Agriculture
hideAgriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of 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. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science (the related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture).
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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, and pharmaceuticals. 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. 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).[dead link]
For more information about Agriculture, read the full article at
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News tagged with agriculture
Lawmaker wants probe of E. coli and school lunches
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee wants an investigation into the risk of deadly E. coli getting into school lunches.
Maize research reduces poverty in west and central Africa
Oct 28, 2009 |
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An analysis of three and half decades of maize research in African farming communities finds big benefits. A multi-country study, in Agricultural Economics, reports the significant role international maize research plays ...
Kan., Okla. conduct joint livestock disease drill
Oct 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Trucks that could be hauling livestock along the Kansas and Oklahoma border were detained and their drivers questioned Thursday, during a drill aimed at protecting the nation's food supply from foot-and-mouth disease.
Minn. pigs may have tested positive for swine flu
Oct 17, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Preliminary tests show three pigs in Minnesota may have contracted the swine flu virus making them the first potential U.S. cases in swine, agricultural officials said Friday. They stressed the finding does not threaten ...
Hardy New Corn Lines Released
Oct 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Six new inbred maize lines with resistance to aflatoxin contamination have now been registered in the United States by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS plant pathologist Robert ...
UK botanists bank 10% of world's plant species
Oct 15, 2009 |
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Botanists at Britain's Kew Gardens have collected seeds from 10 percent of the world's wild plants, their first goal in a long-term project to protect all endangered species, they said Thursday.
Plants recognize siblings, researchers discover how
Oct 14, 2009 |
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Plants may not have eyes and ears, but they can recognize their siblings, and researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered how.
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
Oct 01, 2009 |
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With more than 2 million cows on 68,000 farms, Missouri is the third-largest beef producer in the nation. Due to rising feed prices, farmers are struggling to provide feed for the cows that contribute more ...
'Soil dipstick': A thermometer for the Earth
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
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According to climate change experts, our planet has a fever -- melting glaciers are just one stark sign of the radical changes we can expect. But global warming's effects on farming and water resources is still a mystery. ...
Study shows more corn for biofuels would hurt water
Sep 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- More of the fertilizers and pesticides used to grow corn would find their way into nearby water sources if ethanol demands lead to planting more acres in corn, according to a Purdue University study.
Farmers use radishes to soften, fertilize fields
Sep 18, 2009 |
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(AP) -- White radishes are taking root on Tony Luthman's farm, the start of what he hopes will create a welcome mat for the corn he plants in the spring.
Researchers find possible use for the vine that ate the South
Sep 03, 2009 |
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Kudzu, the fast-growing vine that has gobbled up some 10 million acres in the Southeast, may prove to be a valuable dietary supplement for metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects 50 million Americans, say researchers ...
Bumblebees dive in to fill a void
Sep 02, 2009 |
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Native pollinators such as these fat, fuzzy bumblebees, once an overlooked sideshow in the insect world, are gaining widespread appreciation among everyone from backyard gardeners to big-time farmers. That's because European ...
Feds to reconsider protecting mountain plovers
Aug 29, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Federal officials will reconsider whether a bird that breeds in Colorado and neighboring states and summers in California should be protected.
Ignition for Colombian yucca car
Aug 21, 2009 |
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After a three-year slog Colombian scientists have revved up a car that runs on yucca-derived ethanol, spurring hopes that the Latin American staple could be transformed into an abundant fuel.
