farmer

Eastern European farmer

A farmer is a person who is engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. This is a way of life that has been the dominant occupation of human beings since the dawn of civilization.

Definition of a farmer

The term farmer usually applies to a person who grows field crops, has orchards, vineyards, or market gardens, and does so with the prospect of consuming or selling the produce as food. They may, however, provide raw materials for industrial purposes, such as cereals for alcoholic beverages, hides for leather, maize for plastics or fuel and wool or flax for yarns and cloth-making. Farmers may also be involved in rearing livestock for meat, milk, or other substances. Often, a narrow range of crops or produce is sold for money with which the farmer buys everything else in a market. Farmers harness the power of nature to make things grow.

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.

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 by poverty or, ironically against the background of large-scale agribusiness, may become an organic farmer growing for discerning consumers in the local food market. Historically, one subsisting in this way may have been known as a peasant.

In developed nations, a farmer (as a profession) is usually defined as someone with an ownership interest in crops or livestock, and who provides labour or management in their production. Those who provide only labour 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 relief.

The Dutch word for farmer is boer, from which the Boer people of South Africa took their name.

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 another business or industry. 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, vocational, or club-program (such as 4-H) classes. As advances in technology are applied to agriculture, it is becoming more common for these farmers to earn academic degrees in agriculture management.

See also

• Agriculture
• Agribusiness
• Gardening
• Landed gentry
• Organic farming
• Sustainable agriculture
• Tenant farmer
• List of conservation topics
• List of environment topics
• List of sustainable agriculture topics

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