Agriculture (also called farming or husbandry) is the cultivation of animals,
plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain
life.[1] Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization,
whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the
development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science.
Agriculture is also observed in certain species of ant and termite, but generally
speaking refers to human activities.
The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has
been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies.
|
Agriculture
|
However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands
suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires some
form of irrigation, although there are methods of dryland farming; pastoral herding
on rangeland is still the most common means of raising livestock. In the developed
world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has become the dominant
system of modern farming, although there is growing support for sustainable agriculture
(e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements
have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused
widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.[4] Selective breeding
and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming have similarly
increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and
the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly
used in industrial meat production.
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels,
and raw materials. In the 21st century, plants have been used to grow biofuels,
biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics,[6] and pharmaceuticals.[7] Specific foods include
cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and
flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are produced
by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel.
Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some
of the ornamental products.
In 2007, one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. The services
sector has overtaken agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people
worldwide.[8] Despite the size of its workforce, agricultural production accounts
for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross
domestic products).
|
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art,
and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources
in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit.[1]
Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. The main goal of forestry
is to create and implement systems that allow forests to continue a sustainable
provision of environmental supplies and services. The challenge of forestry is to
create systems that are socially accepted while sustaining the resource and any
other resources that might be affected.
Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests.
Modern forestry generally embraces a broad range of concerns, including assisting
forests to provide timber as raw material for wood products, wildlife habitat, natural
water quality management, recreation, landscape and community protection, employment,
aesthetically appealing landscapes, biodiversity management, watershed management,
erosion control, and preserving forests as 'sinks' for atmospheric carbon dioxide.
A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester. The word "forestry" can also
refer to a forest itself.
Forest ecosystems have come to be seen as the most important component of the biosphere,[4]
and forestry has emerged as a vital field of science, applied art, and technology.
History
In the 4th century monks established a plantation of Stone pine, for use as a source
of fuel and food, in the then Byzantine Romagna on the Adriatic coast.[5] This was
the beginning of the massive forest mentioned by Dante Alighieri in his 1308 poem
Divine Comedy.[5] Formal forestry practices were developed by the Visigoths in the
7th century when, faced with the ever increasing shortage of wood, they instituted
a code concerned with the preservation of oak and pine forests. The use and management
of many forest resources has a long history in China, dating from the Han Dynasty
and taking place under the landowning gentry. It was also later written of by the
Ming Dynasty Chinese scholar Xu Guangqi (1562–1633). In Europe, control of the land
included hunting rights, and though peasants in many places were permitted to gather
firewood and building timber and to graze animals, hunting rights were retained
by the members of the nobility. Systematic management of forests for a sustainable
yield of timber is said to have begun in the 16th century in both the German states[citation
needed] and Japan. Typically, a forest was divided into specific sections and mapped;
the harvest of timber was planned with an eye to regeneration.
The practice of establishing tree plantations in the British Isles was promoted
by John Evelyn, though it had already acquired some popularity.
|
Forestry work in Austria.
A modern sawmill
|
Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert's oak forest at Tronçais, planted for
the future use of the French Navy, matured as expected in the mid-19th century:
"Colbert had thought of everything except the steamship," Fernand Braudel observed.
Schools of forestry were established after 1825; most of these schools were in Germany
and France. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, forest preservation
programs were established in the United States, Europe, and British India. Many
foresters were either from continental Europe (like Sir Dietrich Brandis), or educated
there (like Gifford Pinchot).
The enactment and evolution of forestry laws and binding regulations occurred in
most Western nations in the 20th century in response to growing conservation concerns
and the increasing technological capacity of logging companies.
Tropical forestry is a separate branch of forestry which deals mainly with equatorial
forests that yield woods such as teak and mahogany. Sir Dietrich Brandis is considered
the father of tropical forestry.
Today
Today a strong body of research exists regarding the management of forest ecosystems
and genetic improvement of tree species and varieties. Forestry also includes the
development of better methods for the planting, protecting, thinning, controlled
burning, felling, extracting, and processing of timber. One of the applications
of modern forestry is reforestation, in which trees are planted and tended in a
given area.
In many regions the forest industry is of major ecological, economic, and social
importance. Third-party certification systems that provide independent verification
of sound forest stewardship and sustainable forestry have become commonplace in
many areas since the 1990s. These certification systems were developed as a response
to criticism of some forestry practices, particularly deforestation in less developed
regions along with concerns over resource management in the developed world. Some
certification systems are criticised for primarily acting as marketing tools and
lacking in their claimed independence.
In topographically severe forested terrain, proper forestry is important for the
prevention or minimization of serious soil erosion or even landslides. In areas
with a high potential for landslides, forests can stabilize soils and prevent property
damage or loss, human injury, or loss of life.
Public perception of forest management has become controversial, with growing public
concern over perceived mismanagement of the forest and increasing demands that forest
land be managed for uses other than pure timber production, for example, indigenous
rights, recreation, watershed management, and preservation of wilderness, waterways
and wildlife habitat. Sharp disagreements over the role of forest fires, logging,
motorized recreation and others drives debate while the public demand for wood products
continues to increase.
Foresters
Foresters work for the timber industry, government agencies, conservation groups,
local authorities, urban parks boards, citizens' associations, and private landowners.
The forestry profession includes a wide diversity of jobs, with educational requirements
ranging from college bachelor's degrees to PhDs for highly specialized work. Industrial
foresters plan forest regeneration starting with careful harvesting. Urban foresters
manage trees in urban green spaces. Foresters work in tree nurseries growing seedlings
for woodland creation or regeneration projects. Foresters improve tree genetics.
Forest engineers develop new building systems. Professional foresters measure and
model the growth of forests with tools like geographic information systems. Foresters
may combat insect infestation, disease, forest and grassland wildfire, but increasingly
allow these natural aspects of forest ecosystems to run their course when the likelihood
of epidemics or risk of life or property are low. Increasingly, foresters participate
in wildlife conservation planning and watershed protection. Foresters have been
mainly concerned with timber management, especially reforestation, maintaining forests
at prime conditions, and fire control.
Forestry plans
Foresters develop and implement forest management plans relying on mapped resource
inventories showing an area's topographical features as well as its distribution
of trees (by species) and other plant cover. Plans also include landowner objectives,
roads, culverts, proximity to human habitation, water features and hydrological
conditions, and soils information. Forest management plans typically include recommended
silvicultural treatments and a timetable for their implementation.
Forest management plans include recommendations to achieve the landowner's objectives
and desired future condition for the property subject to ecological, financial,
logistical (e.g. access to resources), and other constraints. On some properties,
plans focus on producing quality wood products for processing or sale. Hence, tree
species, quantity, and form, all central to the value of harvested products quality
and quantity, tend to be important components of silvicultural plans.
Good management plans include consideration of future conditions of the stand after
any recommended harvests treatments, including future treatments (particularly in
intermediate stand treatments, and plans for natural or artificial regeneration
after final harvests.
The objectives of landowners and leaseholder influence plans for harvest and subsequent
site treatment. In Britain, plans featuring "good forestry practice" must always
consider the needs of other stakeholders such as nearby communities or rural residents
living within or adjacent to woodland areas. Foresters consider tree felling and
environmental legislation when developing plans. Plans instruct the sustainable
harvesting and replacement of trees. They indicate whether road building or other
forest engineering operations are required.
Agriculture and forest leaders are also trying to understand how the climate change
legislation will affect what they do. The information gathered will provide the
data that will determine the role of agriculture and forestry in a new climate change
regulatory system.
|
|