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140-581: 1953 1954 1956 1959 The Swynnerton Plan was a colonial agricultural policy that appeared as a government report in 1954 in Kenya , aiming to intensify the development of agricultural practice in the Kenya Colony . The plan was geared to expanding native Kenyan's cash-crop production through improved markets and infrastructure, the distribution of appropriate inputs, and the gradual consolidation and enclosure of land holdings. Roger Swynnerton

280-810: A lord of the manor with a Roman Catholic church and priest. Thanks to the exchange with the Al-Andalus where the Arab Agricultural Revolution was underway, European agriculture transformed, with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees (such as the orange). After 1492, the Columbian exchange brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes , and manioc to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips , and livestock (including horses, cattle, sheep and goats) to

420-470: A combination of labor supply and labor demand trends have driven down the share of population employed in agriculture. During the 16th century in Europe, between 55 and 75% of the population was engaged in agriculture; by the 19th century, this had dropped to between 35 and 65%. In the same countries today, the figure is less than 10%. At the start of the 21st century, some one billion people, or over 1/3 of

560-605: A food secure system include physical availability, economic and physical access, appropriate utilization, and stability of the prior three elements over time. Of the 6.7 billion people on the planet, about 2 billion are food insecure. As the global population grows to 9 billion by 2050, and as diets shift to emphasize higher energy products and greater overall consumption, food systems will be subjected to even greater pressure. Climate change presents additional threats to food security, affecting crop yields, distribution of pests and diseases, weather patterns, and growing seasons around

700-436: A given serotype may have nucleotide sequences that differ by as much as 30% for a given gene. This means that FMD vaccines must be highly specific to the strain involved. Vaccination only provides temporary immunity that lasts from months to years. Therefore, rich countries maintain a policy of banning imports from all countries, not proven FMD-free by US or EU standards. This is a point of contention. Although this disease

840-612: A guaranteed supply level, price stability, product quality, product selection, land use or employment. Governments can use tools like rural development practices , agricultural extension , economic protections , agricultural subsidies or price controls to change the dynamics of agricultural production, or improve the consumer impacts of the production. Agricultural policy has wide reaching primary and secondary effects. Agriculture has large impacts on climate change , estimated to be contributing 20–25% of global annual emissions as of 2010. Moreover, agricultural policy needs to account for

980-664: A hazardous industry, and farmers worldwide remain at high risk of work-related injuries, lung disease, noise-induced hearing loss , skin diseases, as well as certain cancers related to chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. On industrialized farms , injuries frequently involve the use of agricultural machinery , and a common cause of fatal agricultural injuries in developed countries is tractor rollovers . Pesticides and other chemicals used in farming can be hazardous to worker health , and workers exposed to pesticides may experience illness or have children with birth defects. As an industry in which families commonly share in work and live on

1120-444: A high use of inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticide and automation). It is practiced mainly in developed countries. From the twentieth century onwards, intensive agriculture increased crop productivity. It substituted synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for labor, but caused increased water pollution, and often involved farm subsidies. Soil degradation and diseases such as stem rust are major concerns globally; approximately 40% of

1260-718: A key role in promoting agricultural activities, such as irrigation systems, roads and telecommunication systems, land reform, power in rural areas, fiscal support for research and development, pricing policies, assistance for new technologies, and markets for agricultural produce. Agricultural policies have contributed to meeting the goals related to increasing, diversifying, and improving agricultural production. Agricultural policies aimed at reducing poverty include India's Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana , which offers crop insurance to farmers to protect them from weather-related uncertainties and potential crop failures. This initiative provides farmers with financial aid for crop loss, reducing

1400-614: A living growing rice. Several years ago, Ghana was able to feed and export their surplus. Now, it imports rice. From where? Developed countries. Why? Because it's cheaper. Even if it costs the rice producer in the developed world much more to produce the rice, he doesn't have to make a profit from his crop. The government pays him to grow it, so he can sell it more cheaply to Ghana than the farmer in Ghana can. And that farmer in Ghana? He can't feed his family anymore." ( Lyle Vanclief , former Canadian Minister of Agriculture [1997-2003]) According to

1540-414: A lot of shocks to the system: for example, agriculture is highly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, such as decreases in water access , geophysical processes such as ocean level rise and changing weather , and socioeconomic processes that affect farmers, many of whom are in subsistence economic conditions . In order for global climate change mitigation and adaptation to be effective

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1680-567: A major increase in technical assistance, and have access to all marketing facilities, all of which were previously available and restricted to the white settler minority. The results were dramatic: the value of recorded output from the small-holdings rose from £5.2 million in 1955 to £14 million in 1964, coffee accounting for 55 percent of the increase. Moreover, the plan also sought to consolidate scattered landholdings in Central Province so that land ownership could be concentrated in

1820-424: A near-natural state by planting native grasses and other plants. The U.S. Environmental Quality Incentives Program subsidizes improvements which promote water conservation and other measures. This program is conducted under a bidding process using a formula where farmers request a certain percentage of cost share for improvement such as drip irrigation. Producers that offer the most environmental improvement based on

1960-513: A new problem. With food waste, the market was thrown into imbalance. Consequently, the price drop cost the farmers' utility and has led to a future reform known as the Marsholt Plan. Marsholt Plan and following reforms generally adjusted the agriculture market back to balance. Later reforms managed to spread the fund to farmers and increase each individual farmers' welfare instead of merely expanding croplands and industries. Starting from 2003,

2100-525: A period and replacing price supports and subsidies. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 contains direct and countercyclical payments designed to limit the effects of low prices and yields. In the EU, €54 billion of subsidies are paid every year. An increasing share of the subsidies is being decoupled from production and lumped into the Single Farm Payment. While this has diminished

2240-539: A point system for the least cost are funded first. The process continues until that year's allocated funds are expended. In April 2004 the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that 3 billion dollars in US cotton subsidies violate trade agreements and that almost 50% of EU sugar exports are illegal. In 1997–2003, US cotton exports were subsidized by an average of 48%. The WTO has extracted commitments from

2380-447: A positive note, the gender gap in access to mobile internet in low- and middle-income countries fell from 25 percent to 16 percent between 2017 and 2021, and the gender gap in access to bank accounts narrowed from 9 to 6 percentage points. Women are as likely as men to adopt new technologies when the necessary enabling factors are put in place and they have equal access to complementary resources. Agriculture, specifically farming, remains

2520-416: A product to compete with or undercut the foreign competition. This may produce a net gain for a government despite the cost of interventions because it allows a country to build up an export industry or reduce imports. It also helps to form the nation's supply and demand market. Farm or undeveloped land composes the majority of land in most countries. Policies may encourage some land uses rather than others in

2660-404: A significant decrease in genetic diversity and resources among livestock breeds, leading to a corresponding decrease in disease resistance and local adaptations previously found among traditional breeds. Grassland based livestock production relies upon plant material such as shrubland , rangeland , and pastures for feeding ruminant animals. Outside nutrient inputs may be used, however manure

2800-492: A small area of forest is cleared by cutting and burning the trees. The cleared land is used for growing crops for a few years until the soil becomes too infertile, and the area is abandoned. Another patch of land is selected and the process is repeated. This type of farming is practiced mainly in areas with abundant rainfall where the forest regenerates quickly. This practice is used in Northeast India, Southeast Asia, and

2940-500: A vaccine based on reverse genetics made with H5N1 antigens, and they have been using it. There has been a lot of criticism of what they have done because they have protected their chickens against death from this virus but the chickens still get infected, and then you get the drift - the virus mutates in response to the antibodies - and now we have a situation where we have five or six 'flavours' of H5N1 out there." Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as "mad cow disease",

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3080-422: A very high unemployment rate, much farmland and retains a large rural population growing food for their own use. Price controls may also be used to assist poor citizens. Many countries have used this method of welfare support as it delivers cheap food to the poorest in urban areas without the need to assess people to give them financial aid. This often goes at the cost of the rural poor, who then earn less from what

3220-472: A wide range of policies need to be implemented to reduce the risk of negative climate change impacts on agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector. An example of the breadth and types of agriculture policy concerns can be found in the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics article "Agricultural Economies of Australia and New Zealand" which says that

3360-572: A year after providing for their own needs. In drawing up his plan, Swynnerton assumed twenty years would be needed to implement it. When the Swynnerton Report was first published, its findings, in complement with the East Africa Royal Commission 1953–1955, were a reversal of previous colonial policies on native agricultural practices. It recommended that all high-quality native land be surveyed and enclosed; that

3500-552: A year, or requiring irrigation. In all of these environments perennial crops are grown (coffee, chocolate) and systems are practiced such as agroforestry . In temperate environments, where ecosystems were predominantly grassland or prairie , highly productive annual farming is the dominant agricultural system. Important categories of food crops include cereals, legumes, forage, fruits and vegetables. Natural fibers include cotton, wool , hemp , silk and flax . Specific crops are cultivated in distinct growing regions throughout

3640-473: A yearly summit to discuss safety. Overall production varies by country as listed. The twenty largest countries by agricultural output (in nominal terms) at peak level as of 2018, according to the IMF and CIA World Factbook . Cropping systems vary among farms depending on the available resources and constraints; geography and climate of the farm; government policy; economic, social and political pressures; and

3780-631: Is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease of cattle , which infects by a mechanism that surprised biologists upon its discovery in the late 20th century. In the UK, the country worst affected, 179,000 cattle were infected and 4.4 million were killed as a precaution. The disease can be transmitted to human beings who eat or inhale material from infected carcasses. In humans, it is known as new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD or nvCJD), and by June 2007, it had killed 165 people in Britain, and six elsewhere with

3920-584: Is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species, developed by breeding in Europe and North America. The indigenous people of the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest practiced forest gardening and fire-stick farming . The natives controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology that sustained a low-density agriculture in loose rotation; a sort of "wild" permaculture . A system of companion planting called

4060-600: Is able to survive; this contributed to the spread of the disease in Britain, which had reduced the temperatures used during its rendering process. Another contributory factor was the feeding of infected protein supplements to very young calves instead of milk from their mothers. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease of cattle and pigs . It can also infect deer , goats , sheep , and other bovids with cloven hooves , as well as elephants , rats , and hedgehogs . Humans are affected only very rarely. FMD occurs throughout much of

4200-478: Is an example of where this might have already occurred. According to the CDC article "H5N1 Outbreaks and Enzootic Influenza" by Robert G. Webster et al.: "Transmission of highly pathogenic H5N1 from domestic poultry back to migratory waterfowl in western China has increased the geographic spread. The spread of H5N1 and its likely reintroduction to domestic poultry increase the need for good agricultural vaccines. In fact,

4340-487: Is bad vaccine that stops the disease in the bird but the bird goes on pooping out the virus and maintaining it and changing it. And I think this is what is going on in China. It has to be. Either there is not enough vaccine being used or there is substandard vaccine being used. Probably both. It's not just China. We can't blame China for substandard vaccines. I think there are substandard vaccines for influenza in poultry all over

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4480-626: Is both a cause of and sensitive to environmental degradation , such as biodiversity loss , desertification , soil degradation , and climate change , all of which can cause decreases in crop yield. Genetically modified organisms are widely used, although some countries ban them . The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra , from ager 'field' and cultūra ' cultivation ' or 'growing'. While agriculture usually refers to human activities, certain species of ant , termite and beetle have been cultivating crops for up to 60 million years. Agriculture

4620-444: Is defined with varying scopes, in its broadest sense using natural resources to "produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops, and their related services". Thus defined, it includes arable farming , horticulture, animal husbandry and forestry , but horticulture and forestry are in practice often excluded. It may also be broadly decomposed into plant agriculture , which concerns

4760-540: Is nearly impossible to prove that they are entirely free of this disease. If they try they are forced to erect nationwide fences, which destroys wildlife migration. Because detecting and reporting of FMD have enormously improved and sped up, almost all poor countries could now safely create FMD-free export zones. But rich countries refuse to change the rules. In effect, many poor tropical countries have no chance to meet current rules, so they are still today banned from exporting meat, even if many of them are FMD-free. The result

4900-410: Is not dangerous to humans and rarely fatal to otherwise healthy animals, it reduces milk and meat production. Outbreaks can be stopped quickly if farmers and transporters are forced to abide by existing rules. Therefore, (besides temporary discomfort to the animals), any outbreak in the rich world should not be much more as a localized, cyclical economic problem. For countries with free roaming wildlife it

5040-474: Is often their only realistic or potential source of income: agriculture. Because in almost all countries the rural poor are poorer than the urban poor, cheap food policies through price controls often increase overall poverty. The same often counts for poverty relief in the form of food aid, which (unless while during severe drought) drives small producers in poor countries out of production. It tends to benefit lower middle class groups (sub-urban and urban poor) at

5180-564: Is particularly popular in competitive agricultural exporting nations in both the developed and developing world, some of whom have banded together in the Cairns Group lobby. Canada's Department of Agriculture estimates that developing nations would benefit by about $ 4 billion annually if subsidies in the developed world were halved. Many developing countries do not grow enough food to feed their own populations. These nations must buy food from other countries. Lower prices and free food save

5320-438: Is returned directly to the grassland as a major nutrient source. This system is particularly important in areas where crop production is not feasible because of climate or soil, representing 30–40 million pastoralists. Mixed production systems use grassland, fodder crops and grain feed crops as feed for ruminant and monogastric (one stomach; mainly chickens and pigs) livestock. Manure is typically recycled in mixed systems as

5460-530: Is that if drought hits, the poor try to cope by selling their few animals. This quickly saturates regional demand. The export ban then destroys the value of these animals, in effect destroying the most important coping mechanism of several hundreds of millions extremely poor households. The rules around meat exports have been changed many times, always to accommodate changing circumstances in rich countries, usually further reducing meat export chances for poor countries. For that reason, Kanya and many other countries find

5600-493: Is therefore a crucial element of agricultural policy in a developing country . In addition, a recent Natural Resource Perspective paper by the Overseas Development Institute found that good infrastructure , education and effective information services in rural areas were necessary to improve the chances of making agriculture work for the poor. During the 1980s and 1990s, there was a disregard for

5740-410: Is these quality demands from the rich world. In international trade parlance, when a company from country A sells a commodity below the cost of production into country B, this is called " dumping ". A number of countries that are signatories to multilateral trade agreements have provisions that prohibit this practice. When rich countries subsidize domestic production, the excess output is often given to

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5880-476: Is to have a holistic view of their effects and externalities (a by-product of an action that affects others without their consent), because some policies intended to address one aspect of the concerns may have unintended harmful consequences that worsen other aspects while some have zero or negative beneficial effects. For example, subsidizing agricultural companies allows them to expand their industry and offer their products at lower prices to customers, but increases

6020-846: Is vulnerable to many disruptions such as weather changes, locality, manpower shifts, etc. Consequently, before we resolve this primary fragility of our agriculture system. It's of high cruciality for policymakers to weigh the trade-offs and adopt the most appropriate policies. There are examples of the agricultural policy design mentioned above that are made by worldwide unions, countries, and states. While every specific situation requires its own specific agricultural policy design, these examples can provide useful models, insights, and lessons for future policymakers' reference and inspiration. The Common Agricultural Policy , published by E.U., uses government subsidies to encourage food production and farming industrialization in its early stage. In some areas, food production boomed so much that enormous food waste became

6160-781: The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 to 1998, the government's agricultural policy has been closely concentrated on achieving price stability and self-sufficiency for import-competing commodities, such as palm oil, sugar and rice. International agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank , the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), espouse

6300-512: The European Union have stopped FMD vaccination . Infection with foot-and-mouth disease tends to occur locally, that is, the virus is passed on to susceptible animals through direct contact with infected animals or with contaminated pens or vehicles used to transport livestock. The clothes and skin of animal handlers such as farmers, standing water, and uncooked food scraps and feed supplements containing infected animal products can harbor

6440-500: The Indus Valley civilization . In China, from the 5th century BC, there was a nationwide granary system and widespread silk farming . Water-powered grain mills were in use by the 1st century BC, followed by irrigation. By the late 2nd century, heavy ploughs had been developed with iron ploughshares and mouldboards . These spread westwards across Eurasia. Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago – depending on

6580-556: The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy , corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat and rice are sold below the cost of production, or dumped. Dumping rates are approximately forty percent for wheat, between twenty-five and thirty percent for corn (maize), approximately thirty percent for soybeans, fifty-seven percent for cotton, and approximately twenty percent for rice. For example, wheat is sold for forty percent below cost. According to Oxfam, "If developed nations eliminated subsidy programs,

6720-583: The Paleolithic , after 10,000 BC. Staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus . In India , wheat, barley and jujube were domesticated by 9,000 BC, soon followed by sheep and goats. Cattle, sheep and goats were domesticated in Mehrgarh culture by 8,000–6,000 BC. Cotton was cultivated by the 5th–4th millennium BC. Archeological evidence indicates an animal-drawn plough from 2,500 BC in

6860-476: The Philippines government, making it lower import barriers to half their present levels over a span of six years, and allowing in drastically increased competition from the industrialised and heavily subsidised farming systems of North America and Europe. A recent Oxfam report estimated that average household incomes of maize farmers will be reduced by as much as 30% over the six years as cheap imports from

7000-514: The Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a canal system for irrigation. Ploughs appear in pictographs around 3,000 BC; seed-ploughs around 2,300 BC. Farmers grew wheat, barley, vegetables such as lentils and onions, and fruits including dates, grapes, and figs. Ancient Egyptian agriculture relied on the Nile River and its seasonal flooding. Farming started in the predynastic period at the end of

7140-509: The United States are currently experiencing canker outbreaks. The disease can be detected in orchards and on fruit by the appearance of lesions. Early detection is critical in quarantine situations. Bacteria are tested for pathogenicity by inoculating multiple citrus species with the bacterium. Simultaneously, other diagnostic tests (antibody detection, fatty-acid profiling, and genetic procedures using PCR ) are conducted to identify

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7280-518: The ahoi (tenant) option for these landless poor, amounting to around one-third of the tribe's population. Henceforth, they had no kin, no ancestral land, no marginal marshlands in the reserves to go to; a new Kikuyu society was born—propertied and propertyless—and left to face an uncertain future in face of the politics of independence. Despite this, the greater lasting benefits of the Swynnerton plan proposals were that they were accepted in full by

7420-630: The molecular clock estimate that is used – on the Pearl River in southern China with a single genetic origin from the wild rice Oryza rufipogon . In Greece and Rome , the major cereals were wheat, emmer, and barley, alongside vegetables including peas, beans, and olives. Sheep and goats were kept mainly for dairy products. In the Americas, crops domesticated in Mesoamerica (apart from teosinte) include squash, beans, and cacao . Cocoa

7560-548: The organic movement . Unsustainable farming practices in North America led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Pastoralism involves managing domesticated animals. In nomadic pastoralism , herds of livestock are moved from place to place in search of pasture, fodder, and water. This type of farming is practiced in arid and semi-arid regions of Sahara , Central Asia and some parts of India. In shifting cultivation ,

7700-540: The Amazon Basin. Subsistence farming is practiced to satisfy family or local needs alone, with little left over for transport elsewhere. It is intensively practiced in Monsoon Asia and South-East Asia. An estimated 2.5 billion subsistence farmers worked in 2018, cultivating about 60% of the earth's arable land . Intensive farming is cultivation to maximize productivity, with a low fallow ratio and

7840-560: The Americas. Irrigation , crop rotation , and fertilizers advanced from the 17th century with the British Agricultural Revolution , allowing global population to rise significantly. Since 1900, agriculture in developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as mechanization replaces human labor, and assisted by synthetic fertilizers , pesticides, and selective breeding . The Haber-Bosch method allowed

7980-586: The Common Agricultural Policy fund is further detailed into individuals and environmental protection is finally put into consideration. The farmer population is approximately five percent of the total population in the E.U. and 1.7% in the U.S. The total value of agricultural production in the E.U. amounted to 128 billion euros (1998). About forty-nine percent of this amount was accounted for by political measures: 37 billion euros due to direct payments and 43 billion euros from consumers due to

8120-534: The Paleolithic Levant, 23,000 years ago, cereals cultivation of emmer , barley , and oats has been observed near the sea of Galilee. Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5,700 BC, followed by mung , soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. Cattle were domesticated from

8260-576: The Royal Commission, which went further with them, recommending the removal of all racial and political barriers inhibiting the free movement of land, labour, and capital, and the recognition of private interests in land. Although the two recommendations were accepted with some modifications to suit the European farmers, they set the stage for an impending land settlement programme intended to formalise greater African participation in agriculture,

8400-486: The Three Sisters was developed in North America. The three crops were winter squash , maize, and climbing beans. Indigenous Australians , long supposed to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers , practiced systematic burning, possibly to enhance natural productivity in fire-stick farming. Scholars have pointed out that hunter-gatherers need a productive environment to support gathering without cultivation. Because

8540-583: The US drive down prices in the local markets. The report estimates that in the absence of trade restrictions, US subsidised maize could be marketed at less than half the price of maize grown on the Philippine island of Mindanao ; and that the livelihoods of up to half a million Filipino maize farmers (out of the total 1.2 million) are under immediate threat. Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture , and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture

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8680-793: The United Nations (FAO) posits that the roles and responsibilities of women in agriculture may be changing – for example, from subsistence farming to wage employment, and from contributing household members to primary producers in the context of male-out-migration. In general, women account for a greater share of agricultural employment at lower levels of economic development, as inadequate education, limited access to basic infrastructure and markets, high unpaid work burden and poor rural employment opportunities outside agriculture severely limit women's opportunities for off-farm work. Women who work in agricultural production tend to do so under highly unfavorable conditions. They tend to be concentrated in

8820-524: The United States is roughly 1.7 times more productive than it was in 1948. Agriculture employed 873 million people in 2021, or 27% of the global workforce, compared with 1 027 million (or 40%) in 2000. The share of agriculture in global GDP was stable at around 4% since 2000–2023. Despite increases in agricultural production and productivity, between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. Food insecurity and malnutrition can be

8960-557: The United States, 65% of the approximately $ 16.5 billion in annual subsidies went to the top 10% of farmers in 2002 because subsidies are linked to certain commodities. On the other hand, organic farming received $ 5 million for help in certification and $ 15 million for research over a 5-year time period. Some advocate Fair Trade rules to ensure that poor farmers in developing nations that produce crops primarily for export are not exploited or negatively impacted by trade policies, practices, tariffs, and agreements which benefit one competitor at

9100-405: The agricultural industry as one part of the various methods a government uses in a mixed economy . The conditions for payment and the reasons for the individual specific subsidies vary with farm product, size of the farm, nature of ownership, and country among other factors. Enriching peanut farmers for political purposes, keeping the price of a staple low to keep the poor from rebelling, stabilizing

9240-706: The agriculture sector among policymakers and investors, only regaining interest when the prices of staple food crops experienced a significant increase in the mid-2000s. As a result of agricultural policy neglect, there has been a scarcity of investment in infrastructure, which has hindered agricultural development and public goods, such as education, research and development and technology. Rural productive sectors and small agricultural enterprises suffer from market failures due to policies favouring urban areas and lending policies biased against small-scale agricultural firms. Neglect in implementing agriculture policy has been detected in several developing countries. In Indonesia, since

9380-544: The annual work-related death toll among agricultural employees is at least 170,000, twice the average rate of other jobs. In addition, incidences of death, injury and illness related to agricultural activities often go unreported. The organization has developed the Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001 , which covers the range of risks in the agriculture occupation, the prevention of these risks and

9520-406: The artificially high price. Eighty percent of European farmers receive a direct payment of 5,000 euros or less, while 2.2% receive a direct payment above 50,000 euros, totaling forty percent of all direct subsidies. The average U.S. farmer receives $ 16,000 in annual subsidies. Two-thirds of farmers receive no direct payments. Of those that do, the average amount amongst the lowest paid eighty percent

9660-553: The available work force, were employed in agriculture. This constitutes approximately 70% of the global employment of children, and in many countries constitutes the largest percentage of women of any industry. The service sector overtook the agricultural sector as the largest global employer in 2007. In many developed countries, immigrants help fill labor shortages in high-value agriculture activities that are difficult to mechanize. Foreign farm workers from mostly Eastern Europe, North Africa and South Asia constituted around one-third of

9800-413: The case of a Quota Share) or enact tariffs to raise the domestic price of imported products. These barriers give preference to domestic producers. Some argue that nations have an interest in assuring there is sufficient domestic production capability to meet domestic needs in the event of a global supply disruption. Significant dependence on foreign food producers makes a country strategically vulnerable in

9940-597: The central west coast and eastern central, early farmers cultivated yams, native millet, and bush onions, possibly in permanent settlements. In the Middle Ages , compared to the Roman period , agriculture in Western Europe became more focused on self-sufficiency . The agricultural population under feudalism was typically organized into manors consisting of several hundred or more acres of land presided over by

10080-428: The centre of decisions on food systems and policies, rather than the demands of markets and corporations that they believe have come to dominate the global food system. This movement is advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth, and environmental organizations. An agricultural subsidy is a governmental subsidy paid to farmers and agribusinesses to manage

10220-484: The cost to consumers for agricultural products, either via hidden wealth-transfers via the government, or increased prices at the consumer level, such as for sugar and peanuts in the US. This has led to market distortions , such as food processors using high fructose corn syrup as a replacement for sugar. High fructose corn syrup may be an unhealthy food additive, and, were sugar prices not inflated by government fiat, sugar might be preferred over high fructose corn syrup in

10360-468: The cultivation of useful plants, and animal agriculture , the production of agricultural animals. The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by hunting and gathering . Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa , in at least 11 separate centers of origin . Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. In

10500-459: The developing world as foreign aid. This process eliminates the domestic market for agricultural products in the developing world because the products can be obtained for free from western aid agencies. In developing nations where these effects are most severe, small farmers could no longer afford basic inputs and were forced to sell their land. "Consider a farmer in Ghana who used to be able to make

10640-518: The disease has become established, management options include replacing susceptible citrus cultivars with resistant cultivars, applying preventive sprays of copper -based bactericides , and destroying infected trees and all surrounding trees within an appropriate radius. The citrus industry is the largest fresh-fruit exporting industry in Australia. Australia has had three outbreaks of citrus canker; all three were successfully eradicated. The disease

10780-411: The distortions created by the Common Agricultural Policy, many critics argue that a greater focus on the provision of public goods, such as biodiversity and clean water, is needed. The next major reform is expected for 2014 when a new long-term EU budget is coming into effect. The U.S. Conservation Reserve Program leases land from producers that take marginal land out of production and convert it back to

10920-668: The domestication of squash (Cucurbita) and other plants. Coca was domesticated in the Andes, as were the peanut, tomato, tobacco, and pineapple . Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600 BC. Animals including llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs were domesticated there. In North America , the indigenous people of the East domesticated crops such as sunflower , tobacco, squash and Chenopodium . Wild foods including wild rice and maple sugar were harvested. The domesticated strawberry

11060-451: The event of war, blockade or embargo. Maintaining adequate domestic capability allows for food self-sufficiency that lessens the risk of supply shocks due to geopolitical events. Agricultural policies may be used to support domestic producers as they gain domestic and international market share. This may be a short term way of encouraging an industry until it is large enough to thrive without aid. Or it may be an ongoing subsidy designed to allow

11200-401: The expense of another - which advocates consider a dangerous "race to the bottom" in agricultural labor and safety standards. Opponents point out that most agriculture in developed nations is produced by industrial corporations (agribusiness) which are hardly deserving of sympathy, and that the alternative to exploitation is poverty. Fair trade steak? Much of what developing countries export to

11340-602: The expense of the poorest 20 percent, who as a result remain deprived of customers. Welfare economics theory holds that sometimes private activities can impose social costs upon others. Industrial agriculture is widely considered to impose social costs through pesticide pollution and nitrate pollution . Further, agriculture uses large amounts of water, a scarce resource . Some economists argue that taxes should be levied on agriculture, or that organic agriculture, which uses little pesticides and experiences relatively little nitrate runoff, should be encouraged with subsidies. In

11480-533: The export value of agriculture in lesser developed nations would increase by 24 %, plus a further 5.5 % from tariff equilibrium. ... exporters can offer US surpluses for sale at prices around half the cost of production; destroying local agriculture and creating a captive market in the process." Free trade advocates desire the elimination of all market distorting mechanisms (subsidies, tariffs, regulations) and argue that, as with free trade in all areas, this will result in aggregate benefit for all. This position

11620-432: The farm itself, entire families can be at risk for injuries, illness, and death. Ages 0–6 may be an especially vulnerable population in agriculture; common causes of fatal injuries among young farm workers include drowning, machinery and motor accidents, including with all-terrain vehicles. The International Labor Organization considers agriculture "one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors". It estimates that

11760-427: The firm's water and land usage which are at the cost of natural habitats. From an opposite perspective, if we protect the natural habitats and tax the agricultural firm for turning natural lands into factories, the prices of their products increase, making the firm's products too expensive for some customers. These externalities and trade-offs put the policymakers in a dilemma because our current global agriculture system

11900-430: The forests of New Guinea have few food plants, early humans may have used "selective burning" to increase the productivity of the wild karuka fruit trees to support the hunter-gatherer way of life. The Gunditjmara and other groups developed eel farming and fish trapping systems from some 5,000 years ago. There is evidence of 'intensification' across the whole continent over that period. In two regions of Australia,

12040-422: The greater use of pesticides and fertilizers. Multiple cropping , in which several crops are grown sequentially in one year, and intercropping , when several crops are grown at the same time, are other kinds of annual cropping systems known as polycultures . In subtropical and arid environments, the timing and extent of agriculture may be limited by rainfall, either not allowing multiple annual crops in

12180-508: The hands of a few farmers. These individuals would then become transformed into what was envisaged as an 'African middle class' that engaged in economic production, while at the same time offering employment to the bulk of those rendered landless by the plan. It was anticipated that the remaining landless peasants would become small-scale rural craftsmen. The plan was implemented during the Mau Mau Uprising , and implementation served

12320-412: The infectious agent to spread. The origin of the disease itself remains unknown. The current scientific view is that infectious proteins called prions developed through spontaneous mutation, probably in the 1970s, and there is a possibility that the use of organophosphorus pesticides increased the susceptibility of cattle to the disease. The infectious agent is distinctive for the high temperatures it

12460-441: The input of nutrients (fertilizer or manure ) and some manual pest control . Annual cultivation is the next phase of intensity in which there is no fallow period. This requires even greater nutrient and pest control inputs. Further industrialization led to the use of monocultures , when one cultivar is planted on a large acreage. Because of the low biodiversity , nutrient use is uniform and pests tend to build up, necessitating

12600-415: The interest of protecting the environment. For instance, subsidies may be given for particular farming methods, forestation, land clearance, or pollution abatement. Subsidising farming may encourage people to remain on the land and obtain some income. This might be relevant to an agrarian country with many peasant farmers, but it may also be a consideration to more developed countries such as Poland . It has

12740-482: The land consolidation programme had repressive political objectives. In the words of the Special Commissioner for Central Province, 'Thus land consolidation was to complete the work of the [State of] Emergency: to stabilise a conservative middle class, based on the loyalists; and, as confiscated land was to be thrown into the common land pool during consolidation, it was also to confirm the landlessness of

12880-430: The level of global investment in food systems, and developing specific programs and policies to support the most vulnerable populations (namely, those that are already subject to food insecurity). ' Food sovereignty ', a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996, is about the right of peoples to define their own food systems. Advocates of food sovereignty put the people who produce, distribute, and consume food at

13020-853: The lives of millions of starving people, despite the drop in food sales of the local farmers. A developing nation could use new improved farming methods to grow more food, with the ultimate goal of feeding their nation without outside help. New greenhouse methods, hydroponics, fertilizers, R/O water processors, hybrid crops, fast-growing hybrid trees for quick shade, interior temperature control, greenhouse or tent insulation, autonomous building gardens, sun lamps, mylar, fans, and other cheap tech can be used to grow crops on previously un arable land , such as rocky, mountainous, desert, and even Arctic lands. More food can be grown, reducing dependency on other countries for food. Replacement crops can also make nations agriculturally independent. Sugar, for example, comes from sugar cane imported from Polynesia . Instead of buying

13160-476: The lower yield associated with organic farming and its impact on global food security . Recent mainstream technological developments include genetically modified food . By 2015, the agricultural output of China was the largest in the world, followed by the European Union, India and the United States. Economists measure the total factor productivity of agriculture, according to which agriculture in

13300-575: The mainstay of Kenya's economy. These twin policies of land consolidation and removal of all barriers to the functioning of land market were put into practise by 1960, and enabled a reconciliation between the departing colonial authority and the leaders of an independent Kenya. Agricultural policy Agricultural policies take into consideration the primary ( production ), secondary (such as food processing , and distribution ) and tertiary processes (such as consumption and supply in agricultural products and supplies). Outcomes can involve, for example,

13440-639: The major challenges and issues faced by their industrial agriculture industry are: Policymakers working in poverty reduction in the agriculture sector assess, plan, or enact policies aimed to address the needs of persons living in poverty. Agriculture has been a critical driver of poverty reduction in most developing countries, particularly in rural areas. Approximately 80% of the world's impoverished population, who primarily reside in rural areas and earn their livelihood through farming, can benefit from agriculture in terms of poverty reduction, income generation, and food security. Fostering agricultural development

13580-401: The marketplace. The concerns of agricultural policies are extensive, and includes ensuring the hygiene of salads, globalization management, and other emerging issues. The majority of the concerns fall into three categories: food supply for a growing population, livelihood insurance for farmers, and environmental protection. The theme of all approaches aiming to address these 3 types of concerns

13720-421: The number expected to rise because of the disease's long incubation period. Between 460,000 and 482,000 BSE-infected animals had entered the human food chain before controls on high-risk offal were introduced in 1989. A British inquiry into BSE concluded that the epidemic was caused by feeding cattle, who are normally herbivores , the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused

13860-452: The particular canker strain. Citrus canker outbreaks are prevented and managed in a number of ways. In countries that do not have canker, the disease is prevented from entering the country by quarantine measures. In countries with new outbreaks, eradication programs that are started soon after the disease has been discovered have been successful; such programs rely on the destruction of affected orchards. When eradication has been unsuccessful and

14000-437: The philosophy and culture of the farmer. Shifting cultivation (or slash and burn ) is a system in which forests are burnt, releasing nutrients to support cultivation of annual and then perennial crops for a period of several years. Then the plot is left fallow to regrow forest, and the farmer moves to a new plot, returning after many more years (10–20). This fallow period is shortened if population density grows, requiring

14140-474: The policy of maintaining 'traditional' or tribal systems of land tenure be reversed; and all the thousands of fragmented holdings be consolidated and enclosed. The 'progressive' farmers would thereby be able to obtain credit, which had been previously denied them, whilst the new title deeds would create security of tenure which would lead to investment and rural development. Furthermore, it recommended that native African farmers be allowed to grow cash crops, be given

14280-539: The politically expedient needs of the colonial government. These reforms, which were intended to increase the opportunities for Africans in the colonial society and to integrate them more effectively into the changing pattern of the economy, could not contain African politics. Nor could African politicians be 'pocketed', because the land and other economic reforms that been introduced, while benefiting indigenous capital interests, fell far short of popular demands. For example,

14420-414: The poorest countries, where alternative livelihoods are not available, and they maintain the intensity of their work in conditions of climate-induced weather shocks and in situations of conflict. Women are less likely to participate as entrepreneurs and independent farmers and are engaged in the production of less lucrative crops. The gender gap in land productivity between female- and male managed farms of

14560-599: The prioritisation of agricultural endeavours to support poverty reduction. The impact of agricultural policy on reducing poverty differs across countries and is influenced by a variety of factors, such as the level of government policy support, the degree of public and private investment in agriculture, the different types of agriculture, and the growth rates of agriculture parallel to non-agriculture sectors. In particular, investment in agricultural research and development has been shown to be highly influential on agricultural GDP growth and poverty reduction. Government policies play

14700-421: The production of a crop to avoid famine years, encouraging diversification and many other purposes have been suggested as the reason for specific subsidies. Price floors or price ceilings set a minimum or maximum price for a product. Price controls encourage more production by a price floor or less production by a price ceiling. A government can erect trade barriers to limit the number of goods imported (in

14840-440: The production of fish for human consumption in confined operations, is one of the fastest growing sectors of food production, growing at an average of 9% a year between 1975 and 2007. During the second half of the 20th century, producers using selective breeding focused on creating livestock breeds and crossbreeds that increased production, while mostly disregarding the need to preserve genetic diversity . This trend has led to

14980-526: The rebels.'. So the state intensified the spread of cash crops and dairy cattle in the African reserves, on the startling new basis of generalised private, freehold, property. For the Kikuyu , land registration and consolidation during the Emergency was the final, bitter, codification of Kikuyu clan history. By this, the plan amounted to a mental revolution for those at the bottom of Kikuyu society, destroying

15120-477: The result of conflict, climate extremes and variability and economic swings. It can also be caused by a country's structural characteristics such as income status and natural resource endowments as well as its political economy. Pesticide use in agriculture went up 62% between 2000 and 2021, with the Americas accounting for half the use in 2021. The International Fund for Agricultural Development posits that an increase in smallholder agriculture may be part of

15260-428: The rich world, also comes from industrial corporations. The reason for that is, that rich countries have put up elaborate quality demands, most of whom make no factual health contribution. Small farmers often in effect meet these demands, but are rarely able to prove that in western standards. Therefore, the biggest impediment to the growth of small farming and therefore of fair trade in sectors beyond coffee and bananas,

15400-687: The risk of falling into poverty. Rwanda's Crop Intensification Program is another example of such policy, which provides farmers with inputs like fertilisers, improved seeds, and pesticides, as well as training and technical support to help them adopt more efficient farming practices. However, for agricultural policies to contribute to poverty reduction, it is essential that they collaborate effectively and cohesively with other sectors, such as tourism, sustainable economy, and industry. The biosecurity concerns facing industrial agriculture can be illustrated by: The use of animal vaccines can create new viruses that kill people and cause flu pandemic threats. H5N1

15540-874: The role that individuals and organizations engaged in agriculture should play. In the United States, agriculture has been identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda to identify and provide intervention strategies for occupational health and safety issues. In the European Union, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has issued guidelines on implementing health and safety directives in agriculture, livestock farming, horticulture, and forestry. The Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA) also holds

15680-455: The root cause of the continuing H5N1 pandemic threat may be the way the pathogenicity of H5N1 viruses is masked by co-circulating influenza viruses or bad agricultural vaccines." Robert Webster explains: "If you use a good vaccine you can prevent the transmission within poultry and to humans. But if they have been using vaccines now [in China] for several years, why is there so much bird flu? There

15820-414: The rules very unjust. They are however discouraged to file a formal complaint with WTO by diplomats from rich countries. Citrus canker is a disease affecting citrus species that is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis . The infection causes lesions on the leaves, stems, and fruit of citrus trees, including lime, oranges, and grapefruit. While not harmful to humans, canker significantly affects

15960-478: The salaried agricultural workforce in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal in 2013. In the United States of America, more than half of all hired farmworkers (roughly 450,000 workers) were immigrants in 2019, although the number of new immigrants arriving in the country to work in agriculture has fallen by 75 percent in recent years and rising wages indicate this has led to a major labor shortage on U.S. farms. Around

16100-439: The same size is 24 percent. On average, women earn 18.4 percent less than men in wage employment in agriculture; this means that women receive 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. Progress has been slow in closing gaps in women's access to irrigation and in ownership of livestock, too. Women in agriculture still have significantly less access than men to inputs, including improved seeds, fertilizers and mechanized equipment. On

16240-488: The solution to concerns about food prices and overall food security , given the favorable experience of Vietnam. Agriculture provides about one-quarter of all global employment, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost 60 percent in low-income countries. As countries develop, other jobs have historically pulled workers away from agriculture, and labor-saving innovations increase agricultural productivity by reducing labor requirements per unit of output. Over time,

16380-742: The sugar from Polynesia , a nation can make sugar from sugar beets, maple sap, or sweetener from stevia plant, keeping the profits circulating within the nation's economy. Paper and clothes can be made of hemp instead of trees and cotton. Tropical foods won't grow in many places in Europe, but they will grow in insulated greenhouses or tents in Europe. Soybean plant cellulose can replace plastic (made from oil). Ethanol from farm waste or hempseed oil can replace gasoline. Rainforest medicine plants grown locally can replace many imported medicines. Alternates of cash crops, like sugar and oil replacements, can reduce farmers' dependency on subsidies in both developed and developing nations. Market interventions may increase

16520-400: The synthesis of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing crop yields and sustaining a further increase in global population. Modern agriculture has raised or encountered ecological, political, and economic issues including water pollution , biofuels , genetically modified organisms , tariffs and farm subsidies , leading to alternative approaches such as

16660-679: The transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate an initial period of intensification and increasing sedentism ; examples are the Natufian culture in the Levant , and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Then, wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted, and gradually came to be domesticated. In Eurasia, the Sumerians started to live in villages from about 8,000 BC, relying on

16800-417: The vicinity of Emerald be destroyed rather than trying to isolate infected trees. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as existing when "all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life". The four qualifications that must be met for

16940-410: The virus as well. Cows can also catch FMD from the semen of infected bulls. Control measures include quarantine and destruction of infected livestock, and export bans for meat and other animal products to countries not infected with the disease. Because FMD rarely infects humans but spreads rapidly among animals, it is a much greater threat to the agriculture industry than to human health. Farmers around

17080-482: The vitality of citrus trees, causing leaves and fruit to drop prematurely; a fruit infected with canker is safe to eat but too unsightly to be sold. The disease, which is believed to have originated in South East Asia , is extremely persistent when it becomes established in an area, making it necessary for all citrus orchards to be destroyed for the successful eradication of the disease. Australia , Brazil and

17220-671: The wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago. Pig production emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia and Southwest Asia, where wild boar were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca , llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs . Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum

17360-440: The world can lose huge amounts of money during a foot-and-mouth epidemic, when large numbers of animals are destroyed and revenues from milk and meat production go down. One of the difficulties in vaccinating against FMD is the huge variation between and even within serotypes. There is no cross-protection between serotypes (meaning that a vaccine for one serotype won't protect against any others) and in addition, two strains within

17500-744: The world consist of fewer than 2 hectares (4.9 acres), and take up only around 12% of all agricultural land. Farms and farming greatly influence rural economics and greatly shape rural society , affecting both the direct agricultural workforce and broader businesses that support the farms and farming populations. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods , fibers , fuels , and raw materials (such as rubber ). Food classes include cereals ( grains ), vegetables , fruits , cooking oils , meat , milk , eggs , and fungi . Global agricultural production amounts to approximately 11 billion tonnes of food, 32 million tonnes of natural fibers and 4 billion m of wood. However, around 14% of

17640-718: The world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In recent years there has been a backlash against the environmental effects of conventional agriculture, resulting in the organic , regenerative , and sustainable agriculture movements. One of the major forces behind this movement has been the European Union , which first certified organic food in 1991 and began reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2005 to phase out commodity-linked farm subsidies, also known as decoupling . The growth of organic farming has renewed research in alternative technologies such as integrated pest management , selective breeding, and controlled-environment agriculture . There are concerns about

17780-664: The world's food is lost from production before reaching the retail level. Modern agronomy , plant breeding , agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers , and technological developments have sharply increased crop yields , but also contributed to ecological and environmental damage . Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal welfare and environmental damage. Environmental issues include contributions to climate change , depletion of aquifers , deforestation , antibiotic resistance , and other agricultural pollution . Agriculture

17920-409: The world, and while some countries have been free of FMD for some time, its wide host range and rapid spread represent cause for international concern. In 1996, endemic areas included Asia , Africa , and parts of South America . North America , Australia , New Zealand and Japan have been free of FMD for many years. Most European countries have been recognized as free, and countries belonging to

18060-435: The world, women make up a large share of the population employed in agriculture. This share is growing in all developing regions except East and Southeast Asia where women already make up about 50 percent of the agricultural workforce. Women make up 47 percent of the agricultural workforce in sub-Saharan Africa, a rate that has not changed significantly in the past few decades. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization of

18200-457: The world. Food security has thus become an increasingly important topic in agricultural policy as decision makers attempt to reduce poverty and malnutrition while augmenting adaptive capacity to climate change. The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change listed high-priority policy actions to address food security, including integrating food security and sustainable agriculture into global and national policies, significantly raising

18340-495: The world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. As of 2021 , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than 50 hectares (120 acres) and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres). However, five of every six farms in

18480-621: The world. Production is listed in millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimates. Animal husbandry is the breeding and raising of animals for meat, milk, eggs , or wool , and for work and transport. Working animals , including horses, mules , oxen , water buffalo , camels, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, and dogs, have for centuries been used to help cultivate fields, harvest crops, wrangle other animals, and transport farm products to buyers. Livestock production systems can be defined based on feed source, as grassland-based, mixed, and landless. As of 2010 , 30% of Earth's ice- and water-free area

18620-517: The world." In response to the same concerns, Reuters reports Hong Kong infectious disease expert Lo Wing-lok indicating that vaccines have to take top priority. Julie Hall, who is in charge of the WHO's outbreak response in China, claimed that China's vaccinations might be masking the virus. The BBC reported that Wendy Barclay, a virologist at the University of Reading, UK said: "The Chinese have made

18760-428: Was $ 7000 from 1995 to 2003. Subsidies are a mix of tax reductions, direct cash payments and below-market prices on water and other inputs. Some claim that these aggregate figures are misleading because large agribusinesses , rather than individual farmers, receive a significant share of total subsidy spending. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 reduced farm subsidies, providing fixed payments over

18900-444: Was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization , whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of

19040-500: Was an official in the Department of Agriculture, and the main objective of the plan was to create family holdings large enough to keep the family self-sufficient in food and also enable them to practise alternate husbandry and thus develop a cash income. It was envisioned that 600,000 African families would have farming units of approximately ten acres a family, which would raise their average productivity in cash sales from £10 to £100

19180-640: Was domesticated by the Mayo Chinchipe of the upper Amazon around 3,000 BC. The turkey was probably domesticated in Mexico or the American Southwest. The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides, fertilized their soil, and developed chinampas or artificial islands. The Mayas used extensive canal and raised field systems to farm swampland from 400 BC. In South America agriculture may have begun about 9000 BC with

19320-560: Was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia. In Mesoamerica , wild teosinte was bred into maize (corn) from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago. The horse was domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes around 3500 BC. Scholars have offered multiple hypotheses to explain the historical origins of agriculture. Studies of

19460-676: Was found twice during the 1900s in the Northern Territory and was eradicated each time. During the first outbreak in 1912, every citrus tree north of latitude 19° south was destroyed, taking 11 years to eradicate the disease. In 2004, Asiatic citrus canker was detected in an orchard in Emerald , Queensland , and was thought to have occurred from the illegal import of infected citrus plants. The state and federal governments have ordered that all commercial orchards, all non-commercial citrus trees, and all native lime trees ( C. glauca ) in

19600-584: Was used for producing livestock, with the sector employing approximately 1.3 billion people. Between the 1960s and the 2000s, there was a significant increase in livestock production, both by numbers and by carcass weight, especially among beef, pigs and chickens, the latter of which had production increased by almost a factor of 10. Non-meat animals, such as milk cows and egg-producing chickens, also showed significant production increases. Global cattle, sheep and goat populations are expected to continue to increase sharply through 2050. Aquaculture or fish farming,

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