Introduction to Agriculture

Agriculture: An Introduction

• Agriculture is a primary activity.

Etymology

• The word "agriculture" is derived from the Latin words "ager" or "agri," meaning soil, and "cultura," meaning cultivation.
• Agriculture refers to the cultivation of soil.

A Farmer's Perspective

• A farmer prepares the soil for wheat.
• After harvest, the crop will be sold at the market for money to cover expenses.
• Consumers can see where food comes from.

Economic Activities

• Agriculture is a primary activity.
• Transportation is a secondary activity.
• There are three main types of economic activities: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Primary Activities

• Primary activities involve the extraction and production of natural resources.
• Agriculture is a primary activity because it involves extracting and producing natural resources from the soil.

Secondary Activities

• Secondary activities involve the processing of resources.
• Industries process the wheat from farms to make biscuits.

Tertiary Activities

• Tertiary activities provide support to the primary and secondary sectors.
• Transportation and banking are tertiary activities.

Agriculture as a Primary Activity

• Agriculture includes growing crops, fruits, and vegetables, and rearing livestock because it deals with natural resources.
• About 50% of the world's population is engaged in agricultural activities.
• Two-thirds of India's population is still dependent on agriculture.

Factors Influencing Agriculture

• Soil and climate influence agriculture.
• Land on which crops are grown is known as arable land.
• Climate should be suitable for the type of crop being grown.

Chapter Overview

• Agriculture is a primary activity.
• Explores different cultures: Agriculture, pisciculture (fish farming), and viticulture (grape cultivation).
• Farm system: Inputs, processes, and outputs.
• Types of farming: Subsistence farming and commercial farming.
• Major crops: Wheat and fiber crops.
• Agricultural development: Understanding the process.
• Farming in India and the USA: Comparison.
• Includes interesting facts and "Do you know" sections.

Agriculture: A Primary Activity

• Agriculture involves plants and converting them into finished products.
• Wheat is converted into biscuits through a process.

Economic Sectors

• Economic activities are divided into three sectors.
• Primary sectors include extracting and producing natural resources; a farmer prepares the soil to grow wheat, involving labor and seeds.
• Secondary sectors process resources, like wheat into biscuits in industries.
• Tertiary sectors provide services to support primary and secondary activities; biscuits reach consumers through transportation, assisted by banking services.

Agriculture Explained

• Agriculture is considered a primary activity as it involves extraction and production of natural resources.
• It includes growing crops, fruits, and vegetables and also rearing livestock.
• About 50% of the world's population is involved in agriculture, and two-thirds of India's population depends on it.

Factors Influencing Agriculture

• Soil and climate are two factors that influence agriculture.
• Land suitable for cultivation is called arable land and should be suitable and fertile.
• Climate should also be appropriate.

Various Types of Cultivation

• Different types of culture or cultivation including agriculture, sericulture, pisciculture, viticulture and horticulture.
• Culture is derived from cultivation.

Agriculture

• The science and art of cultivating soil, raising crops, and rearing livestock.
• Agriculture is also called farming.

Sericulture

• Sericulture is the commercial rearing of silkworms.
• It supplements the income of farmers.

Pisciculture

• Pisciculture is the breeding of fish in specially constructed tanks and ponds.
• Involves raising fish in tanks and ponds.

Viticulture

• Viticulture involves the cultivation of grapes.

Horticulture

• Horticulture involves growing vegetables, flowers, and fruits for commercial use.

Farm System

• The farm system shows the farming process.
• Agriculture and farming can be looked at as a system.
• Farm system consists of inputs, processing, and output.

Inputs

• In the farm system, inputs are seeds, fertilizers, machinery, and labor.

Processing

• Processing involves sowing seeds, watering, and fertilizing; labor is also involved.

Output

• The output is a cropped product.

Key Considerations

• Physical inputs include sun, sunshine, rainfall, soil, and climate.
• Human inputs include labor, machinery, chemicals, and marketing.
• Production requires both nature's contribution and human contribution.

Types of Farming

• Geographic conditions, demand, labor, and technology determine what type of farming is performed.
• Farming can be classified into two main types: subsistence farming and commercial farming.

Subsistence Farming

• Subsistence farming's main practice is to meet the needs of the farmer's family for clothes, water, food, and shelter.
• Subsistence is defined as a means of supporting oneself with necessities.
• Low levels of technology are used.
• Household labor is used.
• A small output of produce is the result.

Subsistence Farming Characteristics

• Small level of technology is used.
• Household labor is used instead of relying on technology.
• A small output is expected.

Subsistence Agriculture

• There are two types of subsistence agriculture: intensive and primitive.
• Types of primitive subsistence agriculture include shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

• Small plots of land are cultivated with simple tools and more labor.
• More than one crop is grown annually; rice is the main crop in India.
• Prevalent in the thickly populated areas of monsoon regions of South, Southeast, and East Asia.

Primitive Subsistence Agriculture

• Traditional farming to meet subsistence needs.
• There are two types of traditional primitive subsistence agriculture: shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.

Shifting Cultivation

• Practiced in the thickly forested areas of the Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of Southeast Asia, and Northeast India.
• A plot of land is cleared by felling the trees, then burning them; the ashes are mixed with the soil, and crops like maize, yam, potato, and cassava are grown.
• After the soil loses fertility, the land is abandoned, and cultivators move to a new plot; this practice is commonly known as slash-and-burn agriculture.
• Farmers can shift to another for more production.

Nomadic Herding

• Practiced in the semi-arid and arid regions of the Sahara, Central Asia, and some parts of India like Rajasthan, Jammu, and Kashmir.
• Herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for food and water along defined routes.
• The type of animals raised varies from region to region.
• Sheep, camel, yak, and goats are the most commonly raised animals; the process will make milk and hide other products to the families.

Commercial Farming

• Crops are grown, and animals are reared for sale in the market.
• Uses large amounts of capital to form production in large sizes.

Commercial Farming Types

• Commercial grain farming.
• Mixed farming.
• Plantations.

Commercial Grain Farming

• Crops are grown for commercial purposes; wheat and maize are common commercial grain crops.
• Major areas where these forms are found are in the temperate grasslands of North America, Europe, and Asia.
• Severe winters restrict the growing season, and only a single crop can be grown.

Mixed Farming

• The land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.
• Practiced in Europe, the USA, Argentina, South Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Plantations

• A type of commercial farming where a single crop like tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana, or cotton is grown in large amounts; processing may be done on the farm itself or in nearby factories.
• Generally in tropical regions of the world.
• Rubber in Malaysia, sugarcane in Brazil, coffee in India are some important examples.

Agricultural Development

• Efforts to increase farm production to meet the growing demand of an increasing population is agricultural development.
• A new crop is adopted in the community after agricultural development.

Growing Population Steps

• Increasing the cropped area.
• Increasing the number of crops grown.
• Improving irrigation facilities.
• Using fertilizers and high-yielding varieties of seeds.

Agricultural Development

• Developed countries practice small farming to increase food security.

Developed Vs Developing Agricultural Development

• Agricultural development is happening in different ways in different parts of the world.
• Developing countries with a large population practice intensive agricultural practices, and small holdings are most suitable for farming.
• Developed countries come to the side that are suitable for commercial and industrial uses, for example, USA, Canada, and Australia.

Farming In India

• This section discusses farming practices in India.
• Munna Lal is a farmer in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, with 1.5 hectares of land.
• He purchases high-yielding variety seeds and takes advice from friends at the government agriculture office on farming practices and uses a tractor.
• Other friends use the traditional practice of bullocks and ploughs.
• Irrigation is field by people and read.
• He also has buffalo and hens, so he has some extra money can make every product and which is the cooperative society of sale produce in the morning
• He takes his produce to the cooperative society for sale and gets advice; possible to get money from Bank of credit
• He is also a part of a cooperative society.

Farming is USA

• This section deals with the farming practices done in the United States of America.
• One important difference is the size of farmland, which is huge; the average farm size is 250 hectares.
• Farms can be a big chunk of land.
• Some farmers reside on-site, such as in the Midwest USA, where a farmer owns 300 hectares of land; there is also maize, soyabean, wheat, fodder, and cotton that is planted in the fields.

Farming of the Land

• A farmer in the USA takes soil samples that are sent to the lab tree, and it is tested and it is sent is 45 for fertilizers and irrigation.
• The results determine what fertilizer is required, and efficient irrigation is implemented to test besides and fertilizer is apply.
• He also uses computers and cameras to look at the land.

The Land in the USA

• The areas for the soil use tractor cedal levels combiner harvesters and treasure to perform very as it
• Agricultural operations; after harvest, the grains are stored in automated grain stores to prevent damage.
• The farmers in the USA works like a the business man.

Did You Know / Interesting Fact

• Maize is also known as corn.
• Various colored maze are farmed around the world.

Interesting Fact

• Khaldi, an Arabic border, discovered the coffee plant in 852; the good were the first people that said energized and it made history.
• I don't know that is there.
• Food security exists when people have sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.
• Organic farming: natural products are used in the farming system.
• Shifting cultivation is known by many names around the world including Jhumming, Milpa, Roca, and Ladang.