1.
Agricultural economics
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Agronomics was a branch of economics that specifically dealt with land usage. It focused on maximizing the crop yield while maintaining a good soil ecosystem, throughout the 20th century the discipline expanded and the current scope of the discipline is much broader. Agricultural economics today includes a variety of applied areas, having considerable overlap with conventional economics, Agricultural economists have made substantial contributions to research in economics, econometrics, development economics, and environmental economics. Agricultural economics influences food policy, agricultural policy, and environmental policy, Economics has been defined as the study of resource allocation under scarcity. Agronomics, or the application of methods to optimizing the decisions made by agricultural producers. The field of economics can be traced out to works on land economics. Henry Charles Taylor was the greatest contributor with the establishment of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Wisconsin in 1909, another contributor,1979 Nobel Economics Prize winner Theodore Schultz, was among the first to examine development economics as a problem related directly to agriculture. The discipline was closely linked to applications of mathematical statistics and made early. The farm sector is frequently cited as a example of the perfect competition economic paradigm. In Asia, agricultural economics was offered first by the University of the Philippines Los Baños Department of Agricultural Economics in 1919, in addition to economists long-standing emphasis on the effects of prices and incomes, researchers in this field have studied how information and quality attributes influence consumer behavior. Agricultural economics research has addressed diminishing returns in agricultural production, as well as farmers costs, much research has applied economic theory to farm-level decisions. Development economics is concerned with the improvement of living conditions in low-income countries. The International Association of Agricultural Economists is a professional association. The association publishes the journal Agricultural Economics, there also is a European Association of Agricultural Economists, an African Association of Agricultural Economists and an Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Substantial work in agricultural economics internationally is conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the AAEA publishes the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. Careers in agricultural economics require at least a degree. A2011 study by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce rated agricultural economics tied for 8th out of 171 fields in terms of employability, evenson, Robert E. and Prabhu Pingali. Agrarian law Agrarian reform Agribusiness Agricultural value chain C. S, agency for International Development, Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade U. S
2.
Agricultural science
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The three terms are often confused. However, they cover different concepts, Agriculture is the set of activities that transform the environment for the production of animals, Agriculture concerns techniques, including the application of agronomic research. Agronomy is research and development related to studying and improving plant-based crops, food production and demand on a global basis, with special attention paid to the major producers, such as China, India, Brazil, the USA and the EU. It can be considered a science of ecoregions, because it is linked to soil properties and climate. Many people think an agricultural production system relying on local weather, soil characteristics, others feel a need to know and understand production systems in as many areas as possible, and the human dimension of interaction with nature. In the United States, a revolution in agriculture began with the Hatch Act of 1887. The Hatch Act was driven by farmers interest in knowing the constituents of early artificial fertilizer, the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 shifted agricultural education back to its vocational roots, but the scientific foundation had been built. After 1906, public expenditures on agricultural research in the US exceeded private expenditures for the next 44 years, in fact, the interaction between these two approaches provide a fertile field for deeper understanding in agricultural science. Recent crises illustrate the complexity and importance of this debate,1977 Russell E.3, ju.2002 Saltini Antonio, Storia delle scienze agrarie,4 vols, Bologna 1984-89, ISBN 88-206-2412-5, ISBN 88-206-2413-3, ISBN 88-206-2414-1, ISBN 88-206-2415-X Vavilov Nicolai I. The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants, selected Writings, in Chronica botanica,13, 1-6, Waltham, Mass. Cinquante ans de recherches, Masson & c
3.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
4.
History of agriculture
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The history of agriculture records the domestication of plants and animals and the development and dissemination of techniques for raising them productively. Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a range of taxa. At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 20,000 BC. From around 9,500 BC, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans, pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 13,000 BC, followed by sheep between 11,000 and 9,000 BC. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. Sugarcane and some vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 7,000 BC. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 5,000 BC, in the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 8,000 and 5,000 BC, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Bananas were cultivated and hybridized in the period in Papua New Guinea. In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was domesticated to maize by 4,000 BC, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600 BC. Camels were domesticated late, perhaps around 3,000 BC, irrigation, crop rotation, and fertilizers were introduced soon after the Neolithic Revolution and developed much further in the past 200 years, starting with the British Agricultural Revolution. The Haber-Bosch process allowed the synthesis of nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale. Modern agriculture has raised social, political, and environmental issues including pollution, biofuels, genetically modified organisms, tariffs. In response, organic farming developed in the century as a consciously pesticide-free alternative. Scholars have developed a number of hypotheses to explain the origins of agriculture. Current models indicate that wild stands that had been harvested previously started to be planted, localised climate change is the favoured explanation for the origins of agriculture in the Levant. When major climate change took place after the last ice age and these conditions favoured annual plants which die off in the long dry season, leaving a dormant seed or tuber. An abundance of readily storable wild grains and pulses enabled hunter-gatherers in some areas to form the first settled villages at this time, early people began altering communities of flora and fauna for their own benefit through means such as fire-stick farming and forest gardening very early
5.
History of organic farming
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Traditional farming was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. All traditional farming is now considered to be organic farming although at the time there were no known inorganic methods, for example, forest gardening, a fully organic food production system which dates from prehistoric times, is thought to be the worlds oldest and most resilient agroecosystem. The history of modern revival of organic farming dates back to the first half of the 20th century at a time when there was a growing reliance on these new synthetic, inorganic methods. The first 40 years of the 20th century saw advances in biochemistry. The introduction of the internal combustion engine ushered in the era of the tractor. Research in plant breeding led to the commercialization of hybrid seed, and a new manufacturing process made nitrogen fertilizer — first synthesized in the mid-19th century — affordably abundant. Fields grew bigger and cropping more specialized to make efficient use of machinery. The reduced need for labour and animal labour that machinery, herbicides. Consciously organic agriculture began more or less simultaneously in Central Europe and their research and further development of these methods is recorded in his writings, notably, his 1940 book, An Agricultural Testament, which influenced many scientists and farmers of the day. In Germany, Rudolf Steiners development, biodynamic agriculture, was probably the first comprehensive system of what we now call organic farming and this began with a lecture series Steiner presented at a farm in Koberwitz in 1924. Steiner emphasized the role in guiding and balancing the interaction of the animals, plants. Healthy animals depended upon healthy plants, healthy plants upon healthy soil and his system was based on his philosophy of anthroposophy rather than a good understanding of science. In 1909, American agronomist F. H. King toured China, Korea, and Japan, studying traditional fertilization, tillage and he published his findings in Farmers of Forty Centuries. King foresaw a world movement for the introduction of new and improved methods of agriculture, the term organic farming was coined by Lord Northbourne in his book Look to the Land. From his conception of the farm as organism, he described a holistic, in 1939 Lady Eve Balfour launched the Haughley Experiment on farmland in England. Lady Balfour believed that health and future depended on how the soil was used. The experiment was run to generate data in support of these beliefs, four years later, she published The Living Soil, based on the initial findings of the Haughley Experiment. Widely read, it led to the formation of a key international organic advocacy group, in Japan, Masanobu Fukuoka, a microbiologist working in soil science and plant pathology, began to doubt the modern agricultural movement
6.
Neolithic Revolution
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These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants to learn how they grew and developed. This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants and it was the worlds first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. The Neolithic Revolution greatly narrowed the diversity of available, with a switch to agriculture which led to a downturn in human nutrition. The Neolithic Revolution involved far more than the adoption of a set of food-producing techniques. These societies radically modified their natural environment by means of specialized food-crop cultivation which allowed extensive surplus food production, personal land and private property ownership led to an hierarchical society, with an elite Social class, comprising a nobility, polity, and military. The first fully developed manifestation of the entire Neolithic complex is seen in the Middle Eastern Sumerian cities, the Levant followed by Mesopotamia are the sites of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The term Neolithic Revolution was coined in 1923 by V. Gordon Childe to describe the first in a series of revolutions in Middle Eastern history. The beginning of process in different regions has been dated from 10,000 to 8,000 BC in the Fertile Crescent. Recent archaeological research suggests that in regions such as the Southeast Asian peninsula, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist was not linear. There are several competing theories as to the factors that drove populations to take up agriculture. The most prominent of these are, The Oasis Theory, originally proposed by Raphael Pumpelly in 1908, popularized by V. Gordon Childe in 1928 and summarised in Childes book Man Makes Himself. However, today this theory has little support amongst archaeologists because subsequent climate data suggests that the region was getting wetter rather than drier, the Feasting model by Brian Hayden suggests that agriculture was driven by ostentatious displays of power, such as giving feasts, to exert dominance. This required assembling large quantities of food, which drove agricultural technology, various social and economic factors helped drive the need for food. The evolutionary/intentionality theory, developed by David Rindos and others, views agriculture as an adaptation of plants. Starting with domestication by protection of plants, it led to specialization of location. Peter Richerson, Robert Boyd, and Robert Bettinger make a case for the development of agriculture coinciding with a stable climate at the beginning of the Holocene. Ronald Wrights book and Massey Lecture Series A Short History of Progress popularized this hypothesis, leonid Grinin argues that whatever plants were cultivated, the independent invention of agriculture always took place in special natural environments. It is supposed that the cultivation of cereals started somewhere in the Near East, andrew Moore suggested that the Neolithic Revolution originated over long periods of development in the Levant, possibly beginning during the Epipaleolithic
7.
Arab Agricultural Revolution thesis
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He listed eighteen crops that were widely diffused during the Islamic period, including four staple crops, namely durum wheat, Asiatic rice, sorghum, and cotton. He also argued that such as irrigation were spread across the region at that time. Watsons proposal was an extension of the Spanish historian Antonia Garcia Maceiras 1876 hypothesis of a revolution in Al-Andalus. It also recalled the Belgian economic historian Henri Pirennes 1939 view of the way that a seventh century Islamic maritime power in the Mediterranean had isolated Europe from trading there, Watsons work was met with some early scepticism, for example from the historian Jeremy Johns in 1984. Johns however concluded that The hypothesis of an Abbasid agricultural revolution is challenging, the historian Eliyahu Ashtor wrote in 1976 that agricultural production declined in areas of Iraq and Egypt, on the basis of records of taxes collected on cultivated areas. In the case of cotton, which the Romans grew mainly in Egypt, cultivation remained minor in the classical Islamic period, squatriti noted that Watson had originally trained in economics, and applied this interest to his historical studies. Squatriti described Watsons paper as concise and elegant, and popular for its usefulness in supporting many different historians agendas
8.
British Agricultural Revolution
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The British Agricultural Revolution was the unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain due to increases in labour and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricultural output grew faster than the population over the century to 1770, however, historians continue to dispute when exactly such a revolution took place and of what it consisted. Rather than an event, G. E. This has led more recent historians to argue that any statements about the Agricultural Revolution are difficult to sustain. One important change in farming methods was the move in rotation to turnips. Turnips can be grown in winter and are rooted, allowing them to gather minerals unavailable to shallow rooted crops. Clover fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form of fertiliser and this permitted the intensive arable cultivation of light soils on enclosed farms and provided fodder to support increased livestock numbers whose manure added further to soil fertility. The British Agricultural Revolution was the result of the interaction of social, economic. Major developments and innovations include, Norfolk four-course crop rotation, Fodder crops, particularly turnips and clover, the Dutch improved the Chinese plough so that it could be pulled with fewer oxen or horses. Rotation can also improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants, turnip roots, for example, can recover nutrients from deep under the soil. The Norfolk System, as it is now known, rotates crops so that different crops are planted with the result that different kinds, an important feature of the Norfolk four-field system was that it used labor at times when demand was not at peak levels. Planting cover crops such as turnips and clover was not permitted under the field system because they interfered with access to the fields. Besides, other livestock could graze the turnips. Normally from 10–30% of the land in a three crop rotation system is fallow. Each field was rotated into a different crop nearly every year, over the following two centuries, the regular planting of legumes such as peas and beans in the fields that were previously fallow slowly restored the fertility of some croplands. The planting of legumes helped to plant growth in the empty field due to the bacteria on legume roots ability to fix nitrogen from the air into the soil in a form that plants could use. Other crops that were grown were flax and members of the mustard family. Convertible husbandry was the alternation of a field between pasture and grain, because nitrogen builds up slowly over time in pasture, ploughing up pasture and planting grains resulted in high yields for a few years
9.
Green Revolution
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The initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies, including. All of these together were seen as a package of practices to supersede traditional technology and it is not a violent Red Revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a White Revolution like that of the Shah of Iran. I call it the Green Revolution and it has been argued that “during the twentieth century two revolutions transformed rural Mexico, the Mexican Revolution and the Green Revolution. With the support of the Mexican government, the U. S, in the center and south of Mexico, where large-scale production faced challenges, agricultural production languished. Increased production meant food self-sufficiency in Mexico to feed its growing and urbanizing population, technology was seen as a valuable way to feed the poor, and would relieve some pressure of the land redistribution process. During the administration of Manuel Avila Camacho, the government put resources into developing new breeds of plants, in 1943, the Mexican government founded the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, which became a base for international agricultural research. Agriculture in Mexico had been an issue, a key factor in some regions’ participation in the Mexican Revolution. It was also an issue, which the development of a cohort trained agronomists. Technical aid can be seen as also serving political ends in the international sphere, the government created the Mexican Agricultural Program to be the lead organization in raising productivity. One of their successes was wheat production, with varieties the agency’s scientists helped create dominating wheat production as early as 1951,1965, Mexico became the showcase for extending the Green Revolution to other areas of Latin America and beyond, into Africa and Asia. New breeds of maize, beans, along with wheat produced bumper crops with proper inputs, many Mexican farmers who had been dubious about the scientists or hostile to them came to see the scientific approach to agriculture worth adopting. In 1960, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines with the Ford Foundation, a rice crossing between Dee-Geo-woo-gen and Peta was done at IRRI in 1962. In 1966, one of the lines became a new cultivar. IR8 required the use of fertilizers and pesticides, but produced higher yields than the traditional cultivars. Annual rice production in the Philippines increased from 3.7 to 7.7 million tons in two decades, the switch to IR8 rice made the Philippines a rice exporter for the first time in the 20th century. In 1961, India was on the brink of mass famine, Norman Borlaug was invited to India by the adviser to the Indian minister of agriculture C. Despite bureaucratic hurdles imposed by Indias grain monopolies, the Ford Foundation and Indian government collaborated to import wheat seed from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Punjab was selected by the Indian government to be the first site to try the new crops because of its water supply
10.
Farm
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A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops, it is the basic facility in food production. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, in modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea. Farming originated independently in different parts of the world, as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than, food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In Europe, traditional farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, the word is from the medieval Latin noun firma, also the source of the French word ferme, meaning a fixed agreement, contract, from the classical Latin adjective firmus meaning strong, stout, firm. Farming has been innovated at multiple different points and places in human history and it was the worlds first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. Subsequent step-changes in human farming practices were provoked by the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, farming spread from the Middle East to Europe and by 4,000 BC people that lived in the central part of Europe were using oxen to pull plows and wagons. A farm may operate under a system or with a variety of cereal or arable crops. Specialist farms are often denoted as such, thus a dairy farm, fish farm, some farms may not use the word at all, hence vineyard, orchard, market garden or truck farm. Some farms may be denoted by their location, such as a hill farm. Many other terms are used to describe farms to denote their methods of production, as in collective, corporate, intensive, organic or vertical. There are many breeds of cattle that can be milked some of the best producing ones include Holstein, Norwegian Red, Kostroma, Brown Swiss, in most Western countries, a centralized dairy facility processes milk and dairy products, such as cream, butter, and cheese. In the United States, these dairies are usually local companies, dairy farms generally sell male calves for veal meat, as dairy breeds are not normally satisfactory for commercial beef production. Many dairy farms also grow their own feed, typically including corn, alfalfa and this is fed directly to the cows, or stored as silage for use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are added to the feed to milk production. Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens, turkeys, ducks, a pig farm is one that specializes in raising pigs or hogs for bacon, ham and other pork products and may be free range, intensive, or both
11.
Animal husbandry
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Animal husbandry is the management and care of farm animals by human beings, in which genetic qualities and behavior, considered to be advantageous to humans, are further developed. The term can refer to the practice of breeding and raising livestock to promote desirable traits in animals for utility, sport, pleasure. Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years since the first domestication of animals, selective breeding for desired traits was first established as a scientific practice by Robert Bakewell during the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century. One of his most important breeding programs was with sheep, using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New Leicester and it was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines. These sheep were exported widely and have contributed to modern breeds. Under his influence, English farmers began to breed cattle for use primarily as beef for consumption -, long-horned heifers were crossed with the Westmoreland bull to eventually create the Dishley Longhorn. Over the following decades, farm animals increased dramatically in size, in 1700, the average weight of a bull sold for slaughter was 370 pounds. By 1786, that weight had more than doubled to 840 pounds, in more modern times herds are tended on horses, all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes, four-wheel drive vehicles, and helicopters, depending on the terrain and livestock concerned. Today, herd managers often oversee thousands of animals and many staff, farms, stations and ranches may employ breeders, herd health specialists, feeders, and milkers to help care for the animals. Techniques such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer are used today, not only as methods to guarantee that females breed regularly. This may be done by transplanting embryos from high-quality females into lower-quality surrogate mothers - freeing up the higher-quality mother to be reimpregnated and this practice vastly increases the number of offspring which may be produced by a small selection of the best quality parent animals. On one hand, this improves the ability of the animals to feed to meat, milk, or fiber more efficiently. On the other, it decreases genetic diversity, increasing the severity of disease outbreaks among other risks. The semi-natural, unfertilized pastures formed by traditional methods in Europe, were managed and maintained by the grazing and mowing of livestock. Animal agriculture is responsible for 20%-33% of all fresh water consumption in the world today, livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land. Animal agriculture is the cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution. Animal agriculture contributes to species extinction in many ways, the widespread use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers used in the production of feed crops often interferes with the reproductive systems of animals and poison waterways
12.
Cattle
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Cattle—colloquially cows—are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, cattle are raised as livestock for meat, as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals. Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel, in some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious meaning. From as few as 80 progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago, according to an estimate from 2011, in 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently one of the earliest forms of theft. Cattle were originally identified as three species, Bos taurus, the European or taurine cattle, Bos indicus, the zebu, and the extinct Bos primigenius. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle and these have been reclassified as one species, Bos taurus, with three subspecies, Bos taurus primigenius, Bos taurus indicus, and Bos taurus taurus. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu, but also one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks, banteng. Hybrids such as the breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos. However, cattle cannot successfully be hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo, the aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed. Cattle did not originate as the term for bovine animals and it was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel, itself from medieval Latin capitale principal sum of money, capital, itself derived in turn from Latin caput head. Cattle originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, the word is a variant of chattel and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The term replaced earlier Old English feoh cattle, property, which today as fee. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū, from Common Indo-European gʷōus = a bovine animal, compare Persian gâv, Sanskrit go-, Welsh buwch. The plural cȳ became ki or kie in Middle English, and a plural ending was often added, giving kine, kien. This is the origin of the now archaic English plural, kine, the Scots language singular is coo or cou, and the plural is kye
13.
Pig farming
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Pig farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs. It is a branch of animal husbandry, pigs are raised principally as food and sometimes for their skin. Pigs are amenable to many different styles of farming, historically pigs were kept in small numbers and were closely associated with the residence of the owner, or in the same village or town. They were valued as a source of meat, fat and for the ability to turn inedible food into meat, pigs have been farmed to dispose of municipal garbage on a large scale. All these forms of pig farm are in use today, in developed nations, commercial farms house thousands of pigs in climate-controlled buildings. Pigs are a form of livestock, with more than one billion pigs killed each year worldwide,100 million of them in the USA. The majority of pigs are used for food but also supply skin, fat and other materials for use as clothing, ingredients for processed foods, cosmetics and other. Each pig farm will tend to adapt to the conditions and food supplies. Almost all of the pig can be used as food and this is also, technically, the case for all other mammals. Although the demand isnt really there, pigs are farmed in many countries, though the main consuming countries are in Asia, meaning there is a significant international and even intercontinental trade in live and slaughtered pigs. Despite having the worlds largest herd, China is a net importer of pigs, the largest exporters of pigs are the United States, European Union, and Canada. As an example, more than half of Canadian production in 2008 was exported, many routine interactions can cause fear, which can result in stress and decreased production. There are various methods of handling pigs which can be separated into those which lead to positive or negative reactions by the animals and these reactions are based on how the pigs interpret a handler’s behavior. Many negative interactions with pigs arise from stockpeople dealing with numbers of pigs. Because of this, many handlers can become complacent about animal welfare, negative interactions include overly-heavy tactile interactions, the use of electric goads and fast movements. It can also include killing them, however, it is not a communly held view that death is a negative interaction. These interactions can result in fear in the animals, which can develop into stress, overly-heavy tactile interactions can cause increased basal cortisol levels. Negative interactions that cause fear mean the escape reactions of the pigs can be extremely vigorous, although the stock is not at risk by his own fault
14.
Poultry farming
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Poultry farming is the process of raising domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food. Poultry are farmed in great numbers with chickens being the most numerous, more than 50 billion chickens are raised annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs. Chickens raised for eggs are called layers while chickens raised for meat are often called broilers. In the US, the organization overseeing poultry production is the Food. In the UK, the organisation is the Department for Environment, Food. According to the researchers and scientists, 74% of the poultry meat. One alternative to intensive poultry farming is free-range farming using lower stocking densities, Poultry producers routinely use nationally approved medications, such as antibiotics, in feed or drinking water, to treat disease or to prevent disease outbreaks. Some FDA-approved medications are also approved for improved feed utilization, commercial hens usually begin laying eggs at 16–20 weeks of age, although production gradually declines soon after from approximately 25 weeks of age. In some countries, hens are force moulted to re-invigorate egg-laying, Environmental conditions are often automatically controlled in egg-laying systems. Some commercial breeds of hen can produce over 300 eggs a year, in the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs states that a free-range chicken must have day-time access to open-air runs during at least half of its life. Unlike in the United States, this also applies to free-range egg laying hens. Free-range farming of egg-laying hens is increasing its share of the market, defra figures indicate that 45% of eggs produced in the UK throughout 2010 were free-range, 5% were produced in barn systems and 50% from cages. This compares with 41% being free-range in 2009, suitable land requires adequate drainage to minimise worms and coccidial oocysts, suitable protection from prevailing winds, good ventilation, access and protection from predators. Excess heat, cold or damp can have an effect on the animals. Free-range farmers have less control than farmers using cages in what food their chickens eat, in some farms, the manure from free-range poultry can be used to benefit crops. The benefits of free-range poultry farming for laying hens include opportunities for natural behaviours such as pecking, scratching, foraging, both intensive and free-range farming have animal welfare concerns. Cannibalism, feather pecking and vent pecking can be common, prompting farmers to use beak trimming as a preventative measure. Diseases can be common and the animals are vulnerable to predators, barn systems have been found to have the worst bird welfare
15.
Sheep farming
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Sheep farming is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry, Sheep are raised principally for their meat, milk, and fiber. They also yield sheepskin and parchment, Sheep can be raised in range of temperate climates, including arid zones. Farmers build fences, housing, shearing sheds and other facilities on their property, such as for water, feed, transport, most farms are managed so sheep can graze pastures, sometimes under the control of a shepherd or sheep dog. The major sources of income for a farm will come from the sale of lambs, farmers can select from various breeds suitable for their region and market conditions. When the farmer sees that a ewe is showing signs of heat or estrus, New born lambs are typically subject to tail docking and males may be castrated. In 2013, the five countries with the largest number of heads of sheep were mainland China, Australia, India, the former Sudan, and Iran. In 2013, the number of heads of sheep were distributed as follows, the top producers of sheep meat were as follows, mainland China, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. The top five producers of meat in 2013 were mainland China, Australia, New Zealand, the former Sudan. In the United States, inventory data on sheep began in 1867, the numbers of sheep peaked in 1884 at 51 million head, and then declined over time to almost 6 million head. Since the 1960s, per capita consumption of lamb and mutton declined from nearly 5 pounds to just about 1 pound, due to competition from poultry, pork, beef, and other meats. Since the 1990s, U. S. sheep operations declined from around 105,000 to around 80,000 due to shrinking revenues and low rates of return. According to the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, New Mexicos Sheep Industry, 1850–1900, Its Role in the History of the Territory. Vanguards of the Frontier, A Social History of the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains from the Fur Traders to the Sod Busters pp 497-508, 1880s-1920s Fraser, Economic aspects of the Scottish sheep industry. Transactions of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland 51, online Jones, Keithly G. Trends in the US sheep industry. The Pioneer Era of Domestic Sheep Husbandry, the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, 219-247. Up the Trail From Dixie, Animosity Toward Sheep in the Culture of the US West, australasian Journal of American Studies, 1-18. A comparison of the determinants of wool production in the six leading producing countries, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 51.1, 138-158
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Dairy farming
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Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed for eventual sale of a dairy product. Although any mammal can produce milk, commercial farms are typically one-species enterprises. In developed countries, dairy farms typically consist of high producing dairy cows, other species used in commercial dairy farming include goats, sheep, and camels. In Italy, donkey dairies are growing in popularity to produce an alternative source for human infants. Dairy farming has been part of agriculture for thousands of years, historically it has been one part of small, diverse farms. In the last century or so larger farms doing only dairy production have emerged, in the 1800s von Thünen argued that there was about a 100 mile radius surrounding a city where such fresh milk supply was economically viable. Centralized dairy farming as we understand it primarily developed around villages and cities, near the town, farmers could make some extra money on the side by having additional animals and selling the milk in town. The dairy farmers would fill barrels with milk in the morning and bring it to market on a wagon, until the late 19th century, the milking of the cow was done by hand. For most herds, milking took place twice a day. Feeding could occur simultaneously with milking in the barn, although most dairy cattle were pastured during the day between milkings, such examples of this method of dairy farming are difficult to locate, but some are preserved as a historic site for a glimpse into the days gone by. One such instance that is open for this is at Point Reyes National Seashore, dairy farming has been part of agriculture for thousands of years. Historically it has one part of small, diverse farms. In the last century or so larger farms doing only dairy production have emerged, the first milking machines were an extension of the traditional milking pail. The early milker device fit on top of a milk pail. Following each cow being milked, the bucket would be dumped into a holding tank and these were introduced in the early 20th century. This developed into the Surge hanging milker, prior to milking a cow, a large wide leather strap called a surcingle was put around the cow, across the cows lower back. The milker device and collection tank hung underneath the cow from the strap and this innovation allowed the cow to move around naturally during the milking process rather than having to stand perfectly still over a bucket on the floor. The next innovation in automatic milking was the milk pipeline, introduced in the late 20th century and this uses a permanent milk-return pipe and a second vacuum pipe that encircles the barn or milking parlor above the rows of cows, with quick-seal entry ports above each cow
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Dryland farming
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Dryland farming and dry farming are agricultural techniques for non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands - dry areas characterized by a wet season followed by a warm dry season. Dryland farming was introduced to southern Russia and Ukraine by Ukrainian Mennonites under the influence of Johann Cornies, in Australia, it is widely practiced in all states but the Northern Territory. Dry farming may be practiced in areas that have significant annual rainfall during a wet season, Crops are cultivated during the subsequent dry season, using practices that make use of the stored moisture in the soil. California, Colorado and Oregon, in the United States, are three states where dry farming is practiced for a variety of crops, Dryland farmed crops may include winter wheat, corn, beans, Sunflowers or even watermelon. Successful dryland farming is possible with as little as 9 inches of precipitation a year, native American tribes in the arid Southwest survived for hundreds of years on dryland farming in areas with less than 10 inches of rain. The choice of crop is influenced by the timing of the predominant rainfall in relation to the seasons. For example, winter wheat is more suited to regions with higher winter rainfall areas with summer wet seasons may be more suited to summer growing crops such as sorghum. Dry farmed crops may include grapes, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans and these crops grow using the winter water stored in the soil, rather than depending on rainfall during the growing season. Dryland farming has evolved as a set of techniques and management practices used by farmers to adapt to the presence or lack of moisture in a given crop cycle. In marginal regions, a farmer should be able to survive occasional crop failures. Survival as a dryland farmer requires careful husbandry of the moisture available for the crop, Dryland farming involves the constant assessing of the amount of moisture present or lacking for any given crop cycle and planning accordingly. Dryland farmers know that to be successful they have to be aggressive during the good years in order to offset the dry years. The fact that a period must be included in the crop rotation means that fields cannot always be protected by a cover crop. Some of the theories of dryland farming developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries claimed to be scientific but were in reality pseudoscientific, Dry farming depends on making the best use of the bank of soil moisture that was created by winter rainfall. Some dry farming practices include, Wider than normal spacing, to provide a bank of moisture for each plant. Strict weed control, to ensure that weeds do not consume soil moisture needed by the cultivated plants, cultivation of soil to produce a dust mulch, thought to prevent the loss of water through capillary action. This practice is controversial, and is not universally advocated, selection of crops and cultivars suited for dry farming practices
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Extensive farming
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Extensive farming or extensive agriculture is an agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed. Here, owing to the age and poverty of the soils, yields per hectare are very low. Nomadic herding is an example of extensive farming, where herders move their animals to use feed from occasional rainfalls. Extensive farming is found in the sections of most continents. The nature of extensive farming means it requires less rainfall than intensive farming, the farm is usually large in comparison with the numbers working and money spent on it. Extensive farming has a number of advantages over intensive farming, Less labour per unit areas is required to farm large areas, mechanisation can be used more effectively over large, flat areas. Greater efficiency of labour means generally lower product prices, animal welfare is generally improved because animals are not kept in stifling conditions. Lower requirements of such as fertilizers. If animals are grazed on pastures native to the locality, there is likely to be problems with exotic species. Local environment and soil are not damaged by overuse of chemicals, the use of machinery and scientific methods of farming produce a large quantity of crops. Extensive farming can have the problems, Yields tend to be much lower than with intensive farming in the short term. Large land requirements limit the habitat of species, as is the case with intensive farming Intensive farming Canadian Wheat Board Forest gardening Permaculture Polyculture Rural sociology
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Free range
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Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. Free range may apply to meat, eggs or dairy farming, the term is used in two senses that do not overlap completely, as a farmer-centric description of husbandry methods, and as a consumer-centric description of them. There is a diet where the practitioner only eats meat from free-range sources called ethical omnivorism, in ranching, free-range livestock are permitted to roam without being fenced in, as opposed to fenced-in pastures. In many of the economies, free-range livestock are quite common. If one allows free range to include herding, free range was a typical husbandry method at least until the development of barbed wire and chicken wire. In the case of poultry, free range was the dominant system until the discovery of vitamins A and D in the 1920s, before that, green feed and sunshine were necessary to provide the necessary vitamin content. Some large commercial breeding flocks were reared on pasture into the 1950s, nutritional science resulted in the increased use of confinement for other livestock species in much the same way. In the United States, USDA free range regulations currently apply only to poultry, the USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access to the outside. There have been proposals to regulate by the USDA the labeling of products as free range within the United States. Yarding, as well as floorless portable chicken pens may have some of the benefits of free-range livestock but, in reality, a behavioral definition of free range is perhaps the most useful, chickens kept with a fence that restricts their movements very little. For example, according to Jull, The most effective measure of preventing cannibalism seems to be to give the good grass range. The U. S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service requires that chickens raised for their meat have access to the outside in order to receive the free-range certification. There is no requirement for access to pasture, and there may be access to dirt or gravel. Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range egg producers have no standard on what the term means. The broadness of free range in the U. S. has caused people to look for alternative terms. Pastured poultry is a term promoted by farmer/author Joel Salatin for broiler chickens raised on pasture for all of their lives except for the initial brooding period. The Pastured Poultry concept is promoted by the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, traditional American usage equates free range with unfenced, and with the implication that there was no herdsman keeping them together or managing them in any way
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Grazing
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Grazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses, or other multicellular organisms such as algae. In agriculture, grazing is one method used whereby domestic livestock are used to convert grass and other forage into meat, milk, many small selective herbivores follow larger grazers, who skim off the highest, tough growth of plants, exposing tender shoots. For terrestrial animals, grazing is normally distinguished from browsing in that grazing is eating grass or forbs, Grazing differs from true predation because the organism being grazed upon is not generally killed. Grazing differs from parasitism as the two live together in a constant state of physical externality. Water animals that feed for example on algae found on stones are called grazers-scrapers, grazers-scrapers feed also on microorganisms and dead organic matter on various substrates. Grazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on such as grasses. In zoology, graminivory is a form of grazing, a graminivore is an herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass. The word is derived from Latin graminis, meaning grass, and vorare, horses, cattle, capybara, hippopotamuses, grasshoppers, geese, and giant pandas are examples of graminivores. Some carnivores, such as dogs and cats, are known to eat grass occasionally, giant pandas have evolved to be obligate bamboo grazers, and 99% of their diet consists of sub-alpine bamboo species. Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass, forbs and they graze heavily and rapidly for about the first half-hour of a grazing period, followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding. If the environment is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours and their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem by using a form of hindgut fermentation and they pass two distinct types of feces, hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs and are immediately eaten. Rabbits reingest their own droppings to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients, capybara are herbivores that graze mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit and tree bark. As with other grazers, they can be selective and will feed on the leaves of one species. They eat a variety of plants during the dry season. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season, the capybaras jaw hinge is not perpendicular and therefore they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side. Capybara are coprophagous, as a source of gut flora, to help digest the cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet. They may also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by a cow, as with other rodents, the front teeth of capybara grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses, their cheek teeth also grow continuously
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Hobby farm
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A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some land, and perhaps a few horses for the familys children. In the UK, country living is becoming a rather than an occupation. The number of farms in England with “no economic output” in recent surveys jumped in one year from 90,000 to 115,000, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says that nearly half of all farms sold in a recent year were bought by non-farmers. This was said to be “consistent with the new trend of buying houses in the country with 20-60 acres of land -- more than a garden, not quite a fully-fledged farm. ”A house with a garden can be a mini-hobby farm, with vegetables, poultry, rabbits. Willy Newlands, author of Hobby Farm, says, “Hobby agriculture covers a wide spectrum, the nouveau farmer is, above all, enjoying himself. ”In the U. S. a high proportion of farms might be classed as hobby farms. In 2007, over 40% of farms reported less than $2500 in income, in the US, as farms grow in size, older farms become less economically viable. Some are purchased and most of the land combined with nearby farms. These can be sold off with only a lot of real estate. These are usually snapped up quickly by people with well-paying city jobs who wish to live in the country, or to retirees, who wish to be active as part-time farmers. Some, especially in developed areas, are used as gardens, with their own produce stands. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, dimitri, Carolyn, Effland, Anne, Conklin, Neilson. The 20th Century Transformation of U. S. Agriculture and Farm Policy
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Intensive farming
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Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is any of various types of agriculture that involve higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterised by a low ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital and labour. This is in contrast to agriculture in which the inputs per unit land are lower. The term intensive has various senses, some of which refer to organic farming methods and others of which refer to nonorganic, both increase the yields of food and fiber per acre as compared to traditional animal husbandry. In CAFO, feed is brought to the animals, while in MIRG the animals are repeatedly moved to fresh forage. Most commercial agriculture is intensive in one or more ways, forms that rely especially heavily on industrial methods are often called industrial agriculture, which is characterised by innovations designed to increase yield. Techniques include planting multiple crops per year, reducing the frequency of fallow years, intensive farms are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of the meat, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced by such farms, smaller intensive farms usually include higher inputs of labor and more often use sustainable intensive methods. The farming practices commonly found on farms are referred to as appropriate technology. These farms are widespread in both developed countries and worldwide, but are growing more rapidly. Most of the food available in specialty markets such as farmers markets is produced by these smallholder farms, agricultural development in Britain between the 16th century and the mid-19th century saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output. This in turn supported unprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, historians cited enclosure, mechanization, four-field crop rotation, and selective breeding as the most important innovations. Industrial agriculture arose along with the Industrial Revolution, by the early 19th century, agricultural techniques, implements, seed stocks and cultivars had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages. The industrialization phase involved a process of mechanization. Horse-drawn machinery such as the McCormick reaper revolutionized harvesting, while inventions such as the cotton gin reduced the cost of processing, during this same period, farmers began to use steam-powered threshers and tractors, although they were expensive and dangerous. Mechanical harvesters, planters, transplanters and other equipment were then developed and these inventions increased yields and allowed individual farmers to manage increasingly large farms. The identification of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, in 1909 the Haber-Bosch method to synthesize ammonium nitrate was first demonstrated. Farmers adopting this approach were initially referred to as humus farmers, chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides
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Intensive animal farming
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The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption. There are issues regarding whether factory farming is sustainable and ethical, there are differences in the way factory farming techniques are practiced around the world. There is a debate over the benefits, risks and ethical questions of factory farming. The issues include the efficiency of production, animal welfare, whether it is essential for feeding the growing global population. The practice of animal agriculture is a relatively recent development in the history of agriculture. Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 19th century generally parallel developments in production in other industries that characterized the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The discovery of vitamins and their role in nutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which allowed chickens to be raised indoors. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease, chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made distribution of agricultural produce feasible. Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975 to feed a population of one billion human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002. During the same period, the number of involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. The United Nations writes that intensification of production was seen as a way of providing food security. In 1966, the United States, United Kingdom and other industrialized nations, commenced factory farming of beef and dairy cattle, in 1990 factory farming accounted for 30% of world meat production and by 2005 this had risen to 40%. Factory farms hold large numbers of animals, typically cows, pigs, turkeys, or chickens, often indoors, the aim of the operation is to produce large quantities of meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Physical restraints, e. g. fences or creeps, are used to control movement or actions regarded as undesirable, breeding programs are used to produce animals more suited to the confined conditions and able to provide a consistent food product. Intensive production of livestock and poultry is widespread in developed nations, Industrial production was estimated to account for 39 percent of the sum of global production of these meats and 50 percent of total egg production. In the U. S. according to its National Pork Producers Council,80 million of its 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are reared in industrial settings, in the United States, chickens were raised primarily on family farms until 1965. Originally, the value in poultry was eggs, and meat was considered a byproduct of egg production
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Intensive crop farming
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Intensive crop farming is a modern form of intensive farming that refers to the industrialized production of crops. These methods are widespread in developed nations, the practice of industrial agriculture is a relatively recent development in the history of agriculture, and the result of scientific discoveries and technological advances. Innovations in agriculture beginning in the late 19th century generally parallel developments in production in other industries that characterized the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The identification of nitrogen and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides, developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of produce feasible. High mechanization – automated machinery sustain and harvest crops, critics of intensively farmed crops cite a wide range of concerns. On the food quality front, it is held by critics that quality is reduced when crops are bred and grown primarily for cosmetic and shipping characteristics. Environmentally, industrial farming of crops is claimed to be responsible for loss of biodiversity, degradation of quality, soil erosion, food toxicity. The projects within the Green Revolution spread technologies that had already existed and these technologies included pesticides, irrigation projects, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of what some referred to as “miracle seeds. ”Scientists created strains of maize, wheat, since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing genes were bred into their genomes. Norin 10 wheat, a variety developed by Orville Vogel from Japanese dwarf wheat varieties, was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars, photosynthetic investment in the stem is reduced dramatically as the shorter plants are inherently more stable mechanically. Assimilates become redirected to grain production, amplifying in particular the effect of chemical fertilisers on commercial yield, HYVs significantly outperform traditional varieties in the presence of adequate irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers. In the absence of these inputs, traditional varieties may outperform HYVs, wheat is a grass that is cultivated worldwide. Globally, it is the most important human food grain and ranks second in production as a cereal crop behind maize. Wheat and barley were the first cereals known to have been domesticated, because of the loss of seed dispersal mechanisms, domesticated wheats have limited capacity to propagate in the wild. Agricultural cultivation using horse collar leveraged plows increased cereal grain productivity yields, with population growth rates falling, while yields continue to rise, the area devoted to wheat may now begin to decline for the first time in modern human history. Organic wheat typically halves yield attainable but costs less as there are no fertiliser, while winter wheat lies dormant during a winter freeze, wheat normally requires between 110 and 130 days between planting and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and soil conditions. Crop management decisions require the knowledge of stage of development of the crop, in particular, spring fertilizers applications, herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators are typically applied at specific stages of plant development
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Natural farming
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Natural farming is an ecological farming approach established by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer and philosopher, introduced in his 1975 book The One-Straw Revolution. Fukuoka described his way of farming as 自然農法 in Japanese and it is also referred to as the Fukuoka Method, the natural way of farming or do-nothing farming. The title refers not to lack of effort, but to the avoidance of manufactured inputs, natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, ecoagriculture and permaculture but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture. The system exploits the complexity of living organisms that shape each particular ecosystem, Fukuoka saw farming both as a means of producing food and as an aesthetic or spiritual approach to life, the ultimate goal of which was, the cultivation and perfection of human beings. He suggested that farmers could benefit from closely observing local conditions, natural farming is a closed system, one that demands no human-supplied inputs and mimics nature. Fukuokas ideas challenged conventions that are core to modern agro-industries, instead promoting an approach takes advantage of the local environment. Natural farming differs from conventional farming, which Fukuoka considered to be another modern technique that disturbs nature. Fukuoka claimed that his approach prevents water pollution, biodiversity loss and soil erosion, in India, natural farming is often referred to as Rishi Kheti. In India natural farming or rishi kheti includes ancient vedic principles of farming including use of waste and herbs for controlling pests. The rishi or Indian sages use cow products like buttermilk, milk, curd, the Rishi or Vedic farming is regarded as non -violent farming without any usage of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Principally, natural farming minimises human labour and adopts, as closely as practical, natures production of such as rice, barley. Without plowing, seeds germinate well on the surface if site conditions meet the needs of the seeds placed there. Fukuoka used the presence of spiders in his fields as a key indicator of sustainability. }Fukuoka specifies that the ground remain covered by weeds, white clover, alfalfa, herbaceous legumes. Ground cover is present along with grain, vegetable crops and orchards, chickens run free in orchards and ducks and carp populate rice fields. Periodically ground layer plants including weeds may be cut and left on the surface, returning their nutrients to the soil and this also facilitates the sowing of seeds in the same area because the dense ground layer hides the seeds from animals such as birds. For summer rice and winter barley grain crops, ground cover enhances nitrogen fixation, straw from the previous crop mulches the topsoil. Each grain crop is sown before the one is harvested by broadcasting the seed among the standing crop. Later, this method was reduced to a single direct seeding of clover, barley, the result is a denser crop of smaller, but highly productive and stronger plants
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Orchard
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An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose. A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller non-commercial scale, most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mown grass or bare soil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy. Orchards are sometimes concentrated near bodies of water, where climatic extremes are moderated, an orchards layout is the technique of planting the crops in a proper system. There are different methods of planting and thus different layouts, some of these layout types include, Square method Rectangular method Quincunx method Triangular method Hexagonal method Contour method For different varieties, these systems may vary to some extent. The most extensive orchards in the United States are apple and orange orchards, the most extensive apple orchard area is in eastern Washington state, with a lesser but significant apple orchard area in most of Upstate New York. Extensive orange orchards are found in Florida and southern California, where they are widely known as groves. In eastern North America, many orchards are along the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, in Canada, apple and other fruit orchards are widespread on the Niagara Peninsula, south of Lake Ontario. This region is known as Canada Fruitbelt and, in addition to large-scale commercial fruit marketing, murcia is a major orchard area in Europe, with citrus crops. New Zealand, China, Argentina and Chile also have extensive apple orchards, tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been called The Town in the Orchard, since the 19th century, because it was surrounded by extensive orchards. Today, this heritage is celebrated through an annual Applefest, streuobstwiese is a German word that means a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees that are planted in a field. Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard, is a landscape in the temperate. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Streuobstwiesen were a kind of a community orchard that were intended for productive cultivation of stone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuable habitats, biodiversity and natural landscapes, both conventional and meadow orchards provide a suitable habitat for many animal species that live in a cultured landscape. Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts was the residence of American celebrated writer Louisa May Alcott, fruita, Utah part of Capitol Reef National Park has Mormon pioneer orchards maintained by the United States National Park Service. The Orchard Link organisation provides advice on how to manage and restore the county of Devons orchards, an organisation called Orchards Live carries out similar work in North Devon. Peoples Trust for Endangered Species has mapped every traditional orchard within England, the UK Biodiversity Partnership lists traditional orchards and a priority UK Biodiversity Action Plan habitat
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Organic farming
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Organic farming is an alternative agricultural system which originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Organic agriculture continues to be developed by various organic agriculture organizations today and it relies on fertilizers of organic origin such as compost, manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged, in general, organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin and rotenone are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers, synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur and Ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, since 1990 the market for organic food and other products has grown rapidly, reaching $63 billion worldwide in 2012. This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland that grew from 2001 to 2011 at a rate of 8. 9% per annum. As of 2011, approximately 37,000,000 hectares worldwide were farmed organically, Agriculture was practiced for thousands of years without the use of artificial chemicals. Artificial fertilizers were first created during the mid-19th century and these early fertilizers were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar advances occurred in chemical pesticides in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as the pesticide era, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, soil biology scientists began to seek ways to remedy these side effects while still maintaining higher production. Biodynamic agriculture was the first modern system of agriculture to focus exclusively on organic methods and its development began in 1924 with a series of eight lectures on agriculture given by Rudolf Steiner. The one hundred eleven attendees, less than half of whom were farmers, came from six countries, primarily Germany, the lectures were published in November 1924, the first English translation appeared in 1928 as The Agriculture Course. In 1921, Albert Howard and his wife Gabrielle Howard, accomplished botanists, stimulated by these experiences of traditional farming, when Albert Howard returned to Britain in the early 1930s he began to promulgate a system of natural agriculture. One of the purposes of the conference was to bring together the proponents of various approaches to organic agriculture in order that they might cooperate within a larger movement. Howard attended the conference, where he met Pfeiffer, in the following year, Northbourne published his manifesto of organic farming, Look to the Land, in which he coined the term organic farming. The Betteshanger conference has been described as the link between biodynamic agriculture and other forms of organic farming. In 1940 Howard published his An Agricultural Testament, in this book he adopted Northbournes terminology of organic farming. Howards work spread widely, and he became known as the father of organic farming for his work in applying scientific knowledge and these became important influences on the spread of organic agriculture. Further work was done by Lady Eve Balfour in the United Kingdom, increasing environmental awareness in the general population in modern times has transformed the originally supply-driven organic movement to a demand-driven one
28.
Ranch
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A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Canada, people who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a used to raise less common livestock such as elk, American bison or even ostrich, emu. Ranches generally consist of areas, but may be of nearly any size. In the western United States, many ranches are a combination of owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal Bureau of Land Management. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land, the ranch may also engage in an amount of farming, raising crops for feeding the animals, such as hay. Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called guest ranches or, colloquially, most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private hunters or outfitters onto their property to hunt native wildlife. Ranching is part of the iconography of the Wild West as seen in Western movies, the person who owns and manages the operation of a ranch is usually called a rancher, but the terms cattleman, stockgrower, or stockman are also sometimes used. If this individual in charge of management is an employee of the actual owner. A rancher who primarily raises young stock sometimes is called an operator or a cow-calf man. This person is usually the owner, though in cases, particularly where there is absentee ownership. The people who are employees of the rancher and involved in handling livestock are called a number of terms, including cowhand, ranch hand, people exclusively involved with handling horses are sometimes called wranglers. Ranching and the tradition originated in Spain, out of the necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from horseback. During the Reconquista, members of the Spanish nobility and various military orders received large land grants that the Kingdom of Castile had conquered from the Moors and these landowners were to defend the lands put into their control and could use them for earning revenue. When the Conquistadors came to the Americas in the 16th century, followed by settlers, they brought their cattle, huge land grants by the Spanish government, part of the hacienda system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas. A number of different traditions developed, often related to the location in Spain from which a settlement originated. For example, many of the traditions of the Jalisco charros in central Mexico come from the Salamanca charros of Castile, however, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch,110 miles east of New York City in Montauk, New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States, the prairie and desert lands of what today is Mexico and the western United States were well-suited to open range grazing
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Sharecropping
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Sharecropping is a form of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land. Sharecropping has a history and there are a wide range of different situations. Some are governed by tradition, and others by law, legal contract systems such as the Italian mezzadria, the French métayage, the Spanish mediero, or the Islamic system of muqasat, occur widely. Sharecropping has benefits and costs for both the owners and the tenant and it encourages the cropper to remain on the land, solving the harvest rush problem. At the same time, since the cropper pays in shares of his harvest, owners and croppers share the risks of harvests being large or small and of prices being high or low. Because tenants benefit from larger harvests, they have an incentive to work harder, however, by dividing the working force into many individual workers, large farms no longer benefit from economies of scale. On the whole, sharecropping was not as efficient as the gang agriculture of slave plantations. In the U. S. tenant farmers own their own mules and equipment, and sharecroppers do not, Sharecropping occurred extensively in Scotland, Ireland and colonial Africa, and came into wide use in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era. The South had been devastated by war - planters had ample land, at the same time, most of the former slaves had labor but no money and no land - they rejected the kind of gang labor that typified slavery. A solution was the system focused on cotton, which was the only crop that could generate cash for the croppers, landowners, merchants. Poor white farmers, who previously had done little cotton farming, needed cash as well, jeffery Paige made a distinction between centralized sharecropping found on cotton plantations and the decentralized sharecropping with other crops. The former is characterized by political conservatism and long lasting tenure, tenants are tied to the landlord through the plantation store. Their work is heavily supervised as slave plantations were and this form of tenure tends to be replaced by wage slavery as markets penetrate. Decentralized sharecropping involves virtually no role for the landlord, plots are scattered, peasants manage their own labor, leases are very short which leads to peasant radicalism. This form of tenure becomes more common when markets penetrate, use of the sharecropper system has also been identified in England. It is still used in many poor areas today, notably in Pakistan. It has therefore been seen as an issue of reform in contexts such as the Mexican Revolution. Sharecropping agreements can however be made fairly, as a form of tenant farming or sharefarming that has a variable rental payment, there are three different types of contracts
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Slash-and-burn
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Slash-and-burn agriculture, or fire–fallow cultivation, is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. In subsistence agriculture, slash-and-burn typically uses little technology and it is often applied in shifting cultivation agriculture and in transhumance livestock herding. Slash-and-burn is used by 200–500 million people worldwide, in 2004 it was estimated that in Brazil alone,500,000 small farmers each cleared an average of one hectare of forest per year. The technique is not scalable or sustainable for large human populations, methods such as Inga alley farming have been proposed as alternatives which would cause less environmental degradation. Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation has been practiced throughout much of the world and this happened in the river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Due to this decrease in food hunting, as human populations increased. Some groups could easily plant their crops in fields along river valleys. In this context, humans used slash-and-burn agriculture to more land to make it suitable for plants. Thus, since Neolithic times, slash-and-burn techniques have been used for converting forests into crop fields. Fire was used before the Neolithic as well, and by hunter-gatherers up to present times, clearings created by fire were made for many reasons, such as to draw game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants such as berries. Slash-and-burn fields are used and owned by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the ownership rights are abandoned, the family clears a new field, after a few decades, another family or clan may then use the land and claim usufructuary rights. In such a system there is no market in farmland, so land is not bought or sold in the open market. In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are typically cut months before a dry season, the slash is permitted to dry, and then burned in the following dry season. The resulting ash fertilizes the soil and the field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crops such as upland rice, maize, cassava. Most of this work is typically done by hand, using basic tools as machetes, axes, hoes. Large families or clans wandering in the lush woodlands long continued to be the most common form of life through human prehistory, axes to fell trees and sickles for harvesting grain were the only tools people might bring with them. All other tools were made from materials found at the site, such as fire stakes of birch, long rods
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Aquaculture
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Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants, algae, and other aquatic organisms. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments and in underwater habitats. According to the FAO, aquaculture Farming implies some form of intervention in the process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated, further, in current aquaculture practice, products from several pounds of wild fish are used to produce one pound of a piscivorous fish like salmon. Particular kinds of aquaculture include fish farming, shrimp farming, oyster farming, mariculture, algaculture, particular methods include aquaponics and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, both of which integrate fish farming and plant farming. The indigenous Gunditjmara people in Victoria, Australia, may have raised eels as early as 6000 BC, Aquaculture was operating in China circa 2500 BC. When the waters subsided after river floods, some fish, mainly carp, were trapped in lakes, early aquaculturists fed their brood using nymphs and silkworm feces, and ate them. A fortunate genetic mutation of carp led to the emergence of goldfish during the Tang dynasty, japanese cultivated seaweed by providing bamboo poles and, later, nets and oyster shells to serve as anchoring surfaces for spores. Romans bred fish in ponds and farmed oysters in coastal lagoons before 100 CE, in central Europe, early Christian monasteries adopted Roman aquacultural practices. Aquaculture spread in Europe during the Middle Ages since away from the seacoasts, improvements in transportation during the 19th century made fresh fish easily available and inexpensive, even in inland areas, making aquaculture less popular. The 15th-century fishponds of the Trebon Basin in the Czech Republic are maintained as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a remarkable example is a fish pond dating from at least 1,000 years ago, at Alekoko. Legend says that it was constructed by the mythical Menehune dwarf people, in first half of 18th century, German Stephan Ludwig Jacobi experimented with external fertilization of brown trouts and salmon. He wrote an article Von der künstlichen Erzeugung der Forellen und Lachse, by the latter decades of the 18th century, oyster farming had begun in estuaries along the Atlantic Coast of North America. The word aquaculture appeared in an 1855 newspaper article in reference to the harvesting of ice, in 1859, Stephen Ainsworth of West Bloomfield, New York, began experiments with brook trout. By 1864, Seth Green had established a commercial fish-hatching operation at Caledonia Springs, near Rochester, by 1866, with the involvement of Dr. W. W. Fletcher of Concord, Massachusetts, artificial fish hatcheries were under way in both Canada and the United States. When the Dildo Island fish hatchery opened in Newfoundland in 1889, the word aquaculture was used in descriptions of the hatcheries experiments with cod and lobster in 1890. By the 1920s, the American Fish Culture Company of Carolina, Rhode Island, during the 1940s, they had perfected the method of manipulating the day and night cycle of fish so that they could be artificially spawned year around. Californians harvested wild kelp and attempted to supply around 1900
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Aquaponics
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Aquaponics refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture with hydroponics in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, south China, Thailand, and Indonesia who cultivated and farmed rice in paddy fields in combination with fish are cited as examples of early aquaponics systems. The development of modern aquaponics is often attributed to the works of the New Alchemy Institute. Inspired by the successes of the New Alchemy Institute, and the reciprocating aquaponics techniques developed by Dr. Mark McMurtry et al, the first aquaponics research in Canada was a small system added onto existing aquaculture research at a research station in Lethbridge, Alberta. Canada saw a rise in aquaponics setups throughout the ’90s, predominantly as commercial installations raising high-value crops such as trout, Aquaponics consists of two main parts, with the aquaculture part for raising aquatic animals and the hydroponics part for growing plants. Aquatic effluents, resulting from uneaten feed or raising animals like fish, the effluent-rich water becomes toxic to the aquatic animal in high concentrations but this contains nutrients essential for plant growth. An aquaponic system depends on different live components to work successfully, the three main live components are plants, fish and bacteria. Some systems also include additional components like worms. Many plants are suitable for systems, though which ones work for a specific system depends on the maturity. These factors influence the concentration of nutrients from the fish effluent, green leaf vegetables with low to medium nutrient requirements are well adapted to aquaponic systems, including chinese cabbage, lettuce, basil, spinach, chives, herbs, and watercress. Other plants, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, have higher nutrient requirements, plants that are common in salads have some of the greatest success in aquaponics, including cucumbers, shallots, tomatoes, lettuce, chiles, capsicum, red salad onions and snow peas. Some profitable plants for aquaponic systems include chinese cabbage, lettuce, basil, roses, tomatoes, okra, cantaloupe, fruiting plants like melons or tomatoes, and plants with higher nutrient needs need higher stocking densities of fish and more mature tanks to provide enough nutrients. Freshwater fish are the most common aquatic animal raised using aquaponics, although freshwater crayfish, there is a branch of aquaponics using saltwater fish, called saltwater aquaponics. There are many species of warmwater and coldwater fish that adapt well to aquaculture systems, barramundi, silver perch, eel-tailed catfish or tandanus catfish, jade perch and Murray cod are also used. For temperate climates when there isnt ability or desire to maintain water temperature, bluegill, koi and goldfish may also be used, if the fish in the system need not be edible. Other suitable fish include catfish, rainbow trout, perch, common carp, Arctic char, largemouth bass. Although plants can absorb ammonia from the water to some degree, nitrates are assimilated more easily, plants are grown as in hydroponics systems, with their roots immersed in the nutrient-rich effluent water. This enables them to filter out the ammonia that is toxic to the aquatic animals, after the water has passed through the hydroponic subsystem, it is cleaned and oxygenated, and can return to the aquaculture vessels
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Hydroponics
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Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture, the method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the solution, or the roots may be supported by an inert medium. The nutrients in hydroponics can be from fish waste, duck manure, the earliest published work on growing terrestrial plants without soil was the 1627 book Sylva Sylvarum by Francis Bacon, printed a year after his death. Water culture became a research technique after that. In 1699, John Woodward published his water culture experiments with spearmint and he found that plants in less-pure water sources grew better than plants in distilled water. Growth of terrestrial plants without soil in mineral nutrient solutions was called solution culture and it quickly became a standard research and teaching technique and is still widely used. Solution culture is now considered a type of hydroponics where there is no inert medium, in 1929, William Frederick Gericke of the University of California at Berkeley began publicly promoting that solution culture be used for agricultural crop production. He first termed it aquaculture but later found that aquaculture was already applied to culture of aquatic organisms, Gericke created a sensation by growing tomato vines twenty-five feet high in his back yard in mineral nutrient solutions rather than soil. He introduced the term hydroponics, water culture, in 1937, proposed to him by W. A. Setchell, a phycologist with an extensive education in the classics. Hydroponics is derived from neologism υδρωπονικά, constructed in analogy to γεωπονικά, geoponica, reports of Gerickes work and his claims that hydroponics would revolutionize plant agriculture prompted a huge number of requests for further information. In 1940, Gericke published the book, Complete Guide to Soil less Gardening, two other plant nutritionists at the University of California were asked to research Gerickes claims. Dennis R. Hoagland and Daniel I, Arnon wrote a classic 1938 agricultural bulletin, The Water Culture Method for Growing Plants Without Soil. Hoagland and Arnon claimed that hydroponic crop yields were no better than crop yields with good-quality soils, crop yields were ultimately limited by factors other than mineral nutrients, especially light. In soil, a grower needs to be experienced to know exactly how much water to feed the plant. Too much and the plant will be unable to access oxygen, too little and the plant will lose the ability to transport nutrients and these two researchers developed several formulas for mineral nutrient solutions, known as Hoagland solution. Modified Hoagland solutions are still in use, one of the earliest successes of hydroponics occurred on Wake Island, a rocky atoll in the Pacific Ocean used as a refuelling stop for Pan American Airlines. Hydroponics was used there in the 1930s to grow vegetables for the passengers, hydroponics was a necessity on Wake Island because there was no soil, and it was prohibitively expensive to airlift in fresh vegetables. In the 1960s, Allen Cooper of England developed the Nutrient film technique, the Land Pavilion at Walt Disney Worlds EPCOT Center opened in 1982 and prominently features a variety of hydroponic techniques
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Agribusiness
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Agribusiness is the business of agricultural production. The term was coined in 1957 by Goldberg and Davis and it includes agrichemicals, breeding, crop production, distribution, farm machinery, processing, and seed supply, as well as marketing and retail sales. All agents of the food and fiber value chain and those institutions that influence it are part of the agribusiness system. Within the agriculture industry, agribusiness is used simply as a portmanteau of agriculture and business, there are academic degrees in and departments of agribusiness, agribusiness trade associations, agribusiness publications, and so forth, worldwide. The UNs Food and Agriculture Organization operates a section devoted to agribusiness development which seeks to promote food industry growth in developing nations, in the context of agribusiness management in academia, each individual element of agriculture production and distribution may be described as agribusinesses. However, the term agribusiness most often emphasizes the interdependence of these various sectors within the production chain, among critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertically integrated food production, the term agribusiness is used negatively, synonymous with corporate farming. As such, it is contrasted with smaller family-owned farms. As concern over global warming intensifies, biofuels derived from crops are gaining increased public and scientific attention and this is driven by factors such as oil price spikes, the need for increased energy security, concern over greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and support from government subsidies. In Europe and in the US, increased research and production of biofuels has been mandated by law, studies of agribusiness often come from the academic fields of agricultural economics and management studies, sometimes called agribusiness management. To promote more development of economies, many government agencies support the research and publication of economic studies. Some of these studies are on foods produced for export and are derived from agencies focused on food exports and these agencies include the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Austrade, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. The Federation of International Trade Associations publishes studies and reports by FAS and AAFC, ray A. Goldberg coined the term agribusiness together with coauthor John H. Davis. They provided an economic framework for the field in their book A Concept of Agribusiness. That seminal work traces a complex value-added chain that begins with the purchase of seed and livestock. Agribusiness boundary expansion is driven by a variety of transaction costs, manuel Alvarado Ledesma and Peter D. Goldsmith explain the implications of weak institutions on agribusiness investment. According to them weak institutions lead to development and enforcement grounded in the moment, rather than based on precedent. The Globalization of Agribusiness and Developing World Food Systems, southern Innovator Magazine Issue 3, Agribusiness and Food Security, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation
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Agricultural engineering
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Design of experiments related to crop and animal production The first curriculum in agricultural engineering was established at Iowa State University by Professor J. B. The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, now known as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, was founded in 1907, a large percentage of agricultural engineers work in academia or for government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture or state agricultural extension services. Agricultural engineers work in production, sales, management, research and development, in the United Kingdom the term Agricultural Engineer is often also used to describe a person that repairs or modifies agricultural equipment. Below is a listing of known academic programs that offer degrees in what ABET terms Agricultural Engineering, Biosystems Engineering, Biological Engineering. ABET accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, CRC handbook of engineering in agriculture. Field, H. L. Solie, J. B, introduction to agricultural engineering technology, a problem solving approach. Seven decades that changed America, a history of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, the vision that cut drugery from farming forever
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Agroecology
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Agroecology is the study of ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. The prefix agro- refers to agriculture, bringing ecological principles to bear in agroecosystems can suggest novel management approaches that would not otherwise be considered. The term is often used imprecisely and may refer to a science, a movement, although it has much more common thinking and principles with some of the before mentioned farming systems. Agroecologists do not unanimously oppose technology or inputs in agriculture but instead assess how, when, thus, agroecology is not defined by certain management practices, such as the use of natural enemies in place of insecticides, or polyculture in place of monoculture. Instead, agroecologists may study questions related to the four system properties of agroecosystems, as opposed to disciplines that are concerned with only one or some of these properties, agroecologists see all four properties as interconnected and integral to the success of an agroecosystem. Agroecologists do not always agree about what agroecology is or should be in the long-term, different definitions of the term agroecology can be distinguished largely by the specificity with which one defines the term ecology, as well as the terms potential political connotations. Definitions of agroecology, therefore, may be first grouped according to the contexts within which they situate agriculture. Agroecology is defined by the OECD as the study of the relation of agricultural crops and this definition refers to the -ecology part of agroecology narrowly as the natural environment. Consequently, agroecology is inherently multidisciplinary, including factors from agronomy, ecology, sociology, economics, in this case, the -ecology portion of agroecology is defined broadly to include social, cultural, and economic contexts as well. Francis et al. also expand the definition in the same way, agroecology is also defined differently according to geographic location. In the global south, the term often carries political connotations. North American and European uses of the term sometimes avoid the inclusion of such overtly political goals, in these cases, agroecology is seen more strictly as a scientific discipline with less specific social goals. This approach is derived from the science of ecology primarily based on population ecology, in fact, the first agro-ecologists were indigenous peoples that advocated development policies and programmes to support their systems, rather than replacing them. Rather than viewing agroecology as a subset of agriculture, Wojtkowski takes a more encompassing perspective, in this, natural ecology and agroecology are the major headings under ecology. Natural ecology is the study of organisms as they interact with, correspondingly, agroecology is the basis for the land-use sciences. Here humans are the governing force for organisms within planned and managed, mostly terrestrial. As key headings, natural ecology and agroecology provide the base for their respective sciences. These theoretical bases overlap but differ in a major way, economics has no role in the functioning of natural ecosystems whereas economics sets direction and purpose in agroecology
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Agroforestry
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Agroforestry or agro-sylviculture is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. It combines shrubs and trees in agricultural and forestry technologies to more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, ecologically sound. The theoretical base for agroforestry comes from ecology, via agroecology, from this perspective, agroforestry is one of the three principal land-use sciences. The other two are agriculture and forestry, Agroforestry has a lot in common with intercropping. Beyond these, there are specific to agroforestry. Agroforestry systems can be advantageous over conventional agricultural, and forest production methods and they can offer increased productivity, economic benefits, and more diversity in the ecological goods and services provided. Biodiversity in agroforestry systems is typically higher than in agricultural systems. With two or more interacting plant species in a land area, it creates a more complex habitat that can support a wider variety of birds, insects. Agroforestry was one of the most widely adopted adaptation strategies in the study, along with the use of improved crop varieties, Agroforestry represents a wide diversity in application and in practice. One listing includes over 50 distinct uses, the 50 or so applications can be roughly classified under a few broad headings. There are visual similarities between practices in different categories and this is expected as categorization is based around the problems addressed and the overall economic constraints and objectives. Parklands are visually defined by the presence of trees scattered over a large agricultural plot or pasture. The trees are usually of a species with clear regional favorites. Research with Faidherbia albida in Zambia showed that mature trees can sustain maize yields of 4.1 tonnes per hectare compared to 1.3 tonnes per hectare without these trees. Unlike other trees, Faidherbia sheds its leaves during the rainy crop growing season so it does not compete with the crop for light, nutrients. The leaves then regrow during the dry season and provide land cover, with shade applications, crops are purposely raised under tree canopies and within the resulting shady environment. For most uses, the crops are shade tolerant or the overstory trees have fairly open canopies. A conspicuous example is shade-grown coffee and this practice reduces weeding costs and improves the quality and taste of the coffee
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Animal-free agriculture
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Animal-free agriculture consists of farming methods that do not use animals or animal products. Animal-free growers do not keep domesticated animals and do not use products such as farmed animal manures or animal parts. Emphasis is placed on using green manures instead, animal-free farming may use organic or non-organic farming techniques. However, most detailed discussions of animal-free agriculture currently focus on animal-free organic variants, forest gardening Livestocks Long Shadow Vegan organic gardening Vegan permaculture
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Crop diversity
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Crop diversity is the variance in genetic and phenotypic characteristics of plants used in agriculture. Two components of this are the diversity within each crop. Crop diversity loss threatens global food security, as the human population depends on a diminishing number of varieties of a diminishing number of crop species. Crop diversity is therefore necessary for health and food security. International organisations are working across the world to preserve crop diversity, Crop diversity is an aspect of biodiversity important for food security. The loss of biodiversity is considered one of today’s most serious environmental concerns by the Food, if current trends persist, as many as half of all plant species could face extinction. In 2016, 29% of wild plant species were completely missing from the world’s genebanks. The differences between the foods eaten in different countries were reduced by 68% between 1961 and 2009, other crops have declined sharply over the same period, including rye, yam, sweet potato, cassava, coconut, sorghum and millets. Within-crop diversity can result from different growing conditions, a growing in nutrient-poor soil is likely to be shorter than a crop growing in more fertile soil. Availability of water, soil pH, and temperature similarly influence crop growth, in addition, diversity of a harvested plant can be the result of genetic differences, a crop may have genes conferring early maturity or disease resistance. Such traits collectively determine a crops overall characteristics and future potential, Diversity within a crop includes genetically-influenced attributes such as seed size, branching pattern, height, flower color, fruiting time, and flavor. Crops also vary in less obvious such as their response to heat, cold or drought, or their ability to resist specific diseases. Traits useful to plant breeders can often be found in relatives of crop species. Modern plant breeders develop new varieties to meet specific conditions. A new variety might, for example, be higher yielding, the breeding of monocultural crops steadily reduces genetic diversity as desirable traits are selected, and undesirable traits are removed. Agricultural ecosystems function effectively as self-regulating systems provided they have sufficient biodiversity of plants, in Latin America, between 70% and 90% of beans are grown mixed with other crops such as maize and potatoes. Worldwide, multiple cropping provided up to 20% of all food in 1986, traditional systems also maintain diversity within a crop species, as for instance in the Andes mountains where up to 50 varieties of potato are grown. The effects of loss of biodiversity are especially noticeable in pest control, herbivorous pest insects tend to become more abundant in monocultures
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Ecology
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Ecology is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their environment. It is a field that includes biology, geography. Ecology includes the study of interactions that organisms have with other, other organisms. Ecosystems are composed of dynamically interacting parts including organisms, the communities make up. Ecosystem processes, such as production, pedogenesis, nutrient cycling. These processes are sustained by organisms with specific life history traits, biodiversity, which refers to the varieties of species, genes, and ecosystems, enhances certain ecosystem services. Ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism, natural history and it is closely related to evolutionary biology, genetics, and ethology. An important focus for ecologists is to improve the understanding of how biodiversity affects ecological function, Ecology is a human science as well. For example, the Circles of Sustainability approach treats ecology as more than the environment out there and it is not treated as separate from humans. Organisms and resources compose ecosystems which, in turn, maintain biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living and non-living components of the planet, the word ecology was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics and politics, ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates and Aristotle laid the foundations of ecology in their studies on natural history. Modern ecology became a more rigorous science in the late 19th century. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection became the cornerstones of modern ecological theory, the scope of ecology contains a wide array of interacting levels of organization spanning micro-level to a planetary scale phenomena. Ecosystems, for example, contain abiotic resources and interacting life forms, an ecosystems area can vary greatly, from tiny to vast. A single tree is of consequence to the classification of a forest ecosystem. Several generations of a population can exist over the lifespan of a single leaf. Each of those aphids, in turn, support diverse bacterial communities, biodiversity describes the diversity of life from genes to ecosystems and spans every level of biological organization. The term has several interpretations, and there are ways to index, measure, characterize
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Livestock
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Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor. The term is used to refer solely to those raised for food. In recent years, some organizations have also raised livestock to promote the survival of rare breeds, animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods. Originally, livestock were not confined by fences or enclosures, but these practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming and these practices increase yield of the various commercial outputs, but have led to increased concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact. Livestock production continues to play an economic and cultural role in numerous rural communities. Livestock as a word was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a merger between the live and stock. Older English sources, such as the King James Version of the Bible, the word cattle is derived from Old North French catel, which meant all kinds of movable personal property, including livestock, which was differentiated from immovable real estate. In later English, sometimes smaller livestock such as chickens and pigs were referred to as small cattle, today, the modern meaning of cattle, without a modifier, usually refers to domesticated bovines, but sometimes livestock refers only to this subgroup. Legal definition United States federal legislation sometimes more narrowly defines the term to make specified agricultural commodities either eligible or ineligible for a program or activity, for example, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 defines livestock only as cattle, swine, and sheep. Animal-rearing originated during the transition to settled farming communities from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animals are domesticated when their breeding and living conditions are controlled by humans, over time, the collective behaviour, lifecycle and physiology of livestock have changed radically. Many modern farm animals are unsuited to life in the wild, dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. Goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BC in Asia, swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BC in the Middle East and China. The earliest evidence of horse domestication dates to around 4000 BC, the term livestock is nebulous and may be defined narrowly or broadly. Broadly, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans for a useful and this can mean domestic animals, semidomestic animals, or captive wild animals. Semidomesticated refers to animals which are only lightly domesticated or of disputed status and these populations may also be in the process of domestication. Some people may use the term livestock to refer to only used for red meat. Livestock are used by humans for a variety of purposes, many of which have an economic value, Livestock products include, Meat A useful form of dietary protein and energy, meat is the edible tissue of the animal carcass
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Mechanised agriculture
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Mechanised agriculture is the process of using agricultural machinery to mechanise the work of agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm jobs formerly carried out by labour or by working animals such as oxen. The entire history of agriculture contains many examples of the use of tools, such as the hoe, but the ongoing integration of machines since the Industrial Revolution has allowed farming to become much less labour-intensive. Current mechanised agriculture includes the use of tractors, trucks, combine harvesters, countless types of implements, aeroplanes and helicopters. Precision agriculture even uses computers in conjunction with satellite imagery and satellite navigation to increase yields, mechanisation was one of the large factors responsible for urbanisation and industrial economies. Besides improving production efficiency, mechanisation encourages large scale production and sometimes can improve the quality of farm produce, on the other hand, it can displace unskilled farm labour and can cause environmental degradation, especially if it is applied shortsightedly rather than holistically. Jethro Tulls seed drill was a mechanical seed spacing and depth placing device that increased crop yields and it was an important factor in the British Agricultural Revolution. Since the beginning of agriculture threshing was done by hand with a flail, the threshing machine, which was invented in 1794 but not widely used for several more decades, simplified the operation and allowed the use of animal power. Before the invention of the cradle a able bodied labourer could reap about one quarter acre of wheat in a day using a sickle. It was estimated that for each of Cyrus McCormicks horse-pulled reapers freed up five men for service in the US Civil War. Later innovations included raking and binding machines, by 1890 two men and two horses could cut, rake and bind 20 acres of wheat per day. In the 1880s the reaper and threshing machine were combined into the combine harvester and these machines required large teams of horses or mules to pull. Steam power was applied to threshing machines in the late 19th century, there were steam engines that moved around on wheels under their own power for supplying temporary power to stationary threshing machines. These were called road engines, and Henry Ford seeing one as a boy was inspired to build an automobile, with internal combustion came the first modern tractors in the early 1900s, becoming more popular after the Fordson tractor. At first reapers and combine harvesters were pulled by tractors, the horse population in the US began to decline in the 1920s after the conversion of agriculture and transportation to internal combustion. Peak tractor sales in the US were around 1950, in addition to saving labour, this freed up much land previously used for supporting draft animals. The continuous supply of workers from Latin America that were willing to harvest the crops for low wages further suppressed the need for mechanisation. Asparagus are presently harvested by hand with labour costs at 71% of production costs, asparagus is a difficult crop to harvest since each spear matures at a different speed making it difficult to achieve a uniform harvest
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Permaculture
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Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. Permaculture was developed, and the term coined by Bill Mollison, smith saw the world as an inter-related whole and suggested mixed systems of trees and crops underneath. This book inspired many individuals intent on making agriculture more sustainable, the definition of permanent agriculture as one that can be sustained indefinitely was supported by Australian P. A. Yeomans in his 1964 book Water for Every Farm. Yeomans introduced an approach to land use in Australia in the 1940s. Stewart Brand’s works were an early influence noted by Holmgren, in the late 1960s, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren started developing ideas about stable agricultural systems on the southern Australian island state of Tasmania. This was a result of the danger of the growing use of industrial-agricultural methods. A design approach called permaculture was their response and was first made public with the publication of their book Permaculture One in 1978, by the early 1980s, the concept had broadened from agricultural systems design towards sustainable human habitats. After Permaculture One, Mollison further refined and developed the ideas by designing hundreds of sites and writing more detailed books, notably Permaculture. Mollison lectured in over 80 countries and taught his two-week Permaculture Design Course to many hundreds of students, Mollison encouraged graduates to become teachers themselves and set up their own institutes and demonstration sites. This multiplier effect was critical to permaculture’s rapid expansion, the three core tenets of permaculture are, Care for the earth, Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, Care for the people, Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence. Return of surplus, Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics and this includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. The third ethic is sometimes referred to as Fair Share to reflect each of us should take no more than what we need before we reinvest the surplus. Permaculture design emphasizes patterns of landscape, function, and species assemblies and it determines where these elements should be placed so they can provide maximum benefit to the local environment. The central concept of permaculture is maximizing useful connections between components and synergy of the final design, Permaculture design therefore seeks to minimize waste, human labor, and energy input by building systems with maximal benefits between design elements to achieve a high level of synergy. The design principles which are the foundation of permaculture were derived from the science of systems ecology. Permaculture draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, catch and store energy, By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need. Obtain a yield, Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing, apply self-regulation and accept feedback, We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well
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Sustainable agriculture
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Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways based on an understanding of ecosystem services, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. Wes Jackson is credited with the first publication of the expression in his 1980 book New Roots for Agriculture, the term became popularly used in the late 1980s. Sustainable agriculture can be understood as an approach to agriculture. Practices that can cause damage to soil include excessive tilling of the soil. Long-term experiments have provided some of the best data on how various practices affect soil properties essential to sustainability, the most important factors for an individual site are sun, air, soil, nutrients, and water. Of the five, water and soil quality and quantity are most amenable to human intervention through time, although air and sunlight are available everywhere on Earth, crops also depend on soil nutrients and the availability of water. When farmers grow and harvest crops, they some of these nutrients from the soil. Without replenishment, land suffers from nutrient depletion and becomes either unusable or suffers from reduced yields, sustainable agriculture depends on replenishing the soil while minimizing the use or need of non-renewable resources, such as natural gas, or mineral ores. The last option was proposed in the 1970s, but is recently becoming feasible. Sustainable options for replacing other nutrient inputs are more limited, crops that require high levels of soil nutrients can be cultivated in a more sustainable manner if certain fertilizer management practices are adhered to. Nationwide food producers require vast amounts of land and soil to produce food at an accelerated rate and this diminishes the nutrients in the soil and decimates the idea of sustainable agriculture, which is best built through local, regional agricultural methods. In some areas sufficient rainfall is available for growth. For irrigation systems to be sustainable, they require proper management, otherwise, the water source effectively becomes a non-renewable resource. However, this progress has come at a price, in many areas, such as the Ogallala Aquifer, the water is being used faster than it can be replenished. Several steps must be taken to develop drought-resistant farming systems even in years with average rainfall. Indicators for sustainable water resource development are, Internal renewable water resources and this is the average annual flow of rivers and groundwater generated from endogenous precipitation, after ensuring that there is no double counting. It represents the amount of water resource produced within the boundaries of a country. This value, which is expressed as an average on a basis, is invariant in time
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Urban agriculture
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City farms are agricultural plots in urban areas, which involve people working with animals and plants to produce food. City farms are usually community-run gardens which aim to improve community relationships and offer an awareness of agriculture, City farms are important sources of food security for many communities around the globe. City farms vary in size from small plots in private yards to larger farms that occupy a number of acres, in 1996, a United Nations report estimated there are over 800 million people worldview who grow food and raise livestock in cities. Today, it is estimated more than three million people visit city farms each year and around half a million people work on them as volunteers. Although some city farms have paid employees, most rely heavily on volunteer labour, other city farms operate as partnerships with local authorities. City farms allow urban dwellers to produce food from animals and plants, at the intersection of production and awareness, city farms are often the focus for educational, environmental and conservation outreach and activities. During the 1960s a number of community gardens were established in the United Kingdom, the first city farm was set up in 1972 in Kentish Town, London. It combined farm animals with gardening space, an inspired by childrens farms in the Netherlands. Other city farms followed across London and there are now over sixty city farms in the United Kingdom, in Australia, several city farms exist in various capital cities. In Melbourne in 1979 the Collingwood Childrens Farm was established on the Abbotsford Precinct Heritage Farmlands, in London, the city farms now have a show at an agricultural college called Capel Manor every September. There are also around a thousand community gardens and seventy-five school farms in the UK, together with city farms they are represented by The Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens. The Access to Farms scheme is a project to enable access to working farms. Allotments also provide space for individuals and groups within urban areas. City farm also refers to City Farm, a three quarter acre bio-intensive farm on the Southside of Providence, Rhode Island and this is one element of the Southside Community Land Trust. At the City Farm, crops are both for donation to local charities and for selling at local farmers markets. The City Farm is also a site where childrens groups from the Greater Providence area come for education on local farming. Alternative urban futures, planning for development in cities throughout the world. ISBN 0-7425-2366-7 Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens European Federation of City Farms
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Profession
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The term is a truncation of the term liberal profession, which is, in turn, an Anglicization of the French term profession libérale. Medieval and early modern tradition recognized only four professions, divinity, medicine, the military officer, just as some professions rise in status and power through various stages, others may decline. Disciplines formalized more recently, such as architecture, now have equally long periods of study associated with them, originally, any regulation of the professions was self-regulation through bodies such as the College of Physicians or the Inns of Court. With the growing role of government, statutory bodies have taken on this role. It may be resisted as limiting the freedom to innovate or to practice as in their professional judgement they consider best. An example was in 2008, when the British government proposed wide statutory regulation of psychologists, besides regulating access to a profession, professional bodies may set examinations of competence and enforce adherence to an ethical code. Typically, individuals are required by law to be qualified by a professional body before they are permitted to practice in that profession. However, in countries, individuals may not be required by law to be qualified by such a professional body in order to practice. This requirement is set out by the Educational Department Bureau of Hong Kong, Professions tend to be autonomous, which means they have a high degree of control of their own affairs, professionals are autonomous insofar as they can make independent judgments about their work. This usually means the freedom to exercise their professional judgement, however, it also has other meanings. Professional autonomy is often described as a claim of professionals that has to serve primarily their own interests, one major implication of professional autonomy is the traditional ban on corporate practice of the professions, especially accounting, architecture, medicine, and law. This means that in many jurisdictions, these professionals cannot do business through regular for-profit corporations, the obvious implication of this is that all equity owners of the professional business entity must be professionals themselves. This avoids the possibility of an owner of the firm telling a professional how to do his or her job. But because professional business entities are locked out of the stock market. Professions enjoy a social status, regard and esteem conferred upon them by society. This high esteem arises primarily from the social function of their work. All professions involve technical, specialized and highly skilled work often referred to as professional expertise, training for this work involves obtaining degrees and professional qualifications without which entry to the profession is barred. Updating skills through continuing education is required through training and this power is used to control its own members, and also its area of expertise and interests
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Food industry
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The Food Industry is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world population. Only subsistence farmers, those who survive on what they grow, the food Industry includes, Agriculture, raising of crops and livestock, and seafood Manufacturing, agrichemicals, agricultural construction, farm machinery and supplies, seed, etc. The Food Standards Agency, a government body in India, describes it thus. the whole food industry – from farming and food production, packaging and distribution, to retail and catering. The Economic Research Service of the USDA uses the food system to describe the same thing, The U. S. food system is a complex network of farmers. Those links include makers of farm equipment and chemicals as well as firms that provide services to agribusinesses, such as providers of transportation and financial services. The system also includes the marketing industries that link farms to consumers, and which include food and fiber processors, wholesalers, retailers. The term food industries covers a series of activities directed at the processing, conversion, preparation, preservation. Many food industries depend almost entirely on agriculture or fishing. Agriculture is the process of producing food, feeding products, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants, the practice of agriculture is also known as farming. Scientists, inventors, and others devoted to improving farming methods,1 in 3 people worldwide are employed in agriculture, yet it only contributes 3% to global GDP. Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, fibre, agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences, agronomists today are involved with many issues including producing food, creating healthier food, managing environmental impact of agriculture, and extracting energy from plants. Food processing includes the methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for human consumption, Food processing takes clean, harvested or slaughtered and butchered components and uses them to produce marketable food products. There are several different ways in which food can be produced, one off production, This method is used when customers make an order for something to be made to their own specifications, for example a wedding cake. The making of products could take days depending on how intricate the design is. Batch production, This method is used when the size of the market for a product is not clear, a certain number of the same goods will be produced to make up a batch or run, for example a bakery may bake a limited number of cupcakes. This method involves estimating consumer demand, mass production, This method is used when there is a mass market for a large number of identical products, for example chocolate bars, ready meals and canned food. The product passes from one stage of production to another along a production line, just-in-time, This method of production is mainly used in restaurants
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Research and development
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Research and development, also known in Europe as research and technical development, is a general term for activities in connection with corporate or governmental innovation. Research and development is situated at the front end of the life cycle. R&D differs from the vast majority of activities in that it is not intended to yield immediate profit, and generally carries greater risk. New product design and development is more often not a crucial factor in the survival of a company. In an industry that is changing fast, firms must continually revise their design and this is necessary due to continuous technology change and development as well as other competitors and the changing preference of customers. Without an R&D program, a firm must rely on strategic alliances, acquisitions, a system driven by marketing is one that puts the customer needs first, and produces goods that are known to sell. Market research is carried out, which establishes what is needed, if the development is technology driven R&D is directed toward developing products to meet the unmet need. Statistics on organizations devoted to R&D may express the state of an industry, some common measures include, budgets, numbers of patents or on rates of peer-reviewed publications. Bank ratios are one of the best measures, because they are maintained, public. In the United States, a ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3. 5% of revenues. A high technolog company, such as a manufacturer, might spend 7% or a pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co.14. 1% or Novartis 15. 1%. That is, gross profits will be as much as 90% of the sales cost, with manufacturing costing only 10% of the product price, most industrial companies get 40% revenues only. On a technical level, high tech organizations explore ways to re-purpose and they often reuse advanced manufacturing processes, expensive safety certifications, specialized embedded software, computer-aided design software, electronic designs and mechanical subsystems. Research from 2000 has shown that firms with a persistent R&D strategy outperform those with an irregular or no R&D investment program. Research and development are very difficult to manage, since the feature of research is that the researchers do not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired result. As a result, higher R&D spending does not guarantee more creativity, research is the most risky financing area because both the development of an invention and its successful realization carries uncertainty including the profitability of the invention. One way of reducing the uncertainty of researching know-hows is to obtain already researched know-hows, president Barack Obama requested $147.696 billion for research & development in FY2012. Much of this spending was devoted to research on the mechanisms of disease
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Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
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Food
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Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for an organism. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, the substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organisms cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. Historically, humans secured food through two methods, hunting and gathering and agriculture, today, the majority of the food energy required by the ever increasing population of the world is supplied by the food industry. They address issues such as sustainability, biological diversity, climate change, nutritional economics, population growth, water supply, most food has its origin in plants. Some food is obtained directly from plants, but even animals that are used as sources are raised by feeding them food derived from plants. Cereal grain is a food that provides more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop. Corn, wheat, and rice – in all of their varieties – account for 87% of all grain production worldwide, most of the grain that is produced worldwide is fed to livestock. Some foods not from animal or plant sources include various edible fungi, fungi and ambient bacteria are used in the preparation of fermented and pickled foods like leavened bread, alcoholic drinks, cheese, pickles, kombucha, and yogurt. Another example is blue-green algae such as Spirulina, inorganic substances such as salt, baking soda and cream of tartar are used to preserve or chemically alter an ingredient. Many plants and plant parts are eaten as food and around 2,000 plant species are cultivated for food, many of these plant species have several distinct cultivars. Seeds of plants are a source of food for animals, including humans, because they contain the nutrients necessary for the plants initial growth, including many healthful fats. In fact, the majority of food consumed by human beings are seed-based foods, edible seeds include cereals, legumes, and nuts. Oilseeds are often pressed to produce rich oils - sunflower, flaxseed, rapeseed, sesame, seeds are typically high in unsaturated fats and, in moderation, are considered a health food, although not all seeds are edible. Large seeds, such as those from a lemon, pose a choking hazard, fruits are the ripened ovaries of plants, including the seeds within. Many plants and animals have coevolved such that the fruits of the former are a food source to the latter. Fruits, therefore, make up a significant part of the diets of most cultures, some botanical fruits, such as tomatoes, pumpkins, and eggplants, are eaten as vegetables. Vegetables are a type of plant matter that is commonly eaten as food. These include root vegetables, bulbs, leaf vegetables, stem vegetables, animals are used as food either directly or indirectly by the products they produce
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