Agriculture
The science and art of cultivating the soil; including the allied pursuits of gathering in the crops and rearing live stock; tillage, husbandry, farming (in the widest sense).
Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies.
Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, pharmaceuticals and stimulants, and an assortment of ornamental or exotic panget products. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics,[1] and pharmaceuticals.[2] Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Stimulants include tobacco, alcohol, opium, cocaine,and digitalis. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide.[3] Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).[1]
Notes
- Brickates Kennedy, Val (October 16, 2007). "Plastics that are green in more ways than one". MarketWatch (New York: The Wall Street Journal).
- "Growing Plants for Pharmaceutical Production vs. for Food and Feed Crops". bio.org. Washington DC: Biotechnology Industry Organization. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
- "Key Indicators of the Labour Market Programme". International Labour Organization. September 7, 2009.
External links
- The National Agricultural Law Center
- Agriculture from UCB Libraries GovPubs
- Agriculture and Rural development from the World Bank
- Index to the Manuscript Collections Special Collections, National Agricultural Library
- International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP)
- NIOSH Agriculture Page - safety laws, tips, and guidelines
- U.S. House Committee on Agriculture - Glossary of agricultural terms, programs and laws
- UKAgriculture.com - Advance the education of the public in all aspects of agriculture, the countryside and the rural economy
- Agricultural Products - portal about agro products and agriculture industry.
- Guide to collections containing information on agriculture at the Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Collection of Agriculture Dictionaries
