AGRICULTURE, the cultivation of plants for food and other ends, as opposed to the use of plants as they grow naturally in man's environment, is a rather recent phenomenon if considered relative to the time scale of the development of Homo...

The patterns of South Asian agriculture are discernible as far back as the Indus Valley civilization (c. 2300–1750 BCE). Traditional agricultural systems include shifting cultivation and settled cultivation. Shifting agriculture is substantially...

Today Chinese agriculture sustains 22 percent of the world's population, with less than 8 percent of the world's arable land. The pattern of intensive agriculture varies in accordance with regional differences in environmental conditions:...

The earliest human inhabitants of the earth were hunters and gatherers. Under favorable conditions they required at least 1.5 square kilometers to provide food for one person, and in harsher environments as much as 80 to 100 square kilometers....

Agricultural technology changed more dramatically in the 1700s than at any time since the introduction of draft animals millennia before. Mechanized planting and threshing made farms more efficient, threw workers off the farm, and altered the very...

Agriculture, the deliberate raising of plants and animals to enhance and secure food production, evolved in the Near East about 10,000 years ago. It was this transition from hunting-gathering to settled agriculture that created civilization as we know...

Southeast Asia, as a whole, is richly endowed with natural resources. Expansive river valleys and deltas, generally rich soils, and a humid tropical climate ensure that the constraints to agricultural development have historically been more economic...

The history of agriculture (the production of food by plant cultivation and animal husbandry and control of productivity) can be organized around several themes (such as time, productivity, environmental impact, and genetic diversity). The most obvious...

The heavy plows needed to productively till the heavy soil of northern Europe's fertile valleys were not widely adopted until the Middle Ages, when the breeding of large draft horses began. More efficient plowing and the advent of three-field...

. Throughout the Middle Ages, a huge majority of France’s population was engaged in agriculture; land with the laborers on it remained the primary source of wealth even after towns, commerce, and industry revived later in the period. From late...

Although industry is advancing more rapidly than agriculture, the latter is of considerable importance in the economies of West Asian nations. Local farming produces much of the food consumed in the region and employs a large part of the workforce. The...

The shift from small, independent family farms to fewer, larger farms that rely heavily upon capital and technology began in 1793 with the invention of the cotton gin. The cotton gin enabled a single farm worker to clean 1,000 pounds of cotton in a...

Agriculture is a vast industry that includes plant and animal production, comprehensive support and infrastructure systems, and food and fiber processing. Key application areas of computers in agriculture include record keeping, decision-making,...

During the latter half of the twentieth century, what is known today as modern agriculture was very successful in meeting a growing demand for food by the world's population. Yields of primary crops such as rice and wheat increased dramatically,...

Agriculture has been one of the most important economic sectors in the context of Western European and European Union (EU) politics. In the early years of the post-Second World War and Cold War eras, Western Europe’s priority was to achieve...

Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and raising livestock for human use. The word agriculture comes from the Latin words agermeaning a field and culturameaning cultivation. Prehistoric peoples...

The active production of useful plants or animals in ecosystems that have been created by people. Agriculture may include cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and raising livestock. Agriculture was independently developed in many places,...

General Agribusiness · Agriculture Agricultural science · Agronomy Animal husbandry Extensive farming Factory farming · Free range Industrial agriculture Intensive farming Organic farming · Permaculture Sustainable agriculture Urban...