Agriculture: Feeding the World

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AgricultureFeeding the World
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History

• Since the first American farms run by the Native
  Americans, farming has changed drastically.
• The Green Revolution occurred from 1950 to 1970.
  More and more new crops were grown throughout the
  world.
• Lifestyles, markets, communities, products,
  education, farm size, and technology are
  different.
• HOW?

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Important Agricultural Advances

• Reaper (1831) - horse-drawn wheat harvesting
  machine created by Cyrus McCormick
• Steel Plow (1837) - manufactured by John Deere
  making it easier to till thick soil
• Chemical Fertilizers (1849) - allowed farmers to
  enrich soil and increase crop production
• Transcontinental Railroad (1869) - opened areas
  for new agricultural production and trade of
  crops and livestock
• Barbed Wire (1874) - gave farmers the ability to
  fence off their fields from roaming cattle

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Agricultural Advances Continued

• Pasteurization (1880s) - Louis Pasteur
  discovered that heating milk could preserve it by
  killing bacteria and microbes living in it
• Tractor (1926) - allowed farmers to work the land
  faster and increase production
• Cotton Gin (1973) - machine designed by Eli
  Whitney to separate seeds, hulls and other waste
  from cotton plants
• Cast-Iron Plow (1979) - replaced the wooden plow
  allowing farmers to till soil better and faster

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Today

• Act 29 - policy introduced by government that
  instructs educators to teach awareness of
  agricultural practices and conservation
• Chemical/Traditional Farming - the use of
  chemicals to raise crops and livestock

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Agricultural Chemicals

• Fertilizers - replenish nutrients in the soil
• Insecticides - kill insects without killing crops
• Fungicides - kill fungal diseases that infect
  crops and livestock without killing crops
• Herbicides - kill weeds without killing crops

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Farming Practices

• Crop Rotation - moving crops from one field to
  another, year after year, so that nutrients are
  replenished in the soil and the best quality and
  quantity of crops are produced.
• Contour Farming - crop rows are plowed to follow
  the shape of the land so as to prevent soil
  erosion by breaking up the flow of the rain.
• Soil Erosion - the loss of soil from the fields
  in which crops are grown caused by rain, wind,
  logging, grazing, and tilling

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Future

• Increased technology
• Organic farming
• Conservation of land
• Increased education

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Sustainable Agriculture

• LISA - low input sustainable agriculture goal is
  to put in little effort but get out a large
  quantity of crops
• Farming that conserves natural resources and
  helps keep the land productive for the future.
• Technique uses minimal water, energy, pesticides,
  and fertilizers.