What is Agriculture . Things you should know about Agriculture

What is Agriculture.

The arts and sciences of agriculture involve cultivating soil, growing crops, and raising livestock. In conclusion, it consists of preparing animal and plant products for human consumption and their distribution to markets.

Farming provides the majority of food and fabrics for the world. Agricultural products include wood for construction and paper, cotton, wool, leather, etc. 

Agriculture methods and products can vary from one country to another. Farmers are passionate about agriculture, which is their livelihood and their passion.

Why is Agriculture important.

World agriculture is an essential source of livelihood.

Despite the hard work involved, it helps secure food security and maintains the nation’s health.

Agriculture constituted most of the economy until the industrial revolution. An economy’s primary sector, including agriculture and other activities, makes up a significant part of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Many farmers depend on agriculture for their income, despite many new commercial options.

It is a peaceful and eco-friendly method of livelihood.

Humanity relies heavily on it for its livelihood. 

Agriculture provides the livelihood for millions in developing nations.

Agribusiness extends beyond agriculture alone to dairy, poultry, fishing, beekeeping, and other related activities.

When alternative farming methods are combined, the farming industry becomes more profitable.

Future of agriculture: Digital Farming Technology

The digital farming industry offers the agricultural industry new tools and information to make more informed decisions and increase productivity. It combines agriculture technology with farm production and reduces the losses for more info –Digital Farming

Branches of Agriculture 

Agricultural science focuses on food production and fiber production.

Agriculture is a multi-disciplinary field comprising natural, social, and economic sciences that serve to understand and practice agriculture.

It involves research and development.

 Entomology

Horticulture

Plant Breeding and Genetics

Soil Science

Plant Pathology

Management of irrigation techniques (for example)

Minimizing pest effects on crops as well as animal production systems.

Quantity and quality of agricultural production improved.

Product conversion from primary to end-use products

Preventing as well as managing adverse environmental conditions (such as soil degradation, management of waste products, and bio-remediation)

Theoretical production ecology that relates to crop production modeling

Traditional agricultural processes are often termed subsistence agriculture, which allows feeding most of the poorest people in the world.

They are identifying food demand and production globally, focusing on leading producers.

The major branches of agriculture include

In a nutshell, there are five major branches:

Agronomy

Horticulture

Agricultural engineering

Animal science

Agricultural economics

What Is Agricultural Production.

The purpose of agricultural production is to cultivate plants and animals to produce merchandise for human consumption. People use a staggering array of agricultural products every day-from the clothes they wear to the paper on which they write. 

There are four groups of agricultural products: foods, fuels, fibers, and raw materials. Only a small portion of the planet’s land is used for crop production, and more than a quarter is used for animal pastures.

Food

Food products are grains and cereals. Depending on the crops, a portion is converted to feed for animals that produce dairy products, such as milk, or used by humans and other animals. Another example of a food product is honey.

Fuel

Agricultural products can also provide fuel. Corn, sugarcane, or sorghum are the most widely used agriculturally based fuels.

Byproducts of agricultural production can be used to reinforce plastics and textiles, for instance.

Fiber

Textile fibers include cotton (one of the top ten crops produced in the United States every year), silk, textile hemp, flax, and bamboo fiber. Fabric, rope, and linen can be made from hemp, flax, and bamboo fibers.

Raw Materials

A raw material is a product that has not been refined or processed for use in one of the other categories. 

Animal feed is produced by growing plants.

How Does Agricultural Production Work? 

Plants are grown as part of a multi-purpose system. Companies which specialize in processing the crops for their intended purposes acquire the crops, which are then sold to manufacturers and distributors.

The primary guideline for what constitutes an agricultural product is as follows:

Whether raw or processed, any agricultural commodity or product, including any item or product derived from livestock, is marketed in the United States for human or livestock consumption. 

Businesses involved in agricultural production include:

• Breeding operations
• Crop and animal farms

• Nurseries and Greethat grow their products to be sold at retail 

• The product was sold at retail and was not replanted somewhere else by the grower.

Agricultural production does not include:

• Keeping raw materials before they are used in production.
• Storing, preserving, or moving finished goods
• Agricultural products are stored or processed at cooperatives, dairies, or meatpackers.
• Personal animal husbandry

Agricultural Production Activities

Agricultural activities include:

• Growing crops, raising animals, and raising soil: Agriculture.
• The farming of aquatic animals in private (fish)
• Floriculture: growing flowers
• Plants, fruits, and vegetables are cultivated in horticulture.
• Syrup harvesting
• Silviculture: the cultivation and care of trees

Top 10 Agriculture Farming Tools in India

1Tarpaulin

Usually used for farming in India’s summer weather, tarpaulins are huge, flexible sheets. Tarpaulins are mainly used in the summertime. Currently, there are three types of Tarpaulins available in the market, tarpaulins fabrics, HDPE tarpaulins, and cotton canvas tarpaulins. 

2. Sprayers

Farmers use sprayers to protect their crops from pests. Sprayers are available in several versions in the market, including petrol, battery, backpack, Knapsack, and manual sprayers. 

The sprayers are used for spraying pesticides and fertilizers in farming areas. Insect control and pest control made these systems a very effective agricultural tool. Today, they are widely used.

3. Brush Cutter

Brush cutters are useful agricultural tools. They were used for trimming trees, cutting crops, cutting weeds, and cutting foliage. There are three types of brush cutters: Handheld, Walk-Behind, and Tow-Behind. A brushcutter has a motor that generates energy for its rotary cutting head. The brush cutter blade, handle and shaft of the brush cutter can be found as parts of the trimmer head.

4. The Power Weeder

It is used to remove weeds from vegetable gardens, vineyards, and orchards.

The power weeders come with diesel engines. With the ability to attach various attachments, power weeders are very versatile.

5. Power Tiller

Power tillers are used to cultivate land for weeding, planting, cultivation, and tillage. They are powered by electric motors and feature a wheeled housing.

6. Power Reaper

 They are useful tools. It can cut crops and harvest them. Large tyers enable Power reaper to work on uneven terrain with ease.

7. Earth Auger

A digging tool that is used for digging into the ground or surface. The blade of this screw rotates.

 Farmers use the earth auger to dig holes in the ground for plantation purposes.  

An earth auger can dig the ground faster and takes less time.

 This machine comes in different sizes and petrol variants and can dig to a depth of approximately 2.8- 3 feet in the ground.

 Trimmers and mowers

They are primarily used in gardening to cut and trim the crops.

 A string trimmer cleans the lawn in a different variation, and a hedge trimmer trims hedges and gives the perfect shape. This machine is eco-friendly and easy to use.

9. Accessory for Farms 

 An accessory for a farm is an item attached to a farm tool. Tractors and other machines can be equipped with these accessories. Those innovations provide smoothness when working on a farm that ensures longer work, higher productivity, less worry, and other advantages. Farm tools are the innovations that provide a long and productive workday.

10. Plough

 A plough is a farming tool used for loosening soil and for planting and sowing seeds. Typically, it is made of wood or steel with a blade to loosen soil and cut it.

 What is Fertilizer.

A substance that aids the growth and productivity of plants by containing chemical elements. 

It replenishes chemicals removed by previous crops from the soil or enhances natural fertility in the ground/soil.

The fertilizers are classified based on nutrient elements like Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK) present chemically in the compounds.

Organic Fertilizer

Bio Fertilizer 

Types of Fertilizer 

Chemical Fertilizer

Composed and Vermicompost 

 Fertilizer is the most widely used material in agriculture. There are roughly three types of fertilizers based on their production process: chemical, organic, and biological.

CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

Agricultural chemicals that are used to boost crop yield are referred to as chemical fertilizers. Fertilizers can be “nitrogenous” – containing nitrogen – or phosphate-based, or potassium-based.

ORGANIC FERTILIZERS

Organic fertilizers are made from materials that occur regularly in nature, usually due to a natural process.

Like any fertilizer, organic fertilizers typically provide the three primary macronutrients required by plants: Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. 

BIOFERTILIZER

Biofertilizers are types of fertilizers that contain living microorganisms, which enrich the soil’s nutrient content.

Microbes in biofertilizers help increase the supply of essential nutrients to plants and trees by promoting plant and tree growth. For more information about biofertilizer

TYPES OF FARMING 

1. Subsistence Farming:

Subsistence farming in the country.

There are small and scattered land holdings, and primitive tools are used. Since the farmers are poor, they do not use fertilizers or high-yielding varieties of seeds to the extent they should.

2. Shifting Agriculture:

To clear forest land, trees are cut and burned.

A field is cleared, and crops are grown for two to three years before the soil loses its fertility, and the field is abandoned.

A similar process occurs when the farmers relocate to another area.

3. Plantation Agriculture:

Plantation farming is bush or tree farming. It consists of rubber, tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, coconuts, and fruit crops like apples, grapes, and oranges.

Hilly regions of north-star India, West Bengal, and peninsular India are home to this type of agriculture.

4. Intensive Farming : 

Farmers have used chemical fertilizers and pesticides on a large scale in areas with irrigation, along with high-yield seeds and machines.

This type of farming is characterized by a low fallow ratio and a higher input per unit of land areas, such as capital and labor. 

5.Dry Agriculture:

Farming without irrigation, or dry-land farming, may refer to the practice of growing crops in areas with little rainfall or no annual rainfall at all.

6. Mixed and Multiple Agriculture:

A mixed farm cultivates crops and raises animals at the same time. When two crops are grown together, it is referred to as multiple farming.

7. Crop Rotation:

It is a method of cultivating crops one after another in a circular pattern to maintain soil fertility. Some areas rotate their crops in a year, while others may take longer.

8. Terrace Cultivation:

Terraces are cut into mountain peaks and used like permanent farms. Decks are used to provide small patches of level land since flat land is scarce.