Agriculture

1. Agriculture

2. The practice of agriculture first began around 10,000 BC in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, represented primarily by present day Iraq, southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. This region, which was far greener and wetter then than now, was home to an unusual diversity of annual plants and, according to one study, 32 of the 56 largest grass seeds in the world. Naturally mutated strains of grass, favoring ever larger seeds, were a vital precursor to the domestication events about to take place.

3. Agriculture (encompassing farming, grazing, and the tending of orchards, vineyards and timberland) is the production of food, feed, fiber and other goods by the systematic raising of domesticated plants and animals. Agriculture is the process of producing food, otherwise known as farming.

4. Agri is from the Latin ager ("a field"), and culture, from the Latin cultura ("cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil"). A literal reading of the English word yields "tillage of the soil of a field". In modern usage, the word agriculture covers all activities essential to food/feed/fiber production, including all techniques for raising and "processing" livestock. Agriculture is also short for the study of the practice of agriculture — more formally known as agricultural science.

5. History Of Agriculture 1. Ancient Origins Developed independently by geographically distant populations, systematic agriculture first appeared in Southwest Asia in the Fertile Crescent, particularly in modern-day Iraq and Syria/Israel. Around 9500 BC, proto-farmers began to select and cultivate food plants with desired characteristics. Though there is evidence of earlier sporadic use of wild cereals, it was not until after 9500 BC that the eight so-called founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer and einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax.

6. By 7000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From 9000 BC the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan. By 6000 BC, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate mung, soy, azuki and taro. To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom dwarfing all previous expansions, and is one that continues today.

7. Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as 5200 BC. The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, Canna, tobacco and several other plants were also developed in the New World, as was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America. In later years, the Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians but made few fundamentally new advances. The Greeks and Macedonians struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become dominant societies for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade.

8. 2. Agriculture In The Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, Muslim farmers in North Africa and the Near East developed and disseminated agricultural technologies including irrigation systems based on hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, the use of machines such as norias, and the use of water raising machines, dams, and reservoirs. They also wrote location-specific farming manuals, and were instrumental in the wider adoption of crops including sugar cane, rice, citrus fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines, and saffron. Muslims also brought lemons, oranges, cotton, almonds, figs and sub-tropical crops such as bananas to Spain.

9. 3. Renaissance To Present Day The invention of a three field system of crop rotation during the Middle Ages, and the importation of the Chinese-invented moldboard plow, vastly improved agricultural efficiency. After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock breeds occurred .Key crops involved in this exchange included the tomato, maize, potato, cocoa and tobacco going from the New World to the Old, and several varieties of wheat, spice and coffee going from the Old World to the New. The most important animal exportations from the Old World to the New were those of the horse and dog. Although not usually food animals, the horse and dog quickly filled essential production roles on western hemisphere farms.

10. Crops World production of major crops ,in million metric tonnes

11. Crop alteration Domestication of plants is done in order to increase yield, improve disease resistance and drought tolerance, ease harvest and to improve the taste and nutritional value and many other characteristics. Centuries of careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant breeders use greenhouses and other techniques to get as many as three generations of plants per year so that they can make improvements all the more quickly.

12. In industrialized agriculture, crop "improvement" has often reduced nutritional and other qualities of food plants to serve the interests of producers. After mechanical tomato-harvesters were developed in the early 1960s, agricultural scientists bred tomatoes that were harder and less nutritious (Friedland and Barton 1975). In fact, a major longitudinal study of nutrient levels in numerous vegetables showed significant declines in the last 50 years; garden vegetables in the U.S. today contain on average 38 percent less vitamin B2 and 15 percent less vitamin C.

13. Very recently, genetic engineering has begun to be employed in some parts of the world to speed up the selection and breeding process. The most widely used modification is a herbicide resistance gene that allows plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate, which is used to control weeds in the crop. More herbicide may be applied to herbicide-resistant than non-GM crops, with a possible increase in environmental damage. A less frequently used but more controversial modification causes the plant to produce a toxin to reduce damage from insects . This, in contrast, permits less chemicals to be applied to the crop as toxins are produced by the plant locally in response to attack instead of the entire crop being sprayed with pesticides.

14. Negative Effects of Agriculture. • Loss of biodiversity • Surplus of nitrogen and phosphorus in rivers and lakes • Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other biocides • Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into arable land • Consolidation of diverse biomass into a few species • Soil erosion • Depletion of minerals in the soil • Particulate matter, including ammonia and ammonium off-gassing from animal waste contributing to air pollution • Weed Science - feral plants and animals • Odor from agricultural waste • Soil salination

15. Development of Agriculture With in growth of population in the world ,The demand for food also Grew . Humans learnt improved ways of growing crops. Industrial Revolution boosted agricultural Development too . In the 18th and 19th Century , improved farming methods , advances in livestock breeding and invention of farm equipments brought up remarkable changes. In the development of agriculture in the world. With high yielding Varieties of seeds and application of fertilisers, Pesticides, weedicides Insecticides , agricultural production has increased worldwide. Unlike developing countries ,mort farm work in developed is done with the help of machines.

16. A Farm in USA and A Farm in India A typical farm in India in about 1.5 hectares . Hiss land will be divided into many plots . The farmer takes advice of his friends. Agriculture is only a side business for him . He doesn’t have proper storage facilities he doesn’t have proper education . He doesn’t have sufficient capital to take on modern farming . A typical farm is USA is about 250 hectares. The farmers . generally stay in their farms. The farmers of USA generally Tests the soil before cultivation. He takes measures to control the pests that could damage the crop. He analyses the Soil and learns if any nutrient is lacking.

18. GOUTHAM M SIDARTH N

19. PRATHIK SURAJ S

20. HARIKRISHNAN G PAI NARASIMHA K