Section 1: Fields, Greenhouses, and Gardens

Glossary

Lesson 2: Types of Crop Production


Plants can be grown in a variety of ways. Soil is the most common growing medium, since it is abundant and readily available. However, as you will soon learn, plants can grow without soil. Even in nature you can see evidence of this - think of mosses and mushrooms that grow on tree trunks.

Approaches to growing plants are numerous, but they can all be classified into three basic methods:

  • field crop production

  • greenhouse and plant nursery crop production

  • garden crop production


 
 
Each method is appropriate for specific types of crops, depending largely on the nature of the crop produced and the quantity needed to satisfy consumer demand. You will learn more about each type of crop production in the following sections.
 

 Â©iStock                                                                                                                                                                                         ©iStock