jueves, 14 de marzo de 2013
Agriculture as a system
Agricultural enterprises-crop or livestock-deal with such concepts as labor
supply, marketing, finances, natural resources, genetic stock, nutrition,
equipment, and hazards. While it is possible to effectively manipulate each
mechanism of successful farming individually, better results can often be
obtained by treating the farming operation as a system. The interactions, then,
among system components may become more important than how each component
functions by itself. Treating production operations holistically offers greater
management flexibility, provides for more environmentally and economically sound
practices, and creates safer and healthier conditions for workers and for farm
animals. NIFA staff provides leadership to land-grant university partners and
other grantees as they conduct research, education, and extension activities in
programs related directly and indirectly to agricultural systems.
sábado, 2 de marzo de 2013
Importance of water
Every living
organism needs water to survive. With the ever increasing population,
water is becoming a scarce commodity. To worsen this situation, the few
available sources of water for consumption by living organisms are being
depleted at an alarming rate. Careless release of wastes into water bodies is
also a major problem today. If nothing is done to reverse the situation, then it
is predicted that it will be extremely hard to find clean water in
future.
Due to the threat of water shortage, many organizations collaborate with the fight to conserve water because they know the great importance of the water in the world and that there will not be life without her.
It is obvious that
direct consumption by plants and animals is top among uses of water. Water has
many other important functions such as washing, transportation, recreation,
industrial applications, chemical uses, fire extinguishing among other uses.
There is no other solvent that can be used to serve all these functions of
water. This further stresses the importance of water in life. Without it life
will be extremely difficult. Therefore everyone is charged with the
responsibility of taking care of water because survival depends on
it.
Due to the threat of water shortage, many organizations collaborate with the fight to conserve water because they know the great importance of the water in the world and that there will not be life without her.
Crop farming
Crop farming is the cultivation of plants for food, animal foodstuffs, or other commercial uses. A variety of techniques including organic production methods can be used to manage crops. People may enter this career through a family business, by training on a farm with experienced farmers, or by attending college to get a degree in agriculture or a related subject. It can involve long hours and harsh working conditions, along with unpredictable profits from year to year, which can be stressful for farmers.
The types of crops grown can depend on environmental conditions, market demands, and preference. Some crops have a limited growth range dependent on temperatures, available water supply, pests, and other factors. Others may be cultivated in a wider range of conditions. Crop farmers test the soil and assess their land to determine what kinds of products they can grow, and narrow down that list to determine what would be commercially viable. If the market demand for cotton is high, for example, it might be a profitable crop to plant.
Plants grown for food, like rice, wheat, and vegetables, are one form of crop farming. It is also possible to cultivate plants such as alfalfa that will be used to feed animals. Some farms have a combination of crops and animals, using the crops they grow to feed their livestock.
The types of crops grown can depend on environmental conditions, market demands, and preference. Some crops have a limited growth range dependent on temperatures, available water supply, pests, and other factors. Others may be cultivated in a wider range of conditions. Crop farmers test the soil and assess their land to determine what kinds of products they can grow, and narrow down that list to determine what would be commercially viable. If the market demand for cotton is high, for example, it might be a profitable crop to plant.
Plants grown for food, like rice, wheat, and vegetables, are one form of crop farming. It is also possible to cultivate plants such as alfalfa that will be used to feed animals. Some farms have a combination of crops and animals, using the crops they grow to feed their livestock.
Physical factors affecting farming
Climate
- Temperature (minimum 6°C for crops to grow) and rainfall (at least 250mm to 500mm) influence the types of crops that can be grown
- The length of the growing season also influences the crops grown. Some rice-growing areas have two or three crops per year.
Relief
- Lowlands, such as flood plains, are good for crops.
- Steep slopes hinder machinery and have thinner soils; lower, more gentle slopes are less prone to soil erosion.
- Tea and coffee crops prefer the well-drained soil on hill slopes.
- Temperature decreases by 6.5°C for every 1000 metres gained in height.
- South-facing slopes receive more sunlight.
Soil
- Fertility is important, poor soil means lower outputs or larger inputs of fertilisers.
- Floodplains are good for rice because of the alluvial soils.
- Good drainage reduces the dangers of waterlogging.
The
direction a slope faces. South-facing slopes are best for growing crops
The farming system
“Farming system” therefore designates a set of agricultural activities organized while preserving land productivity, environmental quality and maintaining desirable level of biological diversity and ecological stability. The emphasis is more on a system rather than on gross output.
In other words “farming system” is a resource management strategy to achieve economic and sustain agricultural production to meet diverse requirement of the farm household while preserving the resource base and maintaining high environmental quality. The farming system in its real sense will help the following ways to lift the economy of Indian agriculture and standard of living of the farmers.
Farming system specially refers to a group combination of enterprises in which the products and or the by products of one enterprise serve as the inputs for production of other enterprise.
Farming system takes into account the combination needs of the family the economic factors like relative profitability of the technically feasible enterprises, availability off farm resources, infrastructure and institutions such as irrigation, marketing facilities including storage and transportation and credit besides the agro biological consideration namely interdependence, if any among various technically feasible enterprises and the performance of individual farmers.
Farming is defined as the way in which the farm resources arte allocated to the needs and priorities of the farmers in his local circumstances which include:
- Economic and institutional circumstances like market opportunities, prices, institutional and infrastructure facilities and technology.
- Agro climatic condition such as the quantity, distribution and reliability of rainfall.
Types of farming
According to the capital investment:
According to feeding methods
- Extensive livestock farming: the capital investment (in feed, farms, etc) is limited and productivity low. The livestock is mostly cattle and sheep, and grazes on large pastures in the open air.
- Intensive livestock farming: capital investment (in feed, farms, etc) labour and productivity are high. Mostly cattle, pigs and poultry are farmed.
According to feeding methods
- Grazing livestock: animals feed on grass. This is an example of extensive farming.
- Confined livestock: animals are kept in sheds and covered pens, and eat feed. This is an example of intensive farming.
- Semi-confined livestock: in summer, the animals eat grass; when there is not enough grass, they eat feed.
- Nomadic herding: herders and their families are constantly moving with their animals in search of good pasture.
- Transhumance (seasonal migrration of livestock): herders move their animals several times a year between winter and summer pastures.
- Sedentary livestock farming: animal do not have to move around to obtain food because farmers give them feed.
Primary economic activity word map.
The primary sector consists of economic activities
related to the transformation of natural resources in unprocessed primary
products. Usually, primary products are used as raw material in industrial
production. Some primary industries are:
- Crop agriculture
- Livestock farming
- Forestry
- Fishing
- Mining
Gross domestic product of countries in the world.
Countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product (GDP) to values of purchasing power parity (PPP), the sum of all final goods and services produced by a country in a year relative to its purchasing power parity (PPP .) This is an economic indicator introduced in the early nineties by the International Monetary Fund in a realistic way to compare living standards between different countries based on GDP per capitain terms of cost of living in each country
Bar chart of income per capita of the countries of the European Union
This graph shows the income per capita of the different countries in the European Union in 2011.
The per capita income or GPD per capita is the relationship between GPD (gross domestic product) of a country and its many inhabitants. To calculate it, we divide the GPD of a country by its total population.
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