Portal:Agriculture and Agronomy

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of 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. However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dryland farming; pastoral herding on rangeland is still the most common means of raising livestock. In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has become the dominant system of modern farming, although there is growing support for sustainable agriculture. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. More about Agriculture... (Pictured left: Soy field in Argentina's fertile pampas. The versatile legume makes up about half the nation's crop production and a fourth of its exports.) Agriculture is one of the bases of Argentina's economy. Argentine agriculture is relatively capital intensive, today providing about 7% of all employment and, even during its period of dominance around 1900, accounting for no more than a third of all labor. Having accounted for 20% of GDP as late as 1959, it adds, directly, less than 10% today; however, agricultural goods, whether raw or processed, still earn over half of Argentina's foreign exchange and, arguably, remain an indispensable pillar of the country's social progress and economic prosperity. An estimated 10-15% of argentinian farmland is foreign owned. In 2007, more than one fifth of Argentine exports of about US$56 billion were composed of unprocessed agricultural primary goods, mainly soybeans, wheat and maize. A further one third were composed of processed agricultural products, such as animal feed, flour and vegetable oils. The national governmental organization in charge of overseeing agriculture is the Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle Farming, Fishing and Food (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentos, SAGPyA). Argentine beef and other meats are some of the most important agricultural export products of Argentina. Nearly 5 million tonnes of meats (not including seafood) are produced in Argentina, long the world's leading beef consumer on a per capita basis. Beef accounts for 3.2 million tonnes (not counting 500.000 tonnes of edible offal). Then, following in importance: chicken, with 1.2 million tonnes; pork, with 265,000 and mutton (including goat meat), over 100,000. Cattle is mainly raised in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. Additional significant agricultural commodities include cereals, oilseeds, fruit, vegetables, sugar cane, dairy products and fish/seafood. A farm in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Template:/box-header Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. It has been defined as "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term: Satisfy human food and fiber needs Make the most efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls Sustain the economic viability of farm operations Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.” Sustainable agriculture in the United States was addressed by the 1990 farm bill. More recently, as consumer and retail demand for sustainable products has risen, organizations such as Food Alliance and Protected Harvest have started to provide measurement standards and certification programs for what constitutes a sustainably grown crop. Categories: Sustainable agriculture, Sustainability Template:/box-footer From the Wikinews Agriculture portal July 28: Scientists analyse effects of global warming, atmospheric ozone on crops September 25: 2012 Report on Gender Equality and Development looks at women's issues in India June 15: Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo comments on North Colorado proposal June 11: Colorado counties consider forming new U.S. state Agronomy Journal - the American Society of Agronomy Agronomy for Sustainable Development Journal Crop Science Journal Journal of Organic Systems See also: FAO Documents Organic Eprints- Organic Agriculture WikiProject Agriculture WikiProject Horticulture and Gardening WikiProject Tree of life and its subprojects WikiProject Veterinary medicine WikiProject Food and drink WikiProject Forestry WikiProject Business and Economics WikiProject Companies Agricultural chemistry Agricultural economics Agricultural engineering Agricultural philosophy Agricultural policy Agricultural science Agricultural soil science Agroecology Animal husbandry Farm History of agriculture Outline of agriculture Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Fish production principles Expand : Agricultural land, Agricultural cycle, Agricultural education, Agrobiology, Agronomist, Agroforestry, Food and Agriculture Organization, Agricultural organization, Fungiculture, Fodder, Fish emulsion, more... 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