Types of Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture and conventional agriculture. In the United States, the most commonly practiced is the conventional agriculture, which involves criteria such as altering the natural environment, mono- cropping, eliminating diversity, and using pesticides, insecticides and inorganic fertilizers.

With conventional agriculture, the grown crops are non- renewable. Therefore, after harvesting, the plot requires another round of cultivation and fertilization. This farming system requires a huge amount of work and energy from the farmers since nature wants to be wild and diverse instead of uniform and controlled. Some of the crops grown through conventional farming include soy bean, corn, banana, wheat and rice.

On the other hand, with sustainable agriculture, the natural environment is maintained and ecological principles are used. This farming system involves planting a variety of crops, that is, poly- cropping. Since various crops are planted together with different harvesting periods, the plot cannot be left bare. In this case, soil erosion is reduced. This agricultural system maintains and even increases diversity over time.

It also reduces or even eliminates the use of insecticides. Since this type of farming sustains itself, it requires less work and energy from the farmers. Some of the sustainable agriculture crops include combined onions, carrots and beets, and combined squash, corn and bean.

What is agriculture? Agriculture is also defined as the cultivation of plants, animals, fungi and other forms of life for fiber, food and other products essential to sustain life. There are two branches of agriculture by kind of form of life harvested or produced, namely agronomy and animal husbandry.

Agronomy refers to the science and technology of using and producing plants for food, fiber, feed, fuel and reclamation. Organic gardening falls under this category. Animal husbandry refers to the agricultural practice of raising and breeding livestock.

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What is agriculture?

Farming, or agriculture, is the process of simplifying the food webs of nature. It is also defined as the energy rechanneling for animal consumption and human planting. Sunlight is converted by plants to sugars that provide food for plants; this process is known as ‘photosynthesis’.

Herbivores, plant- eating animals, feed on plants. Carnivores, meat- eating animals, are provided with food by herbivores. When animals or plants die, they are broken down by bacteria or decomposers. Nutrients from animals and plants return to the soil. The entire process begins anew, thus, occurring as a cycle.

With agriculture, the aforementioned web is interrupted. The plants are reserved for human consumption, instead of allowing herbivores to eat them. In other words, not only are herbivores eliminated from the web, but carnivores and decomposers as well.

However, in the event that a farmer plants corn for the consumption of his cattle, the said animal eats it to get healthy and fat. Eventually, the cattle are slaughtered for human beings to consume. Although a cow is eating
the corn, the food web is interrupted at the time that the animal is killed for the consumption of humans.

Source: http://www.whatisagriculture.net/define_agriculture.html