We explain what agriculture is and what are the purposes of this human activity. In addition, the types of agriculture that are carried out.
What is agriculture?
Agriculture is the human activity tending to combine different procedures and knowledge in the treatment of the land, with the objective to produce food originally vegetable, such as fruits, vegetables, vegetables, cereals, among others.
Agriculture is an economic activity that is within the primary sector, and it includes all those acts performed by the man, tending to modify the environment that surrounds it, to make it more suitable and thus generate a greater productivity of I usually, and obtain food both for direct consumption or for subsequent industrial treatment generating added value.
Agriculture proper had its first boom in the Stone age, in the Neolithic period, although its beginnings go back to the prehistoryindependently developed by various cultures. The men who until that moment in nomadic form, leaned on a economy based simply on hunting, fishing and gathering, they began to work the land, giving birth to agriculture and obtaining their first crops such as wheat and barley, and incorporating the cattle raising as another fundamental activity for the sustenance of life in society.
The adoption of agriculture meant structural changes within the societies that incorporated it, since the greater availability of food allowed population growth, and made possible the development of a sedentary life, becoming increasingly complex societies, with a greater division from work, new House Rules, and with greater development of artisanal and commercial activities.
Agriculture carried out in an indiscriminate and irresponsible way can have a impact very serious in the environment. In recent decades, there has been a worrying growth in intensive production at an industrial level, and in the use of different chemicals and fertilizers that alter the natural growth processes in food and their impact on the Health of the consumers.
Types of agriculture
The different classes of agriculture can be classified taking into account different criteria of analysis:
By production volumes:
- Subsistence farming. Its objective is to obtain a low level of production, with the sole purpose of feeding a community stable and reduced of people, therefore it does not produce a great wear on the ground.
- Industrial Agriculture. It consists of the production of large volumes of food from the soil, typical of industrialized and developing countries.This practice has the objective not simply to guarantee the satisfaction of the needs of the community but also to commercialize the surplus, as is the case with agricultural food exports abroad.
Because of the importance of water in production:
- Irrigation. In this type of agriculture, an irrigation system provided by the farmer is essential, using methods natural or artificial.
- Rainfed. The humidity necessary for production is supplied by the rains and by the soil, without the intervention of the farmer.
According to the means of production used and their performance:
- Extensive Agriculture. The objective taken into account is not so much the economic profit but the care of the soil, since large areas of land are used but low levels of production are obtained.
- Intensive agriculture. Mass production is sought in a reduced floor space, being harmful to the environment. It is generally used in industrialized countries.
According to the technique used and its objective:
- Industrial Agriculture. This form of production is intended to obtain enormous quantities of food, with a view to its commercialization.
- Ecological agriculture. This form of agriculture has as a priority the non-alteration of the environment and the care of the soil, using methods and technologies adequate.
- Traditional Agriculture. It is characterized by using indigenous techniques and procedures of a certain region, extending into the weather and forming part of the culture of the place.