What Is The Best Shape For A Farm?

This video was made in partnership with Gates Ventures.
The shape of a farm can tell you a surprising amount about the land it's on and the people that use it.
LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Central pivot irrigation: an irrigation system that moves in a circular pattern around a central pivot point
- Contour farming: tilling sloped land along lines of consistent elevation in order to conserve rainwater and to reduce soil losses from erosion
- Strip cropping: partitioning a field into long, narrow strips which are alternated in a crop rotation system
- Terracing: a method of farming consisting of building platforms along a slope
At 3:10 we show a collage of Google Earth images from the video. Here are the coordinates for each (from left to right and top to bottom):
1: 1°15'60.0"S 37°24'11.5"E
2: 1°15'40.8"S 37°23'57.2"E
3: 7°51'04.2"S 61°35'47.1"W
4: 32°53'48.7"S 71°21'33.4"W
5: 38°53'11.2"N 35°36'11.4"E
6: 25°09'55.7"N 55°35'09.2"E
7: 37°11'37.0"N 26°47'45.7"E
8: 42°50'39.1"N 143°03'10.9"E
9: 53°58'24.5"N 0°44'01.8"W
10: 16°37'22.1"S 62°54'38.5"W
11: 46°58'13.1"N 70°51'28.5"W
12: 27°10'19.5"N 81°48'21.2"W
13: 25°48'55.2"N 110°09'02.3"E
14: 43°39'27.2"N 90°55'17.7"W
15: 28°58'14.4"S 23°55'12.6"E
16. 24°08'14.0"N 23°13'17.0"E
17. 25°48'20.4"N 110°08'57.6"E
18: 43°44'38.1"N 141°52'07.6"E
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CREDITS
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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC
neptunestudios.info
OUR STAFF
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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida
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REFERENCES
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Hazlett, R. & Peck, J. (2018) An Image Reconnaissance: Agricultural Patterns and Related Environmental Impacts Viewed From Space. Environmental Science. doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780...
NASA Earth Observatory, 2022. earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
Oksanen, T (2013). Shape-describing indices for agricultural field plots and their relationship to operational efficiency. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 98, 252-259. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2013...
Pulliam, A. (1948). Farm layout and farmstead planning. : Corvallis, Or. : Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College. ir.library.oregonstate.edu/co...

[@SkyTheHusky]

The most efficient way is to have a 9x9 square with one water source in the middle, since one water source can hydrate 9 blocks in one direction.

[@albertofrederickimana8046]

Don't forget to add an inverted staircase over the water source so nobody trips on it.

[@atienzo98]

@@albertofrederickimana8046 trap door so you can swim down to the other levels of the farm

[@zacharytuttle5618]

Wouldn't you want a 19 block circle if that was the case

[@JackrabbitCrafts]

Also when you are in the habit of Harvesting with the Moon, 9x9 squares are generally the most efficient for hand watering.

[@mimikyoo]

Also, crops grow faster if they are adjacent to different types of crops (this is a real game mechanic)

[@Donerci_Pikacu_Usta]

0:52 Hexagons are indeed Bestagons🎉🎉🎉

[@nothing-mm8ui]

fr fr

[@mundanedew]

love the reference GJ MinuteEarth :D

[@Donerci_Pikacu_Usta]

@@mundanedew Gotta love it!

[@paperstrawsYT]

It made me giggle a bit.

[@jamesachesa9455]

Gotta love that CGP Grey reference. Peak KZbin banter👌

[@sboochek]

In Czechia and Slovakia there are not many differences in the rural areas, but one thing you can clearly see is the change in farm shapes because in one country was in Austria and other in Hungary part of the empire, and they had different heretage laws, so on one side they have tiny stripes (all males got share) and the other stayed big (oldest son got share).

[@christianhumer3084]

Arent the big fields because of the Soviet Farming groups? You can also see the difference in western vs eastern germany. While Western Germans could keep their farms, the structure remained a lot smaller compared to the Eastern Part

[@luckyblockyoshi]

@@christianhumer3084 Both Czechia and Slovakia were part of the Eastern Bloc, so that doesn't really apply here I think.

[@tumic5179]

@@luckyblockyoshihmmm actually yeah, communist wanted to make it easier for farming so they made bigger farms, which were easier to handle, because you could use bigger equipment

[@MrOdrzut]

@@christianhumer3084 in many Warsaw pact countries (for example Poland) - collectivization didn't happened (they tried and failed basically - Poland had traditional private farming all the way through communism and the plots remained small). There were some collective farms, but they were doing worse than the private farmers.

[@annasolovyeva1013]

@@tumic5179 machines were often introduced with communism.

Inheritance laws play also a big part. When the land has to be divided for the heirs, you sometimes get strange shapes like e.g. the spiderweb rice fields in Flores, Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia.

[@doyrte]

*HEXAGONS ARE THE BESTAGONS*

[@scialomy]

Amen!

[@atomicunleashed1997]

Yes!

[@mcjavabelike8320]

a fellow fan of cgp grey

[@ramsescampollo2506]

Wanna know why? Because bees.

[@PyjamaRex]

Love the "bestagon" reference!!! The puns are also shaped by a tight-knit community, even on KZbin :D

[@carlssonn]

Hexagons-Bestagons 😂 i got that reference 😂

[@giovannidabrosca212]

The bestagon era will never end!

[@Eoin-B]

Lousiana & Farms along the Loire Valley are also shaped like Quebec as well as lots of areas in vietnaim. It's a nice French planned design to build communities & trade along a river bank. When I was in vietnam, in many areas there was only a narrow path between the houses and the river, which shows how theese areas were originally designed. I'm from rural Ireland and most houses are a good couple minutes walk from eachoter in the countryside with tiny clusters built on plots of family land of the same farm, so you see how the french got that right.

[@MultifariousEntity]

Something else that has a big impact on the "ribbon farms", in Quebec at least, is inheritance. When a farmer dies and all the children stand to inherit is the land, the only fair way to split it is so that each child gets land with river access, leading to ever narrower and narrower ribbons.

[@whcolours9995]

Shoutout to the Seigneurial System.

[@StickJock819]

@@MultifariousEntity Came here to say this but you beat me to it. French laws require inheritance to be distributed equally among children, unlike English custom to distribute inheritance to the eldest son. This goes for land inheritance, but squares of land would not be equal if they did not have equal access to the water, so over several generations, land was divided in strips among the inheriting children.

[@zakmaniscool]

It's also worth noting that all of those places were owned by France at one point in the past few centuries, which may also contribute to why they are so French

[@luckyblockyoshi]

@@zakmaniscool he mentioned that they were “French planned”.

[@billgamer856]

0:50 bestagons nice reference

[@madeofmandrake1748]

When the french were first settling the farmland of Montreal, it was promised that every man be given access to the river. That's a big reason for the ribbons. Imagine then that farmland will also get evenly split among the sons of the previous farmer and the land gets even skinnier.

[@louis993546]

0:52 Hexagon is the bestagon

[@rpungello]

[ Happy CGP Gray noises ]

[@scientistImara]

I heard this three times already and I know this is from CGP Gray.

[@Sup_minds]

I saw that to

[@scientistImara]

Now I have heard it eight times. ok hexagons are the bestagon but who cares?

[@scientistImara]

@@Sup_minds Ikr

[@gracegrass4462]

As someone who just got off a 5hr flight during which I was in the aisle and the person in the window seat didn't open the window at all until landing... I appreciate this video

[@Aviator27J]

I fly 4000 miles a week and I notice a number of these shapes as well. Mostly what I assumed they're based on was confirmed in this video but it's a neat bonus that the communities try to stick close even if the farmland ends up quite separated in the extremities.

[@csstuff421]

Looks like another prominent educational creator is spreading the bestagon word 💟💟

[@Kaikaku]

Oh, you renamend the video. Well, I liked the old title better: "Why Some Farms Are Hexagons (The Bestagons)"

[@Merlincat007]

Wow, that's on top of 3 other titles/thumbnails I've seen for this video!

[@jaspershepherdsmith9047]

Gotta serve the algorithm, man

[@xenosfur]

@@jaspershepherdsmith9047 Do they just have people sitting there changing titles cus this is ridiculous

[@Merlincat007]

@@jaspershepherdsmith9047 Another sacrifice for our great algorithm overlords!

[@supernukey419]

@@xenosfur They're trying to find the most engaging title. Veritasium used the example of which video would you be more likely to click? Strange applications of the [whatever] effect *or* Throwing a basketball down a cliff

[@ShawnRavenfire]

I was on a plane when I was far too young to remember, but I remember having remembered that I remembered (if that makes sense), and thinking at some point that I must have dreamed looking down from a plane, because there was no way that the world from above looked like a bunch of squares with weird patterns in them.

[@thegamingrex2771]

Wait a min did they just change the title

[@Neceros]

Your enthusiasm for this infected me and now I can't unsee how awesome farms look from above

[@sathivv950]

Last time I flew across the USA the endless scrolling squares freaked me out. 640mph and squares for hours. By the time we reached the Rockies I had concluded we have turned the entire planet into squares.

[@michaelnelson2976]

Minecraft brother, Minecraft.

[@OrigamiMarie]

That'll be the Homestead Act.

[@richardgratton7557]

People gotta eat.

[@sathivv950]

@@richardgratton7557 I completely agree with you. The problem isn't the farms; the problem is that there are too many people. Since it isn't in human nature to conserve, 1 billion people sounds about right for sustained high quality of life. This way we can have some squares, without everything being squares.

[@kennarajora6532]

You're not far off. Roughly 40% of all the land on Earth now is currently pasture or cropland and 9% is villages and cities, meaning that close to half the land on Earth is currently used by humans in a very direct way. It's also the same story if you look at this from a biomass perspective (biomass is the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area). If you add up all the mammalian biomass on the planet, 36% of that is human. Roughly 60% of the planets mammalian biomass is livestock, like pigs, cows, goats and sheep. That means that by weight, 60% of all the mammals on the planet are livestock. Chickens also make up more than 60% of the biomass of all birds. The other animals on the planet (giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhinos, hippos, coyotes, buffalos, bison, wildebeests, kudus, monkeys, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, leopards, cheetahs, bobcats, foxes, lions, tigers, wolves, whales, tapirs, wombats, otters, seals, dolphins, deer, antelope, moose, kangaroos, koalas, rabbits, mice, racoons, pandas, armadillos, possums, shrews, squirrels, beavers, platypuses, hedgehogs, pangolins, boars, bears, baboons and bats, etc) make up less than 4% of mammalian biomass. I think David Attenborough talked about something similar in his documentary A Life On Our Planet, around the 45 minute mark. It's really incredible when you think about it, we've turned the planet into a giant food manufactory. It's essentially terraforming a place to suit our needs, but the extent is impressive.

[@robertsteel3563]

Thank You for continuing CGPGray's Story!

[@cerosis]

I had no idea how other farms were. I assumed they were all just squares

[@johnsteinat5213]

It makes so much sense once you know why they look like that. I assumed it was just what they had to work with, which is o ly half true

[@DakotaFiles]

i love being around a video early enough to see the team workshopping the titles and thumbnails, may the algorithm bless one of your combinations

[@TheRealBFKelleher]

Thank you Mr. Gates for bringing us this video extolling the virtue of late 20th-century land enclosure.

[@DemPilafian]

And thanks to Mr. John D. Rockefeller for crushing thousands of small family businesses to build his magnificent Standard Oil empire (and the beautiful Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts). It's great that Gates is putting his wealth to good use, but don't forget that his massive wealth is directly because of a huge monopoly that overall harmed the economy.

[@bobseven310]

Late 20th? Farming isn't a new invention, you know.

[@davidmccarthy6061]

As the shapes show, it all depends on the land you own and what it's used for. The best shape is using every farmable square foot you have.

[@medukathemeguca]

Hexagons are bestagons

[@tristenallen6693]

What gets me is just how much of the land is farm land this is insane

[@nmarting]

I remember the first time I flown with a plane from Hungary to Sweden it was crazy to see how Hungary is full of these large, irregular farmlands, while coming over Sweden you couldn't even really see much farmlands, but insteas huge forests, it was very cool to see the differences from above

[@KingCobra459]

Hehehe.... whoever added in the "bestagons?!" quote I salute thee

[@kitma9]

i was going to make a CGP Grey joke, but i think literally everybody beat me to it

[@andrewjpalla]

I'm glad you talked about South Africa because the perfectly round circles definitely used to puzzle me.

[@diracio]

Great thanks! Answered questions I had every time I fly...

[@diracio]

@Anonymous_User I'm a supporter so get early access... Highly recommend it!

[@CraftAero]

Flying over agricultural areas in early spring / late fall is very interesting because you see the bare ground. The watershed paints the dirt light and dark like an oil painting.

[@shoddypeasant8762]

I love entering a new country after a long boring flight, breathing the fresh air, such a good feeling.

[@52flyingbicycles]

West Texas uses a lot of the circle farms since we had the brilliant idea of planting cotton in the middle of the desert

[@martinschmid797]

The fact that they have this much space and deliberately build their houses next to each other must be the sweetest thing I've heard today!

[@good-sofa]

This is actually so awesome, this is so great for worldbuilding, I'm amazed

[@hebercluff1665]

0:51 I see a "bestagons" in a corner. That's a CGP Grey reference.

[@DemPilafian]

In a hundred years people will ask, "What's a hexagon?" Oh, you mean a bestagon, why didn't you just say so.

[@alexandermarvin9536]

In lots of areas in the western US, you will see the circles because they use the central pivot that is fed by a well, because they are in arid/desert areas.

[@arcticsl3982]

I have new appreciation for farms now ❤ thanks minute earth!

[@adamchristensen8566]

Thank goodness you exist, and that I've flown enough to understand that the aisle is best.

[@SkoolieBoyQue]

Thanks Minute Earth! Always wondered this, especially driving through the back roads of New Mexico!

[@fischstabchenmoluna8682]

That’s helps me with my world building because I never thought about agriculture in my worlds but that are some interesting facts I will consider by building worlds, thank you

[@exatent5194]

I love the CGPgrey reference when you mentioned the hexagonal farm pattern.

Please do a longer version of this, it was super interesting. Or a part 2

[@jadeduong38]

This video actually made my day so wholesome

[@Bawbalicious]

I think it's less "sense of community" and more of an urban planning and living infrastructure oriented decision. Think about the extra piping for water and sewers you would have to construct if the houses were on the outskirts of the farms.

[@WaterZer0]

It's called being efficient!

[@brutusthebear9050]

While that is true, I think in this case it comes from family land being shared (not *split* per se, but shared) among family members. Source: My paternal grandfather grew up on a family farm like this, in Quebec.

[@bobseven310]

The land was split wayyyyyyyyyy before these things become common. Besides, those farms STILL aren't plugged to aqueducts or sewers.

[@Nil-qg2me]

Wow. Another great topic I had never thought about.

[@enrique.ortizvidal]

I love your high sense of observation. Thanks for sharing.

[@missnaomi613]

This did NOT go in a direction I expected. This was sooooo cool! 😃🤯👍

[@LukasVos]

Because of the reorganisation by the GDR you still can see in a lot of places in Germany if you're in the west or east via the forms of the farm land. In the west there are often smaller patches like in the UK, but in the east way bigger patches because the smaller, traditional patches were combined

[@coryshannon449]

I saw that bestigon reference! I loved that video

[@Leonlion0305]

The reference to hexagon is bestagon. And seeing interesting things outside of air plane really reminded of CGP Grey. However, the dichotomy between imperfect airport runway numbering system and beautiful farm land shapes is strong and wide.

[@igolark]

This video is so cool!

[@Leander_]

Dynamite animation and visual storytelling.

[@thePronto]

I agree - looking out the window is the best entertainment. But I prefer aisle for other reasons.

[@maddygroffenberg8658]

Im happy that minute earth changed the thumbnail because I have been seeing this video in my feed but didn't click on it until now because before it didnt seem interesting. I would have missed out on a very cool topic!

[@ringthatbell9597]

This is a bestagon moment. Worthy of a like, comment, sub and a ringing of the bell.

[@LLCL2012]

The first time I traveled abroad(to Spain) I was surprised that the fields and mountains were yellow-brownish, which almost look apocalyptic to me since where I come from almost everywhere you see there are lush green forests. Also, it was curious that there was practically no farmland in the mountains, despite being less steep than those from where I live.

[@ravenchild7517]

Colder and/or dryer climates tend to do that. It's honestly pretty cool how different places look thanks to temperature and precipitation!

[@nicomorales1644]

That’s bestagons reference was incredible.

[@CarthagoMike]

That was legitimately very interesting!

[@Tinil0]

Growing up in the American west, the most common shape I am used to seeing is the circles haha. Plenty of non-circular farms, but those tend to stick out WILDLY

[@bioalkemisti]

Never thought I would be intrested about farming.

[@yafi22]

0:52 hexagons are truly the bestagons

[@Yo2Distribution]

This video is actually wholesome, don't ask why

[@AlexssandroMeneses]

"Bestagons?" I understood that reference.

[@ToastLord42]

I am watching this video the day before I get on a flight to the UK. What luck!

[@Absbor]

thx for the great episode

[@ocarinagirlandthestories648]

My favorite thing about being on an airplane is having the clouds right next to me. It’s just so cool!

[@Ublwow]

great video. very informative

[@CharlesTheClumsy]

I love that cgp grey reference you made!

[@MarylandFarmer.]

Perfectly summed up

[@HECKproductions]

i only saw the thumbnail out of the corner of my eye and opened in a new tab to watch it later... and i legitimately thought this was a cgp grey video

[@foxbatmc8457]

I noticed the subtle cgp grey reference good job minuteearth

[@ZainDever]

I'm so happy at the Easter egg of bestagons!

[@cherrybearylemondrop]

Great info!

[@Yutaro-Yoshii]

I never thought I'd see a shoutout for hokkaido. ❤ from japan

[@richdoesflips]

Love the subtle 'bestagon' reference

[@rdreher7380]

You've been to Hokkaidō?? I know those farms! That was my home for 6 years! Some of my friends work those farms!❤

[@wren_.]

hexagons are the bestagons!

[@ruan13o]

Plot twist: those UK farms that are irregular shapes are often for crops too. I'm not a farmer so I can't say for sure but I have always felt the shapes match the contours of the land. While the UK is not particularly mountainous, it is also not very flat so I think lots of small hills shape those farms.

[@JBlochNielsen]

Fascinating.

[@PheOfTheFae]

Outside Denver, it's circles. The airport is nowhere near the city, but in land that used to be farms only 30 years ago, so you see the farmland as soon as you take off (or right before landing).

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

On the island of Catan, both the wheat farms and the sheep paddocks are hexagonal.

[@tao.of.history8366]

Thanks, great history video. Although I would love to see a video on regenerative farming practices.

[@sleekantonio1990]

Love it

[@eminsomuncu5824]

Mind Opening Content, Congratulations :)

[@NaudVanDalen]

This video is interesting and just plane cool.

[@enderb0t]

Love the CGP Grey reference

[@moicr96]

amazing!

[@blackcitadel9]

Hexagons are the Bestagons. CGP Grey approved. (probably)

[@franalappies]

So nice to see south africa in the video ❤️

[@Verzox]

yes. a hexagon is a bestagon.

[@_vicary]

0:50 CGP Grey ref. is actually dope

[@samkominowski6394]

love the CGP Grey easter egg!

[@Victor_Andrei]

The answer is simple: the hexagon is the bestagon.

[@loganevens3581]

Love the cpg grey reference

[@udipta21]

I would totally read a book about this

[@Motlvation-Mindset]

Bestagons. Gotta love the CGPGrey refrence.

[@denzelmapping4246]

Yes

[@knightofsvea604]

Bestagons!! ❤️ CGP Grey be pleased 🙏