Agriculture was the primary occupation of human beings, and this is also a very important occupation. It provides a variety of products – crops – that are essential to humanity. Agriculture not only supports humans in their livelihood but also helps a large number of industries.
Agriculture forms the raw material for many industries based on agricultural products. Basic products resulting from agricultural activities are processed in major factories before the final product is marketed. As such, agriculture provides employment opportunities, both for those employed in the agricultural sector and those employed in the industrial and agricultural-based sector.
These days farming has become an important business. A variety of crops are grown, which can be categorized as –
or food crops
or commercial crops
or fiber crops
o Beverage crops.
Agriculture has benefited a lot from various advances in science and technology – modern machinery has made ‘field’ jobs much easier than ever before. All over the world, agriculture is being managed efficiently with the help of modern farm equipment. Farmers in the United States rely more on technology than on manual labour.
Machines are used in all the important agricultural operations like – ploughing, sowing, harvesting, fruit sorting, etc. Most of the farmers prefer to hire those skilled workers, who can work on their tractors, combine harvesters, and combine harvesters. In fact, farmers are always ready to try every new development in variety of crops, pesticides, fertilizers and the like.
The importance of agriculture also lies in the fact that it supports the export sector as well – most farmers in the US produce largely for export, since the soil production is very fertile and, combined with modern technology, the returns are huge. Some of the major agricultural products are crops like – rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, jute, tea, coffee and rubber – which are produced in most parts of the world.
In countries that export surplus agricultural production, agriculture is more important and agricultural production is rather high. Since the farmer is making good profits, his financial position, especially in developed countries, is better than many other entrepreneurs. He is now able to purchase the latest machinery, use the latest farming techniques, buy new and improved hybrid varieties of seeds and use the best fertilizers to increase productivity.
Nowadays, there are improvements in wholesale marketing as well as transportation of agricultural products. The use of refrigeration systems and efficient rail transportation enabled the safe delivery of perishable agricultural products such as dairy products, vegetables and fruits. Barely 4% of the total population of the United States is employed in agriculture, having a huge exportable surplus.
Agriculture is not just about growing crops, dairy farming has become an indispensable part of the agricultural process. Dairy farming is the practice of farming in which livestock is raised for milk and dairy products. Often, poultry is also included. In fact, the scope of agriculture expanded, with interconnected sectors overlapping each other; And in the current scenario, each of these sectors is as important as any other!