Smallholding

Smallholding, small, often family-run, farm that is usually less than 5 hectares (2 acres) in size in developing countries, and up to 20 hectares (50 acres) in the developed world. The size of smallholdings varies with the quality of land and density of population. Small farms are more commonly found in areas of high population density. In the more fertile and temperate regions, such as the United Kingdom, Europe, and New Zealand, they tend to be 2 to 20 hectares (5 to 50 acres). In the United Kingdom the official definition of a smallholding is an agricultural unit of less than 20.2 hectares (50 acres) and of low rental value. In the drier parts of the world, such as Australia and parts of South Africa, they can be larger still. In more populated regions—Asia, Latin America, and most of Africa—a smallholding may be as small as half an acre. Smallholdings no longer form part of mainstream agriculture in the developed world, and are usually run as part-time businesses. In developing countries, however, they supply the subsistence farming needs of millions of rural people.

In the United Kingdom, County Council smallholdings, established by Act of Parliament in 1892, gave people the opportunity to become farmers for the first time, usually as milk producers. Milk production on a small scale is no longer profitable, and smallholdings in the UK today are usually involved in market gardening, horticulture, glasshouse cultivation, and organic farming. Livestock farming (see Animal Husbandry) on a small scale is also sometimes carried out.

In the countries of southern Europe, over 80 per cent of the dairy cows are still milked on smallholdings. There is also a new demand for smallholdings in the United Kingdom and in other developed countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, among people who wish to take up small-scale farming for recreational purposes or as a way of escaping urban living. In the developing world, livestock, market gardening, and tropical crops, such as rice, are the mainstays.

Aid agencies are encouraging smallholders in the developing world to increase their production of the cereal crops, root crops, fruit, and vegetables, which they already grow. They believe this to be a more sustainable way for a country to achieve food security than large, mechanized farming (see Sustainable Agriculture).