Changing definitions of ‘farms’

Székely, Csaba – Takácsné György, Katalin

Keywords: farm, farm studies, business, enterprise, estate

In everyday language, the place or building where some kind of agricultural concern operates and carries out some sort of production activity, is called a ‘farm’. The legal system of the EU Council and Commission, however, defines a ‘farm’ as a production unit directed by the unit’s owner. In Anglo-Saxon countries they use the term ‘farm’ to denote any type of agricultural concern or business (a family farm, co-operative farm, large-scale farm, small-scale farm, etc.). In our opinion, it makes sense to consider the economic unit itself under the definition of ‘farm’, irrespective of its legal form or size. Alongside the word ‘farm’, the expressions small-holding and agricultural enterprise or business could be used as synonyms, the latter obviously in a narrower sense. The reincarnated term ‘estate’ expresses ownership rather than production and the operation of the tools of production.

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