A farm is a land area devoted to agricultural processes whose main purpose is to produce food and other crops; It is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and special units such as land used for the production of natural fibers, biofuels and other goods.

It includes farms, livestock, orchards, fields and estates, small plots and hobby farms, and includes farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as land. In modern times this term has been extended to include industrial operations such as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or at sea.

Farming emerged independently in different parts of the world as foraging societies moved from capturing food to producing food. It may have started around 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in West Asia, with crop cultivation soon to follow.

Modern units tend to specialize in crops or livestock best suited to the region, with finished products being sold for the retail market or farm products traded around the world.

Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock can be raised on pastures and finished in forage areas, and the mechanization of crop production has resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of agricultural workers needed.

Traditional family farms in Europe lead to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land cannot support a high density of livestock due to climatic conditions.

In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and most rural residents are subsistence farmers, feeding their families and selling any surplus produce on the local market.