Family farm

A family farm is an agricultural business owned or operated by a family.

These farms are a fundamental part of global food production. Experts estimate that families manage about 500 million of the world's 570 million farms. This makes family farming the most common way to manage land on Earth. While people often think of family farms as small, they can actually be very large. The definition of a family farm changes depending on the country, its laws, and its history.

Different nations use different rules to define what a family farm is. In Brazil, the term *agricultura familiar* is reserved for small farms. These farms must be worked mostly by family members. They are also allowed a maximum of only five additional temporary workers. In the United States, the rules are much broader. The 2012 Census of Agriculture defines a farm as any place producing $1,000 or more in agricultural products annually. To be a family farm in the U.S., the majority of the business must be owned by the operator and their relatives.

These definitions often focus on several specific factors. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations looks at labor and management. They check if the farm relies primarily on family members to do the work. Other definitions consider the size of the land and the family's residence. Some focus on whether the farm provides a livelihood for the family. Others look at land ownership, family investment, and how the farm is passed down through generations.

History shows that farming systems have shifted many times over the centuries. In the Roman Republic, large estates called *latifundia* became common. These estates focused on exporting goods like grain, olive oil, or wine. Unlike modern farms, they used slave labor instead of machines. After the Western Roman Empire collapsed, these large estates became the basis for a system called Manorialism. In this medieval system, a Lord of the Manor held legal and economic power. He controlled the land, and the peasant population provided obligatory contributions to him.

In contrast to the Roman and manorial systems, Germanic peoples had different traditions. They used a system of heritable estates owned by individual families or clans. They called these estates *ōþalan*. Under the system of Salic patrimony, this land was often considered inalienable, meaning it could not be sold. This tradition led to a dispersed settlement structure, known as *Streusiedlung*. Instead of living in tight villages, families lived in spread-out homes.

In German-speaking areas, the word *Bauernhof* is used today to describe a family farming estate. This term was formed in the early modern period. It replaced the older term *Meierhof*, which referred to a manorial estate. In England, land-owning commoners were often called yeomen starting in the 15th century. In many parts of Europe, the transition from old systems to modern farming happened alongside the Industrial Revolution. Mechanization allowed for the cultivation of much larger areas of land.

These technological changes caused many people to move. As farms grew larger, some people left to become industrial wage-laborers. Others emigrated to new places, such as the Russian Empire or the Americas. In the United States, the Homestead Act of 1862 helped establish new family estates. In the U.S., family farms are incredibly productive. They operate 90 percent of the nation's farmland. They also account for 85 percent of the total value of agricultural production.