Description

What are Agriculture and types of agriculture?

Agriculture is the general term for all the activities involved in cultivating livestock and crops to supply food and supplies that people use and appreciate. Agriculture which includes developing the soil and raising livestock is a part of agriculture. It also encompasses the study of plants.

All over the world people have engaged in agriculture for hundreds of years. Nowadays thanks to modern agricultural developments and advanced plant science techniques Canada has produced some of the best yields of crops globally giving our farmers a competitive edge in the world.

4 main types of agriculture:

There are 4 main types of agriculture which are described below.

Pastoral farming is the practice of the herding of animals

The Shifting Cultivation It is the process of rotating of crops

Subsistence agriculture It is a practice of cultivating crops and raising livestock to be used for personal consumption and without any surplus to trade

Intensive farming Intensive agriculture focuses on increasing the inputs and output that results per acre of land

Currently agricultural production can be divided into commercial and subsistence which correlate to less developed and developed regions. One of the most significant differences between more delicate and less advanced areas is how individuals obtain the food they need to survive.

In developing nations farmers make up most of the population and provide their families with the food they need to survive. Less than 5% of individuals living in North America are farmers. They can create a massive excess of food and grow enough for the rest of North Americas population.

What is Intensive Farming?

The mechanization and intensification of agriculture methods based on maximizing the yields of the land available through the heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are called intensive farming.

Industrialization and intensification have also been used in raising livestock which includes billions of animals including pigs cows and chickens.

Intensive farming methods produce more food and food that is cheaper per animal and acre which has helped feed the growing human population.

However intensified farming poses an environmental threat as it has destroyed ecosystems and caused global warming. It has also resulted in new pests threatening the natural environment.

The proper measures must be considered before intensive farming in a particular place.

Pastoral Farming:

Pastoral Farming also known as animal husbandry involves livestock animals such as chickens goats camels yaks bovines sheep and bovines.

They are not only fantastic sources of proteinaceous animal meat but they also offer eggs milk leather as well as fiber. There are a variety of types of pastoralism.

One is nomadic in which humans move along with herds looking for grasslands suitable for grading some herders move seasonally to find new pastures and the pastoral branch known as transhumance is similar to herders in that they shift between lower and higher ranges.

As a crucial component of the agricultural sector pastoralists face problems and are particularly susceptible to natural and artificial disasters. One of these risks is the diminishing availability of pastures.

In addition to the unpredictable weather other issues that can be encountered in pastoral communities could be the competition for land ways like growing sedentary farming or the growth of other agricultural ventures like the conversion of land into things like an animal sanctuary or game reserves.

Wildlife parks create the possibility of competition for precious natural resources. The kind of pastoralism considered about the other is determined by the climate.

Subsistence agriculture:

The process of growing food that farmers consume is usually found in underdeveloped nations. Small-scale agriculture or subsistence farming is primarily for the farmers family. Food products could be sold if there is an excess. That isnt typical though. The main objective is to make money.

Extensive subsistence agriculture which mainly relies on animals for power and is typically practiced in tropical humid places all over the world can be characterized as the most common form of agriculture in the world.

The extensive efforts made to alter the landscape to increase food production demonstrate this type of farming. With little area and little waste as the name suggests this subsistence farming is very labor-intensive for the farmer. It is pervasive in East South and Southeast Asia with high population density and sparse land use.

The most frequent type of rice field is wet but it can also be fields that are not wet such as barley and wheat. In areas with sunny weather and more extended seasons farmers may effectively have two harvests per year from one field known as two harvestings.

Shift cultivation is a different kind of subsistence farming when farmers move to new locations every few years to cultivate new land. The fertility of the ground can be decreased by developing a plot of land and fertile soil that has been cleared loses some of its productivity after several harvests.

At the beginning of the farming revolution the shifting cultivation method was a typical agriculture technique.

Shifting Cultivation:

There are two main types of shifting cultivation explained below.

Farmers have to remove and burn the soil using a technique known as slash and burn agriculture. Slashing the land is a way to clear space while burning natural vegetation helps to fertilize the soil.

Before the soil is depleted of nutrients farmers can only cultivate their crops on the cleared ground for two to three years. Then they need to shift and remove a fresh chunk of earth. After the native vegetation has been established for 5–20 years it may return to its original location.

The most popular crops grown by shifting agriculture are millet corn and sugarcane. Another distinctive characteristic of LDCs is that they dont own their area instead local chiefs or the council control the land.

Slash-and-burn farming has been a significant cause of deforestation across the globe. To combat the issue of deforestation and protect species we must tackle the root causes of hunger and poverty.

The second revolution in agriculture coincided with its being a part of the Industrial Revolution it was an era that took agriculture past subsistence to produce the types of surpluses that were needed to feed a multitude of workers working in factories not agriculture fields.

Innovative farming techniques and equipment introduced in the latter part of the 1800s and into the early 1900s led to healthier diets and longer lives. They helped to sustain the second revolution in agriculture. The railroad was instrumental in bringing farming into new areas like the United States Great Plains.

According to the geographer John Hudson the railroads and agriculture were of utmost significance in the regions shift from vast plains to private farmsteads. Tractors combiners and other farm machinery were later developed thanks to the internal combustion engine.

Farmers could buy the most modern equipment because of innovative banking and lending techniques. Johann Heinrich von Thunen (1983–1850) participated in the second agricultural revolution in the 1800s. The Von Thunen Model which he developed is frequently regarded as the pioneering investigation into the spatial basis of economic activity. This marked the start of industrial agriculture.

The majority of developed countries have commercial agriculture with the goal of producing food products that are sold on the international market. Commercial agriculture produces food but it is not sold to consumers directly instead it is given to a corporation that processes the food and turns it into a finished good. This has effects and includes food.

One of the most exciting differences between emerging nations and the majority of industrialized countries (MDC) concerning agriculture is the percentage of the workforce who farm. In emerging nations it is common to see that over half the population are subsistence farmers.

When it comes to MDCs similar to that of the United States the workforce of farmers is lower than half. Within the United States alone less than 2 percent of the population is farmers. Yet they possess the necessary knowledge skills and technology to provide for the country.

One reason why less than 2 percent of the United States workforce can feed the entire country has to do with the use of machinery which can harvest crops on an enormous scale and quickly. MDCs also access transportation networks that allow dairy products to be perishable over long distances within a short period.

Commercial farmers depend on modern advances in science and technology to yield more yields. This includes crop rotation herbicides fertilizers and hybrid animals and plants. Another type of commercial agriculture that is found in tropical climates that are warm and humid is plantations.

The term plantation is a vast-scale farming operation that is usually focused on developing a particular crop like coffee tobacco tea rubber sugar cane and cotton just to mention some. These types of farming are common in LDCs. However they are usually controlled by corporations located in MDCs.

Plantations are also known to import workers and offer food water and shelter for those who work all year round. This blog is based on the information and you can also download agriculture-related MCQs from this webpage. These MCQs are up-to-date and useful for entry tests interview questions answers etc. Shear this content with your friends. We will update content with the time for our users. Below this page you will find a download button. Just click and download the agriculture MCQs book.