View source for Agriculture

{{Short description|Cultivation of plants and animals to produce foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials}}
{{redirect|Farming}}
{{About|agriculture for humans|agriculture for ants|Agriculture in ants}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
[[File:PivotWithDrops.JPG|thumb|Modern agriculture: a [[center pivot irrigation]] system on a field]]
{{Agriculture}}
'''Agriculture''' is the practice of cultivating the soil, planting, raising, and harvesting both food and non-food crops, as well as [[livestock]] production. Broader definitions also include [[forestry]] and [[aquaculture]]. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of [[sedentism|sedentary]] human [[civilization]], whereby farming of [[domestication|domesticated]] plants and animals created food [[economic surplus|surpluses]] that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, [[industrial agriculture]] based on large-scale [[monoculture]]s came to dominate agricultural output.

{{as of|2021}}, [[smallholding|small farms]], of which the vast majority are one hectare (about 2.5 acres) or smaller, produce about one-third of the world's food. Moreover, five of every six farms in the world consist of fewer than {{cvt|2|hectare}} and take up only around 12% of all agricultural land.<ref name=":2" /> In terms of total land use, large farms are dominant.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Lowder |first1=Sarah K. |last2=Sánchez |first2=Marco V. |last3=Bertini |first3=Raffaele |date=1 June 2021 |title=Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated? |journal=[[World Development (journal)|World Development]] |language=en |volume=142 |article-number=105455 |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105455 |s2cid=233553897 |issn=0305-750X |doi-access=free}}</ref> While only 1% of all farms globally are greater than {{cvt|50|hectare}}, they encompass more than 70% of the world's farmland.<ref name=":2" /> Further, nearly 40% of all global agricultural land is found on farms larger than {{cvt|1,000|hectare}}.<ref name=":2" />  

Farms and farming greatly influence [[rural economics]] and greatly shape [[rural society]], affecting both the direct [[agricultural workforce]] and broader [[agribusiness|businesses]] that support the farms and farming populations.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into [[food]]s, [[fiber]]s, [[fuel]]s, and [[raw material]]s (such as [[natural rubber|rubber]] and [[timber]]). Food classes include [[cereal]]s ([[grains]]), [[vegetable]]s, [[fruit]]s, [[cooking oil]]s, [[meat]], [[milk]], [[egg]]s, and [[edible mushroom|fungi]]. Global agricultural production amounts to approximately 11 billion tonnes of food,<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT. New Food Balance Sheets |url=https://fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBS |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=12 July 2021 |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104164114/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBS |url-status=live}}</ref> 32 million tonnes of natural fibers<ref>{{Cite web |title=Discover Natural Fibres Initiative – DNFI.org |url=https://dnfi.org/ |website=dnfi.org |access-date=3 February 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410102509/https://dnfi.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and 4 billion m<sup>3</sup> of wood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT. Forestry Production and Trade |url=http://fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FO |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=12 July 2021 |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104164114/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FO |url-status=live}}</ref> However, around 14% of the world's food is lost from production before reaching the retail level.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en |title=In Brief: The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |year=2023 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc4140en |isbn=978-92-5-137588-4 |access-date=4 January 2024 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927144130/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en |url-status=live}}</ref>

Modern [[agronomy]], [[plant breeding]], [[agrochemical]]s such as [[pesticide]]s and [[fertilizer]]s, and technological developments have sharply increased [[crop yield]]s, but also contributed to [[Environmental impact of agriculture|ecological and environmental damage]]. [[Selective breeding]] and modern practices in [[animal husbandry]] have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about [[animal welfare]] and environmental damage. Environmental issues include [[greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture|contributions to climate change]], depletion of [[aquifer]]s, [[deforestation]], [[antibiotic resistance]], and [[Agricultural pollution|other agricultural pollution]]. Agriculture is both a cause of and sensitive to [[environmental degradation]], such as [[biodiversity loss]], [[desertification]], [[soil degradation]], and [[climate change]], all of which can cause decreases in crop yield. [[Genetically modified organism]]s are widely used, although [[Regulation of genetic engineering|some countries ban them]].

{{anchor|Etymology|Scope}}

== Etymology and scope ==
{{further|Horticulture#Scope}}
The word ''agriculture'' is a late [[Middle English]] adaptation of Latin {{lang |la |agricultūra}}, from {{lang |la |ager}} 'field' and {{lang |la |cultūra}} '[[Tillage|cultivation]]' or 'growing'.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_x2z7/page/14 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-863121-7 |editor-last=Chantrell |editor-first=Glynnis |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_x2z7/page/14 14] |url-access=registration}}</ref> While agriculture usually refers to human activities, certain species of [[Attine ants|ant]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=St. Fleur |first1=Nicholas |title=An Ancient Ant-Bacteria Partnership to Protect Fungus |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 October 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/science/ants-fungus-amber.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/science/ants-fungus-amber.html |archive-date=1 January 2022 |url-access=limited |access-date=14 July 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Hongjie |last2=Sosa Calvo |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Horn |first3=Heidi A. |last4=Pupo |first4=Mônica T. |last5=Clardy |first5=Jon |last6=Rabeling |first6=Cristian |last7=Schultz |first7=Ted R. |last8=Currie |first8=Cameron R. |title=Convergent evolution of complex structures for ant–bacterial defensive symbiosis in fungus-farming ants |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=2018 |volume=115 |issue=42 |page=10725 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1809332115 |pmid=30282739 |pmc=6196509 |bibcode=2018PNAS..11510720L |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424}}</ref> [[termite]] and [[ambrosia beetle|beetle]] have been cultivating crops for up to 60 million years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mueller |first1=Ulrich G. |last2=Gerardo |first2=Nicole M. |author-link2=Nicole Gerardo |last3=Aanen |first3=Duur K. |last4=Six |first4=Diana L. |author-link4=Diana Six |last5=Schultz |first5=Ted R. |date=December 2005 |title=The Evolution of Agriculture in Insects |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |volume=36 |pages=563–595 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.102003.152626}}</ref> Agriculture is defined with varying scopes, in its broadest sense using natural resources to "produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops, and their related services".<ref name=Maine /> Thus defined, it includes [[arable farming]], horticulture, [[animal husbandry]] and [[forestry]], but horticulture and forestry are in practice often excluded.<ref name="Maine">{{cite web |title=Definition of Agriculture |url=http://www.maine.gov/education/aged/definition.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323075557/http://www.maine.gov/education/aged/definition.html |archive-date=23 March 2012 |access-date=6 May 2013 |publisher=State of Maine}}</ref>
It may also be broadly decomposed into '''plant agriculture''', which concerns the cultivation of useful plants,<ref name="Stevenson1971">{{cite journal |last=Stevenson |first=G. C. |title=Plant Agriculture Selected and introduced by Janick Jules and Others San Francisco: Freeman (1970), pp. 246, £2.10 |journal=Experimental Agriculture |publisher=Cambridge University Press (CUP) |volume=7 |issue=4 |year=1971 |issn=0014-4797 |doi=10.1017/s0014479700023371 |page=363 |s2cid=85571333}}</ref> and '''animal agriculture''', the production of agricultural animals.<ref name="Herren2012">{{cite book |last=Herren |first=R.V. |title=Science of Animal Agriculture |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-133-41722-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fQIAAAAQBAJ |access-date=1 May 2022 |page= |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531005013/https://books.google.com/books?id=-fQIAAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Vavilov-centers updated.jpg|thumb |upright=1.35 |{{leftlegend|#000000|[[Center of origin|Centres of origin]], as numbered by [[Nikolai Vavilov]] in the 1930s.}}{{leftlegend|#a0a0a0| Area 3 is no longer recognized as a center of origin}} {{leftlegend|#f6501c|[[New Guinea]] (area P) was identified more recently.}}<ref name=Larson2014 /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Denham |first1=T. P. |title=Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea |journal=Science |volume=301 |issue=5630 |year=2003 |pages=189–193 |doi=10.1126/science.1085255 |pmid=12817084 |s2cid=10644185 |doi-access=free}}</ref>]]
{{Main|History of agriculture}}

=== Origins ===
{{Main|Neolithic Revolution}}
The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by [[hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]].<ref name=Bocquet-Appel>{{cite journal |author=Bocquet-Appel, Jean-Pierre |title=When the World's Population Took Off: The Springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition |journal=Science |date=29 July 2011 |volume=333 |issue=6042 |pages=560–561 |doi=10.1126/science.1208880 |pmid=21798934 |bibcode=2011Sci...333..560B |s2cid=29655920}}</ref> Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe,<ref name="Stephens 897–902">{{Cite journal |last1=Stephens |first1=Lucas |last2=Fuller |first2=Dorian |last3=Boivin |first3=Nicole |last4=Rick |first4=Torben |last5=Gauthier |first5=Nicolas |last6=Kay |first6=Andrea |last7=Marwick |first7=Ben |last8=Armstrong |first8=Chelsey Geralda |last9=Barton |first9=C. Michael |date=30 August 2019 |title=Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use |journal=Science |volume=365 |issue=6456 |pages=897–902 |doi=10.1126/science.aax1192 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=31467217 |hdl=10150/634688 |hdl-access=free |bibcode=2019Sci...365..897S |s2cid=201674203}}</ref> and included a diverse range of [[taxa]], in at least 11 separate [[centers of origin]].<ref name="Larson2014">{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1323964111 |title=Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies |journal=PNAS |volume=111 |issue=17 |pages=6139–6146 |year=2014 |last1=Larson |first1=G. |last2=Piperno |first2=D. R. |last3=Allaby |first3=R. G. |last4=Purugganan |first4=M. D. |last5=Andersson |first5=L. |last6=Arroyo-Kalin |first6=M. |last7=Barton |first7=L. |last8=Climer Vigueira |first8=C. |last9=Denham |first9=T. |last10=Dobney |first10=K. |last11=Doust |first11=A. N. |last12=Gepts |first12=P. |last13=Gilbert |first13=M. T. P. |last14=Gremillion |first14=K. J. |last15=Lucas |first15=L. |last16=Lukens |first16=L. |last17=Marshall |first17=F. B. |last18=Olsen |first18=K. M. |last19=Pires |first19=J.C. |last20=Richerson |first20=P. J. |last21=Rubio De Casas |first21=R. |last22=Sanjur |first22=O.I. |last23=Thomas |first23=M. G. |last24=Fuller |first24=D.Q. |doi-access=free |pmid=24757054 |pmc=4035915 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6139L}}</ref> Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Harmon |first1=Katherine |title=Humans feasting on grains for at least 100,000 years |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/humans-feasting-on-grains-for-at-least-100000-years/ |magazine=[[Scientific American]] |access-date=28 August 2016 |date=17 December 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917013143/http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/humans-feasting-on-grains-for-at-least-100000-years/ |archive-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> In the Paleolithic Levant, 23,000 years ago, cereals cultivation of [[emmer wheat|emmer]], [[barley]], and [[oats]] has been observed near the [[sea of Galilee]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Snir |first1=Ainit |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Groman-Yaroslavski |first3=Iris |last4=Melamed |first4=Yoel |last5=Sternberg |first5=Marcelo |last6=Bar-Yosef |first6=Ofer |last7=Weiss |first7=Ehud |date=22 July 2015 |title=The Origin of Cultivation and Proto-Weeds, Long Before Neolithic Farming |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=10 |issue=7 |article-number=e0131422 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0131422 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4511808 |pmid=26200895 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1031422S |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=First evidence of farming in Mideast 23,000 years ago: Evidence of earliest small-scale agricultural cultivation |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150722144709.htm |access-date=23 April 2022 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423041305/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150722144709.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Rice was [[Agriculture in China|domesticated in China]] between 11,500 and 6,200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5,700 BC,<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=17898767 |year=2007 |last1=Zong |first1=Y. |last2=When |first2=Z. |last3=Innes |first3=J. B. |last4=Chen |first4=C. |last5=Wang |first5=Z. |last6=Wang |first6=H. |title=Fire and flood management of coastal swamp enabled first rice paddy cultivation in east China |volume=449 |issue=7161 |pages=459–462 |doi=10.1038/nature06135 |journal=Nature |bibcode=2007Natur.449..459Z |s2cid=4426729 |url=https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1557880 }}</ref> followed by [[mung bean|mung]], [[soy]] and [[Azuki bean|azuki]] beans. Sheep were domesticated in [[Mesopotamia]] between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sheep and Goat Science |edition=Fifth |last=Ensminger |first=M. E. |author2=Parker, R. O. |year=1986 |publisher=Interstate Printers and Publishers |isbn=978-0-8134-2464-4}}</ref> Cattle were domesticated from the wild [[aurochs]] in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago.<ref name="McTavish">{{cite journal |author=McTavish, E. J. |author2=Decker, J. E. |author3=Schnabel, R. D. |author4=Taylor, J. F. |author5=Hillis, D. M. |year=2013 |title=New World cattle show ancestry from multiple independent domestication events |journal=PNAS |volume=110 |issue=15 |pages=E1398–1406 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1303367110 |pmid=23530234 |pmc=3625352 |bibcode=2013PNAS..110E1398M |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Domestic pig|Pig production]] emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia and Southwest Asia,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larson |first1=Greger |last2=Dobney |first2=Keith |author-link2=Keith Dobney |last3=Albarella |first3=Umberto |last4=Fang |first4=Meiying |last5=Matisoo-Smith |first5=Elizabeth |last6=Robins |first6=Judith |last7=Lowden |first7=Stewart |last8=Finlayson |first8=Heather |last9=Brand |first9=Tina |date=11 March 2005 |title=Worldwide Phylogeography of Wild Boar Reveals Multiple Centers of Pig Domestication |journal=Science |volume=307 |issue=5715 |pages=1618–1621 |doi=10.1126/science.1106927 |pmid=15761152 |bibcode=2005Sci...307.1618L |s2cid=39923483 |url=https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1572125 }}</ref> where [[wild boar]] were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larson |first1=Greger |last2=Albarella |first2=Umberto |last3=Dobney |first3=Keith |last4=Rowley-Conwy |first4=Peter |last5=Schibler |first5=Jörg |last6=Tresset |first6=Anne |last7=Vigne |first7=Jean-Denis |last8=Edwards |first8=Ceiridwen J. |last9=Schlumbaum |first9=Angela |date=25 September 2007 |title=Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe |journal=PNAS |volume=104 |issue=39 |pages=15276–15281 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0703411104 |pmid=17855556 |pmc=1976408 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10415276L |doi-access=free}}</ref> In the [[Andes]] of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, [[coca]], [[llama]]s, [[alpaca]]s, and [[guinea pig]]s. [[Sugarcane]] and some [[List of root vegetables|root vegetables]] were domesticated in [[New Guinea]] around 9,000 years ago. [[Sorghum]] was domesticated in the [[Sahel]] region of Africa by 7,000 years ago. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago,<ref name="Broudy1979">{{cite book |last=Broudy |first=Eric |title=The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shN5_-W1RzcC |year=1979 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-0-87451-649-4 |page=81 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210232500/https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Book_of_Looms.html?id=shN5_-W1RzcC |archive-date=10 February 2018 |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref> and was independently domesticated in Eurasia. [[Agriculture in Mesoamerica|In Mesoamerica]], wild [[teosinte]] was bred into [[maize]] (corn) from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/selection/corn/ |title=The Evolution of Corn |publisher=[[University of Utah]] HEALTH SCIENCES |access-date=2 January 2016 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713003706/http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/selection/corn/ }}</ref><ref name="benz">{{cite journal |title=Archaeological evidence of teosinte domestication from Guilá Naquitz, Oaxaca |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=2104–2106 |doi=10.1073/pnas.98.4.2104 |pmid=11172083 |pmc=29389 |year=2001 |last1=Benz |first1=B. F. |bibcode=2001PNAS...98.2104B |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>Johannessen, S.; Hastorf, C. A. (eds.) ''Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World'', Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.</ref> The [[horse]] was [[Domestication of the horse|domesticated]] in the [[Eurasian Steppe]]s around 3500 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dance |first1=Amber |title=The tale of the domesticated horse |journal=Knowable Magazine |date=4 May 2022 |doi=10.1146/knowable-050422-1 |doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/tale-domesticated-horse |access-date=28 October 2022 |archive-date=29 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929085943/https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/tale-domesticated-horse |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Scholars have offered multiple hypotheses to explain the historical origins of agriculture. Studies of the transition from [[hunter-gatherer]] to agricultural societies indicate an initial period of intensification and increasing [[sedentism]]; examples are the [[Natufian culture]] in the [[Levant]], and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Then, wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted, and gradually came to be domesticated.<ref>Hillman, G. C. (1996) "Late Pleistocene changes in wild plant-foods available to hunter-gatherers of the northern Fertile Crescent: Possible preludes to cereal cultivation". In D. R. Harris (ed.) ''The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia'', UCL Books, London, pp. 159–203. {{ISBN|9781857285383}}</ref><ref>Sato, Y. (2003) "Origin of rice cultivation in the Yangtze River basin". In Y. Yasuda (ed.) ''The Origins of Pottery and Agriculture'', Roli Books, New Delhi, p. 196</ref><ref name=b1>{{cite book |chapter=Australia and the Origins of Agriculture |author=Gerritsen, R. |title=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |pages=29–30 |isbn=978-1-4073-0354-3 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1896 |s2cid=129339276}}</ref>

=== Civilizations ===
[[File:Centres of origin and spread of agriculture.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Map of the world showing approximate centers of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1078208 |last1=Diamond |first1=J. |author-link1=Jared Diamond |last2=Bellwood |first2=P. |title=Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions |journal=Science |volume=300 |issue=5619 |pages=597–603 |year=2003 |pmid=12714734 |bibcode=2003Sci...300..597D |citeseerx=10.1.1.1013.4523 |s2cid=13350469}}</ref> DNA studies have shown that agriculture was introduced in [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]] by the expansion of the [[Early European Farmers|early farmers from Anatolia]] about 9,000 years ago.
<ref>{{cite news |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020 |access-date=28 October 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525055649/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
In Eurasia, the [[Sumer]]ians started to live in villages from about 8,000 BC, relying on the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers and a canal system for irrigation. [[Plough]]s appear in [[pictograph]]s around 3,000 BC; seed-ploughs around 2,300 BC. Farmers grew wheat, barley, vegetables such as lentils and onions, and fruits including dates, grapes, and figs.<ref name=BritMus>{{cite web |title=Farming |url=http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg08/home.html |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=15 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616222522/http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg08/home.html |archive-date=16 June 2016}}</ref> [[Ancient Egyptian agriculture]] relied on the [[Nile River]] and its seasonal flooding. Farming started in the predynastic period at the end of the [[Paleolithic]], after 10,000 BC. Staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as [[flax]] and [[papyrus]].<ref name=Janick>{{cite journal |author=Janick, Jules |title=Ancient Egyptian Agriculture and the Origins of Horticulture |journal=Acta Hort. |volume=583 |pages=23–39 |url=https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Hort_306/text/lec06.pdf |access-date=1 April 2018 |archive-date=25 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525073834/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Hort_306/text/lec06.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Kees, Herman |title=Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Topography |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptcult0000kees |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1961 |isbn=978-0-226-42914-4}}</ref> In [[Agriculture in India|India]], wheat, barley and [[jujube]] were domesticated by 9,000 BC, soon followed by sheep and goats.<ref name=gupta>{{cite journal |author=Gupta, Anil K. |title=Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration |url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/21961/1/333.pdf |journal=Current Science |volume=87 |issue=1 |year=2004 |page=59 |jstor=24107979 |access-date=23 April 2019 |archive-date=20 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120003139/http://repository.ias.ac.in/21961/1/333.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Cattle, sheep and goats were domesticated in [[Mehrgarh]] culture by 8,000–6,000 BC.<ref name=Baber>Baber, Zaheer (1996). ''The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilization, and Colonial Rule in India''. State University of New York Press. 19. {{ISBN|0-7914-2919-9}}.</ref><ref name=harrisandgosden385>Harris, David R. and Gosden, C. (1996). ''The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia: Crops, Fields, Flocks And Herds''. Routledge. p. 385. {{ISBN|1-85728-538-7}}.</ref><ref name=Possehl>Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). ''Mehrgarh'' in ''Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', Ed. Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press.</ref> Cotton was cultivated by the 5th–4th millennium BC.<ref>Stein, Burton (1998). ''A History of India''. Blackwell Publishing. p. 47. {{ISBN|0-631-20546-2}}.</ref> Archeological evidence indicates an animal-drawn [[plough]] from 2,500 BC in the [[Indus Valley civilisation|Indus Valley civilization]].<ref name=lal>{{Cite journal |title=Thematic evolution of ISTRO: transition in scientific issues and research focus from 1955 to 2000 |first=R. |last=Lal |journal=Soil and Tillage Research |volume=61 |issue=1–2 |date=2001 |pages=3–12 |doi=10.1016/S0167-1987(01)00184-2 |bibcode=2001STilR..61....3L}}</ref>
In China, from the 5th century BC, there was a nationwide [[granary]] system and widespread [[sericulture|silk farming]].<ref>[[#Needham|Needham]], Vol. 6, Part 2, pp. 55–57.</ref> Water-powered grain mills were in use by the 1st century BC,<ref>[[#Needham|Needham]], Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 89, 110, 184.</ref> followed by irrigation.<ref>[[#Needham|Needham]], Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 110.</ref> By the late 2nd century, [[heavy plough]]s had been developed with iron ploughshares and [[mouldboard]]s.<ref name="greenberger 2006 11-12">Greenberger, Robert (2006) ''The Technology of Ancient China'', Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 11–12. {{ISBN|1404205586}}</ref><ref>[[Wang Zhongshu]], trans. by K. C. Chang and Collaborators, ''Han Civilization'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982).</ref> These spread westwards across Eurasia.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaJlbWK_-FcC&pg=PA270 |author=Glick, Thomas F. |page=270 |title=Medieval Science, Technology And Medicine: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-96930-7 |series=Volume 11 of The Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages Series |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035807/https://books.google.com/books?id=SaJlbWK_-FcC&pg=PA270 |url-status=live}}</ref> Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago – depending on the [[molecular clock]] estimate that is used<ref name="pnas1">{{Cite journal |last1=Molina |first1=J. |last2=Sikora |first2=M. |last3=Garud |first3=N. |last4=Flowers |first4=J. M. |last5=Rubinstein |first5=S. |last6=Reynolds |first6=A. |last7=Huang |first7=P. |last8=Jackson |first8=S. |last9=Schaal |first9=B. A. |last10=Bustamante |doi=10.1073/pnas.1104686108 |first10=C. D. |last11=Boyko |first11=A. R. |last12=Purugganan |first12=M. D. |title=Molecular evidence for a single evolutionary origin of domesticated rice |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=108 |issue=20 |pages=8351–8356 |year=2011 |pmid=21536870 |pmc=3101000 |bibcode=2011PNAS..108.8351M |doi-access=free}}</ref>– on the Pearl River in southern China with a single genetic origin from the wild rice ''[[Oryza rufipogon]]''.<ref name="nature1">{{cite journal |title=A map of rice genome variation reveals the origin of cultivated rice |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/nature11532 |year=2012 |last1=Huang |first1=Xuehui |last2=Kurata |first2=Nori |last3=Wei |first3=Xinghua |last4=Wang |first4=Zi-Xuan |last5=Wang |first5=Ahong |last6=Zhao |first6=Qiang |last7=Zhao |first7=Yan |last8=Liu |first8=Kunyan |last9=Lu |first9=Hengyun |last10=Li |first10=Wenjun |last11=Gu |first11=Yunli |last12=Lu |first12=Yiqi |last13=Zhou |first13=Congcong |last14=Fan |first14=Danlin |last15=Weng |first15=Qijun |last16=Zhu |first16=Chuanrang |last17=Huang |first17=Tao |last18=Zhang |first18=Lei |last19=Wang |first19=Yongchun |last20=Feng |first20=Lei |last21=Furuumi |first21=Hiroyasu |last22=Kubo |first22=Takahiko |last23=Miyabayashi |first23=Toshie |last24=Yuan |first24=Xiaoping |last25=Xu |first25=Qun |last26=Dong |first26=Guojun |last27=Zhan |first27=Qilin |last28=Li |first28=Canyang |last29=Fujiyama |first29=Asao|last30=Toyoda |first30=Atsushi |volume=490 |issue=7421 |pages=497–501 |pmid=23034647 |pmc=7518720 |display-authors=8 |bibcode=2012Natur.490..497H |doi-access=free}}</ref> In [[Agriculture in ancient Greece|Greece<!--this is the only link to Agr of ancient Greece-->]] and [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Rome<!--this is the only link to Agr of ancient Rome-->]], the major cereals were wheat, emmer, and barley, alongside vegetables including peas, beans, and olives. Sheep and goats were kept mainly for dairy products.<ref name="koester 1995 p76-77">Koester, Helmut (1995), ''History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age'', 2nd edition, Walter de Gruyter, pp. 76–77. {{ISBN|3-11-014693-2}}</ref><ref name="White">White, K. D. (1970), ''Roman Farming''. Cornell University Press.</ref>[[File:Tomb of Nakht (2).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Agricultural scenes of [[threshing]], a grain store, harvesting with [[sickle]]s, digging, tree-cutting and ploughing from [[Ancient Egyptian agriculture|ancient Egypt]]. Tomb of [[Nakht]], 15th century BC]]

In the Americas, crops domesticated in [[Mesoamerica]] (apart from teosinte) include squash, beans, and [[Theobroma cacao|cacao]].<ref name="Murphy2011">{{cite book |author=Murphy, Denis |title=Plants, Biotechnology and Agriculture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etQsieKuRH8C&pg=PA153 |year=2011 |publisher=CABI |isbn=978-1-84593-913-7 |page=153 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035817/https://books.google.com/books?id=etQsieKuRH8C&pg=PA153 |url-status=live}}</ref> Cocoa was domesticated by the Mayo Chinchipe of the upper Amazon around 3,000 BC.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Nicola |title=Origin of chocolate shifts 1,400 miles and 1,500 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/29/origin-of-chocolate-shifts-1400-miles-and-1500-years-cacao-ecuador |access-date=31 October 2018 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=29 October 2018 |archive-date=30 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030234709/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/29/origin-of-chocolate-shifts-1400-miles-and-1500-years-cacao-ecuador |url-status=live}}</ref>
The [[domestic turkey|turkey]] was probably domesticated in Mexico or the American Southwest.<ref name="Speller">{{cite journal |last1=Speller |first1=Camilla F. |author-link1=Camilla Speller |display-authors=etal |title=Ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals complexity of indigenous North American turkey domestication |journal=PNAS |date=2010 |volume=107 |issue=7 |pages=2807–2812 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0909724107 |pmid=20133614 |pmc=2840336 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.2807S |doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Aztec]]s developed irrigation systems, formed [[Terrace (agriculture)|terraced]] hillsides, fertilized their soil, and developed [[chinampa]]s or artificial islands. The [[Maya civilization|Mayas]] used extensive canal and raised field systems to farm swampland from 400 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101105/full/news.2010.587.html |title=Mayans converted wetlands to farmland |author=Mascarelli, Amanda |journal=Nature |date=5 November 2010 |doi=10.1038/news.2010.587 |access-date=17 May 2013 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423014836/https://www.nature.com/news/2010/101105/full/news.2010.587.html |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Invisible Artifacts: Uncovering Secrets of Ancient Maya Agriculture with Modern Soil Science |journal=Soil Horizons |author=Morgan, John |date=6 November 2013 |doi=10.2136/sh2012-53-6-lf |volume=53 |issue=6 |page=3 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Spooner 2005 14694–99">{{cite journal |title=A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping |last1=Spooner |first1=David M. |first2=Karen |last2=McLean |first3=Gavin |last3=Ramsay |first4=Robbie |last4=Waugh |first5=Glenn J. |last5=Bryan |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=102 |issue=41 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0507400102 |pmc=1253605 |pages=14694–14699 |pmid=16203994 |year=2005 |bibcode=2005PNAS..10214694S |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="online">{{cite book |author=Office of International Affairs |title=Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation |date=1989 |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 |via=National Academies.org |isbn=978-0-309-04264-2 |page=92 |doi=10.17226/1398 |access-date=1 April 2018 |archive-date=2 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202134137/http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="John Michael Francis 2005">{{cite book |author=Francis, John Michael |author1-link=J. Michael Francis |title=Iberia and the Americas |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMNoS-g1h8cC&pg=PA867 |isbn=978-1-85109-426-4 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035809/https://books.google.com/books?id=OMNoS-g1h8cC&pg=PA867 |url-status=live}}</ref> In South America agriculture may have begun about 9000 BC with the domestication of [[Squash (fruit)|squash]] (Cucurbita) and other plants.<ref name="Piperno">{{cite journal |last1=Piperno |first1=Dolores R. |title=The Origin of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics: Pattern, Process, and New Developments |journal=Current Anthropology |date=2011 |volume=52 |issue=S-4 |pages=S453–S470 |doi=10.1086/659998 |s2cid=83061925 |url=http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/659998 |access-date=16 November 2023 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019093231/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/659998 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Coca]] was domesticated in the Andes, as were the peanut, [[tomato]], tobacco, and [[pineapple]].<ref name="Murphy2011" /> Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600 BC.<ref name="Broudy1979 p81">{{cite book |last=Broudy |first=Eric |title=The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shN5_-W1RzcC&pg=PA81 |year=1979 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-0-87451-649-4 |page=81 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035756/https://books.google.com/books?id=shN5_-W1RzcC&pg=PA81 |url-status=live}}</ref> Animals including [[llama]]s, [[alpaca]]s, and [[guinea pig]]s were domesticated there.<ref name="RischkowskyPilling2007">{{cite book |last1=Rischkowsky |first1=Barbara |last2=Pilling |first2=Dafydd |title=The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Skpj197tU0oC |page=10 }} |year=2007 |publisher=Food & Agriculture Organization |isbn=978-92-5-105762-9 |page=10}}</ref> In [[History of agriculture in the United States|North America]], the indigenous people of the [[Eastern Agricultural Complex|East domesticated crops]] such as [[sunflower]], tobacco,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heiser |first1=Carl B. Jr. |year=1992 |title=On possible sources of the tobacco of prehistoric Eastern North America |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=33 |pages=54–56 |doi=10.1086/204032 |s2cid=144433864}}</ref> squash and ''[[Chenopodium]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ford, Richard I. |page=75 |title=Prehistoric Food Production in North América |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeuzAAAAIAAJ |year=1985 |publisher=University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology, Publications Department |isbn=978-0-915703-01-2}}</ref><ref>Adair, Mary J. (1988) ''Prehistoric Agriculture in the Central Plains.'' Publications in Anthropology 16. University of Kansas, Lawrence.</ref> Wild foods including [[wild rice]] and [[maple sugar]] were harvested.<ref name="Smith2013">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973496-2 |page=1 |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref> The domesticated [[strawberry]] is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species, developed by breeding in Europe and North America.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hardigan |first1=Michael A. |title=P0653: Domestication History of Strawberry: Population Bottlenecks and Restructuring of Genetic Diversity through Time |journal=PAG - Plant and Animal Genome XXVI Conference (January 13 - 17, 2018) |url=https://pag.confex.com/pag/xxvi/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/28409 |publisher=Pland & Animal Genome Conference XXVI 13–17 January 2018 San Diego, California |access-date=28 February 2018 |archive-date=1 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164429/https://pag.confex.com/pag/xxvi/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/28409 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest|indigenous people of the Southwest]] and the [[Pacific Northwest]] practiced [[forest gardening]] and [[fire-stick farming]]. The [[Native American use of fire|natives controlled fire]] on a regional scale to create a low-intensity [[fire ecology]] that [[Sustainable agriculture|sustained a low-density agriculture]] in loose rotation; a sort of "wild" [[permaculture]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Fire in California's Ecosystems |url=https://archive.org/details/firecaliforniase00sugi |url-access=limited |editor1=Sugihara, Neil G. |editor2=Van Wagtendonk, Jan W. |editor3=Shaffer, Kevin E. |editor4=Fites-Kaufman, Joann |editor5=Thode, Andrea E. |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/firecaliforniase00sugi/page/n433 417] |chapter=17 |isbn=978-0-520-24605-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Blackburn, Thomas C. |editor2=Anderson, Kat |year=1993 |title=Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians |publisher=Ballena Press |isbn=978-0-87919-126-9}}</ref><ref name="Cunningham2010">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYuYGHwCygC&pg=PA135 |pages=135, 173–202 |last=Cunningham |first=Laura |title=State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California |publisher=Heyday |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-59714-136-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=M. Kat |title=Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge And the Management of California's Natural Resources |url=https://archive.org/details/tendingwildnativ0000ande |url-access=registration |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-520-24851-9}}</ref> A system of [[companion planting]] called [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|the Three Sisters]] was developed in North America. The three crops were [[winter squash]], maize, and climbing beans.<ref name="wilson">{{cite book |title=Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation |last=Wilson |first=Gilbert |year=1917 |publisher=Dodo Press |isbn=978-1-4099-4233-7 |pages=25 and passim |url=http://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Dodo-Press |ref=wilson1917 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314055513/http://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Dodo-Press |archive-date=14 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="landon">{{cite journal |last=Landon |first=Amanda J. |title=The "How" of the Three Sisters: The Origins of Agriculture in Mesoamerica and the Human Niche |journal=Nebraska Anthropologist |year=2008 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=nebanthro |pages=110–124 |access-date=1 April 2018 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054240/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=nebanthro |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Indigenous Australians]], long supposed to have been nomadic [[hunter-gatherers]], practiced systematic burning, possibly to enhance natural productivity in fire-stick farming.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=R. |doi=10.1007/BF03400623 |title=Fire-stick Farming |journal=Fire Ecology |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=3–8 |year=2012 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2012FiEco...8c...3J}}</ref> Scholars have pointed out that hunter-gatherers need a productive environment to support gathering without cultivation. Because the forests of New Guinea have few food plants, early humans may have used "selective burning" to increase the productivity of the wild [[karuka]] fruit trees to support the hunter-gatherer way of life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rowley-Conwy |first1=Peter |last2=Layton |first2=Robert |title=Foraging and farming as niche construction: stable and unstable adaptations |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=366 |issue=1566 |date=27 March 2011 |issn=0962-8436 |pmid=21320899 |pmc=3048996 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0307 |pages=849–862}}</ref>

The [[Gunditjmara]] and other groups developed [[eel]] farming and fish trapping systems from some 5,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Elizabeth |year=1988 |title=Complex Hunter-Gatherers: A Late Holocene Example from Temperate Australia |journal=Archaeopress Archaeology |volume=423}}</ref> There is evidence of 'intensification' across the whole continent over that period.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lourandos |first=Harry |year=1997 |title=Continent of Hunter-Gatherers: New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> In two regions of Australia, the central west coast and eastern central, early farmers cultivated yams, native millet, and bush onions, possibly in permanent settlements.<ref name=b1 /><ref>{{cite book |last=Gammage |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Gammage |date=October 2011 |title=The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUddY9fGkNMC |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-74237-748-3 |pages=281–304 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035807/https://books.google.com/books?id=aUddY9fGkNMC |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Revolution===
[[File:Crescenzi calendar.jpg|thumb|Agricultural calendar, {{Circa|1470}}, from a manuscript of [[Pietro de Crescenzi]]]]
In the [[Middle Ages]], compared to the [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Roman period]], agriculture in Western Europe became more focused on [[Self-sustainability|self-sufficiency]]. The agricultural population under feudalism was typically organized into [[Manorialism|manors]] consisting of several hundred or more acres of land presided over by a [[lord of the manor]] with a [[Roman Catholic]] church and priest.<ref name="NatGeographic2015">{{cite book |author=National Geographic |title=Food Journeys of a Lifetime |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2Q5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |year=2015 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |isbn=978-1-4262-1609-1 |page=126 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035806/https://books.google.com/books?id=h2Q5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Thanks to the exchange with the [[Al-Andalus]] where the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]] was underway, European agriculture transformed, with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees (such as the orange).<ref name="Watson">{{cite journal |first=Andrew M. |last=Watson |date=1974 |title=The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700–1100 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=8–35 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700079602 |s2cid=154359726}}</ref>

After 1492, the [[Columbian exchange]] brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, [[sweet potato]]es, and [[manioc]] to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and [[turnip]]s, and livestock (including horses, cattle, sheep and goats) to the Americas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-indians/essays/columbian-exchange |title=The Columbian Exchange |publisher=The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |author=Crosby, Alfred |date=December 2011 |access-date=11 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703092537/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-indians/essays/columbian-exchange |archive-date=3 July 2013}}</ref>

[[Irrigation]], [[crop rotation]], and [[fertilizers]] advanced from the 17th century with the [[British Agricultural Revolution]], allowing global population to rise significantly. Since 1900, agriculture in developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as [[Mechanized farming|mechanization]] replaces human labor, and assisted by [[synthetic fertilizer]]s, pesticides, and [[selective breeding]]. The [[Haber-Bosch]] method allowed the synthesis of [[ammonium nitrate]] fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing [[crop yields]] and sustaining a further increase in global population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/hort_306/text/lec32.pdf |title=Agricultural Scientific Revolution: Mechanical |author=Janick, Jules |publisher=Purdue University |access-date=24 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525074054/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Hort_306/text/lec32.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/52548/52645.aspx |title=The Impact of Mechanization on Agriculture |journal=The Bridge on Agriculture and Information Technology |date=2011 |volume=41 |number=3 |author=Reid, John F. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105033809/http://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/52548/52645.aspx |archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

Modern agriculture has raised or encountered ecological, political, and economic issues including [[water pollution]], [[biofuel]]s, [[genetically modified organism]]s, [[tariff]]s and [[Agricultural subsidy|farm subsidies]], leading to alternative approaches such as the [[organic movement]].<ref name="motherjones1">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/04/history-nitrogen-fertilizer-ammonium-nitrate |last=Philpott |first=Tom |title=A Brief History of Our Deadly Addiction to Nitrogen Fertilizer |date=19 April 2013 |access-date=7 May 2013 |magazine=Mother Jones |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505115125/https://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/04/history-nitrogen-fertilizer-ammonium-nitrate |archive-date=5 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="smh.com.au">{{cite journal |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/ten-worst-famines-of-the-20th-century-20110815-1iu2w.html |title=Ten worst famines of the 20th century |journal=Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703063152/http://www.smh.com.au/world/ten-worst-famines-of-the-20th-century-20110815-1iu2w.html |archive-date=3 July 2014}}</ref> Unsustainable farming practices in North America led to the [[Dust Bowl]] of the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hobbs |first1=Peter R |last2=Sayre |first2=Ken |last3=Gupta |first3=Raj |title=The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=12 February 2008 |volume=363 |issue=1491 |pages=543–555 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2007.2169 |pmid=17720669 |pmc=2610169}}</ref>

== Types ==
{{see also|Staple food}}
[[File:Reindeer herding.jpg|thumb|[[Reindeer]] herds form the basis of pastoral agriculture for several Arctic and Subarctic peoples.]]
{{Stack|[[File:Unload wheat by the combine Claas Lexion 584.jpg|thumb|[[Harvest]]ing wheat with a [[combine harvester]] accompanied by a tractor and trailer]]}}
[[Pastoralism]] involves managing domesticated animals. In [[nomadic pastoralism]], herds of livestock are moved from place to place in search of pasture, fodder, and water. This type of farming is practiced in arid and semi-arid regions of [[Sahara]], Central Asia and some parts of India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Blench |first=Roger |title=Pastoralists in the new millennium |publisher=FAO |date=2001 |pages=11–12 |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/work/projects/pdn/eps.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201000745/http://www.odi.org.uk/work/projects/pdn/eps.pdf |archive-date=1 February 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Manuring a vegetable garden.jpg|thumb|Spreading manure by hand in Zambia]]

In [[shifting cultivation]], a small area of forest is cleared by cutting and burning the trees. The cleared land is used for growing crops for a few years until the soil becomes too infertile, and the area is abandoned. Another patch of land is selected and the process is repeated. This type of farming is practiced mainly in areas with abundant rainfall where the forest regenerates quickly. This practice is used in Northeast India, Southeast Asia, and the Amazon Basin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shifting cultivation |url=http://www.survivalinternational.org/about/swidden |publisher=[[Survival International]] |access-date=28 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829015112/http://www.survivalinternational.org/about/swidden |archive-date=29 August 2016}}</ref>

[[Subsistence farming]] is practiced to satisfy family or local needs alone, with little left over for transport elsewhere. It is intensively practiced in Monsoon Asia and South-East Asia.<ref>{{cite book |author=Waters, Tony |title=The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: life beneath the level of the marketplace |publisher=Lexington Books |date=2007}}</ref> An estimated 2.5&nbsp;billion subsistence farmers worked in 2018, cultivating about 60% of the earth's [[arable land]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=<!--no byline--> |date=7 March 2018 |title=Chinese project offers a brighter farming future |department=Editorial |journal=Nature |volume=555 |issue=7695 |page=141 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-02742-3 |pmid=29517037 |bibcode=2018Natur.555R.141. |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Intensive farming]] is cultivation to maximize productivity, with a low fallow ratio and a high use of inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticide and automation). It is practiced mainly in developed countries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9042533 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060705221311/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9042533 |title=Encyclopædia Britannica's definition of Intensive Agriculture |archive-date=5 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="bbcFactSheet">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/biology/livingthingsenvironment/4foodandsustainabilityrev5.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503035007/http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/biology/livingthingsenvironment/4foodandsustainabilityrev5.shtml |title=BBC School fact sheet on intensive farming |archive-date=3 May 2007}}</ref>

== Contemporary agriculture ==

=== Status ===
[[File:Inherent Land Quality Map.png|thumb|354x354px|Suitability for agriculture of land around the world (US Department of Agriculture, 1998)]]
[[File:Employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing by region.svg|thumb|221x221px|Recent trends of employment in agriculture (including forestry and fishing) by region<ref>{{Cite book |last=FAO |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd4313en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2025 |date=2025 |publisher=FAO |isbn=978-92-5-140174-3 |language=English |doi=10.4060/cd4313en}}</ref>]]
From the twentieth century onwards, intensive agriculture increased crop productivity. It substituted synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for labor, but caused increased water pollution, and often involved farm subsidies. [[Soil retrogression and degradation|Soil degradation]] and diseases such as [[stem rust]] are major concerns globally;<ref>{{cite web |title=Wheat Stem Rust – UG99 (Race TTKSK) |url=http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/rust/stem/rust-report/stem-ug99racettksk/en/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107064545/http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/rust/stem/rust-report/stem-ug99racettksk/en/ |archive-date=7 January 2014 |access-date=6 January 2014 |publisher=FAO}}</ref> approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.<ref>Sample, Ian (31 August 2007). [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/31/climatechange.food "Global food crisis looms as climate change and population growth strip fertile land"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429094959/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/31/climatechange.food|date=29 April 2016}}, ''The Guardian'' (London).</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=14 December 2006 |title=Africa may be able to feed only 25% of its population by 2025 |work=[[Mongabay]] |url=http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |access-date=15 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127175559/http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |archive-date=27 November 2011}}</ref> In recent years there has been a backlash against the [[environmental awareness|environmental effects]] of conventional agriculture, resulting in the [[organic farming|organic]], [[Regenerative agriculture|regenerative]], and [[sustainable agriculture]] movements.<ref name="motherjones1" /><ref>{{cite web |publisher=The World Bank |year=1995 |url=http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK=469372&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000009265_3970311122936 |title=Overcoming agricultural pollution of water: the challenge of integrating agricultural and environmental policies in the European Union, Volume 1 |access-date=15 April 2013 |author=Scheierling, Susanne M. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605112426/http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK=469372&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000009265_3970311122936 |archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref> One of the major forces behind this movement has been the [[European Union]], which first certified [[organic food]] in 1991 and began reform of its [[Common Agricultural Policy]] (CAP) in 2005 to phase out commodity-linked farm subsidies,<ref>{{cite web |publisher=European Commission |year=2003 |url=http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/capreform/index_en.htm |title=CAP Reform |access-date=15 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017124251/http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/capreform/index_en.htm |archive-date=17 October 2010}}</ref> also known as [[Decoupling and re-coupling|decoupling]]. The growth of organic farming has renewed research in alternative technologies such as [[integrated pest management]], selective breeding,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Poincelot |first1=Raymond P. |title=Toward a More Sustainable Agriculture |chapter=Organic Farming |pages=14–32 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-1506-3_2 |year=1986 |isbn=978-1-4684-1508-7}}</ref> and [[controlled-environment agriculture]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |url=http://www.agweek.com/business/agriculture/4527042-cutting-edge-technology-will-change-farming |title=The cutting-edge technology that will change farming |work=Agweek |date=9 November 2018 |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117020138/http://www.agweek.com/business/agriculture/4527042-cutting-edge-technology-will-change-farming |archive-date=17 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |author=Charles, Dan |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hydroponic-veggies-are-taking-over-organic-and-a-move-to-ban-them-fails |title=Hydroponic Veggies Are Taking Over Organic, And A Move To Ban Them Fails |work=[[NPR]] |date=3 November 2017 |access-date=24 November 2018 |archive-date=24 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124055050/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hydroponic-veggies-are-taking-over-organic-and-a-move-to-ban-them-fails |url-status=live}}</ref> There are concerns about the lower yield associated with [[organic farming]] and its impact on global [[food security]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Knapp |first1=Samuel |last2=van der Heijden |first2=Marcel G. A. |date=7 September 2018 |title=A global meta-analysis of yield stability in organic and conservation agriculture |journal=Nature Communications |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=3632 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-05956-1 |pmid=30194344 |pmc=6128901 |bibcode=2018NatCo...9.3632K |issn=2041-1723}}</ref> Recent mainstream technological developments include [[genetically modified food]].<ref>[http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file15655.pdf GM Science Review First Report] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016100707/http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file15655.pdf |date=16 October 2013 }}, Prepared by the UK GM Science Review panel (July 2003). Chairman David King, p. 9</ref>

[[File:Agricultural output of China.svg|class=skin-invert-image|thumb|Development of agricultural output of China in 2015 US$ since 1961]]
By 2015, the agricultural output of China was the largest in the world, followed by the European Union, India and the United States.<ref name="UNCTAD2017" /> Economists measure the [[total factor productivity]] of agriculture, according to which agriculture in the United States is roughly 1.7 times more productive than it was in 1948.<ref>{{cite web |date=5 July 2012 |title=Agricultural Productivity in the United States |url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/agproductivity/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201021133/http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/AgProductivity/ |archive-date=1 February 2013 |access-date=22 April 2013 |publisher=USDA Economic Research Service}}</ref>

Agriculture employed 873 million people in 2021, or 27% of the global workforce, compared with 1 027 million (or 40%) in 2000. The share of agriculture in global GDP was stable at around 4% since 2000–2023.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc8166en |access-date=13 December 2023 |via=FAODocuments |year=2023  |doi=10.4060/cc8166en |isbn=978-92-5-138262-2 |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215161116/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc8166en |url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite increases in agricultural production and productivity,<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-136499-4 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc0639en |hdl=10654/44801 |s2cid=264474106 }}</ref> between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021.<ref>{{Cite book |title=In Brief to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-136502-1 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc0640en }}</ref> Food insecurity and malnutrition can be the result of conflict, climate extremes and variability and economic swings.<ref name=":3" /> It can also be caused by a country's structural characteristics such as income status and natural resource endowments as well as its political economy.<ref name=":3" />

Pesticide use in agriculture went up 62% between 2000 and 2021, with the Americas accounting for half the use in 2021.<ref name=":14" />

The [[International Fund for Agricultural Development]] posits that an increase in [[smallholding|smallholder agriculture]] may be part of the solution to concerns about [[food prices]] and overall [[food security]], given the favorable experience of Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifad.org/operations/food/farmer.htm |title=Food prices: smallholder farmers can be part of the solution |publisher=International Fund for Agricultural Development |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505224355/http://www.ifad.org/operations/food/farmer.htm |archive-date=5 May 2013}}</ref>

=== Workforce ===
{{see also|Gender roles in agriculture}}
[[File:Employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing (2023).svg|thumb|Worldwide employment In agriculture, forestry and fishing in 2023<ref>{{Cite book |last=FAO |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd4313en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2025 |date=2025 |publisher=FAO |isbn=978-92-5-140174-3 |language=English |doi=10.4060/cd4313en}}</ref>]]


Agriculture provides about one-quarter of all global employment, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost 60 percent in low-income countries.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=World Bank. 2021. Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=The World Bank |place=Washington, D.C. |archive-date=7 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007214142/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS |url-status=live}}</ref> As countries develop, other jobs have historically pulled workers away from agriculture, and labor-saving innovations increase agricultural productivity by reducing labor requirements per unit of output.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Michaels |first1=Guy |last2=Rauch |first2=Ferdinand |last3=Redding |first3=Stephen J. |title=Urbanization and Structural Transformation |date=2012 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=127 |issue=2 |pages=535–586 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjs003 |jstor=23251993 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gollin |first1=Douglas |last2=Parente |first2=Stephen |last3=Rogerson |first3=Richard |date=2002 |title=The Role of Agriculture in Development|journal=The American Economic Review |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=160–164 |doi=10.1257/000282802320189177 |jstor=3083394 |issn=0002-8282}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=W. Arthur |year=1954 |title=Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour|journal=The Manchester School |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=139–191 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9957.1954.tb00021.x |issn=1463-6786}}</ref> Over time, a combination of labor supply and labor demand trends have driven down the share of population employed in agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT: Employment Indicators: Agriculture |url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home |access-date=6 February 2022 |website=FAO |publication-place=Rome |year=2022 |archive-date=14 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114074500/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=data.worldbank.org |archive-date=7 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007214142/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS |url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:Transition from agriculture to developed economy.svg|class=skin-invert-image|thumb|On the [[three-sector theory]], the proportion of people working in agriculture (left-hard bar in each group, green) falls as an economy becomes more developed.|220x220px]]

During the 16th century in Europe, between 55 and 75% of the population was engaged in agriculture; by the 19th century, this had dropped to between 35 and 65%.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://economics.ouls.ox.ac.uk/13621/1/uuid9ef3c3c6-512f-44b6-b74e-53266cc42ae2-ATTACHMENT01.pdf |title=Economic structure and agricultural productivity in Europe, 1300–1800 |journal=European Review of Economic History |volume=3 |pages=1–25 |author=Allen, Robert C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027195415/http://economics.ouls.ox.ac.uk/13621/1/uuid9ef3c3c6-512f-44b6-b74e-53266cc42ae2-ATTACHMENT01.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2014}}</ref> In the same countries today, the figure is less than 10%.<ref name="LaborForce">{{cite web |title=Labor Force – By Occupation |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2048.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522214333/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2048.html |archive-date=22 May 2014 |access-date=4 May 2013 |website=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref>
At the start of the 21st century, some one billion people, or over 1/3 of the available work force, were employed in agriculture. This constitutes approximately 70% of the global employment of children, and in many countries constitutes the largest percentage of women of any industry.<ref name=ILO /> The service sector overtook the agricultural sector as the largest global employer in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.financialexpress.com/news/story/191279 |title=Services sector overtakes farming as world's biggest employer: ILO |agency=Associated Press |date=26 January 2007 |access-date=24 April 2013 |newspaper=The Financial Express |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013062206/http://www.financialexpress.com/news/story/191279 |archive-date=13 October 2013}}</ref>

In many developed countries, immigrants help fill labor shortages in high-value agriculture activities that are difficult to mechanize.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/CA1554EN |title=In Brief: The State of Food and Agriculture 2018. Migration, agriculture and rural development |publisher=FAO |year=2018 |location=Rome |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203150041/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/CA1554EN |url-status=live}}</ref> Foreign farm workers from mostly Eastern Europe, North Africa and South Asia constituted around one-third of the salaried agricultural workforce in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal in 2013.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Caruso |first1=F. |title=Tempo di cambiare. Rapporto 2015 sulle migrazioni interne in Italia |last2=Corrado |first2=A. |publisher=Donizelli |year=2015 |editor-last=M. Colucci & S. Gallo |location=Rome |pages=58–77 |chapter=Migrazioni e lavoro agricolo: un confronto tra Italia e Spagna in tempi di crisi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kasimis |first=Charalambos |date=1 October 2005 |title=Migrants in the Rural Economies of Greece and Southern Europe |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migrants-rural-economies-greece-and-southern-europe |access-date=6 February 2023 |website=migrationpolicy.org |archive-date=6 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206172236/https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migrants-rural-economies-greece-and-southern-europe |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nori |first=M. |title=The shades of green: Migrants' contribution to EU agriculture. Context, trends, opportunities, challenges |publisher=Migration Policy Centre |year=2017 |isbn=978-92-9084-556-0 |location=Florence |doi=10.2870/785454 |hdl=1814/49004 |issn=2467-4540 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fonseca |first=Maria Lucinda |date=November 2008 |title=New waves of immigration to small towns and rural areas in Portugal: Immigration to Rural Portugal |journal=Population, Space and Place |volume=14 |issue=6 |pages=525–535 |doi=10.1002/psp.514}}</ref> In the United States of America, more than half of all hired farmworkers (roughly 450,000 workers) were immigrants in 2019, although the number of new immigrants arriving in the country to work in agriculture has fallen by 75 percent in recent years and rising wages indicate this has led to a major labor shortage on U.S. farms.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Preibisch |first=Kerry |date=2010 |title=Pick-Your-Own Labor: Migrant Workers and Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture |journal=The International Migration Review |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=404–441 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7379.2010.00811.x |jstor=25740855 |s2cid=145604068 |issn=0197-9183 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Agriculture: How immigration plays a critical role |url=https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/issues/agriculture/ |access-date=6 February 2023 |website=New American Economy |language=en-US |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406024221/https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/issues/agriculture/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Women in agriculture ====
Around the world, women make up a large share of the population employed in agriculture.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I7658EN |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2017. Leveraging food systems for inclusive rural transformation |publisher=FAO |year=2017 |isbn=978-92-5-109873-8 |location=Rome |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314142843/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I7658EN |url-status=live}}</ref> This share is growing in all developing regions except East and Southeast Asia where women already make up about 50 percent of the agricultural workforce.<ref name=":4" /> Women make up 47 percent of the agricultural workforce in sub-Saharan Africa, a rate that has not changed significantly in the past few decades.<ref name=":4" /> However, the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] (FAO) posits that the roles and responsibilities of women in agriculture may be changing – for example, from subsistence farming to wage employment, and from contributing household members to primary producers in the context of male-out-migration.<ref name=":4" />

In general, women account for a greater share of agricultural employment at lower levels of economic development, as inadequate education, limited access to basic infrastructure and markets, high unpaid work burden and poor rural employment opportunities outside agriculture severely limit women's opportunities for off-farm work.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |title=The status of women in agrifood systems - Overview |publisher=FAO |year=2023 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc5060en |s2cid=258145984 }}</ref>

Women who work in agricultural production tend to do so under highly unfavorable conditions. They tend to be concentrated in the poorest countries, where alternative livelihoods are not available, and they maintain the intensity of their work in conditions of climate-induced weather shocks and in situations of conflict. Women are less likely to participate as entrepreneurs and independent farmers and are engaged in the production of less lucrative crops.<ref name=":13" />

The gender gap in land productivity between female- and male managed farms of the same size is 24 percent. On average, women earn 18.4 percent less than men in wage employment in agriculture; this means that women receive 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. Progress has been slow in closing gaps in women's access to irrigation and in ownership of livestock, too.<ref name=":13" />

Women in agriculture still have significantly less access than men to inputs, including improved seeds, fertilizers and mechanized equipment. On a positive note, the gender gap in access to mobile internet in low- and middle-income countries fell from 25 percent to 16 percent between 2017 and 2021, and the gender gap in access to bank accounts narrowed from 9 to 6 percentage points. Women are as likely as men to adopt new technologies when the necessary enabling factors are put in place and they have equal access to complementary resources.<ref name=":13" />

=== Safety ===
{{Main|Agricultural safety and health}}

[[File:Ford Tractor with ROPS bar fitted.JPG|thumb|[[Rollover protection system|Rollover protection bar]] [[retrofit]]ted to a mid-20th century [[Fordson tractor]]]]

Agriculture, specifically farming, remains a hazardous industry, and farmers worldwide remain at high risk of work-related injuries, lung disease, [[noise-induced hearing loss]], skin diseases, as well as certain cancers related to chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. On [[industrial agriculture|industrialized farms]], injuries frequently involve the use of [[agricultural machinery]], and a common cause of fatal agricultural injuries in developed countries is [[Rollover protection structure|tractor rollovers]].<ref name="aginjury">{{cite web |url=https://wwwa.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/ |title=NIOSH Workplace Safety & Health Topic: Agricultural Injuries |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028181205/http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/ |archive-date=28 October 2007}}</ref> Pesticides and other chemicals used in farming can be [[Health effects of pesticides|hazardous to worker health]], and workers exposed to pesticides may experience illness or have children with birth defects.<ref name=NIOSH_pest>{{Cite web <!-- Citation bot changes to journal -->|url=https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2012-108/ |title=NIOSH Pesticide Poisoning Monitoring Program Protects Farmworkers |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |access-date=15 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402004253/http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2012%2D108/ |archive-date=2 April 2013|doi=10.26616/NIOSHPUB2012108 |year=2011 |doi-access=free}}</ref> As an industry in which families commonly share in work and live on the farm itself, entire families can be at risk for injuries, illness, and death.<ref name="NIOSH Agri">{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/agriculture/ |title=NIOSH Workplace Safety & Health Topic: Agriculture |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009224012/http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/agriculture/ |archive-date=9 October 2007}}</ref> Ages 0–6 may be an especially vulnerable population in agriculture;<ref name=WeicheltGorucu2018>{{Cite journal |last1=Weichelt |first1=Bryan |last2=Gorucu |first2=Serap |date=17 February 2018 |title=Supplemental surveillance: a review of 2015 and 2016 agricultural injury data from news reports on AgInjuryNews.org |url=http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2018/02/16/injuryprev-2017-042671 |journal=Injury Prevention |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=injuryprev–2017–042671 |doi=10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042671 |pmid=29386372 |s2cid=3371442 |access-date=18 April 2018 |archive-date=27 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427133711/http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2018/02/16/injuryprev-2017-042671 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref> common causes of fatal injuries among young farm workers include drowning, machinery and motor accidents, including with all-terrain vehicles.<ref name="NIOSH Agri" /><ref name=WeicheltGorucu2018 /><ref>{{Cite journal |author=The PLOS ONE staff |date=6 September 2018 |title=Correction: Towards a deeper understanding of parenting on farms: A qualitative study |journal=[[PLOS ONE]] |volume=13 |issue=9 |article-number=e0203842 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0203842 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6126865 |pmid=30188948 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1303842. |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The [[International Labour Organization|International Labor Organization]] considers agriculture "one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors".<ref name=ILO>{{cite web |url=http://www.ilo.org/safework/info/standards-and-instruments/codes/WCMS_161135/lang--en/index.htm |title=Safety and health in agriculture |publisher=[[International Labour Organization]] |access-date=1 April 2018 |date=21 March 2011 |archive-date=18 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318105845/http://www.ilo.org/safework/info/standards-and-instruments/codes/WCMS_161135/lang--en/index.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> It estimates that the annual work-related death toll among agricultural employees is at least 170,000, twice the average rate of other jobs. In addition, incidences of death, injury and illness related to agricultural activities often go unreported.<ref name=ILO2>{{cite web |url=http://www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/hazardous-work/WCMS_356550/lang--en/index.htm |title=Agriculture: A hazardous work |publisher=[[International Labour Organization]] |access-date=1 April 2018 |date=15 June 2009 |archive-date=3 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303041758/http://www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/hazardous-work/WCMS_356550/lang--en/index.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> The organization has developed the [[Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001]], which covers the range of risks in the agriculture occupation, the prevention of these risks and the role that individuals and organizations engaged in agriculture should play.<ref name=ILO />

In the United States,<!--need to avoid regionalism here--> agriculture has been identified by the [[National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health]] as a priority industry sector in the [[National Occupational Research Agenda]] to identify and provide intervention strategies for occupational health and safety issues.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/agff/default.html |title=CDC – NIOSH – NORA Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector Council |date=21 March 2018 |publisher=[[NIOSH]] |access-date=7 April 2018 |archive-date=18 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618084010/https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/agff/default.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/agff/ |title=CDC – NIOSH Program Portfolio : Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing: Program Description |date=28 February 2018 |publisher=[[NIOSH]] |access-date=7 April 2018 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073850/https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/agff/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In the European Union, the [[European Agency for Safety and Health at Work]] has issued guidelines on implementing health and safety directives in agriculture, livestock farming, horticulture, and forestry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Protecting health and safety of workers in agriculture, livestock farming, horticulture and forestry |url=https://osha.europa.eu/en/tools-and-publications/publications/protecting-health-and-safety-workers-agriculture-livestock/view |publisher=[[European Agency for Safety and Health at Work]] |access-date=10 April 2018 |date=17 August 2017 |archive-date=29 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929143326/https://osha.europa.eu/en/tools-and-publications/publications/protecting-health-and-safety-workers-agriculture-livestock/view |url-status=live}}</ref> The Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA) also holds a yearly summit to discuss safety.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heiberger |first=Scott |date=3 July 2018 |title=The future of agricultural safety and health: North American Agricultural Safety Summit, February 2018, Scottsdale, Arizona |journal=[[Journal of Agromedicine]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=302–304 |doi=10.1080/1059924X.2018.1485089 |issn=1059-924X |pmid=30047853 |s2cid=51721534}}</ref>

== Production ==
{{Main|List of countries by GDP sector composition}}

{{See also|List of most important agricultural crops worldwide}}
[[File:Value of agricultural production, OWID.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Value of agricultural production, 2016<ref>{{cite web |title=Value of agricultural production |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/value-of-agricultural-production |website=Our World in Data |access-date=6 March 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308164105/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/value-of-agricultural-production |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Overall production varies by country as listed.

{|class="wikitable collapsible"
|-
! colspan=2|Largest countries by agricultural output (in nominal terms) according to [[IMF]] and [[CIA World Factbook]], at peak level as of 2018
|-
|{{Bar chart|float=center
|title =
|table_width=70
|bar_width =50 <!-- must be an unformatted number -->
|data_max =1,120<!-- Upper bound on the values in the data fields -->
|label_type =Economy
|data_type = Countries by agricultural output (in nominal terms) at peak level as of 2018 (billions in USD
|label1 =(01) '''{{Flagu|China}}''' |data1= 1,117
|label2 =(02) '''{{Flagu|India}}''' |data2= 414
|label3 = {{nowrap|(—) '''''{{Flagu|European Union}}'''''}} |data3= 308
|label4 =(03) '''{{Flagu|United States}}''' |data4= 185
|label5 =(04) '''{{Flagu|Brazil}}''' |data5= 162
|label6 =(05) '''{{Flagu|Indonesia}}''' |data6= 141
|label7 =(06) '''{{Flagu|Nigeria}}''' |data7= 123
|label8 =(07) '''{{Flagu|Russia}}''' |data8= 108
|label9 =(08) '''{{Flagu|Pakistan}}''' |data9= 76
|label10 =(09) '''{{Flagu|Argentina}}''' |data10= 70
|label11 =(10) '''{{Flagu|Turkey}}''' |data11= 64
|label12 =(11) '''{{Flagu|Japan}}''' |data12= 62
|label13 =(12) '''{{Flagu|France}}''' |data13= 59
|label14 =(13) '''{{Flagu|Iran}}''' |data14= 57
|label15 =(14) '''{{Flagu|Australia}}''' |data15= 56
|label16 =(15) '''{{Flagu|Mexico}}''' |data16= 51
|label17 =(16) '''{{Flagu|Italy}}''' |data17= 50
|label18 =(17) '''{{Flagu|Spain}}''' |data18= 43
|label19 =(18) '''{{Flagu|Bangladesh}}''' |data19= 41
|label20 =(19) '''{{Flagu|Thailand}}''' |data20= 40
|label21 =(20) '''{{Flagu|Egypt}}''' |data21= 40
|caption={{resize|88%|The twenty largest countries by agricultural output (in nominal terms) at peak level as of 2018, according to the [[IMF]] and [[CIA World Factbook]].}}
|isbn=978-0-309-04248-2 |date=1 February 1990 }}
|}

{|class="wikitable collapsible"
|-
! colspan=2|Largest countries by agricultural output according to [[UNCTAD]] at 2005 constant prices and exchange rates, 2015<ref name=UNCTAD2017>{{cite web |url=http://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=95 |title=UNCTADstat – Table view |access-date=26 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020072414/http://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=95 |archive-date=20 October 2017}}</ref>
|-
|{{Bar chart|float=center
|title      =
|table_width=70
|bar_width =50 <!-- must be an unformatted number -->
|data_max =500,000<!-- Upper bound on the values in the data fields -->
|label_type =Economy
|data_type = Countries by agricultural output in 2015 (millions in 2005 constant USD and exchange rates)
|label1 =(01) '''{{Flagu|China}}''' |data1=418,455
|label2 =(02) '''{{Flagu|India}}''' |data2=196,592
|label3 =(03) '''{{Flagu|United States}}''' |data3=149,023
|label4 =(04) '''{{Flagu|Nigeria}}''' |data4=77,113
|label5 =(05) '''{{Flagu|Brazil}}''' |data5=59,977
 }}
|}

=== Crop cultivation systems ===
[[File:An example of slash and burn agriculture practice Thailand.jpg|thumb|left|[[Slash and burn]] shifting cultivation, Thailand]]

Cropping systems vary among farms depending on the available resources and constraints; geography and climate of the farm; government policy; economic, social and political pressures; and the philosophy and culture of the farmer.<ref name="FAO FS">{{cite web |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization |url=http://www.fao.org/farmingsystems/description_en.htm |title=Analysis of farming systems |access-date=22 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806063804/http://www.fao.org/farmingsystems/description_en.htm |archive-date=6 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="PCP APS">"Agricultural Production Systems". pp. 283–317 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]].</ref>

Shifting cultivation (or [[slash and burn]]) is a system in which forests are burnt, releasing nutrients to support cultivation of annual and then [[perennial plant|perennial]] crops for a period of several years.<ref name="CS">"Farming Systems: Development, Productivity, and Sustainability", pp. 25–57 in [[#Chrispeels|Chrispeels]]</ref> Then the plot is left [[fallow]] to regrow forest, and the farmer moves to a new plot, returning after many more years (10–20). This fallow period is shortened if population density grows, requiring the input of nutrients (fertilizer or [[manure]]) and some manual [[pest control]]. Annual cultivation is the next phase of intensity in which there is no fallow period. This requires even greater nutrient and pest control inputs.<ref name="CS" />

[[File:Intercropping coconut n Tagetes erecta.jpg|thumb|[[Intercropping]] of [[coconut]] and [[Tagetes erecta|Mexican marigold]]]]

Further industrialization led to the use of [[monoculture]]s, when one [[cultivar]] is planted on a large acreage. Because of the low [[biodiversity]], nutrient use is uniform and pests tend to build up, necessitating the greater use of [[pesticide]]s and fertilizers.<ref name="PCP APS" /> [[Multiple cropping]], in which several crops are grown sequentially in one year, and [[intercropping]], when several crops are grown at the same time, are other kinds of annual cropping systems known as [[polyculture]]s.<ref name="CS" />

In [[subtropics|subtropical]] and [[arid]] environments, the timing and extent of agriculture may be limited by rainfall, either not allowing multiple [[Annual plant|annual crops]] in a year, or requiring irrigation. In all of these environments perennial crops are grown (coffee, chocolate) and systems are practiced such as [[agroforestry]]. In [[Temperateness|temperate]] environments, where ecosystems were predominantly [[grassland]] or [[prairie]], highly productive annual farming is the dominant agricultural system.<ref name="CS" />

Important categories of food crops include cereals, legumes, forage, fruits and vegetables.<ref name="FAO" /> [[Natural fiber]]s include cotton, [[wool]], [[hemp]], silk and [[flax]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Profiles of 15 of the world's major plant and animal fibres |url=http://www.fao.org/natural-fibres-2009/about/15-natural-fibres/en/ |publisher=FAO |access-date=26 March 2018 |date=2009 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203113011/http://www.fao.org/natural-fibres-2009/about/15-natural-fibres/en/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Specific crops are cultivated in distinct [[growing region]]s throughout the world. Production is listed in millions of metric tons, based on [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] estimates.<ref name="FAO" />
<div style=display:inline-table>
{|class="wikitable collapsible"
|-
! colspan=2|Top agricultural products, by crop types <br />(million tonnes) 2004 data
|-
|Cereals ||style="text-align:right;"|2,263
|-
|Vegetables and melons ||style="text-align:right;"|866
|-
|[[Root]]s and [[tuber]]s ||style="text-align:right;"|715
|-
|Milk ||style="text-align:right;"|619
|-
|Fruit ||style="text-align:right;"|503
|-
|Meat ||style="text-align:right;"|259
|-
|[[Vegetable oil|Oilcrops]] ||style="text-align:right;"|133
|-
|Fish (2001 estimate) ||style="text-align:right;"|130
|-
|[[Egg (food)|Eggs]] ||style="text-align:right;"|63
|-
|[[Pulse (legume)|Pulses]] ||style="text-align:right;"|60
|-
|[[Fiber crop|Vegetable fiber]] ||style="text-align:right;"|30
|-
|colspan=2|''Source: [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]''<ref name="FAO">{{cite web |url=http://faostat.fao.org/ |title=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT) |access-date=2 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118190636/http://faostat.fao.org/ |archive-date=18 January 2013}}</ref>
|}
</div>
<div style=display:inline-table>
{|class="wikitable collapsible"
|-
! colspan=2|Top agricultural products, by individual crops <br />(million tonnes) 2011 data
|-
|Sugar cane ||style="text-align:right;"|1794
|-
|Maize ||style="text-align:right;"|883
|-
|Rice ||style="text-align:right;"|722
|-
|Wheat ||style="text-align:right;"|704
|-
|Potatoes ||style="text-align:right;"|374
|-
|Sugar beet ||style="text-align:right;"|271
|-
|Soybeans ||style="text-align:right;"|260
|-
|Cassava ||style="text-align:right;"|252
|-
|Tomatoes ||style="text-align:right;"|159
|-
|Barley ||style="text-align:right;"|134
|-
|colspan=2|''Source: [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]''<ref name="FAO" />
|}
</div>

=== Livestock production systems ===
{{Main|Livestock|Animal husbandry}}

{{See also|List of domesticated animals}}
[[File:Hog confinement barn interior.jpg|thumb|[[Intensive animal farming|Intensively farmed]] pigs]]

Animal husbandry is the breeding and raising of animals for meat, milk, [[egg (food)|eggs]], or [[wool]], and for work and transport.<ref name=Clutton-Brock>{{cite book |author=Clutton-Brock, Juliet |title=A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgL-EbbB8a0C&pg=PA1 |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-63495-3 |pages=1–2 |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref> [[Working animal]]s, including horses, [[mule]]s, [[ox]]en, [[water buffalo]], camels, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, and dogs, have for centuries been used to help cultivate fields, [[harvest]] crops, wrangle other animals, and transport farm products to buyers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Falvey |first=John Lindsay |author-link=Lindsay Falvey |year=1985 |title=Introduction to Working Animals |isbn=978-1-86252-992-2 |location=Melbourne, Australia |publisher=MPW Australia}}</ref>

Livestock production systems can be defined based on feed source, as grassland-based, mixed, and landless.<ref name="FAO lps">{{cite web |author1=Sere, C. |author2=Steinfeld, H. |author3=Groeneweld, J. |year=1995 |url=http://www.fao.org/WAIRDOCS/LEAD/X6101E/x6101e00.htm#Contents |title=Description of Systems in World Livestock Systems – Current status issues and trends |publisher=U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization |access-date=8 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026004040/http://www.fao.org/WAIRDOCS/LEAD/X6101E/X6101E00.HTM#Contents |archive-date=26 October 2012}}</ref> {{as of|2010}}, 30% of Earth's ice- and water-free area was used for producing livestock, with the sector employing approximately 1.3&nbsp;billion people. Between the 1960s and the 2000s, there was a significant increase in livestock production, both by numbers and by carcass weight, especially among beef, pigs and chickens, the latter of which had production increased by almost a factor of 10. Non-meat animals, such as milk cows and egg-producing chickens, also showed significant production increases. Global cattle, sheep and goat populations are expected to continue to increase sharply through 2050.<ref name=LP>{{cite journal |title=Livestock production: recent trends, future prospects |author=Thornton, Philip K. |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0134 |pmid=20713389 |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B |date=27 September 2010 |volume=365 |issue=1554 |pages=2853–2867 |doi-access=free |pmc=2935116}}</ref> [[Aquaculture]] or fish farming, the production of fish for human consumption in confined operations, is one of the fastest growing sectors of food production, growing at an average of 9% a year between 1975 and 2007.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1663604,00.html |title=Fish Farming's Growing Dangers |magazine=Time |author=Stier, Ken |date=19 September 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907071708/http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1663604,00.html |archive-date=7 September 2013}}</ref>

During the second half of the 20th century, producers using selective breeding focused on creating livestock [[breed]]s and [[crossbreed]]s that increased production, while mostly disregarding the need to preserve [[genetic diversity]]. This trend has led to a significant decrease in genetic diversity and resources among livestock breeds, leading to a corresponding decrease in disease resistance and local adaptations previously found among traditional breeds.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A global view of livestock biodiversity and conservation – Globaldiv |author=Ajmone-Marsan, P. |journal=Animal Genetics |date=May 2010 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02036.x |pmid=20500752 |volume=41 |issue=supplement S1 |pages=1–5 |url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/148417 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803140941/https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/148417 |archive-date=3 August 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Broiler Chicks.jpg|thumb|Raising chickens intensively for meat in a broiler house]]

Grassland based livestock production relies upon plant material such as [[shrubland]], [[rangeland]], and [[managed intensive rotational grazing|pastures]] for feeding [[ruminant]] animals. Outside nutrient inputs may be used, however manure is returned directly to the grassland as a major nutrient source. This system is particularly important in areas where crop production is not feasible because of climate or soil, representing 30–40&nbsp;million pastoralists.<ref name="CS" /> Mixed production systems use grassland, [[fodder]] crops and grain feed crops as feed for ruminant and monogastric (one stomach; mainly chickens and pigs) livestock. Manure is typically recycled in mixed systems as a fertilizer for crops.<ref name="FAO lps" />

Landless systems rely upon feed from outside the farm, representing the de-linking of crop and livestock production found more prevalently in [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development]] member countries. Synthetic fertilizers are more heavily relied upon for crop production and manure use becomes a challenge as well as a source for pollution.<ref name="FAO lps" /> Industrialized countries use these operations to produce much of the global supplies of poultry and pork. Scientists estimate that 75% of the growth in livestock production between 2003 and 2030 will be in [[confined animal feeding operations]], sometimes called [[factory farming]]. Much of this growth is happening in developing countries in Asia, with much smaller amounts of growth in Africa.<ref name=LP /> Some of the practices used in commercial livestock production, including the usage of [[growth hormone]]s, are controversial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-02-604_en.pdf |title=Growth Promoting Hormones Pose Health Risk to Consumers, Confirms EU Scientific Committee |date=23 April 2002 |access-date=6 April 2013 |publisher=European Union |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502123053/http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-02-604_en.pdf |archive-date=2 May 2013}}</ref>

=== Production practices ===
[[File:Fendt Tractor Ripping up Kulin.jpg|thumb|[[Tillage|Tilling]] an arable field]]
{{further|Tillage|Crop rotation|Irrigation}}

Tillage is the practice of breaking up the soil with tools such as the plow or [[harrow (tool)|harrow]] to prepare for planting, for nutrient incorporation, or for pest control. Tillage varies in intensity from conventional to [[no-till farming|no-till]]. It can improve productivity by warming the soil, incorporating fertilizer and controlling weeds, but also renders soil more prone to erosion, triggers the decomposition of organic matter releasing CO<sub>2</sub>, and reduces the abundance and diversity of soil organisms.<ref name="Soil nutrient" /><ref name="PCP Tillage">"Land Preparation and Farm Energy", pp. 318–338 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref>

Pest control includes the management of weeds, insects, [[mite]]s, and diseases. Chemical (pesticides), biological ([[biocontrol]]), mechanical (tillage), and cultural practices are used. Cultural practices include crop rotation, [[culling]], [[cover crop]]s, intercropping, [[compost]]ing, avoidance, and resistance. Integrated pest management attempts to use all of these methods to keep pest populations below the number which would cause economic loss, and recommends pesticides as a last resort.<ref name="PCP Pest">"Pesticide Use in U.S. Crop Production", pp. 240–282 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref>

[[Nutrient management]] includes both the source of nutrient inputs for crop and livestock production, and the method of use of manure produced by livestock. Nutrient inputs can be chemical inorganic fertilizers, manure, [[green manure]], compost and minerals.<ref name="PCP Soil">"Soil and Land", pp. 165–210 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref> Crop nutrient use may also be managed using cultural techniques such as crop rotation or a [[fallow]] period. Manure is used either by holding livestock where the feed crop is growing, such as in managed intensive rotational grazing, or [[Manure spreader|by spreading]] either dry or liquid formulations of manure on cropland or [[pasture]]s.<ref name="Soil nutrient">Brady, N. C.; Weil, R. R. (2002). "Practical Nutrient Management" pp. 472–515 in ''Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils''. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. {{ISBN|978-0135051955}}</ref><ref name="CS nutrient">"Nutrition from the Soil", pp. 187–218 in [[#Chrispeels|Chrispeels]]</ref>

[[Water management]] is needed where rainfall is insufficient or variable, which occurs to some degree in most regions of the world.<ref name="CS" /> Some farmers use irrigation to supplement rainfall. In other areas such as the [[Great Plains]] in the U.S. and Canada, farmers use a fallow year to conserve soil moisture for the following year.<ref name="PCP Water">"Plants and Soil Water", pp. 211–239 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref> Recent technological innovations in precision agriculture allow for water status monitoring and automate water usage, leading to more efficient management.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2022. Leveraging agricultural automation for transforming agrifood systems |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-136043-9 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cb9479en }}</ref> Agriculture represents 70% of freshwater use worldwide.<ref name="Pimentel water">{{cite journal |author1=Pimentel, D. |author2=Berger, D. |author3=Filberto, D. |author4=Newton, M. |year=2004 |title=Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues |journal=BioScience |volume=54 |pages=909–918 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0909:WRAAEI]2.0.CO;2 |issue=10 |doi-access=free}}</ref> However, water withdrawal ratios for agriculture vary significantly by income level. In least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, water withdrawal ratios for agriculture are as high as 90 percent of total water withdrawals and about 60 percent in [[Small Island Developing States]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. Overcoming water challenges in agriculture |publisher=FAO |year=2020 |isbn=978-92-5-133441-6 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cb1447en |s2cid=241788672 }}</ref>

According to 2014 report by the [[International Food Policy Research Institute]], agricultural technologies will have the greatest impact on food production if adopted in combination with each other. Using a model that assessed how eleven technologies could impact agricultural productivity, food security and trade by 2050, the International Food Policy Research Institute found that the number of people at risk from hunger could be reduced by as much as 40% and food prices could be reduced by almost half.<ref name=ifpri>{{cite book |author1=Rosegrant, Mark W. |author2=Koo, Jawoo |author3=Cenacchi, Nicola |author4=Ringler, Claudia |author5=Robertson, Richard D. |author6=Fisher, Myles |author7=Cox, Cindy M. |author8=Garrett, Karen |author9=Perez, Nicostrato D. |author10=Sabbagh, Pascale |title=Food Security in a World of Natural Resource Scarcity |date=2014 |doi=10.2499/9780896298477 |url=https://www.ifpri.org/publication/food-security-world-natural-resource-scarcity-role-agricultural-technologies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305043943/http://www.ifpri.org/publication/food-security-world-natural-resource-scarcity |archive-date=5 March 2014 |publisher=International Food Policy Research Institute}}</ref>

[[Payment for ecosystem services]] is a method of providing additional incentives to encourage farmers to conserve some aspects of the environment. Measures might include paying for reforestation upstream of a city, to improve the supply of fresh water.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tacconi |first1=L. |year=2012 |title=Redefining payments for environmental services |journal=Ecological Economics |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=29–36 |doi=10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.09.028 |bibcode=2012EcoEc..73...29T}}</ref>

=== Agricultural automation ===
Different definitions exist for agricultural automation and for the variety of tools and technologies that are used to automate production. One view is that agricultural automation refers to autonomous navigation by robots without human intervention.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gan |first1=H. |last2=Lee |first2=W. S. |date=1 January 2018 |title=Development of a Navigation System for a Smart Farm |journal=IFAC-PapersOnLine |series=6th IFAC Conference on Bio-Robotics BIOROBOTICS 2018 |volume=51 |issue=17 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.08.051 |issn=2405-8963 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Alternatively, it is defined as the accomplishment of production tasks through mobile, autonomous, decision-making, mechatronic devices.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lowenberg-DeBoer |first1=James |last2=Huang |first2=Iona Yuelu |last3=Grigoriadis |first3=Vasileios |last4=Blackmore |first4=Simon |date=1 April 2020 |title=Economics of robots and automation in field crop production |journal=Precision Agriculture |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=278–299 |doi=10.1007/s11119-019-09667-5 |s2cid=254932536 |issn=1573-1618 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2020PrAgr..21..278L }}</ref> However, [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] finds that these definitions do not capture all the aspects and forms of automation, such as robotic milking machines that are static, most motorized machinery that automates the performing of agricultural operations, and digital tools (e.g., sensors) that automate only diagnosis.<ref name=":5" /> FAO defines agricultural automation as the use of machinery and equipment in agricultural operations to improve their diagnosis, decision-making or performing, reducing the drudgery of agricultural work or improving the timeliness, and potentially the precision, of agricultural operations.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=In Brief to The State of Food and Agriculture 2022. Leveraging automation in agriculture for transforming agrifood systems |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-137005-6 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc2459en }}</ref>

The technological evolution in agriculture has involved a progressive move from manual tools to animal traction, to motorized mechanization, to digital equipment and finally, to robotics with artificial intelligence (AI).<ref name=":6" /> Motorized mechanization using engine power automates the performance of agricultural operations such as ploughing and milking.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |author1=Santos Valle, S. |author2=Kienzle, J. |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2186en |title=Agriculture 4.0 – Agricultural robotics and automated equipment for sustainable crop production |publisher=FAO |year=2020 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210114430/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2186en |url-status=live}}</ref> With digital automation technologies, it also becomes possible to automate diagnosis and decision-making of agricultural operations.<ref name=":6" /> For example, autonomous crop robots can harvest and seed crops, while drones can gather information to help automate input application.<ref name=":5" /> Precision agriculture often employs such automation technologies.<ref name=":5" /> Motorized machines are increasingly complemented, or even superseded, by new digital equipment that automates diagnosis and decision-making.<ref name=":7" /> A conventional tractor, for example, can be converted into an automated vehicle allowing it to sow a field autonomously.<ref name=":7" />

Motorized mechanization has increased significantly across the world in recent years, although reliable global data with broad country coverage exist only for tractors and only up to 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAOSTAT: Discontinued archives and data series: Machinery |url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/ |access-date=1 December 2021 |website=Food and Agriculture Organization |archive-date=14 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114074500/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the adoption of motorized mechanization has stalled over the past decades.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Daum |first1=Thomas |last2=Birner |first2=Regina |date=1 September 2020 |title=Agricultural mechanization in Africa: Myths, realities and an emerging research agenda |journal=Global Food Security |volume=26 |article-number=100393 |doi=10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100393 |s2cid=225280050 |issn=2211-9124 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020GlFS...2600393D |s2cid-access=free}}</ref>

Automation technologies are increasingly used for managing livestock, though evidence on adoption is lacking. Global automatic milking system sales have increased over recent years, but adoption is likely mostly in Northern Europe,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rodenburg |first=Jack |date=2017 |title=Robotic milking: Technology, farm design, and effects on work flow |journal=Journal of Dairy Science |volume=100 |issue=9 |pages=7729–7738 |doi=10.3168/jds.2016-11715 |pmid=28711263 |s2cid=11934286 |issn=0022-0302 |doi-access=free |s2cid-access=free |url=https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(17)30649-5/fulltext |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035814/https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(17)30649-5/fulltext |archive-date=13 April 2023}}</ref> and likely almost absent in low- and middle-income countries. Automated feeding machines for both cows and poultry also exist, but data and evidence regarding their adoption trends and drivers is likewise scarce.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Lowenberg-DeBoer, J. |doi-access=free |title=Economics of adoption for digital automated technologies in agriculture. Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-137080-3 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc2624en}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

Measuring the overall employment impacts of agricultural automation is difficult because it requires large amounts of data tracking all the transformations and the associated reallocation of workers both upstream and downstream.<ref name=":6" /> While automation technologies reduce labor needs for the newly automated tasks, they also generate new labor demand for other tasks, such as equipment maintenance and operation.<ref name=":5" /> Agricultural automation can also stimulate employment by allowing producers to expand production and by creating other agrifood systems jobs.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |title=Enabling inclusive agricultural automation |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cc2688en |isbn=978-92-5-137099-5 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This is especially true when it happens in context of rising scarcity of rural labor, as is the case in high-income countries and many middle-income countries.<ref name=":8" /> On the other hand, if forcedly promoted, for example through government subsidies in contexts of abundant rural labor, it can lead to labor displacement and falling or stagnant wages, particularly affecting poor and low-skilled workers.<ref name=":8" />

=== Effects of climate change on yields ===
{{Main|Effects of climate change on agriculture}}

[[File:Soil moisture and climate change.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The sixth IPCC Assessment Report projects changes in average soil moisture at 2.0&nbsp;°C of warming, as measured in [[standard deviation]]s from the 1850 to 1900 baseline.]]
[[Climate change]] and agriculture are interrelated on a global scale. [[Effects of climate change on agriculture|Climate change affects agriculture]] through changes in [[instrumental temperature record|average temperatures]], rainfall, and [[extreme weather|weather extremes]] (like storms and heat waves); changes in pests and diseases; changes in atmospheric [[carbon dioxide]] and ground-level [[ozone]] concentrations; changes in the nutritional quality of some foods;<ref name="science-news">{{cite news |last=Milius |first=Susan |date=13 December 2017 |title=Worries grow that climate change will quietly steal nutrients from major food crops |work=[[Science News]] |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nutrition-climate-change-top-science-stories-2017-yir |access-date=21 January 2018 |archive-date=23 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423165315/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nutrition-climate-change-top-science-stories-2017-yir |url-status=live}}</ref> and changes in [[current sea level rise|sea level]].<ref>Hoffmann, U., Section B: Agriculture – a key driver and a major victim of global warming, in: Lead Article, in: Chapter 1, in {{cite book |url=http://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx?publicationid=666 |title=Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate |publisher=United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) |year=2013 |editor=Hoffmann, U. |location=Geneva, Switzerland |pages=3, 5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128140551/http://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx?publicationid=666 |archive-date=28 November 2014}}</ref> Global warming is already affecting agriculture, with effects unevenly distributed across the world.<ref name="porter summary">Porter, J. R., ''et al.''., Executive summary, in: [http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WGIIAR5-Chap7_FINAL.pdf Chapter 7: Food security and food production systems] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105164634/https://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WGIIAR5-Chap7_FINAL.pdf |date=5 November 2014 }}(archived ), in {{cite book |author=IPCC AR5 WG2 A |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/ |title=Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II (WG2) to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |editor-last=Field |editor-first=C. B. |pages=488–489 |display-editors=etal |access-date=26 March 2018 |archive-date=16 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416051047/http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2022 report, the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] describes how human-induced warming has slowed growth of agricultural productivity over the past 50 years in mid and low latitudes.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=IPCC |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228114918/https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Methane emissions have negatively impacted crop yields by increasing temperatures and surface ozone concentrations.<ref name=":10" /> Warming is also negatively affecting crop and grassland quality and harvest stability.<ref name=":10" /> [[Ocean warming]] has decreased sustainable yields of some wild fish populations while ocean acidification and warming have already affected farmed aquatic species.<ref name=":10" /> Climate change will probably increase the risk of [[food insecurity]] for some vulnerable groups, such as the [[poverty|poor]].<ref>Paragraph 4, in: Summary and Recommendations, in: {{cite book |author=HLPE |url=http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/hlpe-food-security-and-climate-change-report-elaboration-process/en/ |title=Food security and climate change. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security |date=June 2012 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |location=Rome, Italy |page=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141212075812/http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/hlpe-food-security-and-climate-change-report-elaboration-process/en/ |archive-date=12 December 2014}}</ref>

== Crop alteration and biotechnology ==

=== Plant breeding ===
{{Main|Plant breeding}}

[[File:Wheat selection k10183-1.jpg|thumb|left|Wheat cultivar tolerant of high [[salinity]] (left) compared with non-tolerant variety]]

Crop alteration has been practiced by humankind for thousands of years, since the beginning of civilization. Altering crops through breeding practices changes the genetic make-up of a plant to develop crops with more beneficial characteristics for humans, for example, larger fruits or seeds, drought-tolerance, or resistance to pests. Significant advances in plant breeding ensued after the work of geneticist [[Gregor Mendel]]. His work on [[dominant allele|dominant]] and [[recessive allele]]s, although initially largely ignored for almost 50 years, gave plant breeders a better understanding of genetics and breeding techniques. Crop breeding includes techniques such as plant selection with desirable traits, [[self-pollination]] and [[cross-pollination]], and molecular techniques that genetically modify the organism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cls.casa.colostate.edu/TransgenicCrops/history.html |title=History of Plant Breeding |date=29 January 2004 |publisher=[[Colorado State University]] |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121061931/http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/TransgenicCrops/history.html |archive-date=21 January 2013}}</ref>

Domestication of plants has, over the centuries increased yield, improved disease resistance and [[drought tolerance]], eased harvest and improved the taste and nutritional value of crop plants. Careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and 1930s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive X-ray and ultraviolet induced mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn (maize) and barley.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stadler |first=L. J. |author-link=Lewis Stadler |author2=Sprague, G.F. |title=Genetic Effects of Ultra-Violet Radiation in Maize: I. Unfiltered Radiation |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=22 |issue=10 |pages=572–578 |date=15 October 1936 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/22/10/579.pdf |doi=10.1073/pnas.22.10.572 |access-date=11 October 2007 |pmid=16588111 |pmc=1076819 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024233407/http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/22/10/579.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2007 |url-status=live |bibcode=1936PNAS...22..572S |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Berg |first=Paul |author2=Singer, Maxine |title=George Beadle: An Uncommon Farmer. The Emergence of Genetics in the 20th century |url=https://archive.org/details/georgebeadleunco0000berg |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory]] Press |date=15 August 2003 |isbn=978-0-87969-688-7}}</ref>
[[File:Seedlings in Green House.jpg|thumb|Seedlings in a green house. This is what it looks like when seedlings are growing from plant breeding.]]
The [[Green Revolution]] popularized the use of conventional [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridization]] to sharply increase yield by creating "high-yielding varieties". For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the US have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (t/ha) (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, and Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Variations in yields are due mainly to variation in climate, genetics, and the level of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, and growth control to avoid lodging).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ruttan |first=Vernon W. |title=Biotechnology and Agriculture: A Skeptical Perspective |journal=AgBioForum |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=54–60 |date=December 1999 |url=http://www.agbioforum.org/v2n1/v2n1a10-ruttan.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521021149/http://www.agbioforum.org/v2n1/v2n1a10-ruttan.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Cassman |first=K. |title=Ecological intensification of cereal production systems: The Challenge of increasing crop yield potential and precision agriculture |journal=Proceedings of a National Academy of Sciences Colloquium, Irvine, California |date=5 December 1998 |url=http://www.lsc.psu.edu/nas/Speakers/Cassman%20manuscript.html |access-date=11 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024001804/http://www.lsc.psu.edu/nas/Speakers/Cassman%20manuscript.html |archive-date=24 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>Conversion note: 1 bushel of wheat=60&nbsp;pounds (lb) ≈ 27.215&nbsp;kg. 1 bushel of maize=56&nbsp;pounds ≈ 25.401&nbsp;kg</ref>
[[File:IP Related Innovation in Agriculture 2000-2021.png|left|thumb|Increase of [[intellectual property]] protection for agri inventions, as seen in the total number of [[patent]]s, [[utility model]]s and [[Variety (botany)|plant varieties]] equivalent protection systems applied for on agricultural innovation worldwide.]]
Investments into [[innovation]] for agriculture are long term. This is because it takes time for research to become commercialized and for technology to be adapted to meet multiple regions' needs, as well as meet national guidelines before being adopted and planted in a farmer's fields. For instance, it took at least 60 years from the introduction of [[Heterosis|hybrid corn]] technology before its adoption became widespread.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=World Intellectual Property Report 2024 - 3 The importance of local capabilities in AgTech specialization |url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/world-intellectual-property-report-2024/en/3-the-importance-of-local-capabilities-in-agtech-specialization.html |access-date=9 September 2024 |website=World Intellectual Property Report 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griliches |first=Zvi |date=1957 |title=Hybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change |journal=Econometrica |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=501–522 |doi=10.2307/1905380 |jstor=1905380 |issn=0012-9682}}</ref>

Agricultural innovation developed for the specific agroecological conditions of one region is not easily transferred and used in another region with different agroecological conditions. Instead, the innovation would have to be adapted to the specific conditions of that other region and respect its [[biodiversity]] and environmental requirements and guidelines. Some such adaptations can be seen through the steadily increasing number of plant varieties protected under the plant variety protection instrument administered by the [[International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants]] (UPOV).<ref name=":15" />

=== Genetic engineering ===
{{Main|Genetic engineering}}

{{See also|Genetically modified food|Genetically modified crops|Regulation of the release of genetic modified organisms|Genetically modified food controversies}}
[[File:CSIRO ScienceImage 382 Genetically Modified Potatoes.jpg|thumb|[[Genetically modified crops|Genetically modified]] potato plants (left) resist virus diseases that damage unmodified plants (right).]]

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are [[organism]]s whose [[Genetics|genetic]] material has been altered by genetic engineering techniques generally known as [[recombinant DNA technology]]. Genetic engineering has expanded the genes available to breeders to use in creating desired germlines for new crops. Increased durability, nutritional content, insect and virus resistance and herbicide tolerance are a few of the attributes bred into crops through genetic engineering.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/index.html |title=20 Questions on Genetically Modified Foods |publisher=World Health Organization |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327015739/http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/index.html |archive-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> For some, GMO crops cause [[food safety]] and [[food labeling regulations|food labeling]] concerns. Numerous countries have placed restrictions on the production, import or use of GMO foods and crops.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93975745_peru-bans-genetically-modified-foods-as-us-lags.htm |title=Peru bans genetically modified foods as US lags |date=28 November 2012 |access-date=7 May 2013 |author=Whiteside, Stephanie |work=Current TV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324013255/http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93975745_peru-bans-genetically-modified-foods-as-us-lags.htm |archive-date=24 March 2013}}</ref> The [[Biosafety Protocol]], an international treaty, regulates the trade of GMOs. There is ongoing discussion regarding the labeling of foods made from GMOs, and the EU has had GMO food labeling requirements since 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Question and Answers on the regulation of GMOs in the EU |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/https:////ec.europa.eu//commission//presscorner//detail//en//memo_03_196 |access-date=2025-10-07 |website=European Commission - European Commission}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Shiva, Vandana |author-link=Vandana Shiva |title=Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace |publisher=[[South End Press]] |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2005}}</ref> As of 2022, the United States requires food containing GMO ingredients to be labeled as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Program |first=Human Foods |date=2024-09-05 |title=How GMOs Are Regulated in the United States |url=https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/how-gmos-are-regulated-united-states |journal=FDA |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hernandez |first=Joe |date=2022-01-05 |title=GMO is out, 'bioengineered' is in, as new U.S. food labeling rules take effect |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1070212871/usda-bioengineered-food-label-gmo |access-date=2025-10-07 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref>

Herbicide-resistant seeds have a gene implanted into their genome that allows the plants to tolerate exposure to herbicides, including [[glyphosate]]. These seeds allow the farmer to grow a crop that can be sprayed with herbicides to control weeds without harming the resistant crop. Herbicide-tolerant crops are used by farmers worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5031e/y5031e0i.htm |title=Benefits and risks of the use of herbicide-resistant crops |author1=Kathrine Hauge Madsen |author2=Jens Carl Streibig |publisher=FAO |access-date=4 May 2013 |website=Weed Management for Developing Countries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604013840/http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5031e/y5031e0i.htm |archive-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> With the increasing use of herbicide-tolerant crops, comes an increase in the use of glyphosate-based herbicide sprays. In some areas glyphosate resistant weeds have developed, causing farmers to switch to other herbicides.<ref name="Farmers Guide to GMOs">{{cite web |url=http://www.rafiusa.org/pubs/Farmers_Guide_to_GMOs.pdf |title=Farmers Guide to GMOs |publisher=Rural Advancement Foundation International |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501145751/http://www.rafiusa.org/pubs/Farmers_Guide_to_GMOs.pdf |archive-date=1 May 2012 |date=11 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-02-13/report-raises-alarm-over-superweedsbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |title=Report Raises Alarm over 'Super-weeds' |journal=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |date=13 February 2008 |author=Hindo, Brian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226181242/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-02-13/report-raises-alarm-over-superweedsbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |archive-date=26 December 2016}}</ref> Some studies also link widespread glyphosate usage to iron deficiencies in some crops, which is both a crop production and a nutritional quality concern, with potential economic and health implications.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ozturk |display-authors=etal |year=2008 |title=Glyphosate inhibition of ferric reductase activity in iron deficient sunflower roots |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5669940 |journal=[[New Phytologist]] |volume=177 |issue=4 |pages=899–906 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02340.x |pmid=18179601 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113232909/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5669940 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2008NewPh.177..899O }}</ref>

Other GMO crops used by growers include insect-resistant crops, which have a gene from the soil bacterium ''[[Bacillus thuringiensis]]'' (Bt), which produces a toxin specific to insects. These crops resist damage by insects.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/html_pubs/biotech/insect.htm |title=Insect-resistant Crops Through Genetic Engineering |publisher=[[University of Illinois]] |access-date=4 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121073949/http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/html_pubs/biotech/insect.htm |archive-date=21 January 2013}}</ref> Some believe that similar or better pest-resistance traits can be acquired through traditional breeding practices, and resistance to various pests can be gained through hybridization or cross-pollination with wild species. In some cases, wild species are the primary source of resistance traits; some tomato cultivars that have gained resistance to at least 19 diseases did so through crossing with wild populations of tomatoes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kimbrell |first=A. |title=Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture |publisher=Island Press |location=Washington |year=2002}}</ref>

{{anchor|Criticisms}}

== Environmental impact ==
{{Main|Environmental issues with agriculture}}

=== Effects and costs ===
[[File:Water pollution in the Wairarapa.JPG|upright|thumb|[[Water pollution]] in a rural stream due to [[Agricultural pollution in New Zealand|runoff from farming activity in New Zealand]]]]

Agriculture is both a cause of and sensitive to [[environmental degradation]], such as [[biodiversity loss]], [[desertification]], [[soil degradation]] and [[Effects of climate change on agriculture|climate change]], which cause decreases in crop yield.<ref>{{cite web |title=Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies |year=2021 |publisher=United Nations Environment Programme |url=https://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature |access-date=9 June 2021 |archive-date=23 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323211102/https://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature |url-status=live}}</ref> Agriculture is one of the most important drivers of environmental pressures, particularly habitat change, climate change, water use and toxic emissions. Agriculture is the main source of toxins released into the environment, including [[insecticide]]s, especially those used on cotton.<ref>{{cite web |author=International Resource Panel |year=2010 |title=Priority products and materials: assessing the environmental impacts of consumption and production |url=http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/Publications/PriorityProducts/tabid/56053/Default.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224061455/http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/Publications/PriorityProducts/tabid/56053/Default.aspx |archive-date=24 December 2012 |access-date=7 May 2013 |publisher=United Nations Environment Programme |pages=13 & 40}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frouz |first1=Jan |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-83225-4 |title=Applied Ecology: How agriculture, forestry and fisheries shape our planet |last2=Frouzová |first2=Jaroslava |date=2022 |isbn=978-3-030-83224-7 |pages=116 & 165 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-83225-4 |access-date=19 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129031136/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-83225-4 |archive-date=29 January 2022 |url-status=live |s2cid=245009867}}</ref> The 2011 UNEP Green Economy report stated that agricultural operations produced some 13 percent of anthropogenic global greenhouse gas emissions. This includes gases from the use of inorganic fertilizers, agro-chemical pesticides, and herbicides, as well as fossil fuel-energy inputs.<ref name="unep.org">{{cite web |title=Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication |publisher=UNEP |year=2011 |url=https://www.unenvironment.org/search/node?keys=Towards+a+Green+Economy%3A+Pathways+to+Sustainable+Development+and+Poverty+Eradication |access-date=9 June 2021 |archive-date=10 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510022300/https://www.unenvironment.org/search/node?keys=Towards+a+Green+Economy:+Pathways+to+Sustainable+Development+and+Poverty+Eradication |url-status=live}}</ref>

Agriculture imposes multiple external costs upon society through effects such as pesticide damage to nature (especially herbicides and insecticides), nutrient runoff, excessive water usage, and loss of natural environment. A 2000 assessment of agriculture in the UK determined total external costs for 1996 of £2,343&nbsp;million, or £208 per hectare.<ref name=Pretty2000>{{cite journal |last1=Pretty |year=2000 |title=An assessment of the total external costs of UK agriculture |journal=Agricultural Systems |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=113–136 |doi=10.1016/S0308-521X(00)00031-7 |first1=J. |display-authors=1 |last2=Brett |first2=C. |last3=Gee |first3=D. |last4=Hine |first4=R. E. |last5=Mason |first5=C. F. |last6=Morison |first6=J. I. L. |last7=Raven |first7=H. |last8=Rayment |first8=M. D. |last9=Van Der Bijl |first9=G. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222549141 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113233847/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222549141 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2000AgSys..65..113P}}</ref> A 2005 analysis of these costs in the US concluded that cropland imposes approximately $5 to $16&nbsp;billion ($30 to $96 per hectare), while livestock production imposes $714&nbsp;million.<ref name=Tegtmeier2005>{{cite journal |last1=Tegtmeier |first1=E. M. |last2=Duffy |first2=M. |year=2005 |title=External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States |journal=The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture |url=http://www.organicvalley.coop/fileadmin/pdf/ag_costs_IJAS2004.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205134016/http://www.organicvalley.coop/fileadmin/pdf/ag_costs_IJAS2004.pdf |archive-date=5 February 2009}}</ref> Both studies, which focused solely on the fiscal impacts, concluded that more should be done to internalize external costs. Neither included subsidies in their analysis, but they noted that subsidies also influence the cost of agriculture to society.<ref name=Pretty2000 /><ref name=Tegtmeier2005 />

Agriculture seeks to increase yield and to reduce costs, often employing measures that cut biodiversity to very low levels. Yield increases with inputs such as fertilizers and removal of pathogens, predators, and competitors (such as weeds). Costs decrease with increasing scale of farm units, such as making fields larger; this means removing [[hedge]]s, ditches and other areas of habitat. Pesticides kill insects, plants and fungi. Effective yields fall with on-farm losses, which may be caused by poor production practices during harvesting, handling, and storage.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |year=2019 |page=12 |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-date=29 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429155350/http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en |url-status=live}}</ref>

The environmental effects of climate change show that research on pests and diseases that do not generally afflict areas is essential. In 2021, farmers discovered [[stem rust]] on wheat in the [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] area of France, a disease that had previously only occurred in [[Morocco]] for 20 to 30 years. Because of climate change, insects that used to die off over the winter are now alive and multiplying.<ref>{{Cite web |title=French firm breeds plants that resist climate change |url=https://www.eib.org/en/stories/breeding-plants-climate-change |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=European Investment Bank |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202152944/https://www.eib.org/en/stories/breeding-plants-climate-change |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=3 February 2017 |title=New virulent disease threatens wheat crops in Europe and North Africa – researchers |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/mediterranean-food-infection-idAFL5N1FO2GJ |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125152806/https://www.reuters.com/article/mediterranean-food-infection-idAFL5N1FO2GJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Livestock issues ===
[[File:Biogas.jpg|thumb|Farmyard [[anaerobic digester]] converts waste plant material and manure from livestock into [[biogas]] fuel.]]

A senior UN official, Henning Steinfeld, said that "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html |title=Livestock a major threat to environment |publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization |date=29 November 2006 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328062709/http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html |archive-date=28 March 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Livestock production occupies 70% of all land used for agriculture, or 30% of the land surface of the planet. It is one of the largest sources of [[greenhouse gas]]es, responsible for 18% of the world's [[greenhouse gas emissions]] as measured in CO<sub>2</sub> equivalents. By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO<sub>2</sub>. (This comparison later turned out to be an apples-and-oranges analogy<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-03-24 |title=UN to look at climate meat link |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8583308.stm |access-date=2025-04-21 |language=en-GB}}</ref>.) It produces 65% of human-related [[nitrous oxide]] (which has 296 times the [[global warming potential]] of CO<sub>2</sub>) and 37% of all human-induced [[methane]] (which is 23 times as warming as CO<sub>2</sub>.) It also generates 64% of the [[ammonia]] emission. Livestock expansion is cited as a key factor driving [[deforestation]]; in the Amazon basin 70% of [[Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest|previously forested area]] is now occupied by pastures and the remainder used for feed crops.<ref name="LEAD">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625012113/http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.pdf |archive-date=25 June 2008 |last1=Steinfeld |first1=H. |last2=Gerber |first2=P. |last3=Wassenaar |first3=T. |last4=Castel |first4=V. |last5=Rosales |first5=M. |last6=de Haan |first6=C. |year=2006 |publisher=U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization |location=Rome |url=http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.pdf |title=Livestock's Long Shadow – Environmental issues and options |access-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> Through deforestation and [[land degradation]], livestock is also driving reductions in biodiversity. A well documented phenomenon is [[woody plant encroachment]], caused by [[overgrazing]] in rangelands.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Archer |first1=Steven R. |title=Woody Plant Encroachment: Causes and Consequences |date=2017 |work=Rangeland Systems |pages=25–84 |editor-last=Briske |editor-first=David D. |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-46709-2_2 |isbn=978-3-319-46707-8 |last2=Andersen |first2=Erik M. |last3=Predick |first3=Katharine I. |last4=Schwinning |first4=Susanne |last5=Steidl |first5=Robert J. |last6=Woods |first6=Steven R. |doi-access=free}}</ref> Furthermore, the [[United Nations Environment Programme]] (UNEP) states that "[[methane emissions]] from global livestock are projected to increase by 60 per cent by 2030 under current practices and consumption patterns."<ref name="unep.org" />

=== Land and water issues ===
{{See also|Environmental impact of irrigation}}
[[File:Share of water withdrawal by agriculture in total withdrawal, top countries (2022).svg|thumb|440x440px|Countries with the highest share of water withdrawal by agriculture in total withdrawal (2022)<ref>{{Cite book |last=FAO |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd4313en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2025 |date=2025 |publisher=FAO |isbn=978-92-5-140174-3 |language=English |doi=10.4060/cd4313en}}</ref>.]]
[[File:Crops Kansas AST 20010624.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Circular [[irrigated]] crop fields in [[Haskell County, Kansas|Kansas]]. Healthy, growing crops of [[maize|corn]] and [[sorghum]] are green (sorghum may be slightly paler). Wheat is brilliant gold. Fields of brown have been recently harvested and plowed or have lain in [[fallow]] for the year.]]

Land transformation, the use of land to yield goods and services, is the most substantial way humans alter the Earth's ecosystems, and is the driving force causing [[biodiversity loss]]. Estimates of the amount of land transformed by humans vary from 39 to 50%.<ref name="Vitousek">{{cite journal |last1=Vitousek |first1=P. M. |last2=Mooney |first2=H. A. |last3=Lubchenco |first3=J. |last4=Melillo |first4=J. M. |year=1997 |title=Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=277 |pages=494–499 |doi=10.1126/science.277.5325.494 |issue=5325 |citeseerx=10.1.1.318.6529 |s2cid=8610995}}</ref> It is estimated that 24% of land globally experiences land degradation, a long-term decline in ecosystem function and productivity, with cropland being disproportionately affected.<ref name="FAO GLADA">{{cite web |last1=Bai |first1=Z.G. |last2=Dent |first2=D.L. |last3=Olsson |first3=L. |last4=Schaepman |first4=M.E. |name-list-style=amp |date=November 2008 |title=Global assessment of land degradation and improvement: 1. identification by remote sensing |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]]/ISRIC |url=http://www.isric.org/isric/webdocs/docs/Report%202008_01_GLADA%20international_REV_Nov%202008.pdf |access-date=24 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213041558/http://www.isric.org/isric/webdocs/docs/Report%202008_01_GLADA%20international_REV_Nov%202008.pdf |archive-date=13 December 2013}}</ref> Land management is the driving factor behind degradation; 1.5&nbsp;billion people rely upon the degrading land. Degradation can be through deforestation, [[desertification]], [[soil erosion]], mineral depletion, [[soil acidification|acidification]], or [[Soil salinity|salinization]].<ref name="CS" /> In 2021, the global agricultural land area was 4.79 billion hectares (ha), down 2 percent, or 0.09 billion ha compared with 2000. Between 2000 and 2021, roughly two-thirds of agricultural land were used for permanent meadows and pastures (3.21 billion ha in 2021), which declined by 5 percent (0.17 billion ha). One-third of the total agricultural land was cropland (1.58 billion ha in 2021), which increased by 6 percent (0.09 billion ha).<ref name=":14"/>

[[Eutrophication]], excessive nutrient enrichment in [[aquatic ecosystem]]s resulting in [[algal bloom]]s and [[anoxic waters|anoxia]], leads to [[fish kill]]s, [[loss of biodiversity]], and renders water unfit for drinking and other industrial uses. Excessive fertilization and manure application to cropland, as well as high livestock stocking densities cause nutrient (mainly [[nitrogen]] and [[phosphorus]]) [[surface runoff|runoff]] and [[leaching (agriculture)|leaching]] from agricultural land. These nutrients are major [[nonpoint source pollution|nonpoint pollutants]] contributing to [[eutrophication]] of aquatic ecosystems and pollution of groundwater, with harmful effects on human populations.<ref name="Eutr">{{cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=S. R. |last2=Caraco |first2=N. F. |last3=Correll |first3=D. L. |last4=Howarth |first4=R. W. |last5=Sharpley |first5=A. N. |last6=Smith |first6=V. H. |year=1998 |title=Nonpoint Pollution of Surface Waters with Phosphorus and Nitrogen |journal=Ecological Applications |volume=8 |pages=559–568 |doi=10.1890/1051-0761(1998)008[0559:NPOSWW]2.0.CO;2 |issue=3 |hdl=1808/16724 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Fertilizers also reduce terrestrial biodiversity by increasing competition for light, favoring those species that are able to benefit from the added nutrients.<ref name="Hautier Niklaus Hector">{{cite journal |last1=Hautier |first1=Y. |last2=Niklaus |first2=P. A. |last3=Hector |first3=A. |title=Competition for Light Causes Plant Biodiversity Loss After Eutrophication |journal=Science |volume=324 |issue=5927 |date=2009 |doi=10.1126/science.1169640 |pmid=19407202 |pages=636–638 |bibcode=2009Sci...324..636H |s2cid=21091204 |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/18666/2/Hautier_2009.pdf |type=Submitted manuscript |access-date=3 November 2018 |archive-date=2 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102011324/https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/18666/2/Hautier_2009.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Agriculture simultaneously is facing growing freshwater demand and precipitation anomalies (droughts, floods, and extreme rainfall and weather events) on rainfed areas fields and grazing lands.<ref name=":9" /> Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of withdrawals of freshwater resources,<ref>{{cite web |editor-last=Molden |editor-first=D. |url=http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/About_IWMI/Strategic_Documents/Annual_Reports/2006_2007/pdf/IWMI%20Annual%20Report%202006-07.pdf |title=Findings of the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture |website=Annual Report 2006/2007 |publisher=[[International Water Management Institute]] |access-date=6 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107031305/http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/About_IWMI/Strategic_Documents/Annual_Reports/2006_2007/pdf/IWMI%20Annual%20Report%202006-07.pdf |archive-date=7 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=On Water |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/eib-big-ideas-on-water |access-date=7 December 2020 |year=2019 |doi=10.2867/509830 |author1=European Investment Bank |author2=Arthus-Bertrand, Yann |publisher=Publications Office of the European Union |isbn=978-92-861-4319-9 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129051604/https://www.eib.org/en/publications/eib-big-ideas-on-water |url-status=live}}</ref> and an estimated 41 percent of current global irrigation water use occurs at the expense of environmental flow requirements.<ref name=":9" /> It is long known that aquifers in areas as diverse as northern China, the [[Ganges|Upper Ganges]] and the western US are being depleted, and new research extends these problems to aquifers in Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/stressed-aquifers-around-the-globe/ |title=Stressed Aquifers Around the Globe |last=Li |first=Sophia |date=13 August 2012 |access-date=7 May 2013 |website=[[The New York Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402141530/http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/stressed-aquifers-around-the-globe/ |archive-date=2 April 2013}}</ref> Increasing pressure is being placed on water resources by industry and urban areas, meaning that [[water scarcity]] is increasing and agriculture is facing the challenge of producing more food for the world's growing population with reduced water resources.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0511sp2.htm |title=Water Use in Agriculture |date=November 2005 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=7 May 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615091527/http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0511sp2.htm |archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref> While industrial withdrawals have declined in the past few decades and municipal withdrawals have increased only marginally since 2010, agricultural withdrawals have continued to grow at an ever faster pace.<ref name=":9" /> [[Farm water|Agricultural water]] usage can also cause major environmental problems, including the destruction of natural wetlands, the spread of water-borne diseases, and land degradation through salinization and waterlogging, when irrigation is performed incorrectly.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0303sp1.htm |title=Water Management: Towards 2030 |date=March 2003 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=7 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510184315/http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0303sp1.htm |archive-date=10 May 2013}}</ref>

=== Pesticides ===
{{Main|Environmental impact of pesticides}}

[[File:Crop spraying near St Mary Bourne - geograph.org.uk - 392462.jpg|thumb|Spraying a crop with a [[pesticide]]]]

Pesticide use has increased since 1950 to 2.5&nbsp;million short tons annually worldwide, yet crop loss from pests has remained relatively constant.<ref name="Pimentel pesticide">{{cite web |author1=Pimentel, D. |author2=Culliney, T. W. |author3=Bashore, T. |year=1996 |url=http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/pimentel.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990218073023/http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/pimentel.htm |archive-date=18 February 1999 |title=Public health risks associated with pesticides and natural toxins in foods |website=Radcliffe's IPM World Textbook |access-date=7 May 2013}}</ref> The World Health Organization estimated in 1992 that three million pesticide poisonings occur annually, causing 220,000 deaths.<ref name="WHO">''Our planet, our health: Report of the WHO commission on health and environment''. Geneva: [[World Health Organization]] (1992).</ref> Pesticides select for [[pesticide resistance]] in the pest population, leading to a condition termed the "pesticide treadmill" in which pest resistance warrants the development of a new pesticide.<ref name="CS Pest">"Strategies for Pest Control", pp. 355–383 in [[#Chrispeels|Chrispeels]]</ref>

An alternative argument is that the way to "save the environment" and prevent famine is by using pesticides and intensive high yield farming, a view exemplified by a quote heading the Center for Global Food Issues website: 'Growing more per acre leaves more land for nature'.<ref name="DAvery">{{cite book |last=Avery |first=D.T. |year=2000 |title=Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming |url=https://archive.org/details/savingplanetwith00aver |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Hudson Institute]] |location=Indianapolis |isbn=978-1-55813-069-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=cgfi.org |url=http://www.cgfi.org |title=Center for Global Food Issues |access-date=14 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716190009/http://www.cgfi.org/ |archive-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> However, critics argue that a trade-off between the environment and a need for food is not inevitable,<ref name="WH">{{cite book |last1=Lappe |first1=F. M. |last2=Collins |first2=J. |last3=Rosset |first3=P. |date=1998 |chapter-url=http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bi430-fs430/Documents-2004/10B-DEVEL%20WORLD/World%20Hunger--Twelve%20Myths.pdf |chapter=Myth 4: Food vs. Our Environment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304102909/http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bi430-fs430/Documents-2004/10B-DEVEL%20WORLD/World%20Hunger--Twelve%20Myths.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2021 |pages=42–57 |title=World Hunger, Twelve Myths |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8021-3591-9 |via=Oregon State University}}</ref> and that pesticides can replace [[good agricultural practices|good agronomic practices]] such as crop rotation.<ref name="CS Pest" /> The [[Push–pull agricultural pest management]] technique involves intercropping, using plant aromas to repel pests from crops (push) and to lure them to a place from which they can then be removed (pull).<ref name=PushPull>{{Cite journal |author1=Cook, Samantha M. |author2=Khan, Zeyaur R. |author3=Pickett, John A. |year=2007 |title=The use of push-pull strategies in integrated pest management |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=52 |pages=375–400 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091407 |pmid=16968206}}</ref>

=== Contribution to climate change ===
{{Main|2 = Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture}}
[[File:World farm-gate greenhouse gas emissions by activity.svg|thumb|World farm-gate greenhouse gas emissions by activity<ref>{{Cite book |last=FAO |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd4313en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2025 |date=2025 |publisher=FAO |isbn=978-92-5-140174-3 |language=English |doi=10.4060/cd4313en}}</ref>]]
Agriculture contributes towards [[climate change]] through [[greenhouse gas emissions]] and by the conversion of non-agricultural land such as [[forest]]s into agricultural land.<ref>Section 4.2: Agriculture's current contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, in: {{cite book |author=HLPE |title=Food security and climate change. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security |url=http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/hlpe-food-security-and-climate-change-report-elaboration-process/en/ |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] |location=Rome, Italy |date=June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141212075812/http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/hlpe-food-security-and-climate-change-report-elaboration-process/en/ |archive-date=12 December 2014 |pages=67–69}}</ref> The agriculture, forestry and land use sector contribute between 13% and 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions.<ref name="IPCC2022">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Chapter07.pdf |chapter=Chapter 7: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) |title=Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change |display-authors=etal |last1=Nabuurs |first1=G-J. |last2=Mrabet |first2=R. |last3=Abu Hatab |first3=A. |last4=Bustamante |first4=M. |doi=10.1017/9781009157926.009 |page=750 |url=https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/agriculture-forestry-and-other-land-uses-afolu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226114238/https://ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Chapter07.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2022}}.</ref> Emissions of [[nitrous oxide]], [[methane]] make up over half of total greenhouse gas emission from agriculture.<ref name="FAO2020">{{cite report |author=FAO |year=2020 |title=Emissions due to agriculture. Global, regional and country trends 2000–2018. |issn=2709-0078 |series=FAOSTAT Analytical Brief Series |url=https://www.fao.org/3/cb3808en/cb3808en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617210116/https://www.fao.org/3/cb3808en/cb3808en.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2021 |volume=18 |location=Rome |page=2}}</ref> [[Animal husbandry]] is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How livestock farming affects the environment |url=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/factsheet/how-livestock-farming-affects-the-environment-64218 |access-date=10 February 2022 |website=www.downtoearth.org.in |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130055211/https://www.downtoearth.org.in/factsheet/how-livestock-farming-affects-the-environment-64218 }}</ref>

Approximately 57% of global GHG emissions from the production of food are from the production of animal-based food while plant-based foods contribute 29% and the remaining 14% is for other utilizations.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Xiaoming |last2=Sharma |first2=Prateek |last3=Shu |first3=Shijie |last4=Lin |first4=Tzu-Shun |last5=Ciais |first5=Philippe |last6=Tubiello |first6=Francesco N. |last7=Smith |first7=Pete |last8=Campbell |first8=Nelson |last9=Jain |first9=Atul K. |date=2021 |title=Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00358-x |journal=Nature Food |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=724–732 |doi=10.1038/s43016-021-00358-x |pmid=37117472 |hdl=2164/18207 |s2cid=240562878 |issn=2662-1355 |hdl-access=free |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403203405/https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00358-x |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Farmland management and [[land-use change]] represented major shares of total emissions (38% and 29%, respectively), whereas rice and beef were the largest contributing plant- and animal-based commodities (12% and 25%, respectively).<ref name=":12" /> South and Southeast Asia and South America were the largest emitters of production-based GHGs.<ref name=":12" />

=== Effects of climate change on agriculture ===
{{Further|Effects of climate change on agriculture}}
Climate change put significant part of crops in danger already at 1.5 degrees of warming. While in North America, Europe and central Asia the share of endangered crops is relatively little at this level of warming, in the [[Climate change in the Middle East and North Africa|Middle east and North Africa]] region for example, close to 50% of cropland is in danger. With further temperature rise the risk increase in all regions, in some more, in some less. Globally the cropland area in safe climatic zone decrease for all the major crop groups as warming exceed 1.5 degrees.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heikonen |first1=Sara |last2=Heino |first2=Matias |last3=Jalava |first3=Mika |last4=Siebert |first4=Stefan |last5=Viviroli |first5=Daniel |last6=Kummu |first6=Matti |title=Climate change threatens crop diversity at low latitudes |journal=Nature Food |date=4 March 2025 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=331–342 |doi=10.1038/s43016-025-01135-w |quote=At the level of crop groups, the global net change in cropland area within the SCS would be negative in all groups if global warming exceeded 1.5 °C |doi-access=free |pmid=40038529 |pmc=12018264 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Over 50% global crop production could be threatened at 1.5-2°C warming |url=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climate-change/over-50-global-crop-production-could-be-threatened-at-15-2c-warming |website=Down to Earth |date=6 March 2025 |publisher=Nature Food |access-date=12 March 2025}}</ref>

=== Sustainability ===
[[File:TerracesBuffers.JPG|thumb|upright|Terraces, [[conservation tillage]] and conservation buffers reduce [[soil erosion]] and [[water pollution]] on this farm in Iowa.]]
{{main|Sustainable agriculture}}

Current farming methods have resulted in over-stretched water resources, high levels of erosion and reduced soil fertility. There is not enough water to continue farming using current practices; therefore how water, land, and [[ecosystem]] resources are used to boost crop yields must be reconsidered. A solution would be to give value to ecosystems, recognizing environmental and livelihood tradeoffs, and balancing the rights of a variety of users and interests.<ref>{{cite web |editor-last=Boelee |editor-first=E. |url=http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/topics/ecosystems/ |title=Ecosystems for water and food security |year=2011 |publisher=IWMI/UNEP |access-date=24 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523025920/http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Topics/Ecosystems/ |archive-date=23 May 2013}}</ref> Inequities that result when such measures are adopted would need to be addressed, such as the reallocation of water from poor to rich, the clearing of land to make way for more productive farmland, or the preservation of a wetland system that limits fishing rights.<ref>{{cite web |last=Molden |first=D. |url=http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/news_room/pdf/The-scientist_com-Opinion_The%20Water_Deficit.pdf |title=Opinion: The Water Deficit |publisher=[[The Scientist (magazine)|The Scientist]] |access-date=23 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113125654/http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/news_room/pdf/The-scientist_com-Opinion_The%20Water_Deficit.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2012}}</ref>

Technological advancements help provide farmers with tools and resources to make farming more sustainable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://croplife.intraspin.com/pesticides/paper.asp?id=461 |author=Safefood Consulting, Inc. |title=Benefits of Crop Protection Technologies on Canadian Food Production, Nutrition, Economy and the Environment |year=2005 |publisher=CropLife International |access-date=24 May 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130706005846/http://croplife.intraspin.com/pesticides/paper.asp?id=461 |archive-date=6 July 2013}}</ref> Technology permits innovations like [[conservation tillage]], a farming process which helps prevent land loss to erosion, reduces water pollution, and enhances [[carbon sequestration]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Trewavas, Anthony |title=A critical assessment of organic farming-and-food assertions with particular respect to the UK and the potential environmental benefits of no-till agriculture |journal=Crop Protection |year=2004 |pages=757–781 |doi=10.1016/j.cropro.2004.01.009 |volume=23 |issue=9 |bibcode=2004CrPro..23..757T}}</ref>

Agricultural automation can help address some of the challenges associated with climate change and thus facilitate adaptation efforts.<ref name=":5" /> For example, the application of digital automation technologies (e.g. in precision agriculture) can improve resource-use efficiency in conditions which are increasingly constrained for agricultural producers.<ref name=":5" /> Moreover, when applied to sensing and early warning, they can help address the uncertainty and unpredictability of weather conditions associated with accelerating climate change.<ref name=":5" />

Other potential sustainable practices include [[conservation agriculture]], [[agroforestry]], improved [[Convertible husbandry|grazing]], avoided grassland conversion, and [[biochar]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Griscom |first1=Bronson W. |last2=Adams |first2=Justin |last3=Ellis |first3=Peter W. |last4=Houghton |first4=Richard A. |last5=Lomax |first5=Guy |last6=Miteva |first6=Daniela A. |last7=Schlesinger |first7=William H. |last8=Shoch |first8=David |last9=Siikamäki |first9=Juha V.|last10=Smith |first10=Pete |last11=Woodbury |first11=Peter |date=2017 |title=Natural climate solutions |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=114 |issue=44 |pages=11645–11650 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1710465114 |pmid=29078344 |pmc=5676916 |bibcode=2017PNAS..11411645G |issn=0027-8424 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda |publisher=National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-309-48452-7 |pages=117, 125, 135 |doi=10.17226/25259 |pmid=31120708 |last1=National Academies Of Sciences |first1=Engineering |s2cid=134196575}}</ref> Current mono-crop farming practices in the United States preclude widespread adoption of sustainable practices, such as 2–3 crop rotations that incorporate grass or hay with annual crops, unless negative emission goals such as soil carbon sequestration become policy.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25259/negative-emissions-technologies-and-reliable-sequestration-a-research-agenda |title=Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda |publisher=[[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-309-48452-7 |page=97 |doi=10.17226/25259 |pmid=31120708 |author1=[[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] |s2cid=134196575 |access-date=21 February 2020 |archive-date=22 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122220642/https://www.nap.edu/read/25259/chapter/1 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The food demand of Earth's projected population, with current climate change predictions, could be satisfied by improvement of agricultural methods, expansion of agricultural areas, and a sustainability-oriented consumer mindset.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling |title=Ecological Modelling |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123072613/https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling |archive-date=23 January 2018}}</ref>

=== Energy dependence ===
[[File:Baumwoll-Erntemaschine auf Feld.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Mechanised agriculture|Mechanized agriculture]]: from the first models in the 1940s, tools like a [[cotton picker]] could replace 50 farm workers, at the price of increased use of [[fossil fuel]].]]

Since the 1940s, agricultural productivity has increased dramatically, due largely to the increased use of energy-intensive mechanization, fertilizers and pesticides. The vast majority of this energy input comes from [[fossil fuel]] sources.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-oil-supplies-are-set-to-run-out-faster-than-expected-warn-scientists-453068.html |title=World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021233714/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-oil-supplies-are-set-to-run-out-faster-than-expected-warn-scientists-453068.html |archive-date=21 October 2010 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=14 June 2007 |access-date=14 July 2016}}</ref> Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the globe, with world grain production increasing significantly (between 70% and 390% for wheat and 60% to 150% for rice, depending on geographic area)<ref>{{cite web |title=The Future of the Green Revolution: Implications for International Grain Markets |last=Herdt |first=Robert W. |url=http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/uploads/files/06132caf-3d72-49e4-817d-ae89e0249d18.pdf |publisher=The Rockefeller Foundation |date=30 May 1997 |access-date=16 April 2013 |page=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019153636/http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/uploads/files/06132caf-3d72-49e4-817d-ae89e0249d18.pdf |archive-date=19 October 2012}}</ref> as [[world population]] doubled. Heavy reliance on [[petrochemical]]s has raised concerns that oil shortages could increase costs and reduce agricultural output.<ref name="ncseonline.org" />

Industrialized agriculture depends on [[fossil fuels]] in two fundamental ways: direct consumption on the farm and manufacture of inputs used on the farm. Direct consumption includes the use of lubricants and fuels to operate farm vehicles and machinery.<ref name="ncseonline.org">{{cite web |last=Schnepf |first=Randy |date=19 November 2004 |title=Energy use in Agriculture: Background and Issues |website=CRS Report for Congress |url=http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RL32677.pdf |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]] |access-date=26 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927190908/http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RL32677.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013}}</ref>

Indirect consumption includes the manufacture of fertilizers, pesticides, and farm machinery.<ref name="ncseonline.org" /> In particular, the production of [[nitrogen fertilizer]] can account for over half of agricultural energy usage.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Energy and the food system |last1=Woods |first1=Jeremy |last2=Williams |first2=Adrian |last3=Hughes |first3=John K. |last4=Black |first4=Mairi |last5=Murphy |first5=Richard |date=August 2010 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0172 |pmid=20713398 |pmc=2935130 |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] |volume=365 |pages=2991–3006 |issue=1554 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Together, direct and indirect consumption by US farms accounts for about 2% of the nation's energy use. Direct and indirect energy consumption by U.S. farms peaked in 1979, and has since gradually declined.<ref name="ncseonline.org" /> [[Food systems]] encompass not just agriculture but off-farm processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, and disposal of food and food-related items. Agriculture accounts for less than one-fifth of food system energy use in the US.<ref name="ers.usda.gov">{{cite web |author1=Canning, Patrick |author2=Charles, Ainsley |author3=Huang, Sonya |author4=Polenske, Karen R. |author5=Waters, Arnold |year=2010 |title=Energy Use in the U.S. Food System |website=USDA Economic Research Service Report No. ERR-94 |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR94/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918182458/http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err94/ |archive-date=18 September 2010}}</ref><ref name="css.snre.umich.edu">{{cite web |last1=Heller |first1=Martin |last2=Keoleian |first2=Gregory |year=2000 |title=Life Cycle-Based Sustainability Indicators for Assessment of the U.S. Food System |publisher=University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Food Systems |url=http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS00-04.pdf |access-date=17 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314094203/http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS00-04.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2016}}</ref>

=== Plastic pollution ===
{{Main|Plastic pollution|plasticulture}}

Plastic products are used extensively in agriculture, including to increase crop yields and improve the efficiency of water and agrichemical use. "Agriplastic" products include films to cover [[greenhouse]]s and tunnels, mulch to cover soil (e.g. to suppress weeds, [[Water conservation|conserve water]], increase soil temperature and aid fertilizer application), shade cloth, pesticide containers, seedling trays, protective mesh and irrigation tubing. The polymers most commonly used in these products are low- density polyethylene (LPDE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author=UN Environment |date=21 October 2021 |title=Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics |url=http://www.unep.org/resources/report/drowning-plastics-marine-litter-and-plastic-waste-vital-graphics |access-date=23 March 2022 |website=UNEP – UN Environment Programme |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321122658/https://www.unep.org/resources/report/drowning-plastics-marine-litter-and-plastic-waste-vital-graphics |url-status=live}}</ref>

The total amount of plastics used in agriculture is difficult to quantify. A 2012 study reported that almost 6.5&nbsp;million tonnes per year were consumed globally while a later study estimated that global demand in 2015 was between 7.3&nbsp;million and 9 million tonnes. Widespread use of [[plastic mulch]] and lack of systematic collection and management have led to the generation of large amounts of mulch residue. Weathering and degradation eventually cause the mulch to fragment. These fragments and larger pieces of plastic accumulate in soil. Mulch residue has been measured at levels of 50 to 260&nbsp;kg per hectare in topsoil in areas where mulch use dates back more than 10 years, which confirms that mulching is a major source of both microplastic and macroplastic [[soil contamination]].<ref name=":0" />

Agricultural plastics, especially plastic films, are not easy to recycle because of high contamination levels (up to 40–50% by weight contamination by pesticides, fertilizers, soil and debris, moist vegetation, silage juice water, and UV stabilizers) and collection difficulties . Therefore, they are often buried or abandoned in fields and watercourses or burned. These disposal practices lead to soil degradation and can result in contamination of soils and leakage of [[microplastics]] into the marine environment as a result of precipitation run-off and tidal washing. In addition, additives in residual plastic film (such as UV and thermal stabilizers) may have deleterious effects on crop growth, soil structure, nutrient transport and salt levels. There is a risk that plastic mulch will deteriorate [[soil quality]], deplete soil organic matter stocks, increase soil water repellence and emit greenhouse gases. Microplastics released through fragmentation of agricultural plastics can absorb and concentrate contaminants capable of being passed up the trophic chain.<ref name=":0" />

== Disciplines ==
=== Agricultural economics ===
{{Main|Agricultural economics}}

[[File:1846 - Anti-Corn Law League Meeting.jpg|thumb|In 19th century Britain, the [[protectionist]] [[Corn Laws]] led to high prices and widespread protest, such as this 1846 meeting of the [[Anti-Corn Law League]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Anti-Corn Law League |url=http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/history/anti-corn-law-league/ |website=Liberal History |access-date=26 March 2018 |archive-date=26 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326202833/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/history/anti-corn-law-league/ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Agricultural economics is economics as it relates to the "production, distribution and consumption of [agricultural] goods and services".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/aers/agriculturaleconomics |title=Agricultural Economics |publisher=[[University of Idaho]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401181613/http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/aers/agriculturaleconomics |archive-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> Combining agricultural production with general theories of marketing and business as a discipline of study began in the late 1800s, and grew significantly through the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/13649/1/wp06-01.pdf |page=4 |title=Agricultural Economics: A Brief Intellectual History |last=Runge |first=C. Ford |date=June 2006 |access-date=16 September 2013 |publisher=[[Center for International Food and Agriculture Policy]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021133005/http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/13649/1/wp06-01.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> Although the study of agricultural economics is relatively recent, major trends in agriculture have significantly affected national and international economies throughout history, ranging from [[tenant farmer]]s and [[sharecropping]] in the post-[[American Civil War]] Southern United States<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/t/te009.html |title=Tenant Farming and Sharecropping |website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=[[Oklahoma Historical Society]] |last=Conrad |first=David E. |access-date=16 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527204119/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TE009.html |archive-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> to the European [[feudal]] system of [[manorialism]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YjJc_c4BxsC |title=Medieval Castles |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |last=Stokstad |first=Marilyn |isbn=978-0-313-32525-0 |year=2005 |access-date=17 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516160241/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_YjJc_c4BxsC&hl=en |page=43 |archive-date=16 May 2022}}</ref> In the United States, and elsewhere, food costs attributed to [[food processing]], distribution, and [[agricultural marketing]], sometimes referred to as the [[Agricultural value chain|value chain]], have risen while the costs attributed to farming have declined. This is related to the greater efficiency of farming, combined with the increased level of [[value added|value addition]] (e.g. more highly processed products) provided by the supply chain. [[Market concentration]] has increased in the sector as well, and although the total effect of the increased market concentration is likely increased efficiency, the changes redistribute [[economic surplus]] from producers (farmers) and consumers, and may have negative implications for rural communities.<ref name=Sexton2000>{{cite journal |last=Sexton |first=R. J. |year=2000 |title=Industrialization and Consolidation in the US Food Sector: Implications for Competition and Welfare |journal=[[American Journal of Agricultural Economics]] |volume=82 |issue=5 |pages=1087–1104 |doi=10.1111/0002-9092.00106 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

National government policies, such as taxation, [[Subsidy|subsidies]], tariffs and others, can significantly change the economic marketplace for agricultural products.<ref name=LloydCroserAnderson2013>{{cite web |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/4101/WPS4864.pdf?sequence=1 |title=How Do Agricultural Policy Restrictions to Global Trade and Welfare Differ across Commodities? |last1=Lloyd |first1=Peter J. |last2=Croser |first2=Johanna L. |last3=Anderson |first3=Kym |website=Policy Research Working Paper #4864 |publisher=The World Bank |access-date=16 April 2013 |date=March 2009 |pages=2–3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605125346/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/4101/WPS4864.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref> Since at least the 1960s, a combination of trade restrictions, [[exchange rate policy|exchange rate policies]] and subsidies have affected farmers in both the developing and the developed world. In the 1980s, non-subsidized farmers in developing countries experienced adverse effects from national policies that created artificially low global prices for farm products. Between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s, several international agreements limited agricultural tariffs, subsidies and other trade restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8699/wps3901.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Do Global Trade Distortions Still Harm Developing Country Farmers? |last1=Anderson |first1=Kym |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Ernesto |website=World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3901 |date=April 2006 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |pages=1–2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605145451/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8699/wps3901.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>

However, {{as of|2009|lc=y}}, there was still a significant amount of policy-driven distortion in global agricultural product prices. The three agricultural products with the most trade distortion were sugar, milk and rice, mainly due to taxation. Among the [[oilseed]]s, sesame had the most taxation, but overall, feed grains and oilseeds had much lower levels of taxation than livestock products. Since the 1980s, policy-driven distortions have decreases more among livestock products than crops during the worldwide reforms in agricultural policy.<ref name=LloydCroserAnderson2013 /> Despite this progress, certain crops, such as cotton, still see subsidies in developed countries artificially deflating global prices, causing hardship in developing countries with non-subsidized farmers.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/24/american-cotton-subsidies-illegal-obama-must-act |title=America's $24bn subsidy damages developing world cotton farmers |last=Kinnock |first=Glenys |date=24 May 2011 |access-date=16 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906122834/http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/24/american-cotton-subsidies-illegal-obama-must-act |archive-date=6 September 2013}}</ref> Unprocessed commodities such as corn, soybeans, and cattle are generally graded to indicate quality, affecting the price the producer receives. Commodities are generally reported by production quantities, such as volume, number or weight.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agriculture's Bounty |url=http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/studies/AgriculturesBounty.pdf |date=May 2013 |access-date=19 August 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826100413/http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/studies/AgriculturesBounty.pdf |archive-date=26 August 2013}}</ref>

=== Agricultural science ===
{{Main|Agricultural science}}

{{further|Agronomy}}
[[File:Research-mapping plant genomes.jpg|thumb|An [[agronomy|agronomist]] mapping a plant [[genome]]]]

[[Agricultural science]] is a broad multidisciplinary field of [[biology]] that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and [[social science]]s used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. It covers topics such as agronomy, plant breeding and genetics, [[plant pathology]], crop modeling, soil science, [[entomology]], production techniques and improvement, study of pests and their management, and study of adverse environmental effects such as soil degradation, [[waste management]], and [[bioremediation]].<ref name="Bosso 2015">{{cite book |last=Bosso |first=Thelma |title=Agricultural Science |publisher=Callisto Reference |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-63239-058-5}}</ref><ref name="Boucher 2018">{{cite book |last=Boucher |first=Jude |title=Agricultural Science and Management |publisher=Callisto Reference |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-63239-965-6}}</ref>

The scientific study of agriculture began in the 18th century, when [[Johann Friedrich Mayer (agriculturist)|Johann Friedrich Mayer]] conducted experiments on the use of [[gypsum]] (hydrated [[calcium sulphate]]) as a fertilizer.<ref name="JB 1840">John Armstrong, Jesse Buel. ''A Treatise on Agriculture, The Present Condition of the Art Abroad and at Home, and the Theory and Practice of Husbandry. To which is Added, a Dissertation on the Kitchen and Garden.'' 1840. p. 45.</ref> Research became more systematic when in 1843, [[John Lawes]] and Henry Gilbert began a set of long-term agronomy field experiments at [[Rothamsted Research Station]] in England; some of them, such as the [[Park Grass Experiment]], are still running.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Long Term Experiments |url=https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/long-term-experiments |publisher=Rothamsted Research |access-date=26 March 2018 |archive-date=27 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327084207/https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/long-term-experiments |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silvertown |first1=Jonathan |last2=Poulton |first2=Paul |last3=Johnston |first3=Edward |last4=Edwards |first4=Grant |last5=Heard |first5=Matthew |last6=Biss |first6=Pamela M. |title=The Park Grass Experiment 1856–2006: its contribution to ecology |journal=[[Journal of Ecology]] |volume=94 |issue=4 |date=2006 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01145.x |pages=801–814 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2006JEcol..94..801S}}</ref> In America, the [[Hatch Act of 1887]] provided funding for what it was the first to call "agricultural science", driven by farmers' interest in fertilizers.<ref>Hillison, J. (1996). [http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/vol37/37-04-08.pdf The Origins of Agriscience: Or Where Did All That Scientific Agriculture Come From?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002140821/http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/vol37/37-04-08.pdf |date=2 October 2008 }}. ''Journal of Agricultural Education''.</ref> In agricultural entomology, the USDA began to research biological control in 1881; it instituted its first large program in 1905, searching Europe and Japan for natural enemies of the [[Lymantria dispar dispar|spongy moth]] and [[brown-tail]] moth, establishing [[parasitoid]]s (such as solitary wasps) and predators of both pests in the US.<ref name="Coulson J. R. 2000">Coulson, J. R.; Vail, P. V.; Dix M. E.; Nordlund, D. A.; Kauffman, W. C.; Eds. 2000. ''[[iarchive:CAT30852465/page/n3/mode/2up|110 years of biological control research and development in the United States Department of Agriculture: 1883–1993]]''. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. pp. 3–11</ref><ref name=Berkeley>{{cite web |title=History and Development of Biological Control (notes) |access-date=10 April 2017 |publisher=[[University of California Berkeley]] |url=https://nature.berkeley.edu/biocon/BC%20Class%20Notes/6-11%20BC%20History.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124001647/http://nature.berkeley.edu/biocon/BC%20Class%20Notes/6-11%20BC%20History.pdf |archive-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Reardon |first1=Richard C. |title=Biological Control of The Gypsy Moth: An Overview |url=http://www.main.nc.us/SERAMBO/BControl/gypsy.html#conclu |website=Southern Appalachian Biological Control Initiative Workshop |access-date=10 April 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905052259/http://www.main.nc.us/SERAMBO/BControl/gypsy.html |archive-date=5 September 2016}}</ref>

== Policy ==
{{Main|Agricultural policy}}

{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+ [[Agricultural subsidy|Direct subsidies]] for animal products and feed by [[OECD]] countries in 2012, in billions of US dollars<ref>{{cite web |title=Meat Atlas |publisher=[[Heinrich Boell Foundation]], [[Friends of the Earth]] Europe |year=2014 |url=https://www.foeeurope.org/meat-atlas <!--no ISBN exists--> |access-date=17 April 2018 |archive-date=22 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422045513/http://www.foeeurope.org/meat-atlas |url-status=live}}</ref>
! Product !! Subsidy
|-
|Beef and veal ||18.0
|-
|Milk ||15.3
|-
|Pigs ||7.3
|-
|Poultry ||6.5
|-
|Soybeans ||2.3
|-
|Eggs ||1.5
|-
|Sheep ||1.1
|}

[[Agricultural policy]] is the set of government decisions and actions relating to domestic agriculture and imports of foreign agricultural products. Governments usually implement agricultural policies with the goal of achieving a specific outcome in the domestic agricultural product markets. Some overarching themes include risk management and adjustment (including policies related to climate change, food safety and natural disasters), [[economic stability]] (including policies related to taxes), natural resources and [[environmental sustainability]] (especially [[water resource management|water policy]]), research and development, and market access for domestic commodities (including relations with global organizations and agreements with other countries).<ref>{{cite journal |page=13 |title=Agricultural and food policy choices in Australia |journal=Sustainable Agriculture and Food Policy in the 21st Century: Challenges and Solutions |date=October 2010 |access-date=22 April 2013 |last1=Hogan |first1=Lindsay |last2=Morris |first2=Paul |url=http://coserve.com.au/PDF/VirtualMeeting/ABARE-Agric_food_policy_CONFERENCE_PAPER-2010.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215034141/http://coserve.com.au/PDF/VirtualMeeting/ABARE-Agric_food_policy_CONFERENCE_PAPER-2010.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Agricultural policy can also touch on [[food quality]], ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality, food security, ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs, and [[Conservation biology|conservation]]. Policy programs can range from financial programs, such as subsidies, to encouraging producers to enroll in voluntary quality assurance programs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/agriculture_en |title=Agriculture: Not Just Farming |publisher=[[European Union]] |access-date=8 May 2018 |date=16 June 2016 |archive-date=23 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523204253/https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/agriculture_en |url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2021 report finds that globally, support to agricultural producers accounts for almost US$540 billion a year.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |title=A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems |publisher=FAO, UNDP, and UNEP |year=2021 |doi=10.4060/cb6562en |isbn=978-92-5-134917-5 }}</ref> This amounts to 15 percent of total agricultural production value, and is heavily biased towards measures that are leading to inefficiency, as well as are unequally distributed and harmful for the environment and human health.<ref name=":11" /> &nbsp;

There are many influences on the creation of agricultural policy, including consumers, [[agribusiness]], trade lobbies and other groups. Agribusiness interests hold a large amount of influence over policy making, in the form of [[lobbying]] and [[campaign contribution]]s. Political action groups, including those interested in environmental issues and labor unions, also provide influence, as do lobbying organizations representing individual agricultural commodities.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://faculty.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/SFT-Corporatization%20of%20Fm%20Pol%20(9-10).htm |title=Corporatization of Agricultural Policy |last=Ikerd |first=John |journal=[[Small Farm Today Magazine]] |year=2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807024012/http://faculty.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/SFT-Corporatization%20of%20Fm%20Pol%20(9-10).htm |archive-date=7 August 2016}}</ref> The [[Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger and provides a forum for the negotiation of global agricultural regulations and agreements. Samuel Jutzi, director of FAO's [[animal production]] and health division, states that lobbying by large corporations has stopped reforms that would improve human health and the environment. For example, proposals in 2010 for a voluntary code of conduct for the livestock industry that would have provided incentives for improving standards for health, and environmental regulations, such as the number of animals an area of land can support without long-term damage, were successfully defeated due to large food company pressure.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/22/food-firms-lobbying-samuel-jutzi |title=Corporate Lobbying Is Blocking Food Reforms, Senior UN Official Warns: Farming Summit Told of Delaying Tactics by Large Agribusiness and Food Producers on Decisions that Would Improve Human Health and the Environment |last=Jowit |first=Juliette |date=22 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=8 May 2018 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505113448/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/22/food-firms-lobbying-samuel-jutzi |url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Main|Outline of agriculture}}

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Aeroponics]]
* [[Agricultural aircraft]]
* [[Agricultural engineering]]
* [[Agricultural finance]]
* [[Agricultural robot]]
* [[Agroecology]]
* [[Agrominerals]]
* [[Building-integrated agriculture]]
* [[Contract farming]]
* [[Corporate farming]]
* [[Crofting]]
* [[Ecoagriculture]]
* [[Farmworker]]
* [[Food loss and waste]]
* [[Food security]]
* [[Hill farming]]
* [[List of documentary films about agriculture]]
* [[Pharming (genetics)]]
* [[Remote sensing]]
* [[Rural Development]]
* [[Soil biodiversity]]
* [[Subsistence economy]]
* [[Sustainable agriculture]]
* [[Urban agriculture]]
* [[Vertical farming]]
* [[Vegetable farming]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Cited sources ==
* {{cite book |last=Acquaah |first=George |ref=Acquaah |title=Principles of Crop Production: Theory, Techniques, and Technology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzMhAQAAMAAJ |year=2002 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |isbn=978-0-13-022133-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chrispeels |first1=Maarten J. |last2=Sadava |first2=David E. |ref=Chrispeels |title=Plants, Genes, and Agriculture |publisher=Jones and Bartlett |place=Boston, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-86720-871-9 |year=1994}}
* {{cite book |last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |ref=Needham |year=1986 |title=Science and Civilization in China |place=Taipei |publisher=Caves Books}}
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{{Free-content attribution
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== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.fao.org/home/en/ Food and Agriculture Organization]
* [https://www.usda.gov/ United States Department of Agriculture]
* [http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture Agriculture] material from the [[World Bank Group]]
* {{New York Times topic|new_id=subject/agriculture-and-farming}}
* {{Guardian topic|science/agriculture}}

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