Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on
smallholdings.[1] Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little
or no surplus. Planting decisions occur principally with an eye toward what the family will need during the coming year,
and only secondarily toward market prices.[1] Tony Waters, a professor of sociology, defines “subsistence peasants” as
“people who grow what they eat, build their own houses.
Despite the primacy of self-sufficiency in subsistence farming, today most subsistence farmers also participate in trade
to some degree, though usually for goods that are not necessary for survival, which may include sugar, iron roofing,
bicycles, used clothing, and so forth. Most subsistence farmers today operate in developing countries.[3] Although their
amount of trade as measured in cash is less than that of consumers in countries with modern complex markets, many
have important trade contacts and trade items that they can produce because of their special skills or special access to
resources valued in the marketplace.