"Oz" wrote in message
...
greycat writes

Can someone explain to me what "arable farming" is? In simple words
please, I'm neither a farmer, nor native english speaking person.
Merci !!

It's a little unspecific and vague around the edges but:

Arable farming is producing crops that are not directly consumed by
livestock (ie farm animals)

or

The operation of seeding, caring for and harvesting a crop.

Of course in many parts of the world the distinction is blurred.
One poster here regularly grazed cattle on wheat in the spring and
combined it for grain in the summer, which most would consider arable.

I have always taken it a tilled acres but till acres less those used for
life stock make just as much sense. I don't remember when I learned the
meaning of the term and the years are taking a toll on memory. Some how
lands that are capable of being tilled and are in grass or other use need to
be considered in a long term as well something like 5 to 15% of the US
cropland that could be farmed is in grass, forest or wet lands programs.
These programs were designed to retire marginal farm land. With modern
methods this farms may no longer be marginal.

If a real effort was made to use technology to farm land with extreme slopes
I am satisfied that some production could be safely obtained from almost any
ground that has enough soil and rain fall to support a crop. Some would be
very labor intensive such as planting nut trees without disturbing the
established cover and have long pay outs. But experience, good sense, good
science and clever people can improve almost anything.

There is also the lands that technology are making arable by designing crops
that can grow in soils that are too salty to produce crops today.

So a hard number for arable land is difficult if not impossible to come up
with.

You also need to take in to account the productivity of the land. People
make a living on land that it takes a square mile to keep a cow to 2 or 3
acres for the whole farm. There is no universal unit of productivity and
almost always better management and technology can get more from less under
any farming or stock growing situation.
--
Gordon

Gordon Couger
Stillwater, OK
www.couger.com/gcouger