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What is Agriculture?
Agriculture is the science, art and industry of managing the
growth of plants and animals for make use of by humans. In
general, agriculture includes soil cultivation, growing and
harvesting crops, raising and breeding livestock, dairy, and
forestry (Crop Farming, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Farming,
Forestry, Poultry Farming, Soil Management).
Modern Agriculture
Engineering and technology is heavily utilized in modern
agriculture. Biological and physical sciences are also advancing
agricultural production. Fields requiring specialized
understanding of agricultural engineers includes, but not
limited to Irrigation, Drainage, Conservation, and Sanitary
Engineering.
One area of agriculture where plant production is advancing
rapidly is Hydroponics; a method for growing plants without soil
- Usually in an inert media such as Rockwool and fed
re-circulated, Oxygen and nutrient rich water solution.
Because Hydroponics is not dependent on soil, this advance plant
cultivation method will allow many people in extremely dry
regions like parts of Africa, for example, to cultivate plants
for food and other resources. Hydroponics can also increase food
production -a concern for the growing population.
Plant genetics and breeding offers nice benefits to farm
productivity. Genetics has also turned livestock breeding into a
science.
Agricultural Chemistry
Agricultural chemistry is associated with other important
farming concerns like fertilizer application, insecticides or
pest control, fungicides, soil composition, agricultural
products analysis, and nutritional requirements of farm animals.
Packaging, Processing & Marketing
Science has also revolutionized the way we pack, process and
market agricultural products. For example, dehydration and
quick-freezing have increased farm products markets (Food
Processing, Preservation, Meat Packing).
Technology
Agriculture used to be a laborious task and still is, however,
late 19th- and 20th century technological advancement has
simplified much of the backbreaking toil of farming. Moreover,
mechanization (Agricultural Machinery) has greatly increased the
efficiency and productivity of farming. |
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