Subsistence Farming: planting crops to "subsist" off of - to live off of as first priority; if any excesses, than the crops cn be used for trade or to sell. Often you will find plots with diverse strains and multiple types of crops - ie, intercropping.

Cash Cropping: planting plots with only one type of crop (ie, mono-cropping) with the main purpose of using the crops for sales purposes only. Mostly, the crops are grown with export in mind.

Benefits of Subsistence Farming:

• decrease the risk of failure of crops : the greater the diversity of crops, the higher the likelihood one of them will survive.
• allows for the combination if short-duration and long-duration crops: this spreads the labor needs more evenly.
• allows for a mixture of food crops and cash crops.
• crops are used by the people growing them.
• beneficial for the soil: doesnít wear out the soil; in fact, can provide nutrients for the soil (ex nitrogen-fixing powers of legumes).
• can provide maximum benefits of resource usage (sunlight, land & water).
• can provide help with pest and disease control.
• can actually increase the yield of the plot!

by Mieke Brouwer - Spring 97

Plant illustrations by Mary Frances Jackson

'Food for Life' is a start... http://www.caa.org.au/AWARE/1996/june-1996.html

Agricultural patterns: traditional vs. conventional
https://members.tripod.com/~griots/Africa321/afr_agrpattern.html