Thursday, June 16, 2011

What is a farm?

What is a farm?

What qualifies a piece of land as a farm?

Does it have to be a certain number of acres? Or located in a certain area of the country?

Or have a certain number of animals on it? Perhaps a certain type of animal or a certain percentage of different types?

Does a place with only 70 chickens count as a farm? What about a place with only 5 horses?

To be a farm, is livestock required? What if you only grow fruits and vegetables but have no animals, does that count?

Or maybe you have to make a certain amount of income from the land to be considered a farm?

What percentage of food consumed needs to be grown at home to qualify as a farm? What if you don't grow anything but you have six pet goats, two horses, and a duck? Is that a farm?

Do you have to breed the animals to be a farm? What if you buy the animals and have them neutered or just don't feel like breeding them?

What if you breed the animals but only live on 1/4 acre in town?

Do you have to come from a farming background to be considered a "farmer"? Is there a genetic or familial qualification that makes people farmers? What if you grew up on a farm but don't have animals or grow food? Are you still a "farmer" because of your background?

How long do you have to have animals or a garden to be a "farmer"? Is there a number of years that makes you qualified to call your place a farm?

What is a farm?

2 comments:

* Crystal * said...

I think if you ask 10 people this question, you'll get 10 different answers :)

We don't have a garden (no point in trying during one of the worst droughts in our state's history)

But we have goats for milk & meat.

We have chickens for eggs & bug control.

Meat rabbits off and on...

We provide nothing for the public though, just our own use..

Do we qualify as a "farm"?

Thanks for following my blog, you now have a new "Follower" too :-)

Michaele said...

When we lived in Wyoming, I always called what we do "hobby farming" because I think farming does mean something bigger than an acreage. In Nebraska, I don't dare call myself a farmer. It really doesn't matter what we call it. We know what we are and what we can do. Right?