All About Farming
What is farming? Are there different types of farms? What will you find at each one? Are you equipped with enough knowledge to start your own farm?
What is farming? Are there different types of farms? What will you find at each one? Are you equipped with enough knowledge to start your own farm?
Types of Farms and The Major Food Groups: Grains, Vegetables, Fruit, Dairy,
and Meat & Beans
Grains
While each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all grain (or cereal) crops is similar.
All are annual plants; meaning that one planting yields one harvest. Wheat, rye, oats, and barley are the
cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants that grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot
weather. Barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to survive in cold weather (overwinter). Wheat is the
most popular.
Vegetables
Traditionally, vegetable farming was done in the soil in small rows or blocks, often primarily for consumption
by the grower’s family, with the excess sold in nearby towns. Later, farms on the edge of large communities
could specialize in vegetable production, with the short distance allowing the farmer to get his produce to
market while still fresh.
Fruit
An orchard is a planting of trees or shrubs maintained for fruit production. Most orchards contain either fruit
or nut-producing trees for commercial production. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular
grid, with a base of grazed or mown grass or bare soil that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.
Orchards in New York State are primarily concentrated near Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and
the major rivers, where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger
is past. Crops commonly found in temperate climate orchards (as in New York) include apples, cherries,
hazelnuts, peaches, pears, pecans, walnuts, plums, and apricots.
Fruit
An orchard is a planting of trees or shrubs maintained for fruit production. Most orchards contain either fruit
or nut-producing trees for commercial production. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular
grid, with a base of grazed or mown grass or bare soil that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.
Orchards in New York State are primarily concentrated near Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and
the major rivers, where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger
is past. Crops commonly found in temperate climate orchards (as in New York) include apples, cherries,
hazelnuts, peaches, pears, pecans, walnuts, plums, and apricots.
Poultry
Poultry is the class of domesticated birds used for food or for their eggs. The ost typical are chickens, turkeys,
and waterfowl such as ducks and geese. In the United States, chickens were once raised primarily on family
farms. Some people still keep chickens for personal use, and may even sell the eggs and meat. These birds are
not kept in pens, and are therefore referred to as free range. Very few large-scale commercial farms keep poultry
this way. In the twentieth century, large-scale farms and packing plants emerged that could grow birds by the
thousands. From these locations, chickens are then frozen, shipped fresh, or sent on for further processing.
http://www.agclassroom.org/ny/resources/pdf/activities/many.pdf
While each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all grain (or cereal) crops is similar.
All are annual plants; meaning that one planting yields one harvest. Wheat, rye, oats, and barley are the
cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants that grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot
weather. Barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to survive in cold weather (overwinter). Wheat is the
most popular.
Vegetables
Traditionally, vegetable farming was done in the soil in small rows or blocks, often primarily for consumption
by the grower’s family, with the excess sold in nearby towns. Later, farms on the edge of large communities
could specialize in vegetable production, with the short distance allowing the farmer to get his produce to
market while still fresh.
Fruit
An orchard is a planting of trees or shrubs maintained for fruit production. Most orchards contain either fruit
or nut-producing trees for commercial production. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular
grid, with a base of grazed or mown grass or bare soil that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.
Orchards in New York State are primarily concentrated near Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and
the major rivers, where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger
is past. Crops commonly found in temperate climate orchards (as in New York) include apples, cherries,
hazelnuts, peaches, pears, pecans, walnuts, plums, and apricots.
Fruit
An orchard is a planting of trees or shrubs maintained for fruit production. Most orchards contain either fruit
or nut-producing trees for commercial production. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular
grid, with a base of grazed or mown grass or bare soil that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.
Orchards in New York State are primarily concentrated near Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and
the major rivers, where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger
is past. Crops commonly found in temperate climate orchards (as in New York) include apples, cherries,
hazelnuts, peaches, pears, pecans, walnuts, plums, and apricots.
Poultry
Poultry is the class of domesticated birds used for food or for their eggs. The ost typical are chickens, turkeys,
and waterfowl such as ducks and geese. In the United States, chickens were once raised primarily on family
farms. Some people still keep chickens for personal use, and may even sell the eggs and meat. These birds are
not kept in pens, and are therefore referred to as free range. Very few large-scale commercial farms keep poultry
this way. In the twentieth century, large-scale farms and packing plants emerged that could grow birds by the
thousands. From these locations, chickens are then frozen, shipped fresh, or sent on for further processing.
http://www.agclassroom.org/ny/resources/pdf/activities/many.pdf