Mixed farming and its advantages and disadvantages are about equipping you with as much information as needed. The points to be discussed in full details here concentrate more on the definition of mixed farming and this is usually because most subsistent farmers or commercial farmers oftentimes suffer from the lack of sufficient space that will be wide enough to occupy a distant separation of different agricultural practices.
So, more often than not, farmers with limited space tend to mix the rearing of animals with the planting and harvesting of crops on the same farmland. It is not only those with limited space of land that however engage in mixed farming; the ones with a very large width of land also make use of the opportunity to have their cattle reared and plants catered for–all in a single but very wide space!
By definition, mixed farming can be defined as the only agent that represent modern agriculture in that it opens up the platform where the efficient running of two or more agricultural ventures or activities is possible without common challenges. It also provides farmers with an opportunity to diversify risk from single crop production, to use labor more efficiently, to have a source of cash for purchasing farm inputs and to add value to crops or crop by-products.
Being the largest category of livestock system in the world, the mixed farming systems cover about 2.5 billion hectares of land, of which 1.1 billion hectares are arable rainfed crop land, 0.2 billion hectares are irrigated crop land and 1.2 billion hectares are grassland. Mixed farming systems produce 92% of the world’s milk supply, all buffalo meat and approximately 70% of the sheep and goat meat.
This farming system is probably the most benign agricultural production system from an environmental perspective because it is, at least partially, a closed system. About half of the meat and milk produced in this system is produced in the OECD, Eastern Europe and the CIS, and the remainder comes from the developing world. Over the last decade, meat production from this system grew at a rate of about 2 percent per year and thus remains below global in demand.
Given the fact so far that mixed farming has been able to neither reduce nor add to the nutrient potentials of land, it can then be deduced that crop and livestock production is largely in balance with nature.
Mixed Farming and its Advantages and Disadvantages
Mixed Farming and its advantages and disadvantages will be highlighted below in case of need for balance:
1. Advantages of Mixed Farming
- Soil Fertility
Mixed farming maintains soil fertility by recycling soil nutrients and allowing the introduction and using of rotations between various crops and forage legumes and trees, or for land to remain fallow and grasses and shrubs to become reestablished.
- Soil Biodiversity
It also enhances soil biodiversity, minimizes soil erosion, helps to conserve water and provides suitable habitats for birds.
- Use of Crop Residue
Mixed farming system makes the best use of crop residues. When they are not used as feed, stalks may be incorporated directly into the soil, where, for some time, they act as a nitrogen trap, exacerbating deficiencies. In the tropical semi-arid areas, termite action results in loss of nutrients before the next cropping season. Burning, the other alternative, increases carbon dioxide emissions.
- Intensification
It allows intensified farming, with less dependence on natural resources and preserving more biodiversity than would be the case if food demands were to be met by crop and livestock activities undertaken in isolation.
- Feeding
Unwanted crops produce can be used to feed the livestock.
- Diversification
It allows for diversification and risk management. Risk of total loss is reduced, as it is unlikely that both the farm animals and crops will fail.
2. Disadvantages of Mixed Farming
- Growth Instability
The mixed farming system can only grow half as many of each crop when two share a field than if you had one field devoted to each.
- Management Problem
Given the enormity of labor and physical engagements as challenges, there may be a serious management problem which may turn out to be a serious backlash often to the disadvantage of the farmer or manager. If animals break loose, they may get into the crops and destroy them.
- Hindrance
Mixed farming also could cause one activity to hinder the other activity on the farm. As a result, the farmer lands in debt for lack of consistency.
- High Cost
Maintenance costs are spread out and tend to be much higher. Maintaining animals can be expensive in terms of vaccination and treatment for diseases.
- Maintenance Challenge
It makes the control, monitoring, and maintenance of the farm more difficult as long as you keep the system that allows the smooth running of several other activities.
3. Types of Mixed Faming
- Mixed cropping system
- Mixing within livestock
- Mixed crop-livestock systems
- Integrated culture system
- Polyculture system
