Vegetable farming
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Vegetable farming has traditionally been done in long rows. This allows machinery to cultivate the fields, increasing efficiency and output.
Over the past 100 years a new technique has emerged--raised bed gardening, which has increased yields from small plots of soil without the need for commercial, energy intensive fertilizers. Modern hydroponic farming yields very high yields in greenhouses without using any soil, but expends much more energy.
In America, vegetable farms are in some regions known as truck farms; "truck" is a noun for which its more common meaning overshadows its historically separate use as a term for "vegetables grown for market". Such farms are something called muck farms, after the dark black soil in which vegetables grow well.
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Common vegetable crops
Vegetables which are farmed include:
- Fabaceae (pea family): peas, beans, lentils
- Solanaceae (nightshade family): tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, potatoes
- Brassicaceae (mustard family): cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli
- Avocado (Lauraceae, Laurales)
- Carrots (Apiaceae)
- Lettuce (Asteraceae)