that is named organic food what their eating but thy say it’s a tradition to grow the animals in this way.

Vertical farming Fell farming

Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other fowl, generally for meat or eggs.

Modern farming Advantages In egg producing farms, cages allow for more birds per unit area, and this allows

for greater productivity and lower space and food costs, with more efforts put into egg laying. Modern poultry farming is very efficient and allows meat and eggs to be available to the consumer in all seasons at a much lower cost than free range production. The poultry have no exposure to predators and disease risk is significantly reduced.

Disadvantages The cage environment of egg producing does not permit birds to roam. Like free

range production, cannibalism is also controlled by beak trimming. Another condition that can occur in prolific egg laying breeds is osteoporosis. During egg production, large amounts of calcium are transferred from bones to create eggshell. Although dietary calcium levels are adequate, absorption of dietary calcium is not always sufficient to fully replenish bone calcium.

Intensive piggeries (or hog lots) are a type of factory farm specialized for the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight. In this system of pig production, grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are confined in sow stalls (gestation crates) and give birth in farrowing crates.

The use of sow stalls for pregnant sows has resulted in lower birth production costs, however, this practice has led to more significant animal welfare concerns. Many of the world’s largest producers of pigs (U.S., Canada, Denmark) use sow stalls, but some nations (e.g., the UK) and some US States (e.g., Florida and Arizona) have banned them.