The top-level domain (TLD) “.FARM” is a generic TLD that is generally targeted towards all businesses, individuals, and organisations directly or indirectly connected with farming and agriculture.
The “.FARM” TLD is managed and operated by domain registry company Donuts Inc (“Donuts – The Domain Namespace”, n.d.). Donuts is a major player within the domain registry sector, operating and maintaining a similar diverse portfolio of over 200 other TLDs.
The “.FARM” TLD was first delegated in ICANN’s New gTLD Program on March 29, 2014. The New gTLD Program was a scheme set up by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to allow entities to apply for ownership and control of new generic TLDs (ICANN, 2021). The result has been a dramatic expansion in the variety of TLDs available on the market, with entities such as Donuts using it as an opportunity to establish a broad selection of sector-specific TLDs, like “.FARM” (ICANN, 2021).
The “.FARM” TLD is openly available for anyone to register, provided the desired domain name is not been obtained by someone else. This is good for businesses and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector who aim to have an online presence that clearly indicates their relation to farming. A “.FARM” domain could be used by a small family farming business, a large commercial farming corporation, a cooperative of farmers, an agricultural supplies company, an agricultural consultancy firm, or even a farm-themed restaurant — to name just a few.
An example of a website that uses the “.FARM” TLD is “fra.farm”, an online farmer organization based in Fra Norway. By using the “.FARM” TLD, their domain distinctly signifies their industry and provides a memorable URL for their users to remember.
To summarize, the “.FARM” TLD is a generic TLD managed by Donuts Inc. Its wide availability and the powerful indicator it provides for businesses, individuals, and organizations make it a valuable tool for anyone who is looking for a domain name that clearly indicates their association with agriculture or farming.
References:
Domain Information Portal. (n.d.). .farm. Retrieved from https://domain.guide/tld/farm
Donuts – The Domain Namespace. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/domain-names
ICANN. (2021). New gTLD Program. Retrieved from https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/program
Fra Farmers Organization. (n.d). “fra.farm”. Retrieved from https://fra.farm
