Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is a kind of agriculture where a lot of money and labour are used to increase the yield that can be obtained per area of land. The use of large amounts of pesticides for crops, and of medication for animal stocks is common. This is a contrast to traditional agriculture, which does not get as much output per area. When agriculture is intensified, this means that the amount of work needed goes up, until the worker is replaced by a machine. At that point, there will only need to be a few workers to operate the machines. Intensive farming has often been done as a response to rising population levels. It is criticised, because the standards of animal welfare are low. Intensive animal farming leads to increased pollution and to health issues.