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| Farming in Ancient
Egypt. |
Agriculture
Agriculture is growing crops or keeping animals by people
for food and raw materials. Farming is a part of
agriculture.
History
Agriculture started thousands of years ago, but no one
knows for sure how old it is. The development of farming
gave rise to the Neolithic Revolution whereby people
gave up nomadic hunting and settled in what became
cities.
Agriculture and domestication probably started in the
Fertile Crescent (the Nile Valley, The Levant and
Mesopotamia). The area called Fertile Crescent is now in
the countries of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon,
Israel, and Egypt. Wheat and barley are some of the
first crops people grew. People probably started
agriculture slowly by planting a few crops, but still
gathered many foods from the wild. People may have
started farming because the weather and soil began to
change. Farming can feed many more people than
hunter-gatherers can feed on the same amount of land. |
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Kinds of farming
Agriculture is not only growing food for people and
animals, but also growing other things like flowers and
nursery plants, manure or dung, animal hides (skins or
furs), leather, animals, fungi, fibers (cotton, wool,
hemp, and flax), biofuels , and drugs
(biopharmaceuticals).
Many people still live by subsistence agriculture, on a
small farm. They can only grow enough food to feed the
farmer, his family, and his animals. Extra food or
animals are sold for money or other things the farmer
cannot grow. The yield is the amount of food grown on a
given amount of land, and it is often low. This is
because subsistence farmers are generally less educated,
and they have less money to buy equipment. Drought and
other problems sometimes cause famines. Where yields are
low, forests are sometimes cut to provide new land to
grow more food. This is good in the short term, but can
be bad for the country and the surrounding environment
over many years.
In rich countries, farms are often much larger. The
amount produced on farms has got bigger in the last one
hundred years because farmers are able to grow better
varieties of plants, use more fertilizer, use more
water, and more easily control weeds and pests. Many
farms also use machines, which cut down on the number of
people needed to farm the land. There are fewer farmers
in rich countries, but the farmers are able to grow
more.
This kind of intensive agriculture comes with its own
set of problems. Farmers use a lot of chemical
fertilizers, pesticides (chemicals that kill bugs), and
herbicides (chemicals that kill weeds). These chemicals
can pollute the soil or the water. They can also create
bugs and weeds that are more resistant to the chemicals,
causing outbreaks of these pests. The soil can be
damaged by erosion (blowing or washing away), salt
buildup, or loss of structure. Irrigation (adding water
from rivers) can pollute water and lower the water
table. These problems have all got solutions, and modern
young farmers usually have a good technical education.
Agriculture techniques |
- Fertilizers
- Crop rotation
- Weed removal
- Breeding
- Ranching
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Farmers select plants with better yield, taste, and
nutritional value. They also choose plants that can survive
plant disease and drought, and are easier to harvest.
Centuries of artificial selection and breeding have had
enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. The
crops produce better yield with other techniques (use of
fertilizers, chemical pest control, irrigation).
Some companies have been searching for new plants in poor
countries, and genetically modify these plants to improve
them. They then try to patent the seeds and sell them back
to the poor countries.
New plants were created with genetic engineering. One
example of genetic engineering is modifying a plant to
resist a herbicide. |
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Food
It is important for there to be enough food for
everyone. The food must also be safe and good. People
say it is not always safe, because it contains some
chemicals. Other people say intensive agriculture is
damaging the environment. For this reason, there are
several types of agriculture. |
- Traditional agriculture is mostly
done in poor countries.
- Intensive agriculture is mostly done
in countries with more money. It uses pesticides,
machinery, chemical fertilizers.
- Organic farming is using only
natural products such as compost and green manure.
- Integrated farming is using local
resources, and trying to use the waste from one process
as a resource in another process.
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Agricultural policy focuses on the goals and methods of
agricultural production. At the policy level, common goals
of agriculture include: |
- Food safety: to be sure that the
food supply is safe.
- Food security: to be sure there is
enough food for everyone.
- Food quality: to be sure the food is
of good quality.
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Problems in agriculture
There are some serious problems that people face trying to
grow food today. These include: |
- Erosion
- Diseases
- Pests
- Weeds
- Drought
- Rainfall
- Crops
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Crops
The major crops produced in the world in 2002, are maize
(corn), wheat, rice, and cotton. |
- Maize 624 millions of metric
tons
- Wheat 570 millions of metric
tons
- Rice 381.1 millions of metric
tons
- Cotton 96.5 millions of metric
tons
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 Kiddle: Agriculture
Wikipedia: Agriculture |
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