Homesteaders tend to prefer low volume manual production methods Farmers generally use large combines, tractors, harvesters, and other automated agricultural machinery almost exclusively.Homesteaders eat a lot of what they produce Farmers rarely eat their own crop, instead selling it and buying food like everyone else.Homesteaders grow a wide variety of food Farmers tend to only grow one or two crops.If a farmer eats their own food or a homesteader sells some of their produce, what does that make them? If is sell food grown on my homestead, does that make me a farm? In many cases the lines between homesteading and farming is not so clear.
Farms are for Profit while Homesteads are for Sustenance While this is the gist, there is a lot more to know about the differences, laws that apply to each, as well as other names like hobby farm, ranch, or redoubt that might better reflect what you are doing. Homesteaders generally live and work on their land, where farmers often don’t. Farms are generally larger, averaging over 400 acres in the United States, which are designed grow crops for profit. Homesteads are smaller plots of land, usually less than 100 acres, which grow food to support a single family unit directly. Homesteads and farms are different, here’s how. I know I was confused when I first started going off grid. Isn’t a homestead just a farm? People new to the off grid movement often wonder what to call the home that they are building.