Westerosi Farming Styles

Written by Maester Ulic

Farms come in many different shapes and sizes and vary greatly between locations. This paper will help detail and break down the common methods of farming in Westeros, as well as the social and economic reasons for their existence. Please note, fishing, for the purposes of this treatise, is not considered farming since most fishermen can instead be considered hunters. This author acknowledges that there is indeed those fishermen that cultivate and 'farm' certain types of fish and other sea creatures for a variety of purposes, but is too small in relation to other types of conventional farming to be considered in this treatise.

The most common in Westeros was strip farming, where smallfolk would live in small villages and would farm strips of land that were owned by the local lord or landed knight. These strips were typically small, and a smallfolk family may be able to farm multiple strips. The smallfolk in these villages were typically poor but did tend to have more coin available to them than other types of non-specialty farms. These smallfolk would not own any large livestock like ox or horses, but they would own smaller livestock like chickens. However, a village may come together to purchase a communal ox so that they could afford it. This type of farming was prevalent in the Reach, Riverlands, parts of the Vale, and the Crownlands. The farms in these areas also used the three-field crop rotation, where one field would contain a main summer crop (like wheat, barley, rye), and short crop (things like carrots and other foods with short growing season), and a fallow field. These would be constantly rotated and would help provide a continuous food supply. This style of farming arose from the need of protection that lords, and landed knights provide from threats, as well as the need to maximize food production on arable land.

A subset of this style of farming can also be found in the North, where smallfolk live in villages and farm strips of land. However, where the North is unique due to their winters, is many smallfolk will abandon their villages in the winter and move to special winter towns near the lord's castles. This has arisen from the need of food security. The lord's castles typically contain two types of vaults, one is there tax vault where they store the food collected as a tax and the other is the peoples vault. This vault is where the community's food is stored for the winter. The Lord ensures that this vault is secure from a variety of problems, like theft, nature (rain, fire, etc), and various infighting between lords. With such harsh winters, smallfolk found that staying in their own villages was a huge risk since a lord attacking another may steal the grain from a passing village. This need of protection from lords has been reduced since the time that the Starks became the uncontested Kings of the North, but the tradition remains though it does continue to benefit in a variety of social aspects (which will not be discussed in this treatise).

The second type of farming was the livestock farming, which was prevalent in the Stormlands (especially the coastal regions) and the Iron Islands. This type of farming lent to mostly grazing lands for animals like sheep and was generally less profitable then the strip farming. People lived in villages, and allowed their animals to graze over the countryside, with the shepherds following their herds. The villages allowed for winter quarters, as well as places to raise families and the use of other services. This type of farming was done on poor land, though there were crops still grown around the villages, but this was typically small scale and done to help subsidize a family's earnings.

The third type is specialty food farming, which is primarily in Dorne and the Reach. This type of farming is considered for products like wine, fruits and products like honey. This type of farming is the most profitable, and the farmers tend to be the wealthiest compared to other farming methods. This type of farming is mostly due to the environment in which they are located, which can support the type of products (like oranges). Other products, like honey, that can be grown anywhere in the Westeros tend to be profitable, but they need to be supported by non-specialty farms that can produce extra crops to feed these farmers. So, they tend to be produced in wealthy regions, which also tend to be located near other specialty farms. Small-scale specialty farming can certainly be done anywhere though and typically is.

The fourth type was communal farming/mountain farming, found mainly in the Westerlands and the Vale. This type of farming is widely criticized and considered by many to not be its own form of farming and should be included in strip farming. This author feels that it is indeed its own type for a variety of reasons. This type of farming relies heavily on villages and communities helping each other due to isolation. This isolation has also led to widely varying farming methods, since some employ a three-field rotation similar to strip farming and others use a two-field method (one fallow and one with crops). Due to the geography of the land, arable land can be found in certain valleys or isolated and hard to reach locations. While politics can mean a lord or landed knight might claim a certain region as their own, there actual influence is limited to only tax collections and might not even be able to reach these farming locations easily. This has lead to very communal minded farmers, who see their communities as their highest priorities rather than their liege lords. This is very clear to see for the observant and has led to significant differences from their strip farming cousins. This is further reinforced, since these types of farms tend to be poorer than strip farming and livestock farming. These farms are typically surrounded by much more profitable ventures which reinforces this culture. In the Westerlands, mining makes up most of the economy and so little attention is paid to these communal farmers in isolated locations. In the Vale, these farms are surrounded by their more profitable strip farming cousins. By necessity these communal farms tend to be more self-sufficient and will have more communal animals with most services required by the community being performed by the community.

The fifth type is the individual farming, which tends to be the poorest of all. This type of farming is isolated and typically has poor land. This type of farming includes both livestock and crop farming, typically a mixture of both (though the mixture is highly dependent on location and varies widely between each farmer). The community (nearby farmers, hunters & trappers, and fishermen) tend to help each other by having a degree of specialization (again dependent on location and varies widely). Some might raise sheep and crops, other geese and crops. They can then trade wool for feathers and obtain what they need through barter. These farmers typically have little to no coin and exist solely through bartering (taxes are never paid in coin). Like communal farming/mountain farming, their farming methods vary widely between the two and three-field rotation methods. They will also tend to have no ox or horses since they have no true community to share in its purchase or any safety to provide it. This style of farmer mainly exists in the North, some parts of the Vale, and a few parts of the Crownlands (mostly Crackclaw Point). These farmers tend to have their own food storage and rely on themselves for protection from theft and natural disasters. As a defense against attacks and raids, they are spread out and to dissuade attackers from focusing on them. It varies region to region and lord to lord, but these farmers will typically have lower taxes. There tends to be debate about whether Crackclaw Point can be considered to be individual farming, rather than a hybrid between communal farming and strip farming, but his author believes that the individualistic and isolationist attitudes of the people in this region puts them firmly into the individual farming category.