Farm Plan and Drawing CHAPTER 5

 The Farming for the Future (FFTF) program can help you to plan the best farm layout. It
is an initiative of NSW Government agencies focusing on whole farm planning.
 farm plan considers the farm‘s physical,financial, Human/personal resources for both
now and the future.

Site assessment
 An on-site assessment of a farm is necessary so that a map can be drawn of the
property‘s
 topography,
 boundaries, soils,
 water resources and so on,
 A farm business plan can be formulated.

Government plans
 Acquaint yourself with relevant Regional Environmental Plans (REPs), Local
Environmental Plans (LEPs), and Development Control Plans (DCPs) and their short and
long-term effects on your proposed or existing farm
 Enterprise.
 Reduce unforeseen risks and enhance your farm business.
 Council‘s building approval or development consent (DAs) may be needed for siting
greenhouses, siting and constructing dams or erecting hail and windbreak netting.
 Council approval to clear land or a no burning of crop debris or waste materials on
farm‘may apply. Consent will be required if odor or noise is a nuisance likely to be
generated from the development.

Row planting
 as applied in conventional horizontal farming or gardening is a system of growing crops
in linear pattern in at least one direction rather than planting without any distinct
arrangement
 Most crops whether direct seeded, transplanted or grown from vegetative planting
materials, both in mono-cropping and multiple cropping.
 Crops are planted in rows or straight
 lines, either singly or in multiple rows
 Enhance maximum yield
 East-west row orientation
 Topography that includes the shape, terrain slope of the land, (location of existing
vegetation, roads, irrigation lines, buildings and physical barriers, dictate the row
orientation)
Specific advantages of row planting over broadcasting or scatter planting
(1) Light absorption is maximized and, conversely, the excessive shading effect of other plants is
minimized thus favoring more efficient photosynthesis and improved crop yield;
(2) Wind passage along the inter rows is enhanced which increases gas exchanges and prevents
excessive humidity;
(3) Access through the inter rows facilitates cultivation, weeding, and other farm operations
including hauling;
(4) Movement within the crop area is convenient and allows close inspection of individual
plants; and
(5) Visibility is enhanced

Row Planting Arrangement

 Row-planted crops are either arranged in equidistant single rows or in multiple rows.
 Planting in single rows is most common in mono-cropping or sole cropping, the growing
of a single crop.
 Planting arrangement within the row are practiced in both single and multiple row
planting, depending on the characteristics and requirement of the crop, particularly its
extent of canopy expansion.
Hill method of planting crops by direct seeding, the crops are arranged, singly or in group, in
uniform distances.
 But in the drill method, the only consideration is a uniform number of plants per linear
meter.
 row-planted fruit trees and other perennial crops like coconut, oil
 Palm and rubber, the common types of planting or spatial arrangement are the square,
rectangular, quincunx, and triangular or hexagonal.

Multiple Row Planting Arrangement

 Is a system of growing crops in blocks or strips of 2 or more rows. The adjacent blocks
are separated by a space which may remain vacant or planted to other crops. This
planting arrangement is common
 Which two or more crops are grown in the same piece of land.
 Also employed in mono-cropping where an alley wide enough to facilitate passage is
needed.
 Coconut and other perennial crops are often intercropped with multiple rows of annual
crops like corn and pineapple.
 Common practice of maximizing the use of vacant inter row spaces when the main crop
has not fully developed thus allowing sufficient light exposure.
 In some farms, the intercrop consists of multiple rows of such crops as coffee, cacao and
banana.
 This system, both single row planting (for the main crop) and multiple row planting (for
the intercrop) are combined
 In vegetable production that employs close spacing and where crops should be within
easy reach, the common practice is to plant in plots having multiple rows.
  A space between plots is provided to allow passage.

Spatial Arrangement in Intercropping

 Is the systematic apportioning of the farm area or any growing surface for crop
production.
 Multiple cropping by intercropping, the intercrop can be planted in any of the following
ways:
1) Within the rows of the main crop,
2) Between the rows of the main crop, and
3) In replacement series
 Planting of the intercrop between two adjacent hills within the same row of the main
crop allows inter row cultivation but the intercrop has limited exposure to sunlight.
 Planting of peanut or mung bean between corn plants within the same row or two coffee
plants that are 3 m apart between coconut plants.
 Single row planting of the intercrop can also be done between the rows of the main crop.
 For example, peanut or mung bean can be dibbled between two adjacent rows of corn.
 This system of planting arrangement is likewise common in coconut farms where fruit
trees like durian, lanzones and mangos teen are grown in single rows between coconuts.
 In replacement series, one or more rows that are intended for the main crop are replaced
with the intercrop. For example, a 3:2 corn + mung bean intercrop means that for every 4
rows that are intended for sole corn, only 3 rows are planted to corn and one row may
be substituted with 2 rows of mung bean.
 Another practice is in strip intercropping, for example the simultaneous growing of 6
rows corn and 12rows soybean in alternating strips.
 These particular examples result to multiple row planting arrangement.

METHODS OF PLANTING CROPS IN THE FARM

In general, there are two methods of planting crops: direct seeding and transplanting. Direct
seeding is either by broadcast, hill or dibble, or by drill method.
 The hill and the drill methods are alternative options in row planting

Direct seeding or direct sowing is a method of planting in which seeds are directly planted on
the ground in the farm or any growing surface.
 generally applies to large-seeded
 vegetables as well as in cereals and grain and legumes.
 The term also commonly used to refer to the planting of seed pieces or underground
vegetative planting materials directly into the soil.
Planting crops by broadcasting or sabog tanim, or scatter planting, commonly applies to
small seeds, like
 Rice and mung bean, that are capable of germination and sustained growth without soil
cover.
 No control of plant-to-plant spacing.
 Seeds are simply distributed on a well prepared ground by hand or with a mechanical
 broadcaster.
With hand broadcasting, a volume of seeds is held by the hand and thrown with a wide
swath.
 Skill is important to ensure even distribution of seeds per unit ground area based on the
desired seeding rate per hectare. For
 Excessive seeding per unit area will mean that the prepared seeds will have been
completely sown but a portion of the farm is still unplanted, and so additional seeds
need to be procured.
 Conversely, seeding below the average will complete the planting of the entire farm
with some seeds still left.
 In lowland rice, the seeds are broadcasted on puddled soil or over water and allowed to
germinate without covering.
 The broadcast method of planting crops is also common with mung bean and cowpea
grown as green manure.
 But in upland farming, it is best to pass a tooth harrow or rake after broadcasting to
cover the seeds.
 The soil covering will hide the seeds from seed-harvesting organisms like chicken and
birds.
 Also ensure that the seeds have full contact with the soil which will maximize
germination and improve the chance of the seedlings to fully develop
 Pasture establishment, a large herd of livestock can be released after broadcasting to
press the seeds into the ground by their hooves.
 Dibbling is an old method of planting crops practiced by subsistence farmers in hilly
lands.
 In both the hill and drill methods of planting crops by direct seeding, there is a desired
row-to-row spacing.
 Hills with a single or multiple number of plants are spaced uniformly within each row
so that in the hill method there is always a reference to hill distance and number of
plants per hill.
 A hill is that specific spot on the ground on which a plant or a group of plants is grown.
 In contrast, there is no uniform spacing between plants in the row in the drill method,
but uniformity in number of plants per linear meter is intended.
 The hill method of direct seeding is done by dropping seeds in holes made by a
dibbler or in furrows that are more or less equidistant.
 But with mechanized farming, a combine furrower-planter is commonly used.
 The drill method of planting crops is done eiither manually or mechanically, by
releasing seeds continuously, as if pouring water from a bottle with a small opening.
Manual drilling applies to small seeds like rice, millet, and mung bean and is usually
done by hand.
 It can also be accomplished by placing small, roundish seeds in a bottle with a hole on
the cover. The seeds are simply released by tilting and slightly shaking the bottle so that
the seeds drop one after the other or in a cascade through the hole and toward the
ground.
  The seeds are drilled with or without furrows.
 In rice, drilling in puddled soil in linear direction is a modification of seed
broadcasting in which plants are dispersed without plant-to-plant spacing.
 But in rain fed sorghum, mung bean, and other grain legumes, the seeds are always
drilled at the bottom of the furrow, covered with soil by raking or by foot, and stepped
on to press the soil.
 Just like in the hill method of planting crops, an even distribution of drilled seeds is
intended but varies with the seeding rate per hectare and row distance.
 With a seeding rate of 100 kg per hectare in rows 20 cm apart, the calculated average
seeding rate per linear meter in the row is 2 grams.
 1000 grain weight of 29 grams for rice, this is equivalent to a seeding rate of about 70
seeds per linear meter.
 But if the row distance is widened to 25 cm, the average seeding rate will increase to 2.5
grams or 86 87 seeds per linear meter.

How Crops are arranged in Row Planting?

Transplanting
 Is also used to refer to the practice of replanting an already established plant in one
location and moving it elsewhere.
 It is a method of planting in which makes use of pre-grown plants, seedlings or
vegetative propagated clones.
 Transplanting is most common with small seeded vegetables, vegetative propagated
crops, ornamental crops, fruit trees and many perennial crops.
 Transplanting is also convenient with a few plants that can be transferred with a ball of
soil around the roots.
 Some vegetables, it is common to prick seedlings from the seedbed and transplant them
bare-root to the garden plot.
 In perennial species like coffee at a time when rainfall has become frequent and light is
not intense, uprooted wildlings or bare-root transplants have been directly planted.