field

Baled hay in a field in Oxfordshire, England. Farming removes many nutrients from ecosystems. In a natural ecosystem nutrients are recycled during leaf-fall. In farming systems, however, nutrients are removed during harvest. Some are consumed directly by people, whereas others - such as the hay here - are consumed by animals, which are then in turn consumed by people. The more intensive the farming system, the more nutrients are taken from the land.

Enclosed area of land used for farming. Traditionally fields were measured in acres; the current unit of measurement is the hectare (2.47 acres).

In Britain, regular field systems were functioning before the Romans' arrival. The open-field system was in use at the time of the Norman Conquest. Enclosure began in the 14th century and continued into the 19th century.

In the Middle Ages, the farmland of an English rural community was often divided into three large fields (the open-field system). These were worked on a simple rotation basis of one year wheat, one year barley, and one year fallow. The fields were divided into individually owned strips of the width that one plough team with oxen could plough (about 20 m/66 ft). At the end of each strip would be a turning space, either a road or a headland. Through repeated ploughing a ridge-and-furrow pattern became evident. A farmer worked a number of strips, not necessarily adjacent to each other, in one field.

The open-field communities were subsequently reorganized, the land enclosed, and the farmers' holdings redistributed into individual blocks which were then divided into separate fields. This enclosure process reached its peak during the 18th century. Twentieth-century developments in agricultural science and technology have encouraged farmers to amalgamate and enlarge their fields, often to as much as 40 hectares/100 acres.

The open-field system was also found in France, Germany, Greece, and Slavonic lands.