Glossary:Farm typology
An agricultural holding can be described by its activities (such as raising cattle, raising pigs, cultivating arable crops or horticulture).
Some farms earn income from only one specific activity, while others diversify their activities. Farm specialisation describes the trend towards a single dominant activity in farm income: an agricultural holding is said to be specialised when a particular activity provides at least two thirds of the production or the business size of an agricultural holding. Farm diversification is the opposite of specialisation: it refers to the trend towards gaining income from diverse activities.
Farms are classified into different types according to their dominant activity:
- a crop-specialist holding is an agricultural holding where crop production is the dominant activity, providing at least two-thirds of the production or the business size of an agricultural holding
- a livestock-specialist holding is an agricultural holding where livestock production is the dominant activity, providing at least two-thirds of the production or the business size of an agricultural holding
- a mixed-farming holding is an agricultural holding where neither livestock nor crop production is the dominant activity - an activity is called dominant if it provides at least two-thirds of the production or the business size of an agricultural holding
The common classification of holdings is build on different nested levels. Homogeneous groups of holdings can be assembled in greater or lower degree of aggregation. Depending on the amount of details required, the types of farming are divided into:
- general types of farming (1 digit)
- principal types of farming (2 digits)
- particular types of farming (3 digits)
- subdivisions of particular types of farming (4 digits) were used in some years
The table shows the classification of agricultural holdings by type of farming since 1985
