Human Inputs

Geography: Cambridge International GCSE (2027 Exams), topic 10.1.2

Human Inputs to a Farming System

Human inputs are social and economic things added to farming by people. Examples include money, labour, farm buildings, machinery and fuel.

Money is needed to buy seeds or animals like dairy cows.
Labour costs money as workers need money.
Buildings to keep animals in and for workers to live in.
Machinery might be needed (e.g. milking machines or tractors).
Tractor/harvesters need fuel and buildings need electricity and heating.
Fertilisers/pesticides/herbicides can be used to give the soil nutrients, kill insects or kill other plants.

Each product made on a farm may fluctuate in price (go up and down) so some years it will make money and other years it might not.
This is why farms usually grow more than one type of product.
Smaller, neighbouring farms may not be able to compete with larger farms and may go out of business.
This is because large farms can buy things wholesale so can run more cheaply.

Farmers usually do not change what they farm each year.
This is partly because they have greater skill in farming a certain type of produce.
Land tenure means who owns the land. Usually, when a farmer dies, they will split their land evenly between their children.
This creates smaller farms each time, which means that soil becomes worn out faster and more fertiliser is needed to get successful yield.

Scientists have managed to change the genetic material of seeds and animals to ‘improve’ them.
Seeds are now resistant to locusts and drought.
Seeds can also be grown in half the natural time to double the output of produce.
Many people are against this use of science to manipulate seeds and animals because it is very expensive.
Organic produce is the opposite; GM, synthetic fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides are not used.
It can be very costly though because it needs more labour input.