4 Types Of Agriculture

4 Types Of Agriculture

The word agriculture comes from the Latin words ager, referring to the soil and cultura, to its cultivation. Agriculture, in its widest sense can be defined as the cultivation or production of crop plants or livestock products. It is synonymous with farming: the field or field dependent production of food. fodder and industrial organic materials.

Conventional agriculture is the term for predominant farming practices and systems of crop production followed by farmers in a region. In technically advanced regions, production systems are, generally, capital intensive and agrochemical dependent (intensive or input intensive). Crop productivity is high but at the cost of environment and human health. Agrochemicals build up in environment and pollute groundwater and air. chemical residues in food are health hazards to human and animals. In conventional agriculture, the natural environment is modified or controlled for enhancing the crop productivity.

In view of emerging problems associated with conventional and intensive agriculture, the agriculture is evolving in a direction that views crop production within an ecological context. The trend is not to control but to farm in harmony with the biosphere. There is holistic approach in crop production. Production practices are selected to complement and accommodate the factors in the production environment. This systems approach to production is called sustainable agriculture. 

This has given rise to different kinds of terminology that, generally , describes the same concept. These include organic farming, environmentally sound agriculture etc. Not withstanding the name, the concept describes strategies of achieving synergy for productions by integrating several practices. These practices are not new but are combined strategically such that crop production is enhanced while the natural resource base is protected for posterity.

The goals of sustainable agriculture are : profitable crop production , natural resource conversation and adoption of environmentally friendly farming systems . Alternate agriculture , on the other hand, describes the processes of on farm innovations adopted by farmers towards achieving  the goals of sustainable agriculture.

Agriculture encompasses the applied aspect of  basic sciences such as life sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, economics, sociology and meteorology. Major branches of agriculture include agronomy, genetics and plant breeding, soil science and agricultural chemistry, agricultural entomology, plant pathology , plant physiology, agriculture engineering, agricultural statistics and agricultural extension.