swathe1

noun (plural swathes /sweɪðz/ or swaths /sweɪðz, swɒθs/)

• 1a row or line of grass, corn, or other crop as it falls or lies when mown or reaped: if the day is windy, the swathes should be high and narrow swathes of barley
• a strip left clear by the passage of a mowing machine or scythe:the combine had cut a deep swathe around the border of the fields

• 2a broad strip or area of something:vast swathes of countryside figurativea significant swathe of popular opinion