
[[Image:Farming-on-Indonesia.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia]] Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of agriculture is also known as farming, while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economics than in any other, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's gross domestic product. == Overview == [[Image:Agriculture---Rice.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Tea plantation in Java (island), Indonesia]] Agriculture can refer to subsistence farming, the production of enough food to meet just the needs of the farmer/agriculturalist and his/her family. It may also refer to industrial agriculture, (often refered to as factory farming) long prevalent in "developed" nations and increasingly so elsewhere, which consists of obtaining financial income from the cultivation of land to yield produce, the commercial raising of animals (animal husbandry), or both. Agriculture is also short for the ''study'' of the practice of agriculture—more formally known as agricultural science. Increasingly, in addition to food for humans and fodder, agriculture produces goods such as cut flowers, ornamental and Nursery (horticulture) plants, timber or lumber, fertilizers, animal hides, leather, industrial chemicals (starch, sugar, ethanol, alcohols and plastics), fibers (cotton, wool, hemp, and flax), fuels (methane from biomass, biodiesel) and both legal and illegal drugs (biopharmaceuticals, tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine). GMO plants and animals produce specialty drugs. In the Western world, the use of genetic modification, better management of soil nutrients, and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At the same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labor requirements. The developing world generally produce lower yields, having less of the latest science, capital (economics), and technology base. Modern agriculture depends heavily on engineering and technology and on the biological and physical sciences. Irrigation, drainage, conservation and sanitary engineering, each of which is important in successful farming, are some of the fields requiring the specialized knowledge of agricultural engineers. Agricultural chemistry deals with other vital farming concerns, such as the application of fertilizer, insecticides (see Pest control), and fungicides, soil makeup, analysis of agricultural products, and nutritional needs of farm animals. Plant breeding and genetics contribute immeasurably to farm productivity. Genetics has also made a science of livestock breeding. Hydroponics, a method of soilless gardening in which plants are grown in chemical nutrient solutions, may help meet the need for greater food production as the world's population increases. The packing, processing, and marketing of agricultural products are closely related activities also influenced by science. Methods of quick-freezing and dehydration have increased the markets for farm products (see Food preservation; Meat packing industry). Mechanization, the outstanding characteristic of late 19th- and 20th-century agriculture, has eased much of the backbreaking toil of the farmer. More significantly, mechanization has enormously increased farm efficiency and productivity (see Agricultural machinery). Animals, including horses, mules, oxen, camels, llamas, alpacas, and dogs; however, are still used to cultivate fields, harvest crops and transport farm products to markets in many parts of the world. Airplanes, helicopters, trucks and tractors are used in agriculture for seeding, spraying operations for insect and disease control, transporting perishable products, and fighting forest fires. Radio and television disseminate vital weather reports and other information such as market reports that concern farmers. Computers have become an essential tool for farm management. [[Image:Agriculture (Plowing) CNE-v1-p58-H.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A tractor ploughing an alfalfa field]] According to the National Academy of Engineering in the US, agricultural mechanization is one of the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century. In the early 1900s, it took one American farmer to produce food for 2.5 people, where today, due to engineering technology (also, plant breeding and agrichemicals), a single farmer can feed over 130 people [http://www.greatachievements.org/greatachievements/ga_7_2.html]. This comes at a cost, however, of large amounts of energy input, from unsustainable, mostly fossil fuel, sources. Animal husbandry means breeding and raising animals for meat or to harvest animal products (like milk, eggs, or wool) on a continual basis. In recent years some aspects of industrial intensive agriculture have been the subject of increasing discussion. The widening sphere of influence held by large seed and chemical companies, meat packers and food processors has been a source of concern both within the farming community and for the general public. There has been increased activity of some people against some farming practices, raising chickens for food being one example. Another issue is the type of feed-stock given to some animals that can cause Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in cattle. The patent protection given to companies that develop new types of seed using genetic engineering has allowed seed to be licensed to farmers in much the same way that computer software is licensed to users. This has changed the balance of power in favor of the seed companies, allowing them to dictate terms and conditions previously unheard of. Some argue these companies are guilty of biopiracy. Soil conservation and nutrient management have been important concerns since the 1950s, with the best farmers taking a stewardship role with the land they operate. However, increasing contamination of waterways and wetlands by nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are of concern in many countries. Increasing consumer awareness of agricultural issues has led to the rise of community-supported agriculture, local food movement, Slow Food, and commercial organic farming, though these yet remain fledgling industries. == History == Paleoethnobotany have traced the selection and cultivation of specific food plant characteristics, such as a semi-tough rachis and larger seeds, to just after the Younger Dryas (about 9,500 BC) in the early Holocene in the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent. Limited anthropology and archaeology evidence both indicate a grain-grinding culture farming along the Nile in the 10th millennium BC using the world's earliest known type of sickle blades. There is even earlier evidence for conscious cultivation and seasonal harvest: grains of rye with domestic traits have been recovered from Epi-Palaeolithic (10,000+ BC) contexts at Abu Hureyra in Syria, but this appears to be a localised phenomenon resulting from cultivation of stands of wild rye, rather than a definitive step towards domestication. It is not until ca. 8,500 BC, in middle-Eastern cultures referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), where there is the first definite evidence for the emergence of a widespread subsistence economy that was dependent on domesticated plants and animals. In these contexts lie the origins of the eight so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture: firstly emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, pea, lentil, bitter vetch, chick pea and flax. These eight crops occur more or less simultaneously on Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in this region, although the consensus is that wheat (naturally mutated grass) was the first to be sown and harvested on a significant scale. There are many sites that date to between ca. 8,500 BC and 7,500 BC where the systematic farming of these crops contributed the major part of the inhabitants' diet. From the Fertile Crescent agriculture spread eastwards to Central Asia and westwards into Cyprus, Anatolia and, by 7,000 BC, Greece. Farming, principally of emmer and einkorn, reached northwestern Europe via southeastern and central Europe by ca. 4,800 BC (see, among others, Price, D. [ed.] 2000. ''Europe's First Farmers''. Cambrige Universty Press; Harris, D. [ed.] 1996 ''The Origins and Spread of Agriculture in Eurasia''. UCL Press). The reasons for the earliest introduction of farming may have included climate change, but possibly there were also social reasons (e.g. accumulation of food surplus for competitive gift-giving). Most certainly there was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy period when some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were gathered from the wild. Although localised climate change is the favoured explanation for the origins of agriculture in the Levant, the fact that farming was 'invented' at least three times, possibly more, suggests that social reasons may have been instrumental. In addition to emergence of farming in the Fertile Crescent, agriculture appeared by at least 6,800 BC in East Asia (rice) and, later, in Mesoamerica and South America (maize, squash (fruit)). Small scale agriculture also likely arose independently in early Neolithic contexts in India (rice) and Southeast Asia (taro). Full dependency on domestic crops and animals (i.e. when wild resources contributed a nutritionally insignificant component to the diet) was not until the Bronze Age. If the operative definition of ''agriculture'' includes large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organised irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, the title "inventors of agriculture" would fall to the Sumerians, starting ca. 5,500 BC. Intensive farming allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting and gathering and allows for the accumulation of excess product to keep for winter use or to sell for profit. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities have nothing to do with material production was the crucial factor in the rise of standing armies. The agriculturalism of the Sumerians allowed them to embark on an unprecedented territorial expansion, making them the first empire builders. Not long after, the Egyptians, powered by effective farming of the Nile, achieved a population density from which enough warriors could be drawn for a territorial expansion more than tripling the Sumerian empire in area. The invention of a three field system of crop rotation during in the Middle Ages vastly improved agricultural efficiency. After 1492 the world's agricultural patterns were shuffled in the widespread exchange of plants and animals known as the Columbian Exchange. Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were now transplanted to the New and vice versa. Perhaps most notably, the tomato became a favorite in European cuisine, while certain wheat strains quickly took to western hemisphere soils and became a dietary staple even for native North, Central and South Americans. By the early 1800s agricultural practices, particularly careful selection of hardy strains and cultivars, had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages and before, especially in the largely virgin lands of North and South America. With the rapid rise of mechanised agriculture in the 20th century, especially in the form of the tractor, the demanding tasks of sowing, harvesting and threshing could be performed with a speed and on a scale barely imaginable before. These advances have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern farms in the United States, Argentina, Israel, Germany and a few other nations to output volumes of high quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit. == Crops == ===World production of major crops in 2004=== In millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimates[http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Crops.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=EN]: :Maize 705 :Wheat 624 :Rice 608 :Soybeans 206 However, grazing grass and animal feed-crop production must exceed the total of these crops. === Crop improvement === *''See main article on'' Plant breeding Domestication of plants is done in order to increase yield, improve disease resistance and drought tolerance, ease harvest and to improve the taste and nutritional value and many other characteristics. Centuries of careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant breeders use greenhouses and other techniques to get as many as three generations of plants per year so that they can make improvements all the more quickly. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and '30s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive radiation mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn and barley. For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the USA have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001, primarily due to improvements in genetics. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Higher yields are due to improvements in genetics, as well as use of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, growth control to avoid lodging). [Conversion note: 1 bushel of wheat = 60 pounds (lb) ≈ 27.215 kg. 1 bushel of corn = 56 pounds ≈ 25.401 kg] Very recently, genetic engineering has begun to be employed in some parts of the world to speed up the selection and breeding process. The most widely used modification is a herbicide resistance gene that allows plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate, which is used to control weeds in the crop. A less frequently used but more controversial modification causes the plant to produce a toxin to reduce damage from insects (c.f. Starlink). There are specialty producers who raise less common types of livestock or plants. Aquaculture, the farming of fish, shrimp, and algae, is closely associated with agriculture. Beekeeping, the culture of bees, traditionally for honey—increasingly for crop pollination. ''See also'' : botany, List of domesticated plants, List of vegetables, List of herbs, List of fruit == Environmental problems == * Nitrogen and phosphorus surplus in rivers and lakes. * Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other biocides. * Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into arable land. * Consolidation of diverse biomass into a few species. * Erosion * Particulate matter, including ammonia and ammonium off-gasing from animal waste contributing to air pollution * Weeds - feral plants and animals * Odour from agricultural waste == Policy == Agricultural policy focuses on the goals and methods of agricultural production. At the policy level, common goals of agriculture include: *Foodborne illness: Ensuring that the food supply is free of contamination. *Food security: Ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs. *Food quality: Ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality. * Conservation * Environmental impact * Economic stability == Methods == *aeroponics *agricultural machinery *animal husbandry *aquaculture *beekeeping *crop rotation *Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, ''factory farming'') *composting *dairy farming *detasseling *domestication *agricultural fencing *fertilizers *greenhouse *harvest *hybrid seed *hydroponics *Integrated Pest Management (Integrated Pest Management) *irrigation *livestock *market gardening *monoculture *no-till farming *organic farming *plant breeding *pollination management *precision farming *ranching *season extension *seed saving *shepherding *subsistence farming *succession planting *sustainable agriculture *vegetable farming *tillage *weed control ==References== *Wells, Spencer: ''The Journey of Man : A Genetic Odyssey''. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 069111532X *Crosby, Alfred W.: ''The Columbian Exchange : Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492''. Praeger Publishers, 2003 (30th Anniversary Edition). ISBN: 0275980731 *Collinson, M. (editor): ''A History of Farming Systems Research''. CABI Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 0851994059 ==See also== * Agricultural and Food Research Council, UK * Agricultural fair * Agricultural science * Agricultural sciences basic topics * Arid-zone agriculture * Community-supported agriculture * International agricultural research * Farm equipment * List of domesticated animals * List of subsistence techniques * List of sustainable agriculture topics * Timeline of agriculture and food technology. * USA agriculture ==External links== * Agriculture Of Pakistan All Agricultural Information : [http://www.nationalpak.com http://www.nationalpak.com] * FAO of the United Nations World Agricultural Information Centre : [http://www.fao.org http://www.fao.org] * [http://www.fao.org/waicent/portal/statistics_en.asp FAO of The UN Statistical Databases] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service: [http://www.fas.usda.gov/currwmt.html Current World Production, Market and Trade Reports] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service: [http://www.ers.usda.gov/ USDA's main source of economic information and research] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service: [http://www.ars.usda.gov/ USDA's In-house Research Arm] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library: [http://www.nal.usda.gov/ Portal to USDA's National Agricultural Library] * [http://www.nationalacademies.org/agriculture/ Agriculture] at the United States National Academies * * [http://imperium.lenin.ru/~kaledin/tmp/agricltr.txt ''Agriculture: Demon Engine of Civilization''] by John Zerzan Agriculture fa:کشاورزی iu:ᐱᕈᕐᓰᓂᖅ ᓂᐅᕐᕈᑎᒃᓴᓕᐊᕆᓪᓗᒋᑦ la:Agricultura nah:Millacayotl nds:Landwertschap simple:Agriculture su:Agrikultur ta:விவசாயம்
==Agriculture v Farming and other articles== This page and that of :Agriculture should be coordinated. As to how, i have no idea: The finer points of the English language escape me here :-) Perhaps a merge and a redirect? --Anders T?rlind ---- I think they should be merged. :Agriculture says: "Kinds of agriculture include farming, which is raising crops for harvest, and [animal husbandry]?." :Farming says: "Farming is the process of producing food by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals. See also agriculture." Really I think the two are more or less synonymous. :Animal husbandry and raising crops are part of both. -- hagedis ---- Both the Unesco Thesaurus and Library of Congress subject headings have "Farming: use Agriculture". I think agriculture is the best term for both the economic sector (usually taken to include animal husbandry), and the practice of producing crops (though here, we often differentiate between "agricultural" and "pastoral" populations and activities, so livestock may sometimes be excluded). The article(s) could refer to such nuances, with links or redirects from/to "Animal husbandry", "Livestock production" or whatever is preferred. Farming to me suggests a particular form of organisation, usually involving commercial production by a private operator engaged directly on the holding, hence distinct from estate, plantation or communal cultivation (the word itself originates around the 12th century with the leasing of western European estate lands, as in "to farm out" an enterprise). User:David Parker :The current articles were basically discussing the same thing, so I've combined them into Agriculture, with Farming a redirect. If there are any subtle separate meanings they can be fixed up later. ------- It would be wonderful to see agriculture, agricultural policy, futures contract, commodity markets and tax, tariff and trade all rationally related in some way, so that one could figure out in the first paragraph or so what one should be reading. At present futures contract seems to be the trader's view, agriculture the statistician's view, commodity markets the economist's view, tax, tariff and trade the policy-maker's view, and agricultural policy the politician's view! This is all very interesting but maybe it should be easier for such as me, who understand only gardening and Slow Food, to see how these large scale things relate to my small scale life. User:EntmootsOfTrolls :Agreed. todo ==Corn v Maize== Concerning the word "corn" - Maize is called corn in the U.S., but I thought that "corn" in the U.K. means grains in general, primarily, but not only, wheat. Somebody who speaks the Queen's English please verify! :-) -- User:Marj Tiefert 13:45 Sep 3, 2002 (PDT) I fear you will probably not consider my input acceptable, but when I talk to british people, the word "corn" refers "only" to grain. However, it is about two different types of crops : wheat and oats. Of course oats is not much used anymore. user:anthere There's a nice story my father in law told me about Corn and Paris liberation by americans. People in Paris were rather hungry. They needed bread badly. At that time, our bread was made from wheat, sometimes from rye. When american people came to Paris, they asked how they could help us in terms of food. Some administrative employee said we needed corn to make bread (we still learn british english...)...We ended up with loads of maize, that basically nobody knew how to cook. ==Crop production data== World production * Rice 381.1 million tons, trade 26.3 million tons * Maize 624 million tons, trade 75.4 million tons * Wheat 570 million tons, trade 97.8 million tons * Cotton 96.5 million tons, trade 31 million tons hold on ! Year reference is required for such information. Where does that come from ? In particular, rice production numbers are somehow wrong if what "production" is is not described. User:Anthere :Data is from the US government website http://www.fas.usda.gov/currwmt.html, listed at bottom of article. I checked some of the figures from the included Excel tables, but I must admit rice looked low to me too. It's probably commercial production, since otherwise rice grown in India and China would surely make it top crop. I don't really know much about this topic, but I said to User:Kat that I would put in some world figures, having moved her US data to a subsiduary article. ::I second you in the idea of creating an agriculture in the United States of America as I suggested to her (I decided to call people "her" as long as I don't know about their gender:-)) on her talk page. This article should stay as general as possible. ::About the year reference. It is very important to put it in the article, not to expect readers to go at the external links to try to find that very precious information. Production rates and trade rates change a lot over time. And these figures (probably years 2000 or 2001 or 2002) will mean very little in 2010 perhaps. If year is added, editors will feel like keeping up to date also. But as such, it is not good. Please add the year. ::As for gross figures, it should be mentionned what are defined exactly in the count. Rice as given here is giving (er, I am not sure it is the right way to say it) is milling rice. ::Here are what I find are the most important points ::the three most important cereals crops are wheat, corn and rice. All three are produced in rather equivalent tonnage. Wheat and corn around 600 millions tons, rice slightly below, around 550 millions tons in years 1998-2002. Until a couple of years ago, wheat was over corn. Wheat is predominant in europe, canada, russia, northern china, corn in americas and rice in south asia. Very roughly. But the volumes of the three cereal are quite similar. ::However, the amount of rice is often underestimated because some give the milled rice production (rather than the paddy production) - in particular developped countries. The milled rice is about 60-70 % of total rice. Now, if we consider the goal of agriculture is first to feed the world, and for readers to understand which are the major cereals feeding the world, the paddy rice production must be given, or both amounts must be given :third important point. Corn and wheat are both delocated crops, with huge amounts being traded. There are a small bunch of countries producing most of these two cereals, and trading it to other countries. Rice situation is quite different, most production is directly consummed. User:anthere. :Probably better as a table anyway, but I'm one of the few HTML illerates, Apologies. User:Jimfbleak 12:53 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::No pb, my browser is allergic to table. It breaks the < and > ant ---- I believe the data is plausable, and of course the U.S. government is an unimpeachable source on any topic :-) >not<. :plausable yes. Just as I could say the population in the US is 1 millions people :-) It was plausable one day, but which year was it :-)))) :I would recommand also using FAO data. There are presented in more international recommandations. Most of the worldwide production of corn is fed to animals. :yup Most of the U.S. production of rice is made into tasteless beer. :buy belgium beer made with honest barley :-) The rest of the world eats rice and makes beer out of barley. :that's the best way. In "Diet for a small planet," that onetime manifesto for the vegetarian movement, it is asserted that feeding grain to meat animals is an inefficient way to utilize the grain, compared to feeding grain to people. This is true, in that several pounds of corn (maize) must be fed to a steer for one pound of gain. The ratios are better for poultry and hogs but the principle is the same. The point being, a great deal of corn is grown and fed to livestock, and it is quite plausable that the corn consumption exceeds rice consumption for this reason. :also true. The answer is precisely that the data given above is the milling rice, not the paddy rice. Also, corn yields more tonnage per acre than rice, even in the U.S., and U.S. yields of everything are higher than yields in China. :uh ? The average yield for wheat in the world is 25 qx/ha. My country average is nearly 90 qx/ha. And some farmers in the north are over 110 qx/ha...monoculture or rotation with potatoes. And, all kidding aside, I tend to believe that the USDA production estimates are accurate. They are publicly vetted in the trading pits (c.f. futures_contract), and the traders raise the hue and cry if they are off by more than a percentage point (sometimes less). :yes; but not all what is produced is traded Reviewing the information accompanying the data on the USDA web site, I believe that they do intend for the figures to include the small, family production of rice (and other grains for that matter) typical of subsistence farms. If you look at the USDA data by country, you see that China is a major producer and the numbers seem to make sense. : on the spot info on rice is 592,8 millions tonnes in 2001 (397.2 milled) and 568,5 millions tons in 1996 (381.1 milled) :I think the figures would belong to a nice article on cereal. Ant If there are no objections, I'll move the production figures back to the Agriculture page later today. User:Kat 15:40 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) :I have an objection. No time to explain right now. Give me an overnight to be back. Please. User:Anthere ::Take your time. By the way, does someone have some better worldwide statistics to work from? I suppose I started this whole mess by adding the U.S. ones originally, which I did mainly by way of demonstrating the relative importance of the different grain crops; particularly, the role of corn, soybeans, and hay as the major crops. I know that's not true worldwide (because of rice), but we should be able to tell some sort of similar story so that the reader understands which crops are the major ones. ::I would like to be the first to point out that my understanding of agriculture is pretty much limited to North America. :::It is interesting to put all the major crops. But shortly, and with links to richer articles on cereals, oil crop and prot crop (I sure don't know how you call them :-)) ant ::User:Kat 18:31 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) -------- :I originally moved most of the US stuff from agriculture to make it more global, but I left the history bit in because it seemed that the development of farming in N. Am was of global importance. As I said, I've no expertise in this area, but I think it's an arguable case. User:Jimfbleak 06:11 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) Yes. I think it is arguable :-). I think similarly, the development of farming in Europe is of global importance (I presume the "global" mostly refer to trade issues, as well as food security and food safety). Australia and Russia are also having global importance in terms of trade. My country is also producing about half of european food :-) Let's see...then we need to define what is important in ag history, in the scope of understanding where it stands now. First the beginning of ag, as it is a major set point in devpt of human civilization. Perhaps, the different major crops being used in the past, where do they come from (eg, corn from mexican area, wheat in fertile crescent...). The first tools and progress (sickle ?). Development of new techniques (rotation, breeding), related to each civilization (perhaps the wheel). Then, how ag progress could support growing population. Local trade first, followed by worldwide trade, due to transport progress. Modern progress. This is roughly underlined, but should be more detailed. Along those lines, current soyabean american production is important, as it gives a handle to the USA to impose GM stuff over the world, and it imposes trading rules and commercial pressure. Soya trade is definitly of global importance. But ''In the United States, farms spread from the colonies westward along with the settlers. In cooler regions, wheat was the crop of choice when lands were newly settled, leading to a "wheat frontier" that moved westward over the course of years. After the "wheat frontier" had passed through an area, more diversified farms including dairy cattle generally took its place. Warmer regions saw plantings of cotton and herds of beef cattle.'' is globally of no interest. User:anthere ---- In the interest of moving beyond the statistics issue, I have restored the world production figures with a note on the difference between reporting methods for rice. Anthere, to your point, the food value of a ton of grain varies widely depending on the commodity. I do not have the caloric content figures in front of me, but I believe that #2 yellow corn has somewhat higher caloric content than milled rice because of its greater fat content. Soybeans are higher still. :caloric content is not the only way to figure the quality of food. It is interesting to distinguish products either for the glucidic input (mostly cereals), oil content (such as soya, rape, sunflower) and protein content (soya, lentils, peas). If one only value the product by its caloric content, one is heading for trouble in the setting of a diet :-) Yes, soybeans are amazing food, but mostly because of their richness both in oil and protein. :but what is the point in relation with the statistics ? You can pick apart the figures and so on in many ways but the point is that the milled rice figures are probably more directly comparable to corn and wheat than the paddy rice. :perhaps so. But not mentionning the difference result in a rather inaccurate information. If mentionned, this is fine. By the way, I believe that the USDA estimates for rice are estimates of the total production, not the output of the milling operations. I believe they apply a standard multiplier to the paddy rice that is not commercially milled to arrive at the figure. :I don't think so. Otherwise, their information is just not coherent with the FAO. And not coherent with several other countries data. They may apply a multiplier of some sort, but the final data is not fitting with the info I have for total production. Would you have any other sources of data than the USDA perhaps ? Or is there a place somewhere the USDA state precisely which definition they are giving for rice ? User:anthere User:Kat 17:53 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) on the spot ref http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/7538-en.html ---- How is it not coherent? The FAO and USDA values are within 1% for 2001, which is the link you supplied. I didn't search for 2002 values at FAO; apparently world production dropped considerably. The 2002 value is the one used in our page. User:Kat 18:52 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) :yes. That is what I meant. The FAO data given for milled rice is nearly identical with the one given by the USDA. Hence, the number given by the USDA really is the milled data. With 'no multiplier'. 2002 data on the page is perfectly accurate. It appears USA is giving only milled data; In my country, we give paddy data mostly. Hence, the necessity to be clear about what is described. That's all. Lucky enough we are all using tons :-) ant I added metric equivalents for the bushels/acre figures, but gave up on the q/ha figures. Firstly, I didn't know if they were US quintals (100 lb) or "metric quintals" (100 kg), and secondly I was confused by the words "q/ha (or t/ha)". Was the writer unsure about which units these figures are measured in? -- User:Heron Oh Jesus ! Misnumbering. Of course ! 10 qx/ha is 1 T/ha. Big mistake :-(. Okay, I am sure of my values in qx/ha, but the ones in T/ha have to be divided by 10. A q is a quintal (=100 kg) while a T is a ton (=1000 kg). Ha is hectares (that is 100m on 100 m). When I work with british people, we use q/ha. But I know they also use T/ha. So I dunno which one would be best. Please someone decide what is best. In all cases, bushels per acres is undecipherable for me :-) User:anthere Sadly, most North American readers know nothing else. The conversion varies by crop. I believe a standard bushel of #2 corn or soybeans is 54 pounds, while with oats it's 32 pounds. User:Kat 14:59 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) :You are confusing two different things. Yes, as a quality factor, you may need a minimum "test weight" (bulk density) for a particular sample of at least 54 lb/bu to get a Number 2 grade. However, whether you have #2 corn, or #1 corn with a test weight of 58 lb/bu, or some much lower grade and much lower "test weight", a bushel of corn in the marketplace is always 56 lb. Those are the units used on the commodities market, or at the local grain elevator. Those bushels are not units of volume; they are units of mass, the size of which depends on the commodity being measured. OTOH, in those test weights discussed earlier in units of lb/bu, those bushels in the denominator do, of course, remain the units of volume. :BTW, for most commodities, the mass bushels are the same in Canada as they are in the United States, even though the volume bushels are 3.2% larger in Canada. Oats is the only exception I know of, with the bushels being 32 lb in the U.S. and 34 lb in Canada. In either place, however, to have good, highest grade oats you need a test weight of at least 38 lb/bu. So let's suppose I have 20672 lb of oats, with a test weight of 38 lb/bu (that's the U.S. or Winchester bushel in the denominator, even in Canada). We'll assume that they are perfectly clean, so we don't need to worry about dockage or any other deductions. That means that these oats occupy a volume of 20672/38 = 544 U.S. volume bushels, which is about 527 imperial volume bushels. But when I sell this in the United States, what I'd get paid for is 20672/32 = 646 bushels. But if I sold it in Canada, I'd get paid for 20672/34 = 608 bushels. Does all of this make any sense to you? (The price paid per bushel, of course, also varies with a number of different grading factors, so I wouldn't get paid as much for the same number of bushels of #2 corn and #1 corn.) User:Gene Nygaard 02:01, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC) Yup. American compute by volumes, and most others by weight. It is even worse than conversion by crop. I understood you used a quite small number of varieties for crops such as wheat. Around 200 varieties are available in France for cropping. The 1000 kernels weight varying from simple to double. Since we compute by weight, there is no pb for us, but when we translate in bushels, we have to know the volume/weight ratio for each variety. I have some doubts that the average yield for corn is up from 40 bu/acres (25 qx/ha) to 150 bu/acres (94 qx/ha). Unless this value is for the US of course. This value is quite similar to our own yields. However, there are numerous countries where it must be very much lower. Is this value worldwide or US only ? anthere :In the US, though the term bushel is used, the unit of trade is weight not volume, with various discounts and adjustments for test weight. So although bushel is traditionally a volumetric measure, when corn is sold, they weigh it and divide by 54 pounds (I believe) to arrive at bushels. Then they measure the density of the corn, which is quoted as test weight. Test weight is the weight of a bushel (by volume), with higher figures indicating higher quality. Sound confusing? It is. Different weights are used for various grains, with 32 used for oats. ::Oh my! :The yield comparison is a US value from a US-based conversation that I authored. User:Kat 20:42 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::Oki. I updated this. ant Thanks for all these responses to my question. I have since discovered that there are lots of varieties of quintal, so I created an article on the subject. By the way, there is an error in what I wrote five paragraphs above. In a surprising reversal of the usual metric/nonmetric preferences, the US quintal is metric while the European quintals (several types) are nonmetric. -- User:Heron :Heron. I am not living in the past. I am alive *now*. And have already been living for a while :-) And I *assure* you that 1 quintal is definitly a 100 kg, and has been such for quite a long time. France has been using metrics for quite a while, and I am quite abashed when you say we are using non metric while US is using metrics. Please ! Anyway, I know nothing else than metrics, the EU agricultural legislation is in metrics. So everything I write on the topic is in metrics. Now, some old people still refer to "livres" (the livre is something slightly under 0.5 kg) sometimes when talking of their beef steak. This is quite unusual though. Not standard at all.User:anthere ::Point taken, Anthere. My information on the French quintal was out of date. -- User:Heron :::WikiKiss then Heron. Ant :: Of course, thus the infamous ''Pulp Fiction'' "Royale with cheese" discussion. ;) -- User:JohnOwens 11:30 17 Jun 2003 (UTC) Re: bushels. I added two types of bushel (wheat and maize) to the U.S. customary units page under a new heading, "Grain Measures". If people know more varieties, perhaps they would consider adding them to this page. If there are European types as well, they should probably go on the Imperial units page. -- User:Heron ---- I have removed an item about wood being a product of agriculture that was added by an unregistered user. While there is not complete unanimity, there would appear to be a consensus that timber and pulpwood production, while closely related to agriculture, are not a part of it. A similar situation prevails with the cultivation of fish, and with the production of ornamental plants, and with the breeding of companion animals such as dogs and cats. User:Kat 19:10 28 Jul 2003 (UTC) ==Commercial link attempts== An anonymous user has tried several times to add a commercial site with links to seed starting information. The sites linked are informational, and would be no problem in themselves, but the anonymous user is obviously using the page as attempted spam. I have therefore removed the link. User:Pollinator 08:58, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC) ==User 69.4.139.161 POV edit== I suggested that this user run some of his/her edits here first to gain some consensus. I have reverted his/her POV for the time being. User:Pollinator 01:35, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC) ---- I consider the last edits made today as somehow pov. I would like some opinion of other participants. User:Anthere 08:20, 15 May 2004 (UTC) :I just read them and I can see what you mean. However, they are overall good additions to the article and shouldn't be reverted. I think changing a few key words would restore the NPOV. User:Ike9898 01:08, May 17, 2004 (UTC) ::They certainly should not be removed ! They are good, but, not very neutral. I agree that just changing a couple of things or words could help restore balance; I am no good at rephrasing other people words in a nice english fashion. I would appreciate that someone does so for these paragraphs in the future. User:Anthere ==History== Sumerians as inventors of Agriculture: much too late --User:Yak 12:42, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC) :Disagree. Much depends on the definition of "Agriculture". If very small scale and sporadic plantings/harvestings are accepted, it is almost certain some pre-Sumer cultures were doing this. If one insists on a sustained, systematic activity with fully conscious selection of plant traits, the Sumerians would be "first". User:JDG 05:42, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) ::ok, you can make a distinction agriculture/horticulture. But if people subsist on crops and domestic animals, this is scarcely "small scale and sporadic". And this is the case sinsce the pottery neolithic at least, if not the PPNB, speaking of Western Asia only, which puts us in the 8th/7th Millenium. How do you define/detect a "fully conscious selection of plant traits" by the way? --User:Yak 07:36, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) JDGs comments aren't quite right. Sumerian agriculture differences mainly in terms of scale rather than in form. Neolithic agriculture was sustained and systematic, with conscious selection of plant traits (Neolithic peoples were not any less clever/attuned to plant behaviour than the Sumerians). Neolithic people survived in the Near East and Europe for some 3,000 years on their agricultural technologies (which included ploughing). For more info see: Boggard, A. 2004. Neolithic Farming in Central Europe. London: Routledge and/or Colledge, S. et al. 2004. Archaeobotanical evidence for the spread of farming in the Eastern Mediterranean. Current Anthropology S35. - Rattus 22:59, 3 Jan 05 == Suggest 12 possible wiki links and 14 possible backlinks for Agriculture. == An User:Nickj/Link_Suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Agriculture article: * Can link Western world:...ered]] plants and animals produce specialty drugs. In the Western world, use of genetics, better management of soil nutrients a... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link developing world: ...g most of the populace from intense agricultural labor. The Third world is behind by Western measures of productivity because of un... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link physical sciences: ...ily on engineering and technology and on the biological and Physical science. Irrigation, drainage, conservation and sanitar... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link forest fires: ...ase control, transporting perishable products, and fighting Wildfire. Radio and television disseminate vital weather reports and... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link computer software: ...ed seed to be licensed to farmers in much the same way that Computer software is licensed to users. This has changed the balance of powe... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link balance of power: ...mputer software is licensed to users. This has changed the Balance of power in favor of the seed companies, allowing them to dictate te... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link nutrient management: ...are guilty of biopiracy. Soil conservation and Nutrient management have been important concerns since the 1950s, with the ... (Agriculture#Overview)
* Can link East Asia: ...atufian culture]] others say by the Sumerians), once in East Asia (rice) and once in Mesoamerica (maize, ... (Agriculture#History)
* Can link Old World: .... Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were now transplanted in the New and vice versa.... (Agriculture#History)
* Can link New Zealand: ...1920s and '30s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive radiation mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive ge... (Agriculture#Crop improvement)
* Can link intensive farming: ...elds are due to improvements in genetics, as well as use of Intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, ... (Agriculture#Crop improvement)
* Can link arable land: ...s. * Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into Arable land.... (Agriculture#Environmental problems)
Additionally, there are some other articles which may be able to linked to this one (also known as "backlinks"):
* In Irish potato famine#The potato in Ireland, can backlink food crop: ...ion unnecessary. The potato had become Ireland's major Agriculture after being introduced sometime around 1650, though its...
* In Economy of Togo#Agriculture, can backlink food crop: ...oundnut]]. Small and medium-sized farms produce most of the Agriculture; the average farm size is one to three hectares....
* In William Bligh, can backlink food crop: ... for experiments to see if breadfruit would be a successful Agriculture there. The Bounty never reached the Caribbean, as mutiny b...
* In 3rd century#Events, can backlink food crop: ...|Buddhist]] arts in India * Diffusion of maize as a Agriculture from Mexico into North America begins...
* In Pigeon pea#Uses, can backlink food crop: ...the Old and the New World. == Uses == Pigeon peas are both Agriculture (dried peas, flour, or green vegetable peas) and forage/cov...
* In Solanum, can backlink Food crop: ... the common foods tomato, potato and eggplant. Agriculture species:...
* In Monkey-puzzle, can backlink food crop: ...ely harvested in Chile. The tree has some potential to be a Agriculture in other areas in the future, thriving in climates with coo...
* In Genetically modified food#History, can backlink food crop: ...History== The first commercially grown genetically modified Agriculture was a tomato created by Calgene called the [[FlavrS...
* In Uganda before 1900#Early political systems, can backlink food crop: ...arly after the introduction of the plantain, as a basic Agriculture around 1000; farther north in the short grass u...
* In Karas, can backlink stock farming: ...anie and Lüderitz. The region is a predominantly small agriculture area, consisting mostly of animals such as sheep or goats. ...
* In Collard greens, can backlink food crop: ...'Brassica oleracea'' var. ''acephala'', which is grown as a Agriculture and garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal, ...
* In Alcohol fuel#Alternate sources, can backlink food crop: ...usly considered producing ethanol from cassava, a major Agriculture with massive starchy roots. However yields were lower than ...
* In Xanthosoma, can backlink food crop: ... (''Xanthosoma saggitifolium'' (L.) Schott) is an important Agriculture in tropical areas, grown for its starchy tubers, ea...
* In Sadza, can backlink food crop: ... Shona. Despite the fact that maize is actually an imported Agriculture to Zimbabwe (circa 1890), it has become the chief source of...
''Notes'': The article text has not been changed in any way; Some of these suggestions may be wrong, some may be right.
''User talk:LinkBot'': User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Positive Feedback, User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Negative Feedback, User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Don't link to — User:LinkBot 11:28, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) :I see that no one has responded to your comprehensive compilation of links until now. My reaction to the links is that while some are directly related (i.e., Nutrient management, Intensive farming and Arable Land), most are only weakly related. For example to work in the fact that farmers use computers only says that they are no different than anyone else. Unremarkable, IMHO. As Chief Seattle is reported to have said: "All things are connected." The backlinks could be worked in where they highlight important apects of agriculture (if I understand correctly what you are proposing). User:Sunray 17:18, 2005 Jun 17 (UTC) ===most people in the world earn livelihood by farming=== that more than 65% of people farm as their primarily source of income seems unbelievable. what is the source of this info i wonder. i also wonder if the writer of this didn t mean that farming is the most prevalent source of income among forms of economic activity. at any rate i have taken the liberty of changing the statement to a more defendable one than more than 50% of people farm as their main source of money. matthew
Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals. Agriculture is also known as farming. Skills Industries Technology Permaculture Food and drink scn:Category:Agricultura
User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:19, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) :You were listed as creating the article Kim Leung (since deleted), which was patent nonsense. Apologies if this was a software error. Best, User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:22, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) ::Nope, just flagged it with a boilerplate for speedy deletion. User:Agriculture 07:25, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::Oh, I see now. What happened was that I deleted it, while you were editing it to put on the boilerplate--thus, when you hit save, it registered as newly-created and I thought you were the original vandal, having registered an account. Sorry about the confusion, and a belated Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers to Wikipedia! Best wishes, User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:26, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) == Welcome back == Hi Agriculture, welcome back! User:Fawcett5 22:25, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC) :Thanks for the welcome ;) Good to see you again too. I hate business trips. User:Agriculture 01:24, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Rutgers University== Several editors and I agreed to use the University of California styled template on the Rutgers page, because the template was inadequate and poorly constructed. I reverted your addition of the template for that reason. —User:ExplorerCDT 05:07, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC) == UIUC Engineering == Awesome job on the University of Illinois College of Engineering article! --User:G3pro 12:32, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC) :''Thanks for the compliment, still a lot of work to be done soon though. I assume you are affiliated with the College? Agriculture 14:18, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)'' ::I'm actually a student in the school molecular and cellular biology at UIUC. I started the UIUC college of engineering article to clean up some of the details from the main article, but the engineering article hasn't taken off until you came around. :-) Great work. --User:G3pro 16:01, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Agriculture is a Wikipedian with interests involving Chambana, University, Computer Science, and Biology. == Notes == I am currently working on fleshing out and creating new articles refering to Champaign, Illinois, and Urbana, Illinois, my new home. I routinely monitor articles on educational institutions as I have a vested interest in their accuracy. == Some Articles I Have Authored == *Champaign Park District *Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District *The University of Illinois Willard Airport == I Am Completely Rehauling and Redesigning the Following Articles == *Chambana (now moved to Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area *UIUC College of Engineering == Some Articles I am Editing == *Champaign, Illinois *Urbana, Illinois *University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign *National Center for Supercomputing Applications *UIUC College of Engineering
There are too many articles jumbled together in this category; they should be put into sensible subcategories. -- User:Beland 03:33, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Agriculture:
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture,_Nutrition,_and_Forestry_Committee
Agriculture,_United_States_Department_of
Agriculture_and_Agri-Food_Canada
Agriculture_books
Agriculture_companies_of_the_United_States
Agriculture_Department_images
Agriculture_Development_Bank_of_Pakistan_cricketers
Agriculture_Development_Bank_of_Pakistan_cricketers
Agriculture_in_Australia
Agriculture_in_Australia
Agriculture_in_the_United_States
Agriculture_Marketing_Act
Agriculture_Minister_of_Germany
Agriculture_museums
Agriculture_of_Communist_Czechoslovakia
Agriculture_of_Imperial_Russia
Agriculture_of_Imperial_Russia
Agriculture_Of_Pakistan
Agriculture_of_the_Soviet_Union
Agriculture_of_the_Soviet_Union
Agriculture_policy
Agriculture_stubs
Agriculture_subsidy
Agriculture
[[Image:Farming-on-Indonesia.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia]] Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of agriculture is also known as farming, while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economics than in any other, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's gross domestic product. == Overview == [[Image:Agriculture---Rice.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Tea plantation in Java (island), Indonesia]] Agriculture can refer to subsistence farming, the production of enough food to meet just the needs of the farmer/agriculturalist and his/her family. It may also refer to industrial agriculture, (often refered to as factory farming) long prevalent in "developed" nations and increasingly so elsewhere, which consists of obtaining financial income from the cultivation of land to yield produce, the commercial raising of animals (animal husbandry), or both. Agriculture is also short for the ''study'' of the practice of agriculture—more formally known as agricultural science. Increasingly, in addition to food for humans and fodder, agriculture produces goods such as cut flowers, ornamental and Nursery (horticulture) plants, timber or lumber, fertilizers, animal hides, leather, industrial chemicals (starch, sugar, ethanol, alcohols and plastics), fibers (cotton, wool, hemp, and flax), fuels (methane from biomass, biodiesel) and both legal and illegal drugs (biopharmaceuticals, tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine). GMO plants and animals produce specialty drugs. In the Western world, the use of genetic modification, better management of soil nutrients, and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At the same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labor requirements. The developing world generally produce lower yields, having less of the latest science, capital (economics), and technology base. Modern agriculture depends heavily on engineering and technology and on the biological and physical sciences. Irrigation, drainage, conservation and sanitary engineering, each of which is important in successful farming, are some of the fields requiring the specialized knowledge of agricultural engineers. Agricultural chemistry deals with other vital farming concerns, such as the application of fertilizer, insecticides (see Pest control), and fungicides, soil makeup, analysis of agricultural products, and nutritional needs of farm animals. Plant breeding and genetics contribute immeasurably to farm productivity. Genetics has also made a science of livestock breeding. Hydroponics, a method of soilless gardening in which plants are grown in chemical nutrient solutions, may help meet the need for greater food production as the world's population increases. The packing, processing, and marketing of agricultural products are closely related activities also influenced by science. Methods of quick-freezing and dehydration have increased the markets for farm products (see Food preservation; Meat packing industry). Mechanization, the outstanding characteristic of late 19th- and 20th-century agriculture, has eased much of the backbreaking toil of the farmer. More significantly, mechanization has enormously increased farm efficiency and productivity (see Agricultural machinery). Animals, including horses, mules, oxen, camels, llamas, alpacas, and dogs; however, are still used to cultivate fields, harvest crops and transport farm products to markets in many parts of the world. Airplanes, helicopters, trucks and tractors are used in agriculture for seeding, spraying operations for insect and disease control, transporting perishable products, and fighting forest fires. Radio and television disseminate vital weather reports and other information such as market reports that concern farmers. Computers have become an essential tool for farm management. [[Image:Agriculture (Plowing) CNE-v1-p58-H.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A tractor ploughing an alfalfa field]] According to the National Academy of Engineering in the US, agricultural mechanization is one of the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century. In the early 1900s, it took one American farmer to produce food for 2.5 people, where today, due to engineering technology (also, plant breeding and agrichemicals), a single farmer can feed over 130 people [http://www.greatachievements.org/greatachievements/ga_7_2.html]. This comes at a cost, however, of large amounts of energy input, from unsustainable, mostly fossil fuel, sources. Animal husbandry means breeding and raising animals for meat or to harvest animal products (like milk, eggs, or wool) on a continual basis. In recent years some aspects of industrial intensive agriculture have been the subject of increasing discussion. The widening sphere of influence held by large seed and chemical companies, meat packers and food processors has been a source of concern both within the farming community and for the general public. There has been increased activity of some people against some farming practices, raising chickens for food being one example. Another issue is the type of feed-stock given to some animals that can cause Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in cattle. The patent protection given to companies that develop new types of seed using genetic engineering has allowed seed to be licensed to farmers in much the same way that computer software is licensed to users. This has changed the balance of power in favor of the seed companies, allowing them to dictate terms and conditions previously unheard of. Some argue these companies are guilty of biopiracy. Soil conservation and nutrient management have been important concerns since the 1950s, with the best farmers taking a stewardship role with the land they operate. However, increasing contamination of waterways and wetlands by nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are of concern in many countries. Increasing consumer awareness of agricultural issues has led to the rise of community-supported agriculture, local food movement, Slow Food, and commercial organic farming, though these yet remain fledgling industries. == History == Paleoethnobotany have traced the selection and cultivation of specific food plant characteristics, such as a semi-tough rachis and larger seeds, to just after the Younger Dryas (about 9,500 BC) in the early Holocene in the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent. Limited anthropology and archaeology evidence both indicate a grain-grinding culture farming along the Nile in the 10th millennium BC using the world's earliest known type of sickle blades. There is even earlier evidence for conscious cultivation and seasonal harvest: grains of rye with domestic traits have been recovered from Epi-Palaeolithic (10,000+ BC) contexts at Abu Hureyra in Syria, but this appears to be a localised phenomenon resulting from cultivation of stands of wild rye, rather than a definitive step towards domestication. It is not until ca. 8,500 BC, in middle-Eastern cultures referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), where there is the first definite evidence for the emergence of a widespread subsistence economy that was dependent on domesticated plants and animals. In these contexts lie the origins of the eight so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture: firstly emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, pea, lentil, bitter vetch, chick pea and flax. These eight crops occur more or less simultaneously on Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in this region, although the consensus is that wheat (naturally mutated grass) was the first to be sown and harvested on a significant scale. There are many sites that date to between ca. 8,500 BC and 7,500 BC where the systematic farming of these crops contributed the major part of the inhabitants' diet. From the Fertile Crescent agriculture spread eastwards to Central Asia and westwards into Cyprus, Anatolia and, by 7,000 BC, Greece. Farming, principally of emmer and einkorn, reached northwestern Europe via southeastern and central Europe by ca. 4,800 BC (see, among others, Price, D. [ed.] 2000. ''Europe's First Farmers''. Cambrige Universty Press; Harris, D. [ed.] 1996 ''The Origins and Spread of Agriculture in Eurasia''. UCL Press). The reasons for the earliest introduction of farming may have included climate change, but possibly there were also social reasons (e.g. accumulation of food surplus for competitive gift-giving). Most certainly there was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy period when some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were gathered from the wild. Although localised climate change is the favoured explanation for the origins of agriculture in the Levant, the fact that farming was 'invented' at least three times, possibly more, suggests that social reasons may have been instrumental. In addition to emergence of farming in the Fertile Crescent, agriculture appeared by at least 6,800 BC in East Asia (rice) and, later, in Mesoamerica and South America (maize, squash (fruit)). Small scale agriculture also likely arose independently in early Neolithic contexts in India (rice) and Southeast Asia (taro). Full dependency on domestic crops and animals (i.e. when wild resources contributed a nutritionally insignificant component to the diet) was not until the Bronze Age. If the operative definition of ''agriculture'' includes large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organised irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, the title "inventors of agriculture" would fall to the Sumerians, starting ca. 5,500 BC. Intensive farming allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting and gathering and allows for the accumulation of excess product to keep for winter use or to sell for profit. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities have nothing to do with material production was the crucial factor in the rise of standing armies. The agriculturalism of the Sumerians allowed them to embark on an unprecedented territorial expansion, making them the first empire builders. Not long after, the Egyptians, powered by effective farming of the Nile, achieved a population density from which enough warriors could be drawn for a territorial expansion more than tripling the Sumerian empire in area. The invention of a three field system of crop rotation during in the Middle Ages vastly improved agricultural efficiency. After 1492 the world's agricultural patterns were shuffled in the widespread exchange of plants and animals known as the Columbian Exchange. Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were now transplanted to the New and vice versa. Perhaps most notably, the tomato became a favorite in European cuisine, while certain wheat strains quickly took to western hemisphere soils and became a dietary staple even for native North, Central and South Americans. By the early 1800s agricultural practices, particularly careful selection of hardy strains and cultivars, had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages and before, especially in the largely virgin lands of North and South America. With the rapid rise of mechanised agriculture in the 20th century, especially in the form of the tractor, the demanding tasks of sowing, harvesting and threshing could be performed with a speed and on a scale barely imaginable before. These advances have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern farms in the United States, Argentina, Israel, Germany and a few other nations to output volumes of high quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit. == Crops == ===World production of major crops in 2004=== In millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimates[http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Crops.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=EN]: :Maize 705 :Wheat 624 :Rice 608 :Soybeans 206 However, grazing grass and animal feed-crop production must exceed the total of these crops. === Crop improvement === *''See main article on'' Plant breeding Domestication of plants is done in order to increase yield, improve disease resistance and drought tolerance, ease harvest and to improve the taste and nutritional value and many other characteristics. Centuries of careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant breeders use greenhouses and other techniques to get as many as three generations of plants per year so that they can make improvements all the more quickly. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and '30s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive radiation mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn and barley. For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the USA have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001, primarily due to improvements in genetics. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Higher yields are due to improvements in genetics, as well as use of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, growth control to avoid lodging). [Conversion note: 1 bushel of wheat = 60 pounds (lb) ≈ 27.215 kg. 1 bushel of corn = 56 pounds ≈ 25.401 kg] Very recently, genetic engineering has begun to be employed in some parts of the world to speed up the selection and breeding process. The most widely used modification is a herbicide resistance gene that allows plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate, which is used to control weeds in the crop. A less frequently used but more controversial modification causes the plant to produce a toxin to reduce damage from insects (c.f. Starlink). There are specialty producers who raise less common types of livestock or plants. Aquaculture, the farming of fish, shrimp, and algae, is closely associated with agriculture. Beekeeping, the culture of bees, traditionally for honey—increasingly for crop pollination. ''See also'' : botany, List of domesticated plants, List of vegetables, List of herbs, List of fruit == Environmental problems == * Nitrogen and phosphorus surplus in rivers and lakes. * Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other biocides. * Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into arable land. * Consolidation of diverse biomass into a few species. * Erosion * Particulate matter, including ammonia and ammonium off-gasing from animal waste contributing to air pollution * Weeds - feral plants and animals * Odour from agricultural waste == Policy == Agricultural policy focuses on the goals and methods of agricultural production. At the policy level, common goals of agriculture include: *Foodborne illness: Ensuring that the food supply is free of contamination. *Food security: Ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs. *Food quality: Ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality. * Conservation * Environmental impact * Economic stability == Methods == *aeroponics *agricultural machinery *animal husbandry *aquaculture *beekeeping *crop rotation *Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, ''factory farming'') *composting *dairy farming *detasseling *domestication *agricultural fencing *fertilizers *greenhouse *harvest *hybrid seed *hydroponics *Integrated Pest Management (Integrated Pest Management) *irrigation *livestock *market gardening *monoculture *no-till farming *organic farming *plant breeding *pollination management *precision farming *ranching *season extension *seed saving *shepherding *subsistence farming *succession planting *sustainable agriculture *vegetable farming *tillage *weed control ==References== *Wells, Spencer: ''The Journey of Man : A Genetic Odyssey''. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 069111532X *Crosby, Alfred W.: ''The Columbian Exchange : Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492''. Praeger Publishers, 2003 (30th Anniversary Edition). ISBN: 0275980731 *Collinson, M. (editor): ''A History of Farming Systems Research''. CABI Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 0851994059 ==See also== * Agricultural and Food Research Council, UK * Agricultural fair * Agricultural science * Agricultural sciences basic topics * Arid-zone agriculture * Community-supported agriculture * International agricultural research * Farm equipment * List of domesticated animals * List of subsistence techniques * List of sustainable agriculture topics * Timeline of agriculture and food technology. * USA agriculture ==External links== * Agriculture Of Pakistan All Agricultural Information : [http://www.nationalpak.com http://www.nationalpak.com] * FAO of the United Nations World Agricultural Information Centre : [http://www.fao.org http://www.fao.org] * [http://www.fao.org/waicent/portal/statistics_en.asp FAO of The UN Statistical Databases] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service: [http://www.fas.usda.gov/currwmt.html Current World Production, Market and Trade Reports] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service: [http://www.ers.usda.gov/ USDA's main source of economic information and research] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service: [http://www.ars.usda.gov/ USDA's In-house Research Arm] * U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library: [http://www.nal.usda.gov/ Portal to USDA's National Agricultural Library] * [http://www.nationalacademies.org/agriculture/ Agriculture] at the United States National Academies * * [http://imperium.lenin.ru/~kaledin/tmp/agricltr.txt ''Agriculture: Demon Engine of Civilization''] by John Zerzan Agriculture fa:کشاورزی iu:ᐱᕈᕐᓰᓂᖅ ᓂᐅᕐᕈᑎᒃᓴᓕᐊᕆᓪᓗᒋᑦ la:Agricultura nah:Millacayotl nds:Landwertschap simple:Agriculture su:Agrikultur ta:விவசாயம்
Agriculture
==Agriculture v Farming and other articles== This page and that of :Agriculture should be coordinated. As to how, i have no idea: The finer points of the English language escape me here :-) Perhaps a merge and a redirect? --Anders T?rlind ---- I think they should be merged. :Agriculture says: "Kinds of agriculture include farming, which is raising crops for harvest, and [animal husbandry]?." :Farming says: "Farming is the process of producing food by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals. See also agriculture." Really I think the two are more or less synonymous. :Animal husbandry and raising crops are part of both. -- hagedis ---- Both the Unesco Thesaurus and Library of Congress subject headings have "Farming: use Agriculture". I think agriculture is the best term for both the economic sector (usually taken to include animal husbandry), and the practice of producing crops (though here, we often differentiate between "agricultural" and "pastoral" populations and activities, so livestock may sometimes be excluded). The article(s) could refer to such nuances, with links or redirects from/to "Animal husbandry", "Livestock production" or whatever is preferred. Farming to me suggests a particular form of organisation, usually involving commercial production by a private operator engaged directly on the holding, hence distinct from estate, plantation or communal cultivation (the word itself originates around the 12th century with the leasing of western European estate lands, as in "to farm out" an enterprise). User:David Parker :The current articles were basically discussing the same thing, so I've combined them into Agriculture, with Farming a redirect. If there are any subtle separate meanings they can be fixed up later. ------- It would be wonderful to see agriculture, agricultural policy, futures contract, commodity markets and tax, tariff and trade all rationally related in some way, so that one could figure out in the first paragraph or so what one should be reading. At present futures contract seems to be the trader's view, agriculture the statistician's view, commodity markets the economist's view, tax, tariff and trade the policy-maker's view, and agricultural policy the politician's view! This is all very interesting but maybe it should be easier for such as me, who understand only gardening and Slow Food, to see how these large scale things relate to my small scale life. User:EntmootsOfTrolls :Agreed. todo ==Corn v Maize== Concerning the word "corn" - Maize is called corn in the U.S., but I thought that "corn" in the U.K. means grains in general, primarily, but not only, wheat. Somebody who speaks the Queen's English please verify! :-) -- User:Marj Tiefert 13:45 Sep 3, 2002 (PDT) I fear you will probably not consider my input acceptable, but when I talk to british people, the word "corn" refers "only" to grain. However, it is about two different types of crops : wheat and oats. Of course oats is not much used anymore. user:anthere There's a nice story my father in law told me about Corn and Paris liberation by americans. People in Paris were rather hungry. They needed bread badly. At that time, our bread was made from wheat, sometimes from rye. When american people came to Paris, they asked how they could help us in terms of food. Some administrative employee said we needed corn to make bread (we still learn british english...)...We ended up with loads of maize, that basically nobody knew how to cook. ==Crop production data== World production * Rice 381.1 million tons, trade 26.3 million tons * Maize 624 million tons, trade 75.4 million tons * Wheat 570 million tons, trade 97.8 million tons * Cotton 96.5 million tons, trade 31 million tons hold on ! Year reference is required for such information. Where does that come from ? In particular, rice production numbers are somehow wrong if what "production" is is not described. User:Anthere :Data is from the US government website http://www.fas.usda.gov/currwmt.html, listed at bottom of article. I checked some of the figures from the included Excel tables, but I must admit rice looked low to me too. It's probably commercial production, since otherwise rice grown in India and China would surely make it top crop. I don't really know much about this topic, but I said to User:Kat that I would put in some world figures, having moved her US data to a subsiduary article. ::I second you in the idea of creating an agriculture in the United States of America as I suggested to her (I decided to call people "her" as long as I don't know about their gender:-)) on her talk page. This article should stay as general as possible. ::About the year reference. It is very important to put it in the article, not to expect readers to go at the external links to try to find that very precious information. Production rates and trade rates change a lot over time. And these figures (probably years 2000 or 2001 or 2002) will mean very little in 2010 perhaps. If year is added, editors will feel like keeping up to date also. But as such, it is not good. Please add the year. ::As for gross figures, it should be mentionned what are defined exactly in the count. Rice as given here is giving (er, I am not sure it is the right way to say it) is milling rice. ::Here are what I find are the most important points ::the three most important cereals crops are wheat, corn and rice. All three are produced in rather equivalent tonnage. Wheat and corn around 600 millions tons, rice slightly below, around 550 millions tons in years 1998-2002. Until a couple of years ago, wheat was over corn. Wheat is predominant in europe, canada, russia, northern china, corn in americas and rice in south asia. Very roughly. But the volumes of the three cereal are quite similar. ::However, the amount of rice is often underestimated because some give the milled rice production (rather than the paddy production) - in particular developped countries. The milled rice is about 60-70 % of total rice. Now, if we consider the goal of agriculture is first to feed the world, and for readers to understand which are the major cereals feeding the world, the paddy rice production must be given, or both amounts must be given :third important point. Corn and wheat are both delocated crops, with huge amounts being traded. There are a small bunch of countries producing most of these two cereals, and trading it to other countries. Rice situation is quite different, most production is directly consummed. User:anthere. :Probably better as a table anyway, but I'm one of the few HTML illerates, Apologies. User:Jimfbleak 12:53 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::No pb, my browser is allergic to table. It breaks the < and > ant ---- I believe the data is plausable, and of course the U.S. government is an unimpeachable source on any topic :-) >not<. :plausable yes. Just as I could say the population in the US is 1 millions people :-) It was plausable one day, but which year was it :-)))) :I would recommand also using FAO data. There are presented in more international recommandations. Most of the worldwide production of corn is fed to animals. :yup Most of the U.S. production of rice is made into tasteless beer. :buy belgium beer made with honest barley :-) The rest of the world eats rice and makes beer out of barley. :that's the best way. In "Diet for a small planet," that onetime manifesto for the vegetarian movement, it is asserted that feeding grain to meat animals is an inefficient way to utilize the grain, compared to feeding grain to people. This is true, in that several pounds of corn (maize) must be fed to a steer for one pound of gain. The ratios are better for poultry and hogs but the principle is the same. The point being, a great deal of corn is grown and fed to livestock, and it is quite plausable that the corn consumption exceeds rice consumption for this reason. :also true. The answer is precisely that the data given above is the milling rice, not the paddy rice. Also, corn yields more tonnage per acre than rice, even in the U.S., and U.S. yields of everything are higher than yields in China. :uh ? The average yield for wheat in the world is 25 qx/ha. My country average is nearly 90 qx/ha. And some farmers in the north are over 110 qx/ha...monoculture or rotation with potatoes. And, all kidding aside, I tend to believe that the USDA production estimates are accurate. They are publicly vetted in the trading pits (c.f. futures_contract), and the traders raise the hue and cry if they are off by more than a percentage point (sometimes less). :yes; but not all what is produced is traded Reviewing the information accompanying the data on the USDA web site, I believe that they do intend for the figures to include the small, family production of rice (and other grains for that matter) typical of subsistence farms. If you look at the USDA data by country, you see that China is a major producer and the numbers seem to make sense. : on the spot info on rice is 592,8 millions tonnes in 2001 (397.2 milled) and 568,5 millions tons in 1996 (381.1 milled) :I think the figures would belong to a nice article on cereal. Ant If there are no objections, I'll move the production figures back to the Agriculture page later today. User:Kat 15:40 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) :I have an objection. No time to explain right now. Give me an overnight to be back. Please. User:Anthere ::Take your time. By the way, does someone have some better worldwide statistics to work from? I suppose I started this whole mess by adding the U.S. ones originally, which I did mainly by way of demonstrating the relative importance of the different grain crops; particularly, the role of corn, soybeans, and hay as the major crops. I know that's not true worldwide (because of rice), but we should be able to tell some sort of similar story so that the reader understands which crops are the major ones. ::I would like to be the first to point out that my understanding of agriculture is pretty much limited to North America. :::It is interesting to put all the major crops. But shortly, and with links to richer articles on cereals, oil crop and prot crop (I sure don't know how you call them :-)) ant ::User:Kat 18:31 12 Jun 2003 (UTC) -------- :I originally moved most of the US stuff from agriculture to make it more global, but I left the history bit in because it seemed that the development of farming in N. Am was of global importance. As I said, I've no expertise in this area, but I think it's an arguable case. User:Jimfbleak 06:11 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) Yes. I think it is arguable :-). I think similarly, the development of farming in Europe is of global importance (I presume the "global" mostly refer to trade issues, as well as food security and food safety). Australia and Russia are also having global importance in terms of trade. My country is also producing about half of european food :-) Let's see...then we need to define what is important in ag history, in the scope of understanding where it stands now. First the beginning of ag, as it is a major set point in devpt of human civilization. Perhaps, the different major crops being used in the past, where do they come from (eg, corn from mexican area, wheat in fertile crescent...). The first tools and progress (sickle ?). Development of new techniques (rotation, breeding), related to each civilization (perhaps the wheel). Then, how ag progress could support growing population. Local trade first, followed by worldwide trade, due to transport progress. Modern progress. This is roughly underlined, but should be more detailed. Along those lines, current soyabean american production is important, as it gives a handle to the USA to impose GM stuff over the world, and it imposes trading rules and commercial pressure. Soya trade is definitly of global importance. But ''In the United States, farms spread from the colonies westward along with the settlers. In cooler regions, wheat was the crop of choice when lands were newly settled, leading to a "wheat frontier" that moved westward over the course of years. After the "wheat frontier" had passed through an area, more diversified farms including dairy cattle generally took its place. Warmer regions saw plantings of cotton and herds of beef cattle.'' is globally of no interest. User:anthere ---- In the interest of moving beyond the statistics issue, I have restored the world production figures with a note on the difference between reporting methods for rice. Anthere, to your point, the food value of a ton of grain varies widely depending on the commodity. I do not have the caloric content figures in front of me, but I believe that #2 yellow corn has somewhat higher caloric content than milled rice because of its greater fat content. Soybeans are higher still. :caloric content is not the only way to figure the quality of food. It is interesting to distinguish products either for the glucidic input (mostly cereals), oil content (such as soya, rape, sunflower) and protein content (soya, lentils, peas). If one only value the product by its caloric content, one is heading for trouble in the setting of a diet :-) Yes, soybeans are amazing food, but mostly because of their richness both in oil and protein. :but what is the point in relation with the statistics ? You can pick apart the figures and so on in many ways but the point is that the milled rice figures are probably more directly comparable to corn and wheat than the paddy rice. :perhaps so. But not mentionning the difference result in a rather inaccurate information. If mentionned, this is fine. By the way, I believe that the USDA estimates for rice are estimates of the total production, not the output of the milling operations. I believe they apply a standard multiplier to the paddy rice that is not commercially milled to arrive at the figure. :I don't think so. Otherwise, their information is just not coherent with the FAO. And not coherent with several other countries data. They may apply a multiplier of some sort, but the final data is not fitting with the info I have for total production. Would you have any other sources of data than the USDA perhaps ? Or is there a place somewhere the USDA state precisely which definition they are giving for rice ? User:anthere User:Kat 17:53 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) on the spot ref http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/7538-en.html ---- How is it not coherent? The FAO and USDA values are within 1% for 2001, which is the link you supplied. I didn't search for 2002 values at FAO; apparently world production dropped considerably. The 2002 value is the one used in our page. User:Kat 18:52 13 Jun 2003 (UTC) :yes. That is what I meant. The FAO data given for milled rice is nearly identical with the one given by the USDA. Hence, the number given by the USDA really is the milled data. With 'no multiplier'. 2002 data on the page is perfectly accurate. It appears USA is giving only milled data; In my country, we give paddy data mostly. Hence, the necessity to be clear about what is described. That's all. Lucky enough we are all using tons :-) ant I added metric equivalents for the bushels/acre figures, but gave up on the q/ha figures. Firstly, I didn't know if they were US quintals (100 lb) or "metric quintals" (100 kg), and secondly I was confused by the words "q/ha (or t/ha)". Was the writer unsure about which units these figures are measured in? -- User:Heron Oh Jesus ! Misnumbering. Of course ! 10 qx/ha is 1 T/ha. Big mistake :-(. Okay, I am sure of my values in qx/ha, but the ones in T/ha have to be divided by 10. A q is a quintal (=100 kg) while a T is a ton (=1000 kg). Ha is hectares (that is 100m on 100 m). When I work with british people, we use q/ha. But I know they also use T/ha. So I dunno which one would be best. Please someone decide what is best. In all cases, bushels per acres is undecipherable for me :-) User:anthere Sadly, most North American readers know nothing else. The conversion varies by crop. I believe a standard bushel of #2 corn or soybeans is 54 pounds, while with oats it's 32 pounds. User:Kat 14:59 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) :You are confusing two different things. Yes, as a quality factor, you may need a minimum "test weight" (bulk density) for a particular sample of at least 54 lb/bu to get a Number 2 grade. However, whether you have #2 corn, or #1 corn with a test weight of 58 lb/bu, or some much lower grade and much lower "test weight", a bushel of corn in the marketplace is always 56 lb. Those are the units used on the commodities market, or at the local grain elevator. Those bushels are not units of volume; they are units of mass, the size of which depends on the commodity being measured. OTOH, in those test weights discussed earlier in units of lb/bu, those bushels in the denominator do, of course, remain the units of volume. :BTW, for most commodities, the mass bushels are the same in Canada as they are in the United States, even though the volume bushels are 3.2% larger in Canada. Oats is the only exception I know of, with the bushels being 32 lb in the U.S. and 34 lb in Canada. In either place, however, to have good, highest grade oats you need a test weight of at least 38 lb/bu. So let's suppose I have 20672 lb of oats, with a test weight of 38 lb/bu (that's the U.S. or Winchester bushel in the denominator, even in Canada). We'll assume that they are perfectly clean, so we don't need to worry about dockage or any other deductions. That means that these oats occupy a volume of 20672/38 = 544 U.S. volume bushels, which is about 527 imperial volume bushels. But when I sell this in the United States, what I'd get paid for is 20672/32 = 646 bushels. But if I sold it in Canada, I'd get paid for 20672/34 = 608 bushels. Does all of this make any sense to you? (The price paid per bushel, of course, also varies with a number of different grading factors, so I wouldn't get paid as much for the same number of bushels of #2 corn and #1 corn.) User:Gene Nygaard 02:01, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC) Yup. American compute by volumes, and most others by weight. It is even worse than conversion by crop. I understood you used a quite small number of varieties for crops such as wheat. Around 200 varieties are available in France for cropping. The 1000 kernels weight varying from simple to double. Since we compute by weight, there is no pb for us, but when we translate in bushels, we have to know the volume/weight ratio for each variety. I have some doubts that the average yield for corn is up from 40 bu/acres (25 qx/ha) to 150 bu/acres (94 qx/ha). Unless this value is for the US of course. This value is quite similar to our own yields. However, there are numerous countries where it must be very much lower. Is this value worldwide or US only ? anthere :In the US, though the term bushel is used, the unit of trade is weight not volume, with various discounts and adjustments for test weight. So although bushel is traditionally a volumetric measure, when corn is sold, they weigh it and divide by 54 pounds (I believe) to arrive at bushels. Then they measure the density of the corn, which is quoted as test weight. Test weight is the weight of a bushel (by volume), with higher figures indicating higher quality. Sound confusing? It is. Different weights are used for various grains, with 32 used for oats. ::Oh my! :The yield comparison is a US value from a US-based conversation that I authored. User:Kat 20:42 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::Oki. I updated this. ant Thanks for all these responses to my question. I have since discovered that there are lots of varieties of quintal, so I created an article on the subject. By the way, there is an error in what I wrote five paragraphs above. In a surprising reversal of the usual metric/nonmetric preferences, the US quintal is metric while the European quintals (several types) are nonmetric. -- User:Heron :Heron. I am not living in the past. I am alive *now*. And have already been living for a while :-) And I *assure* you that 1 quintal is definitly a 100 kg, and has been such for quite a long time. France has been using metrics for quite a while, and I am quite abashed when you say we are using non metric while US is using metrics. Please ! Anyway, I know nothing else than metrics, the EU agricultural legislation is in metrics. So everything I write on the topic is in metrics. Now, some old people still refer to "livres" (the livre is something slightly under 0.5 kg) sometimes when talking of their beef steak. This is quite unusual though. Not standard at all.User:anthere ::Point taken, Anthere. My information on the French quintal was out of date. -- User:Heron :::WikiKiss then Heron. Ant :: Of course, thus the infamous ''Pulp Fiction'' "Royale with cheese" discussion. ;) -- User:JohnOwens 11:30 17 Jun 2003 (UTC) Re: bushels. I added two types of bushel (wheat and maize) to the U.S. customary units page under a new heading, "Grain Measures". If people know more varieties, perhaps they would consider adding them to this page. If there are European types as well, they should probably go on the Imperial units page. -- User:Heron ---- I have removed an item about wood being a product of agriculture that was added by an unregistered user. While there is not complete unanimity, there would appear to be a consensus that timber and pulpwood production, while closely related to agriculture, are not a part of it. A similar situation prevails with the cultivation of fish, and with the production of ornamental plants, and with the breeding of companion animals such as dogs and cats. User:Kat 19:10 28 Jul 2003 (UTC) ==Commercial link attempts== An anonymous user has tried several times to add a commercial site with links to seed starting information. The sites linked are informational, and would be no problem in themselves, but the anonymous user is obviously using the page as attempted spam. I have therefore removed the link. User:Pollinator 08:58, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC) ==User 69.4.139.161 POV edit== I suggested that this user run some of his/her edits here first to gain some consensus. I have reverted his/her POV for the time being. User:Pollinator 01:35, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC) ---- I consider the last edits made today as somehow pov. I would like some opinion of other participants. User:Anthere 08:20, 15 May 2004 (UTC) :I just read them and I can see what you mean. However, they are overall good additions to the article and shouldn't be reverted. I think changing a few key words would restore the NPOV. User:Ike9898 01:08, May 17, 2004 (UTC) ::They certainly should not be removed ! They are good, but, not very neutral. I agree that just changing a couple of things or words could help restore balance; I am no good at rephrasing other people words in a nice english fashion. I would appreciate that someone does so for these paragraphs in the future. User:Anthere ==History== Sumerians as inventors of Agriculture: much too late --User:Yak 12:42, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC) :Disagree. Much depends on the definition of "Agriculture". If very small scale and sporadic plantings/harvestings are accepted, it is almost certain some pre-Sumer cultures were doing this. If one insists on a sustained, systematic activity with fully conscious selection of plant traits, the Sumerians would be "first". User:JDG 05:42, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) ::ok, you can make a distinction agriculture/horticulture. But if people subsist on crops and domestic animals, this is scarcely "small scale and sporadic". And this is the case sinsce the pottery neolithic at least, if not the PPNB, speaking of Western Asia only, which puts us in the 8th/7th Millenium. How do you define/detect a "fully conscious selection of plant traits" by the way? --User:Yak 07:36, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) JDGs comments aren't quite right. Sumerian agriculture differences mainly in terms of scale rather than in form. Neolithic agriculture was sustained and systematic, with conscious selection of plant traits (Neolithic peoples were not any less clever/attuned to plant behaviour than the Sumerians). Neolithic people survived in the Near East and Europe for some 3,000 years on their agricultural technologies (which included ploughing). For more info see: Boggard, A. 2004. Neolithic Farming in Central Europe. London: Routledge and/or Colledge, S. et al. 2004. Archaeobotanical evidence for the spread of farming in the Eastern Mediterranean. Current Anthropology S35. - Rattus 22:59, 3 Jan 05 == Suggest 12 possible wiki links and 14 possible backlinks for Agriculture. == An User:Nickj/Link_Suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Agriculture article: * Can link Western world:
''User talk:LinkBot'': User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Positive Feedback, User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Negative Feedback, User:Nickj/Link Suggester/Don't link to — User:LinkBot 11:28, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) :I see that no one has responded to your comprehensive compilation of links until now. My reaction to the links is that while some are directly related (i.e., Nutrient management, Intensive farming and Arable Land), most are only weakly related. For example to work in the fact that farmers use computers only says that they are no different than anyone else. Unremarkable, IMHO. As Chief Seattle is reported to have said: "All things are connected." The backlinks could be worked in where they highlight important apects of agriculture (if I understand correctly what you are proposing). User:Sunray 17:18, 2005 Jun 17 (UTC) ===most people in the world earn livelihood by farming=== that more than 65% of people farm as their primarily source of income seems unbelievable. what is the source of this info i wonder. i also wonder if the writer of this didn t mean that farming is the most prevalent source of income among forms of economic activity. at any rate i have taken the liberty of changing the statement to a more defendable one than more than 50% of people farm as their main source of money. matthew
Agriculture
Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals. Agriculture is also known as farming. Skills Industries Technology Permaculture Food and drink scn:Category:Agricultura
Agriculture
User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:19, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) :You were listed as creating the article Kim Leung (since deleted), which was patent nonsense. Apologies if this was a software error. Best, User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:22, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) ::Nope, just flagged it with a boilerplate for speedy deletion. User:Agriculture 07:25, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::Oh, I see now. What happened was that I deleted it, while you were editing it to put on the boilerplate--thus, when you hit save, it registered as newly-created and I thought you were the original vandal, having registered an account. Sorry about the confusion, and a belated Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers to Wikipedia! Best wishes, User:Meelar User talk:Meelar 07:26, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC) == Welcome back == Hi Agriculture, welcome back! User:Fawcett5 22:25, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC) :Thanks for the welcome ;) Good to see you again too. I hate business trips. User:Agriculture 01:24, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Rutgers University== Several editors and I agreed to use the University of California styled template on the Rutgers page, because the template was inadequate and poorly constructed. I reverted your addition of the template for that reason. —User:ExplorerCDT 05:07, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC) == UIUC Engineering == Awesome job on the University of Illinois College of Engineering article! --User:G3pro 12:32, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC) :''Thanks for the compliment, still a lot of work to be done soon though. I assume you are affiliated with the College? Agriculture 14:18, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)'' ::I'm actually a student in the school molecular and cellular biology at UIUC. I started the UIUC college of engineering article to clean up some of the details from the main article, but the engineering article hasn't taken off until you came around. :-) Great work. --User:G3pro 16:01, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Agriculture
Agriculture is a Wikipedian with interests involving Chambana, University, Computer Science, and Biology. == Notes == I am currently working on fleshing out and creating new articles refering to Champaign, Illinois, and Urbana, Illinois, my new home. I routinely monitor articles on educational institutions as I have a vested interest in their accuracy. == Some Articles I Have Authored == *Champaign Park District *Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District *The University of Illinois Willard Airport == I Am Completely Rehauling and Redesigning the Following Articles == *Chambana (now moved to Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area *UIUC College of Engineering == Some Articles I am Editing == *Champaign, Illinois *Urbana, Illinois *University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign *National Center for Supercomputing Applications *UIUC College of Engineering
Agriculture
There are too many articles jumbled together in this category; they should be put into sensible subcategories. -- User:Beland 03:33, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
A
AB | AC | AD | AE | AF | AG | AH | AI | AJ | AK | AL | AM | AN | AO | AP | AR | AS | AT | AU | AW | AX | AY | AZ |Words begining with Agriculture:
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture,_Nutrition,_and_Forestry_Committee
Agriculture,_United_States_Department_of
Agriculture_and_Agri-Food_Canada
Agriculture_books
Agriculture_companies_of_the_United_States
Agriculture_Department_images
Agriculture_Development_Bank_of_Pakistan_cricketers
Agriculture_Development_Bank_of_Pakistan_cricketers
Agriculture_in_Australia
Agriculture_in_Australia
Agriculture_in_the_United_States
Agriculture_Marketing_Act
Agriculture_Minister_of_Germany
Agriculture_museums
Agriculture_of_Communist_Czechoslovakia
Agriculture_of_Imperial_Russia
Agriculture_of_Imperial_Russia
Agriculture_Of_Pakistan
Agriculture_of_the_Soviet_Union
Agriculture_of_the_Soviet_Union
Agriculture_policy
Agriculture_stubs
Agriculture_subsidy
Sponsored links: praca.
These materials are based on Wikipedia and licensed under the GNU FDL
YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
