Agricultural land

"farmland" redirects here. For other uses, see farmland (disambiguation).

Agricultural land (also agricultural area) denotes the land suitable for agricultural production, both crops and livestock. It is one of the main resources in agriculture. The standard classification (used, e.g., by FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) divides agricultural land into the following components:^[1][2]

• Arable land — land under annual crops, such as cereals, cotton, other technical crops, potatoes, vegetables, and melons; also includes land left temporarily fallow.
• Orchards and vineyards — land under permanent crops (e.g., fruit plantations).
• Meadows and pastures — areas for natural grasses and grazing of livestock.

The first two components — arable land and land in permanent crops — constitute so-called cultivable land. The part of arable land actually under crops is called sown land or cropped land. The term farmland is ambiguous in the sense that it may refer, on the one hand, to agricultural land and, on the other hand, to cultivable or even only arable land.

Depending on the use of artificial irrigation, agricultural land is divided into irrigated and non-irrigated land. In arid and semi-arid countries agriculture is often confined to irrigated land, with very little farming possible in non-irrigated or rainfed areas.

Agricultural land constitutes only a part of any country's territory, which in addition also includes areas not suitable for agriculture, such as forests, mountains, and inland water bodies. Agricultural land covers 38% of the world's land area, with arable land representing less than one-third of agricultural land (11% of the world's land area).^[3]

In the context of zoning, agricultural land (or more properly agriculturally zoned land) refers to plots that may be used for agricultural activities, regardless of the physical type or quality of land.

Another common definition of the word agricultural land refers to an area of land with many farms and fields

References

1. ^ Definition of agricultural land in FAOSTAT Glossary (click on the letter "A" to get to the definition of "Agricultural area").
2. ^ Definition of agricultural land in OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms.
3. ^ WDI –World Development Indicators online database, retrieved on July 18, 2008 (may require subscription for access; print edition from the World Bank).