What is Agriculture?

Since I am creating an online journal about agriculture, it only makes sense for me to define agriculture. So this poses the question: What is Agriculture?

Merriam-Webster defines agriculture as “the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation marketing of the resulting products.”

Dictionary.com defines agriculture as “science, art, or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising crops, and feeding, breeding and raising livestock; farming.”

Between the two sources, some synonyms are farming, husbandry, and agronomy.

I personally do not like any of these definitions. They are not broad enough. The National FFA organization (no, we aren’t called Future Farmers of America anymore, that name changed in 1988) is an organization that was founded off of agriculture and now grows the next generation of leaders. This organization has competitions that teach students about animals, plants, forestry, history, public speaking, tools, and so much more. As you can see, FFA has many competitions that cover an arrange of disciples.

My favorite definition comes from Wikipedia (yes I know, not the best source, but you have to admit, Wikipedia is a great starting point to gain information). On the Wikipedia page titled ‘agriculture’ you can find this sentence: “Agriculture 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.”

I like this definition the best because it justifies the competitions within FFA. Wikipedia’s definition includes animals, forestry, and horticulture. The sentence embodies what I feel is the definition of agriculture.

Now, how much good would it be if I created an online journal to share my thoughts about agriculture if I never gave my own definition? My definition of agriculture is the combination of animals, plants, and natural resources to produce tangible, sometimes intangible, goods that may be used by the consumer.

I will break this definition down a bit. When I say animals, I mean ALL animals. Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, turkey, chicken, fish, deer, rabbits, and duck. (Some of these animals YOU might not consume or use, but I would like to keep my writing inclusive and think about other cultures as well). There are many more animals I could include. Just go to your preferred search engine and type ‘animals we consume’ (pretty simple right?).

Plants also include a lot. In the first semester of my second year in college, I took an introduction to horticulture class. This class taught me everything from soils to propagation. (I loved this class, and I am not a plant person.) My teacher gave me so many definitions of different aspects of horticulture. These definitions were specific to fruits, vegetables, nuts, grapes, crops, indoor and outdoor plants, turfgrass, and trees.

It can be argued that some aspects of natural resources fall under horticulture, but natural resources do belong in a category all by itself. Think about the wind, sunlight, water, the land itself, trees, and minerals. All of the listed items are considered natural resources.

Now that I have broken down what each aspect encompasses, I want to talk about these tangible, sometimes intangible, goods used by the consumer.

When I say intangible goods, I am actually referring to the products gained from natural resources. Mainly energy. We are smart enough now to gain energy from water, wind, and light. (and last time I checked, we cannot touch energy, but if you manage to do so email me). The tangible products we gain from natural resources are lumber, which can be used for an arrangement of products such as paper and furniture. Consumers also benefit from oil, cotton and metals. Through natural resources we obtain clothing, jewelry, and fuel.

The plant side of agriculture alludes to many products used by the consumer. Some we eat others we put on display and some we use for medicine. Corn, wheat, soybeans are all crops we consume to gain some type of nutritional value. Flowers, such as roses and chrysanthemums, are put on display for their vibrant colors. Other plant-based products are used for medicines, such as chamomile which helps with anxiety. This is only brushing the surface of the plant products consumers use every day. I didn’t get into cooking or wearing.

Lastly, the animal goods we use every day in our life. The obvious is meat and fiber. But what about footballs? (Yes I had to include football - Faithful to the Bay) Or shampoo? Nail polish? Crayons for those who are young at heart? These are all by-products we use in our everyday lives that comes from animals. Again go to google and type ‘animal by-product list’ you may be surprised by what you find. (Go on do it, you’re already looking at the screen, just open a new window.)

I hope you see how diverse and broad agriculture is. This industry is so much more than raising cattle or growing corn. We are an industry that is a part of your everyday life. The industry that is so broad just one definition does not satisfy.

We are the industry that feeds all.