farming

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The business of growing crops and raising animals such as cattle and sheep.

   Farming has supported rural communities for thousands of years.

   Modern farming combines crop science with heavy machinery.

   Similaragriculture, husbandry, cultivation, agribusiness

   Note

   The everyday name for the occupation, built simply from farm and -ing. It is usually uncountable: farming is a way of life, not something you count. James Rennie, writing in 1833, called gardening "a sort of refined farming upon a limited scale", a reminder that the two differ mainly in scale. When you need a countable use for one particular operation, that belongs to a single farm or plot.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of farm.

   They are farming land that has been in the family for generations.

   Farming organic crops requires patience and careful planning.

   Note

   The verb form does double duty. After be it makes the progressive (they are farming). On its own it begins a gerund phrase (farming organic crops takes patience). It works with or without an object: a family can simply be farming, or be farming land or a particular crop. Farming out keeps the older idea of handing over land or revenue in return for a share of what it yields.

3. 3
   adjective

   Relating to the business of agriculture.

   The farming sector employs a large share of the rural population.

   Government subsidies support struggling farming communities.

   Similaragricultural, agrarian

   Note

   Before a noun, farming sorts things into a category rather than describing them: a farming community, the farming sector. It cannot be graded, so "more farming" or "very farming" does not work in this use. This is the word for agriculture in general. When the work is specifically raising animals or fish, use the livestock-and-fish meaning.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   An agricultural operation, or an instance of working a particular piece of land.

   The farming along the river delta produces rice twice a year.

   Hill farming in that county relies almost entirely on sheep.

   Similarcultivation, agriculture

   Note

   Here the word turns countable and can take a plural, though farmings reads as unusual beside farms or plots. It sits most comfortably in names for kinds of operation: hill farming, diversified farming with livestock. John Quick's Synodicon in Gallia reformata (1692) speaks of "Farmings of Benefices", meaning church revenues let out for a return. That is the older farm, "to lease", still visible inside the noun.

5. 5
   adjective

   Relating to the raising of livestock or fish.

   The farming co-op specializes in raising tilapia and catfish.

   Their farming venture focuses entirely on dairy cattle.

   Similaragricultural

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