[fleitz]

Subsistence farming sites should look pretty well off from space.

[dmlorenzetti]

Not if they free-range their livestock. I used to live in Botswana, right on the border with South Africa, and the border was easy to spot. The South African side, with its managed farms, was always much greener than the Botswana side, where cattle and goats wander around at will.

You can get a sense of this from this satellite picture: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Mmathubudukwane,+Kgatleng,+Bo...

[flogic]

Rural areas probably have different tell tale signs. Probably roof size and geometry.

[bluekeybox]

In Europe at least, a good way to tell is to look at which material the roofs are covered with. Noticed that while flying from over Switzerland to over Silesia. The percentage of red clay rooftop tiles (which also stand out among green trees) decreases as you move east, until everything starts looking very drab and gray.

[lumberjack]

Actually they'd look barren. You can't have a lawn and a plowed and planted plot at the same time.

I engage in subsistence farming myself.