A crofter is defined as " a tenant of a holding " - being arable or pasture land, or partly arable and partly pasture land - " from year to year who resides on his holding, the annual rent of which does not exceed £30 in money, and which is situated in a ` crofting parish.'
Crofting agriculture is conducted on primitive methods, spade tillage being almost universal, and seaweed the principal manure.
In a few places where the moor is not under crofting tenure, the local estate may manage it for grouse shooting.
Most of the population live in crofting townships on the west coast.
By the mid 1800s, Brae had emerged as a crofting township on the east shore of Busta Voe.
