Food Supply Chains Production systems and input supply

Area with very-small to small fields

Calculation

Remote sensing and crowdsourcing.

Definition

Proportion of agricultural area occupied by small and very small fields < 2.56 hectares at country-level. Higher proportion of smaller field sizes may also indicate a higher proportion of smallholder farms. A field is an enclosed agricultural area with annual or perennial crops, pastures, hayfields, and fallow.

Relevance

Field size is a good indicator of agricultural intensity and has been shown to exhibit a negative relationship with biodiversity.