Introduction to Agriculture

Definition of:

•the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products

Includes:

•Agronomy•Horticulture•Forestry•Animal Husbandry/Science

Agronomy

•Using plants to produce food (animal and human consumption), fiber, and fuel

•Soil science closely related

Horticulture

•Landscape design and construction•Landscape maintenance•Nursery and Greenhouse production

Forestry

•creating, managing, using, conserving, and repairing forests and associated resources to meet desired needs, and values for human benefit

•Practiced in both plantations and natural stands

Animal Sciences

•Cattle▫Beef/Dairy

•Poultry▫Egg laying / Meat

•Equine▫Livestock?

•Swine▫Meat

•Sheep/Goats▫Meat / Fiber

Agricultural Statistics World-Wide•126 billion acres•15.77 billion acres are habitable•Only 3-4% of that is farmable

Agricultural Statistics United States

•360,892,200 acres of cropland•Principal operators 34 and younger:

▫2002 123,059▫2007 118,613▫2014 119,833

•Principal operators 65 and older :▫2002 557,830▫2007 655,654▫2014 701,276

Vocabulary•Domestication:  hereditary reorganization of

wild animals and plants into domestic and cultivated forms according to the interests of people (generally need human intervention to survive)

•Selective Breeding (artificial selection):humans selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which animal or plant reproduce together

Vocabulary• Hybrid: mixing, through sexual reproduction, of two

animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species (can create animals with more useful characteristics than parents)▫ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBI7ggw53o

• Organic Farming: farming that does not use commercial farming chemicals

• Monoculture: the cultivation of a single crop in a given area, can be susceptible to disease and crop loss

• Polyculture: the cultivation of a multiple crops in a given area, can be better able to survive disease and crop loss

Vocabulary•Ranching: practice of raising grazing

livestock

•Commercial Farming: farming for a profit, where food is produced by advanced technological means for sale

Vocabulary

•Breed: specific group of domestic animals having the same appearance, behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species and that were arrived at through selective breeding

•Species: organisms that reproduce and to create fertile offspring

Thomas Malthus

•Essay on populations in 1798•Population growth will surpass resources•Population will eventually crash unless it

reached “checks” to growth

Thomas Malthus

•Population has continued to grow•Have we surpassed his predictions? WHY?•Have we completely escaped his

predictions?•What are the 3 agricultural revolutions?