Types of industry
Intensive and extensive agricultural industries represent two distinct approaches to farming, each with its own set of features.
Intensive Industries
Features:
- High Input Use: Intensive farming relies heavily on inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and high-quality feed to boost productivity.
- High Stocking Density: In animal production, animals are kept in high densities, often in confined spaces such as feedlots, barns, or cages to maximise space and efficiency.
- Specialised Production: Intensive farms often focus on a single crop species or livestock breed, allowing for specialised management practices to optimise output.
- High Yields: These systems are designed to maximise production per unit area, resulting in higher yields of crops or animal products.
- Advanced Technology: Use of advanced technologies such as automated feeding, irrigation systems, precision farming tools, and genetically improved breeds or seeds to enhance productivity.
- Greater Environmental Impact: Intensive farming can lead to issues such as soil degradation, water pollution, and higher greenhouse gas emissions due to the concentration of inputs and waste.
- High Labour and Capital Investment: These systems require significant investment in infrastructure, machinery, and labour to maintain high levels of production.
Extensive Industries
Features:
- Low Input Use: Extensive farming relies on natural inputs with minimal use of artificial fertilisers, pesticides or supplementary feed, often depending on the natural fertility of the land.
- Low Stocking Density: Animals are usually kept at low densities, grazing over large areas, and crops are spread over vast fields with plenty of space between plants.
- Diverse Production: Extensive farms often produce a mix of crops and livestock, enhancing biodiversity and resilience against market or environmental changes.
- Lower Yields: These systems typically produce lower yields per unit area compared to intensive systems due to less reliance on inputs and technology.
- Minimal Technology Use: Extensive farming uses fewer technological interventions, relying more on traditional or natural farming methods, such as rain-fed irrigation.
- Lower Environmental Impact: Extensive systems are generally more sustainable, with less soil erosion, reduced pollution, and lower greenhouse gas emissions due to the natural use of land.
- Lower Labour and Capital Investment: These systems typically require less financial input for machinery, infrastructure, and labour, as they make use of the natural environment and processes.
