Intensive farming for the production of cereals (e. G. , corn, wheat, oats) in which hundreds and even thousands of acres are planted, tended, and harvested by a small number of people using large machinery (e. G. , tractors and combines). There usually are heavy applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. This highly productive form of intensive mono-cropping agriculture is capital but not labor intensive. The great plains of north america is predominantly a region of mechanized grain farming.