agrarian economy
Land-centered livelihood structure
An agrarian economy is one in which agriculture—farming, livestock, and related activities—forms the primary basis of production, employment, and wealth.
Most of human history was dominated by agrarian economies before industrialization shifted labor toward manufacturing and services.
The term often appears in discussions of economic development or historical analysis: Many developing nations are transitioning from agrarian economies to more diversified ones.
- cash cropsPlants grown for profit
- growing seasonTime crops can mature
- subsistence farmingGrowing food for household
- irrigationArtificial water supply for agriculture
- peasantryRural working class
family farm · feudalism · landed gentry · common land · enclosure movement · soil erosion · serfdom · crop rotation · rural communities · food security · tithe · tenant farming · gleaning · plowing · draft animals · water management · deforestation · agricultural subsidies
agrarian economyindustrial economy
Production-centered economic system
service economy · knowledge economy · information economy · digital economy