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TYPES OF AGRICULTURE IN THE WORLD

INTRODUCTION:

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for

food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life.. Agriculture is also observed in

certain species of ant and termite, but generally speaking refers to human activities.

The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has

been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies.

However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the

lands suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires

some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dry land farming; pastoralherding on rangeland is still the most common means of raising livestock. In the

developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has

become the dominant system of modern farming, although there is growing

support for sustainable agriculture (e.g. perm culture or organic agriculture).

Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological

improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time

have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.]

Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig

farming have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concernsabout animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones,

and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels,

and raw materials. In the 21st century, plants have been used to grow biofuels,

biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include
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cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and

flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are

produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass,

ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the

pet trade are some of the ornamental products.

In 2007, one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. The

services sector has overtaken agriculture as the economic sector employing the

most people worldwide. Despite the size of its workforce, agricultural production

accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all

gross domestic products).

History of agriculture

Agricultural practices such as irrigation, crop rotation, fertilizers, and pesticides

were developed long ago, but have made great strides in the past century. The

history of agriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural

progress has been a crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. Division

of labor in agricultural societies made commonplace specializations rarely seen in

hunter-gatherer cultures. So, too, are arts such as epic literature and monumental

architecture, as well as codified legal systems. When farmers became capable of

producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were

freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and

anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture madecivilization possible. The total world population probably never exceeded 15

million inhabitants before the invention of agriculture.

Ancient origins
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The Fertile Crescent of Western Asia, Egypt, and India were sites of the earliest

planned sowing and harvesting of plants that had previously been gathered in the

wild. Independent development of agriculture occurred in northern and southern

China, Africa's Sahel,New Guinea and several regions of the Americas. The eight

so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer wheat and

einkorn wheat, then hulledbarley,peas, lentils,bitter vetch, chick peas and flax.

By 7000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7000 BC the

Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological

excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan in what is present day Pakistan. By

6000 BC, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of theNile. This, as

irrigation had not yet matured sufficiently. About this time, agriculture was

developed independently in the Far East, withrice, rather than wheat, as the

primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate taro and

beans including mung, soy and azuki. To complement these new sources ofcarbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in

these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new

methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom that

dwarfed all previous expansions and continues today.

By 5000 BC, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including

large-scale intensive cultivation of land, monocropping, organized irrigation, and

the use of a specialized labor force, particularly along the waterway now known as

the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulfdelta to the confluence of the Tigris and

Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and mouflon into cattle and sheep,respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of animals for food/fiber and as beasts

of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer as an essential provider for sedentary

and semi nomadic societies.Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated

in the Americas as far back as 5200 BC.[27]

Thepotato, tomato,pepper, squash, several varieties ofbean, tobacco, and several

other plants were also developed in the Americas, as was extensive terracing of

steep hillsides in much ofAndean South America. The Greeks and Romans built

on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians, but made few fundamentally newadvances. Southern Greeks struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become

a dominant society for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the

cultivation of crops for trade.

In the same region, a parallel agricultural revolution occurred, resulting in some of

the most important crops grown today. In Mesoamerica wild teosinte was
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transformed through human selection into the ancestor of modernmaize, more than

6000 years ago. It gradually spread across North America and was the major crop

of Native Americans at the time of European exploration.[28] Other Mesoamerican

crops include hundreds of varieties ofsquash andbeans. Cocoa was also a major

crop in domesticated Mexico and Central America. The turkey, one of the most

important meat birds, was probably domesticated in Mexico or the U.S. Southwest.

In the Andes region of South America the major domesticated crop waspotatoes,

domesticated perhaps 5000 years ago. Large varieties of beans were domesticated,

in South America, as well as animals, including llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs.

Coca, still a major crop, was also domesticated in the Andes.

A minor center of domestication, the indigenous people of the Eastern U.S. appear

to have domesticated numerous crops. Sunflowers, tobacco,] varieties of squash

and Chenopodium, as well as crops no longer grown, including marshelderand

little barley were domesticated.[30][31]

Other wild foods may have undergone someselective cultivation, including wild rice and maple sugar. The most common

varieties ofstrawberry were domesticated from Eastern North America.[32]

By 3500 BC, the simplest form of the plough was developed, called the ard. Before

this period, simple digging sticks orhoes were used. These tools would have also

been easier to transport, which was a benefit as people only stayed until the soil's

nutrients were depleted. However, through excavations in Mexico it has been

found that the continuous cultivating of smaller pieces of land would also have

been a sustaining practice. Additional research in central Europe later revealed that

agriculture was indeed practiced at this method. For this method, ards were thusmuch more efficient than digging sticks.

Middle Ages
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During the Middle Ages, farmers in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe began

making use of agricultural technologies including irrigation systems based on

hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, machines such as norias, water-raising machines,

dams, and reservoirs. This combined with the invention of a three-field system of

crop rotation and the moldboard plow greatly improved agricultural efficiency.

In the European medieval period, agriculture was considered part of the set of

seven mechanical arts.

Modern era

After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock breeds

occurred. Key crops involved in this exchange included the tomato, maize,potato,

manioc, cocoa bean and tobacco going from the New World to the Old, and several

varieties ofwheat, spices, coffee, and sugar cane going from the Old World to the

New. The most important animal exportation from the Old World to the New was

those of the horse and dog (dogs were already present in the pre-Columbian

Americas but not in the numbers and breeds suited to farm work). Although not

usually food animals, the horse (including donkeys and ponies) and dog quickly

filled essential production roles on western-hemisphere farms.

Thepotato became an important staple crop in northern Europe. Since being

introduced by Portuguese in the 16th century, maize and manioc have replaced

traditional African crops as the continent's most important staple food crops.

By the early 19th century, agricultural techniques, implements, seed stocks and

cultivarhad so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the
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Middle Ages. Although there is a vast and interesting history of crop cultivation

before the dawn of the 20th century, there is little question that the work ofCharles

Darwin and Gregor Mendel created the scientific foundation for plant breeding that

led to its explosive impact over the past 150 years.

With the rapid rise ofmechanization in the late 19th century and the 20th century,

particularly in the form of the tractor, farming tasks could be done with a speed and

on a scale previously impossible. 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.

The Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate represented a major

breakthrough and allowed crop yields to overcome previous constraints. In the past

century agriculture has been characterized by enhanced productivity, thesubstitution of labor for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, water pollution, and farm

subsidies. In recent years there has been a backlash against the external

environmental effects of conventional agriculture, resulting in the organic movement.

The cereals rice, corn, and wheat provide 60% of human food supply. Between

1700 and 1980, "the total area of cultivated land worldwide increased 466%" and

yields increased dramatically, particularly because ofselectively bred high-yielding

varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and machinery. For example, irrigation

increased corn yields in eastern Colorado by 400 to 500% from 1940 to 1997.

However, concerns have been raised over the sustainability of intensive agriculture.

Intensive agriculture has become associated with decreased soil quality in India

and Asia, and there has been increased concern over the effects of fertilizers and

pesticides on the environment, particularly as population increases and food

demand expands. The monocultures typically used in intensive agriculture increase

the number of pests, which are controlled through pesticides. Integrated pest

management (IPM), which "has been promoted for decades and has had some

notable successes" has not significantly affected the use of pesticides because

policies encourage the use of pesticides and IPM is knowledge-intensive.

Although the "Green Revolution" significantly increased rice yields in Asia, yield

increases have not occurred in the past 1520 years. The genetic "yield potential"

has increased for wheat, but the yield potential for rice has not increased since

1966, and the yield potential for maize has "barely increased in 35 years". It takes a

decade or two for herbicide-resistant weeds to emerge, and insects become
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resistant to insecticides within about a decade. Crop rotation helps to prevent

resistances.

Agricultural exploration expeditions, since the late 19th century, have been

mounted to find new species and new agricultural practices in different areas of the

world. Two early examples of expeditions include Frank N. Meyer's fruit- and nut-

collecting trip to China and Japan from 1916-1918 and the Dorsett-Morse Oriental

Agricultural Exploration Expedition to China, Japan, and Korea from 1929-1931 to

collect soybean germplasm to support the rise in soybean agriculture in the United

States.

TYPES OF AGRICULTURE

Agro-ecology

Broadly stated, it is the study of the role of agriculture in the world. It is the study

oftherelation of agricultural crops and environment. 1 Agro-ecology provides an

Interdisciplinary framework with which to study the activity of agriculture. In this

frame work, agriculture does not exist as an isolated entity, but as part of an

ecology of contexts. Agro-ecology draws upon basic ecological principles for its

conceptual framework.

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, thestudy of relationships between organisms and their environment. It refers to the

ability of a farm to produce food indefinitely, without causing severe or

irreversible damage to ecosystem health.2 two key issues are biophysical.

(The long-term effects of various practices on soil properties and processes

essential for crop productivity) and socio-economic (the long-term ability of

farmers to obtain inputs and manage resources such as labor). SA integrates three


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main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming

communities.

Satisfy human food and fiber needs

Make the most efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm

resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and

controls

Sustain the economic viability of farm operations

Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

Sustainable Agriculture in the United States was addressed by the 1990 farm bill.

More recently, as consumer and retail demand for sustainable products has risen,

organizations such as Food Alliance and Protected Harvest have started to provide

measurement standards and certification programs for what constitutes asustainably grown crop.

Economics

Socioeconomic aspects of sustainability are also partly understood. Regarding less

concentrated farming, the best known analysis is Netting's study on smallholder

systems through history. The Oxford Sustainable Group defines sustainability in this

context in a much broader form, considering effect on all stakeholders in a 360

degree approach. Given the finite supply ofnatural resources at any specific cost and

location, agriculture that is inefficient or damaging to needed resources mayeventually exhaust the available resources or the ability to afford and acquire them.

It may also generate negativeexternality, such as pollution as well as financial and

production costs.

The way that crops are sold must be accounted for in the sustainability equation.

Food sold locally does not require additional energy for transportation (including

consumers). Food sold at a remote location, whether at a farmers' market or the

supermarket, incurs a different set of energy cost formaterials, labour, and transport.

Urban agriculture/ Peri-urban agriculture
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An urban farm in Chicago

Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food

in, or around (peri-urban), a village, town or city3. Urban farming is generally

practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities though in some

communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture

contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first, it increases the

amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh

vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban consumers.

History of urban agriculture

Community wastes were used in ancient Persia to feed urban farming. In Machu

Picchu water was conserved and reused as part of the stepped architecture of the

city and vegetable beds were designed to gather sun in order to prolong the

growing season. Allotment gardens came up in Germany in the early 19th century as

a response to poverty and food insecurity. Victory gardens sprouted during WWI,

WWII and were fruit, vegetable, and herb gardens in US, Canada, and UK. This

effort was undertaken by citizens to reduce pressure on food production that was to

support the war effort. Community gardening in most communities are open to the

public and provide space for citizens to cultivate plants for food or recreation. Acommunity gardening program that is well-established is Seattle's P-Patch. The

grass roots Perm culture movement has been hugely influential in the renaissance

of urban agriculture throughout the world.
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Urban agricultural facts

A tidy front yard flower and vegetable garden in Aretxabaleta, the Basque Country

50% of the worlds population lives in cities.

800 million people are involved in urban agriculture world-wide and

contribute to feeding urban residents. Low income urban dwellers spend between 40% and 60% of their income on

food each year.]

By 2015 about 26 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 10

million or more. To feed a city of this size at least 6000 tonnes of food

must be imported each day.

250 million hungry people in the world live in cities.

Organic Agriculture

Organic agriculturerefers to the concept and practice of agricultural farming

which is a ecologically sustainable system focused on production using

biological processes. Organic agriculture avoids the use of synthetic pesticides

and genetically modified organisms (GMO) and emphasizes on sustainable

agriculture to maintain the fertility of the soil as well as the health of the

livestock raised without drug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretxabaletahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)http://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/assignments/Urban_agriculture.htm#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aretxabaleta-apts-and-garden-4618.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretxabaletahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)http://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/assignments/Urban_agriculture.htm#cite_note-9


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Conservation Agriculture

Conservation Agriculture is a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop

production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and

sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment (FAO2008)5. The first key principle in CA is practicing minimum mechanical soil

disturbance which is essential to maintaining minerals within the soil, stopping

erosion, and preventing water loss from occurring within the soil. The second key

principle in CA is much like the first principle in dealing with protecting the soil.

The principle of managing the top soil to create a permanent organic soil cover can

allow for growth of organisms within the soil structure. This growth will break

down the mulch that is left on the soil surface. The breaking down of this mulch

will produce a high organic matter level which will act as a fertilizer for the soil

surface. The third and final principle that is exercised by the FAO is the practice ofcrop rotation with more than two crop species. This process will not allow pests

such as insects and weeds to be set into rotation with specific crops. Rotational

crops will act as a natural insecticide and herbicide against specific crops.

Conventional agriculture most commonly practiced in the United States,

and usually involves the following criteria:

altering or changing the natural environment (removing trees, tilling the soil,

installing an irrigation system, etc .mono-cropping, or planting one crop (ex: only

corn is grown in a plot).the crops grown are nonrenewable- after harvesting, the

plot is bare again and requires cultivation (tilling and plowing of the soil),

fertilization, planting, irrigation (watering), and harvesting all over again. Diversity


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is eliminated in order to maintain uniformity using insecticides and pesticides to

keep insects and animals from eating the crops; these chemicals are not only

poisonous to insects, animals and humans, they also pollute ground water, streams,

rivers, and oceans. Using inorganic fertilizers to provide nutrients to the soil a lot

of energy and work for the farmer to maintain this unnatural farming system;

nature is more aligned with diversity (it wants to be wild), rather than controlled

and uniform.

Industrial agriculture

Industrial agriculture is defined as a modern form of capital intensive farming in

which the machinery and purchased are substituted for the labor of human beings

and animals. Industrial agriculture requires huge amounts of innovation in

agriculture machinery and their utilization, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides,

genetic technology, large amounts of irrigation water and creates new markets for

consumption. The method of industrial agriculture is used mostly in the developed

countries.

Properties of Industrial Agriculture:

Monoculture- Industrial agriculture derives its profits from economies of scale

that is achieved through practicing monoculture. Monoculture is the procedure of

growing a single crop year after year. It reduces the production costs significantly

and thus help the farmer to earn a higher share of profit.


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Pest prone- In the absence of crop rotation, industrial agriculture has a tendency to

get attacked by pests and weeds. This asks for huge reliance on pesticides and

other chemicals to get rid of them. For similar reasons, a huge amount of fertilizers

is also required.

Unhealthy livestock- Industrial agriculture is practiced over large arable lands.

This needs a huge amount of livestock also. Often the livestocks are kept in filthy

conditions thus making them susceptible to communicable diseases.

Practiced frequently- In United States, almost all major commodity crops are

grown under industrial agriculture. However the practice of monoculture is

frequently discontinued.

Precision agriculture

Precision Farming is a new technology that allows farmers to look at their fields

more site specifically than before and apply inputs in a manner more specific than

a blanket

application. This technology saves money while holding or enhancing yield output

of the

field. Environmental pollution is also be reduced using this method6. Precision

agriculture uses ICT to cover the three aspects of production namely for data

collection of information input through options as Global Positioning System

(GPS) satellite data, grid soil sampling, yield monitoring, remote sensing, etc; for

data analysis or processing through Geographic Information System (GIS) and

decision technologies as process models, artificial intelligence systems, and expert

systems; and for application of information by farmers.

Bio-dynamic agriculture/ecological agriculture


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Biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming that has its basis in a

spiritual

world-view (anthroposophy, first propounded by Rudolf Steiner), treats farms as

unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development

and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing

system8 . Regarded by some proponents as the first modern ecological farming

system, biodynamic farming includes organic agriculture's emphasis on manures

and composts and exclusion of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants.

Methods unique to the biodynamic approach includehe use of fermented herbal and

mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays and the use of an

astronomical sowing and planting calendar.

Slash and Burn (swidden) agriculture

Slash and burn agriculture is the process of cutting down the vegetation in a

particular plot of land, setting fire to the remaining foliage, and using the ashes to

provide nutrients to the soil for use of planting food crops.

The cleared area following slash and burn, also known as swidden, is used for a

relatively short period of time, and then left alone for a longer period of time so

that vegetation can grow again. For this reason, this type of agriculture is also

known as shifting cultivation.

Generally, the following steps are taken in slash and burn agriculture:

1. Prepare the field by cutting down vegetation; plants that provide food or timber

may be left standing.

2. The downed vegetation is allowed to dry until just before the rainiest part of the

year to ensure an effective burn.

3. The plot of land is burned to remove vegetation, drive away pests, and provide a

burst of nutrients for planting.

4. Planting is done directly in the ashes left after the burn.

Cultivation (the preparation of land for planting crops) on the plot is done for a few

years, until the fertility of the formerly burned land is reduced. The plot is left


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alone for longer than it was cultivated, sometimes up to 10 or more years, to allow

wild vegetation to grow on the plot of land. When vegetation has grown again, the

slash and burn process may be repeated.

Geography of Slash and Burn Agriculture

Places where open lands for farming is not readily available because of dense

vegetation are the places where slash and burn agriculture is practiced most often.

These regions include central Africa, northern South America, and Southeast Asia,

and typically within grasslands and rainforests.

Slash and burn is a method of agriculture primarily used by tribal communities for

subsistence farming (farming to survive). Humans have practiced this method for

about 12,000 years, ever since the transition known as the Neolithic Revolution,the time when humans stopped hunting and gathering and started to stay put and

grow crops. Today, between 200 and 500 million people, or up to 7% of the

worlds population, uses slash and burn agriculture.

When used properly, slash and burn agriculture provides communities with a

source of food and income. Slash and burn allows for people to farm in places

where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low

soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons.

Intensive agriculture

Intensive farming orintensive agriculture is an agricultural production system

characterized by the high inputs ofcapital, labour, or heavy usage of technologies

such aspesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area.

This is in contrast to many sorts ofsustainable agriculture such as organic farming or

extensive agriculture, which involve a relatively low input of labour, relative to the

area of land farmed, and which focus on maintaining long-term ecological health

of farmland, so that it can be farmed indefinitely.
http://geography.about.com/od/climate/a/rainforests.htmhttp://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/aggeography.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculturalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_(economics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticideshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_agriculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_agriculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensive_agriculturehttp://geography.about.com/od/climate/a/rainforests.htmhttp://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/aggeography.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculturalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_(economics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticideshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_agriculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensive_agriculture


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REFRENCES

www.google.com

www.yahoo.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.EconomyWatch.com

www.eHome.com
http://www.google.com/http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/http://www.economywatch.com/http://www.ehome.com/http://www.google.com/http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/http://www.economywatch.com/http://www.ehome.com/