GEF

Unit 2  |  Humanity’s Ecological Footprint 41 SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPTS At present, the ecological footprint of agriculture varies greatly, depending on the scale of farming and ranching as well as a variety of other factors. Countries where a large percentage of the population engages in subsistence agriculture have small per capita footprints compared to countries with large-scale industrial agriculture , which require significant resources and energy. Subsistence farming (top) has less impact on the ecological footprint than industrial farming (bottom). SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE Farming that provides enough food for the farmer and his family but not enough for sale. INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE Modernized farming that uses technology for the growing, harvesting, and processing of food.