Basic Information | International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage (ICID)

Agriculture

Agriculture also called farming or husbandry is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fibre, biofuel and other products used to sustain life.Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science.

The history dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands that are suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dry land farming; adhering on range land is still the most common means of raising livestock. In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale mono culture has become the dominant system of modern farming, although there is growing support forsustainable agriculture(e.g.permacultureororganic agriculture).

Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population laboured in agriculture. Pre-industrial agriculture was typically subsistence agriculture in which farmers raised most of their crops for their own consumption instead of for trade. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies, and the development of world markets. This also led to technological improvements in agricultural techniques.

Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibres,fuels, and raw materials. In the 21st century, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bio plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibres include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo.