1. What Is Agriculture?

2. DEFINITION
The science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products

3. North America Machinery Land under Cultivation
Increased Cultivation
Shift from animal labor to machinery has created a dependency on fossil fuel energy
As the price of oil increases, so does the price of food production
Land under Cultivation
¼ total land of lower 48 states is “agricultural land”
Conservation Reserve Program: Reimburses farmers for retiring erosion prone land and planting it with trees or glasses
Fertilizers and Pesticides
More convenient to use, and more available than manure
When levels of fertilizers are too high, the excess are washed away resulting in groundwater and surface water pollution
Pests have become resistant to many of the pesticides
Many have not been tested and may cause genetic defects in humans

4. South America Example: Brazil
One-eighth of South America’s land is suitable for permanent cropping or grazing
Agriculture accounts for 8% of the country's GDP, and employs about one-quarter of the labor force
products: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef
145 and 170 million hectares (402 million acres) could be opened for crop production = 25% percent larger than the total crop acreage of the U.S.
Cattle Ranching

5. Europe The 2nd largest global exporter and the biggest importer
Mechanized Agriculture: machines replace humans = more efficient
Land is left uncovered by vegetation, and soil erosion increases
Because farm equipment is expensive, farmers specify in one crop = lack variety

6. Africa Soil is not fertile = food production is lacking
Use mineral fertilizers to replenish nutrient, but it is 2-6X more expensive than U.S
Shifting Agriculture: cutting down and burning down trees to release nutrients, allowing crops to be raised

7. Asia
Terracing: level areas constructed at right angles to the slope to retain water and reduce erosion
Irrigation: Adding water to an agricultural fields to allow crops to grow where a lack of water would normally prevent their cultivation
Meat consumption in China is growing 10% each year
Less arable land than U.S. but 5x the population
21% of World population, only 75 of arable land
China has become the world’s largest importer of fertilizer
Farmland is decreasing .5% each year

8. Australia Home to 28 million cattle = World’s Largest Beef Exporter
Mix of irrigation and dry-land farming
Because of Australia's large deserts and irregular rainfall, irrigation is necessary for agriculture in some parts of the country
 technique for non-irrigated cultivation of land which receives little natural rainfall