subsistence agriculture

Meaning

1. 1noununcountable

   Farming in which a family grows just enough food to feed itself, with little or nothing left over to sell.

   Grammar: Uncountable: subsistence agriculture is common here, not a subsistence agriculture.

   Patterns

   • practice subsistence agriculture
   • depend on subsistence agriculture

   Most families in the valley rely on subsistence agriculture for their daily meals.

   Drought is a serious threat to subsistence agriculture because there are no food reserves.

   The region is shifting from subsistence agriculture to growing crops for export.

Common combinations

practice subsistence agriculture

Villagers practice subsistence agriculture on small plots.

rely on subsistence agriculture

Many households rely on subsistence agriculture.

shift away from subsistence agriculture

The country is shifting away from subsistence agriculture.

shifting subsistence agriculture

Shifting subsistence agriculture moves between cleared fields.

rural subsistence agriculture

Rural subsistence agriculture supports millions of people.

Synonyms and how they differ

subsistence farming

Subsistence farming means the same and is slightly more everyday, while agriculture sounds more academic.

self-sufficient farming

Self-sufficient farming stresses independence, but it does not always mean such a tiny scale.

Opposites

Word family

subsist verb

to stay alive with very little

subsistence noun

the minimum needed to stay alive

agricultural adjective

relating to farming

agriculturalist noun

a farming expert

Commonly confused: subsistence agriculture or commercial agriculture?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “subsistence agriculture”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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