A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the expansion of Austronesian peoples to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
Banaue Rice Terraces of Luzon, Philippines, carved into steep mountainsides
Taro fields (loʻi) in Hanalei Valley, Kaua'i, Hawaii
Paddy field placed under the valley of Bandung, Indonesia
Farmers planting rice in Cambodia
In agriculture, a field is an area of land, enclosed or otherwise, used for agricultural purposes such as cultivating crops or as a paddock or other enclosure for livestock. A field may also be an area left to lie fallow or as arable land.
A field of sunflowers in Cardejón, Spain (2012)
A field of rapeseeds in Kärkölä, Finland (2010)
A Black sheep on a New Zealand paddock with Lake Rotorua in the background
A green field or paddock with Hereford cattle