125-550: U.S. Sugar Corporation is a privately owned agricultural business based in Clewiston , Florida . The company farms over 230,000 acres of land in the counties of Hendry , Glades , Martin , and Palm Beach . It is the largest producer of sugarcane in the United States by volume, producing over 700,000 tonnes per year. The company is also a large producer of refined sugar , sweet corn and oranges . U.S. Sugar
250-810: 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
375-436: A vitalist vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin . Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife . Nature can refer to the general realm of living beings , and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects—the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as
500-498: A body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river. The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan , Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane , most likely mixed with methane . It
625-470: 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
750-449: A continual basis. The total number of species is in rapid decline. The origin of life on Earth is not well understood, but it is known to have occurred at least 3.5 billion years ago, during the hadean or archean eons on a primordial Earth that had a substantially different environment than is found at present. These life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and inheritable traits. Once life had appeared,
875-517: A degree or two of average global temperature have historically had major effects on the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth. Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure , physical properties , dynamics, and history of Earth materials , and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field
1000-406: A dependence on the seasonal variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which depend on its growth for their food. Climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to influence the climate , including ocean currents, surface albedo , greenhouse gases , variations in
1125-653: A distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind . Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural . The word nature is borrowed from the Old French nature and is derived from the Latin word natura , or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant " birth ". In ancient philosophy, natura
1250-587: A dynamic dimension then, especially for Heraclitus ), and has steadily gained currency ever since. Earth is the only planet known to support life , and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the Solar System , it is third closest to the Sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and
1375-449: A fertilizer for crops. Natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws , elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life . Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright separate and even superior to nature. During
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#17327976362661500-664: 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
1625-444: 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
1750-485: A metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered life. However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life. The biosphere is the part of Earth's outer shell—including land, surface rocks, water, air and the atmosphere—within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From
1875-446: A meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals . Over the past 66 million years, mammalian life diversified. Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright. The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect
2000-435: A minority of Fungi . These life forms are found in almost every location on the Earth where there is liquid water, including in the Earth's interior. Their reproduction is both rapid and profuse. The combination of a high mutation rate and a horizontal gene transfer ability makes them highly adaptable, and able to survive in new and sometimes very harsh environments, including outer space . They form an essential part of
2125-436: A pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools . A river is a natural watercourse , usually freshwater , flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there
2250-447: 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
2375-404: 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
2500-492: 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
2625-399: A variety of biotic and abiotic components that function in an interrelated way. The structure and composition is determined by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more important components are soil , atmosphere , radiation from the sun , water, and living organisms. Central to
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#17327976362662750-502: A wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region. Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere . Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of
2875-552: 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
3000-473: 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
3125-493: Is a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen (H2O) and is vital for all known forms of life. In typical usage, "water" refers only to its liquid form , but it also has a solid state, ice , and a gaseous state, water vapor , or steam . Water covers 71% of the Earth 's surface. On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large bodies of water, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in
3250-584: 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
3375-454: Is a major academic discipline , and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards , some Geotechnical engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments. The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations. Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto
3500-626: 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
3625-564: Is called a microecosystem . For example, a microsystem can be a stone and all the life under it. A macroecosystem might involve a whole ecoregion , with its drainage basin . Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been significantly modified by human activity. Wilderness areas can be found in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, national forests , national parks , and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches, or otherwise undeveloped areas. Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for
3750-553: Is considered in South Florida along with Florida Crystals and the 54-member Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida known as Big Sugar. The company is one of the largest job providers in the Glades region of Florida, employing more than 2,500 employees. In 1931, industrialist and philanthropist Charles Stewart Mott purchased assets near Clewiston, Florida from a 1920s bankrupt sugarcane company, Southern Sugar Company, to form
3875-444: 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
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4000-476: Is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula , along with the Sun and other planets . The Moon formed roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor , most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets , produced
4125-549: Is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe , is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers (though this word had
4250-534: Is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek, but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language. A river is part of the hydrological cycle . Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff , groundwater recharge, springs , and
4375-504: Is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterized by organization , metabolism , growth , adaptation , response to stimuli , and reproduction . Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms . Present day organisms from viruses to humans possess a self-replicating informational molecule (genome), either DNA or RNA (as in some viruses), and such an informational molecule
4500-415: Is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones , and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation . Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from
4625-503: Is probably intrinsic to life. It is likely that the earliest forms of life were based on a self-replicating informational molecule ( genome ), perhaps RNA or a molecule more primitive than RNA or DNA. The specific deoxyribonucleotide / ribonucleotide sequence in each currently extant individual organism contains sequence information that functions to promotes survival, reproduction , and the capacity to acquire resources necessary for reproduction, and such sequences probably emerged early in
4750-438: 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
4875-797: The Indian Ocean , the Southern Ocean , and the Arctic Ocean . Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes , which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake . A lake (from Latin word lacus ) is a terrain feature (or physical feature ),
5000-500: 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
5125-663: The Neoproterozoic era, freezing temperatures covered much of the Earth in glaciers and ice sheets. This hypothesis has been termed the " Snowball Earth ", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530–540 million years ago. Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass extinctions . The last mass extinction occurred some 66 million years ago, when
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5250-454: The Northern and Southern Hemispheres experience opposite seasons. Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment , so accurate weather forecasting is limited to only a few days. Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1) temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable changes. Water
5375-583: 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
5500-514: 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
5625-587: The World Ocean or global ocean. This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography . The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents , various archipelagos , and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean , the Atlantic Ocean ,
5750-422: The air as vapor , clouds, and precipitation . Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers , and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes, and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products. An ocean is a major body of saline water , and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of
5875-510: The kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae ) and Animalia . Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Bacterial life is sometimes included in flora, and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately from plant flora . Among
6000-738: The last ice age . All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. A pond is a body of standing water , either natural or human-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of human-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven micro-currents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish
6125-630: 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
6250-548: 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 ,
6375-457: The tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the seasons, which result from the Earth 's axis being tilted relative to its orbital plane . Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the Earth is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun . This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season,
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#17327976362666500-475: The 35% limit. In 1962, the company opened the Bryant Sugar House, which at the time was the largest and most advanced sugarcane processing mill in the world. The mill had a capacity of 5,000 tons of sugarcane per day. After C.S. Mott died in 1973, C.S. Harding Mott, his son, took over as chairman of the corporation. With sugar at 60 cents a pound in the 1970s and purchasers switching to corn syrup,
6625-540: 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
6750-560: 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
6875-629: The ESOP stock given two bids for the company stock for amounts more than ESOP redemption were offered by outside parties. Employees alleged that the Gaylon Lawrence family agro-conglomerate offered $ 293 per share for the company twice, once in August 2005 and in January 2007. The Company stated that the offer (approximately $ 500 million) was well below market value—which was proved to be the case when
7000-705: The ESOP. Some shareholders did not sell out believing the price per share to be too low triggering a class action lawsuit. The ESOP and Mott group of owners in October 1987 offered $ 80 per share for the other 110,000 voting shares held by 500 public shareholders. This took the company private and reduced its reporting costs. Most of South Bay Growers was closed down on September 4, 1994, after four out of five prior years of losses including 10 million in 1994. South Bay's salad processing plant with customers like McDonald's and Burger King and 146 employees would continue to operate while seeking new ownership. Big sugar moved in
7125-400: The Earth is held in place by gravity. Air is mostly nitrogen , oxygen , water vapor , with much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, etc. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude. The ozone layer plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at
7250-593: The Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event , produced by the proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about 300 million years to culminate. The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event , the Holocene extinction event,
7375-552: The Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as
7500-586: 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
7625-557: The State of Florida publicly offered to buy US Sugar for $ 2 billion in 2008. On 24 June 2008, Florida's Governor , Charlie Crist , announced the state was in negotiations to buy 187,000 acres (760 km) of land and all of its manufacturing and production facilities for an estimated $ 1.7 billion from the company as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan . Under the proposals,
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#17327976362667750-486: 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
7875-793: 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
8000-661: The United States Sugar Corporation. In the 1940s, U.S. Sugar was charged with slavery violation. Mott later transferred shares to his Charles Stewart Mott Foundation . When the Tax Reform Act of 1969 limited the shares that private family foundations could hold of a corporation, the foundation gave a large number of shares to the Mott Children's Health Center, a Flint, Michigan, charitable medical organization founded in 1939, to be below
8125-461: 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
8250-530: The advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries, nature became the passive reality , organized and moved by divine laws. With the Industrial Revolution , nature increasingly became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred by some traditions ( Rousseau , American transcendentalism ) or a mere decorum for divine providence or human history ( Hegel , Marx ). However,
8375-544: 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
8500-553: 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
8625-477: The biosphere. Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal life depends very heavily for its existence. More than 2 million species of plant and animal life have been identified to date, and estimates of the actual number of existing species range from several million to well over 50 million. The number of individual species of life is constantly in some degree of flux, with new species appearing and others ceasing to exist on
8750-446: The broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). The entire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about 6.8×10 kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various environments within
8875-597: 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
9000-489: The company expanded into other areas of farming including cattle, citrus and vegetables. In 1980, the U.S. acquired South Bay Growers. South Bay Growers produced 13% of the US's leafy vegetables growing lettuce, celery and others. In late 1985, U.S. Sugar began planting orange trees. In 1983, the company formed an Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in an attempt to go private. U.S. Sugar borrowed millions in long-term debt to create
9125-728: The company sold 26,800 acres of land to the South Florida Water Management District for the "River of Grass" Restoration Project. According to the Florida Sugarcane League, sugarcane farming has a $ 3.2 billion impact and supports more than 12,500 jobs. With more than 2,500 employees, U.S. Sugar is one of the "largest agribusiness employers in the Everglades region." However, sugarcane in the United States remains nearly twice as expensive per pound as in other developed countries due to
9250-408: The company would continue to farm the land for the next six years and convert the land back to its original natural marshland state. In November 2008, the agreement was revised to offer $ 1.34 billion, allowing sugar mills in Clewiston to remain in production. Critics of the revised plan say that it ensures sugarcane will be grown in the Everglades for at least another decade. In October 2010
9375-468: 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
9500-668: 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
9625-457: The early 1990s to mechanical cane harvesters. The displaced cane field workers filed a class action lawsuit in which the company paid $ 5 million plus in 1998. In 2004, U.S. Sugar closed a mill and laid off workers. Its Bryant mill was closed in 2007. In February 2008, the corporation, CEO Robert Buker, Chairman William S. White and his family and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation were sued by employees claiming that they were not getting full value for
9750-468: The ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with every other element in their local environment . Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within
9875-553: The equatorial oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar regions much colder. Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones , can expend large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation. Surface vegetation has evolved
10000-622: The evolution of life. Survival functions present early in the evolution of life likely also included genomic sequences that promote the avoidance of damage to the self-replicating molecule and also the capability to repair such damages that do occur. Repair of some genome damages may have involved using information from another similar molecule by a process of recombination (a primitive form of sexual interaction ). Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi , protists , archaea , and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having
10125-669: The failure the industry would face without government subsidies. Agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture , and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture 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
10250-432: 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
10375-444: The fastest ever to have occurred. Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University , predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years. The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists. The Earth's atmosphere is a key factor in sustaining the ecosystem . The thin layer of gases that envelops
10500-532: The first primitive life forms. When basic forms of plant life developed the process of photosynthesis the sun's energy could be harvested to create conditions which allowed for more complex life forms. The resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and gave rise to the ozone layer . The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted in the development of yet more complex cells called eukaryotes . Cells within colonies became increasingly specialized, resulting in true multicellular organisms. With
10625-430: 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,
10750-414: The geomagnetic field. The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms, which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during interglacial periods, and variations of
10875-422: 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
11000-503: The immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone . Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction , streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity . The study of streams and waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary natural science and engineering, including hydrology , fluvial geomorphology , aquatic ecology , fish biology , riparian ecology , and others. Ecosystems are composed of
11125-406: The initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed . Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension , or side-to-side ( strike-slip ) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries , divergent boundaries , and transform boundaries , respectively, between tectonic plates . Earth
11250-441: 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
11375-476: 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
11500-649: The many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras , which, depending on the purpose of study, can also include fossil flora , remnants of plant life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries take great pride in their individual arrays of characteristic flora, which can vary widely across the globe due to differences in climate and terrain . Regional floras commonly are divided into categories such as native flora or agricultural and garden flora . Some types of "native flora" actually have been introduced centuries ago by people migrating from one region or continent to another, and become an integral part of
11625-461: The native, or natural flora of the place to which they were introduced. This is an example of how human interaction with nature can blur the boundary of what is considered nature. Another category of plant has historically been carved out for weeds . Though the term has fallen into disfavor among botanists as a formal way to categorize "useless" plants, the informal use of the word "weeds" to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of elimination
11750-619: The oceans and other water sources. The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago. Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent . Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia , began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea , which broke apart about 180 million years ago. During
11875-420: The original conditions. The outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates . The interior remains active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic field . This iron core is composed of a solid inner phase, and a fluid outer phase. Convective motion in the core generates electric currents through dynamo action, and these, in turn, generate
12000-464: The ozone layer absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation , life colonized the surface of Earth. The first form of life to develop on the Earth were unicellular , and they remained the only form of life until about a billion years ago when multi-cellular organisms began to appear. Microorganisms or microbes are microscopic , and smaller than the human eye can see. Microorganisms can be single-celled , such as Bacteria , Archaea , many Protista , and
12125-437: 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
12250-441: The planetary ecosystem. However, some microorganisms are pathogenic and can post health risk to other organisms. Viruses are infectious agents , but they are not autonomous life forms , as it is the case for viroids , satellites , DPIs and prions . Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move fast enough for humans to notice, and animals. In Linnaeus ' system, these became
12375-414: 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
12500-411: The process of evolution by natural selection resulted in the development of ever-more diverse life forms. Species that were unable to adapt to the changing environment and competition from other life forms became extinct. However, the fossil record retains evidence of many of these older species. Current fossil and DNA evidence shows that all existing species can trace a continual ancestry back to
12625-440: 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
12750-465: The release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers ). A stream is a flowing body of water with a current , confined within a bed and stream banks . In the United States, a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle , instruments in groundwater recharge , and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in
12875-477: 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
13000-874: 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
13125-478: 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
13250-439: 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
13375-418: The solar luminosity, and changes to the Earth's orbit. Based on historical and geological records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including ice ages . The climate of a region depends on a number of factors, especially latitude . A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from
13500-488: 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,
13625-419: The surface or intrude into the overlying rock . Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock , or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths , laccoliths , dikes , and sills , push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude. After
13750-425: The surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes. Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the atmosphere , and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from
13875-535: The survival of certain species , ecological studies, conservation , and solitude. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity, and some ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integral part of the Earth's self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere ). They may also preserve historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for wild flora and fauna that may be difficult or impossible to recreate in zoos , arboretums , or laboratories . Although there
14000-400: 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
14125-441: The system is an ecosystem." Within the ecosystem, species are connected and dependent upon one another in the food chain , and exchange energy and matter between themselves as well as with their environment. The human ecosystem concept is based on the human/nature dichotomy and the idea that all species are ecologically dependent on each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope . A smaller unit of size
14250-679: 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
14375-537: The weather and geology of the Earth . It is often taken to mean the " natural environment " or wilderness —wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things that can still be found today implies
14500-671: 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
14625-744: 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
14750-781: 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
14875-664: 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
15000-485: 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
15125-495: 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
15250-621: 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
15375-640: 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
15500-560: 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
15625-584: 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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