AGRICULTURE

Agriculture may be defined as an integrated system of techniques to control the growth and harvesting of animal and vegetables. It is an uncomplicated endeavor comprising of technical and practical processes that helps in the maintenance of the ecological balance and protects human resources; and most importantly it is a viable food production system.

Human beings started practicing farming/cultivation some 10,000 years ago. Since then, agriculture as a practice and as a process have undergone substantial changes which have had consequential impact on human progress and lifestyle. Over the ages these developments in agriculture have radically transformed human ecology, society, organizations, demography and even art and religion and have to a certain extent determined the course of scientific progression.

Early men gave up their hunter-gatherer lifestyle after they started cultivation of plants as well as domestication animals. Rapid developments were witnessed over the years though technology and crop enhancement options were not available during the successive periods. With the industrial revolution, the entire facet of agriculture changed. The development and easy availability of agricultural techniques led to increased agricultural productivity. The industrial revolution is thus immediately followed by the agricultural revolution across the world. Since then variety has been noticed leading to a boom in the agro products sector, thereby giving birth to innumerable companies, organizations, institutes and more.

With the introduction of eco-friendly pesticides and fertilizers, crop yields increased to a remarkable level. The early 20th century witnessed the usage of synthetic nitrogen, along with mined rock phosphate, pesticides and mechanization including the synthesizing of ammonium nitrate. Rice, wheat, and corn were the main crops that gave the best yield, thus introducing the Green Revolution. Export of technologies, pesticides and fertilizers from the developed countries to the developing countries, further increased the yields in all regions almost equally.

Organic farming, a concept introduced in the 1900s, that overused pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, stayed dormant for several decades. This was because the cultivation process damaged the long-term fertility of the soil. The European Union first certified organic food in 1991 and then began research, exploration, use of alternative technologies like integrated pest management and selective breeding. Today the markets of developed and also developing countries across the world are flooded with genetically modified food.