What is Agricultural technologies?

Food-related information for monitoring regulations and markets could be enhanced through implanted chips, sensors and bioinformatics. We may be able to trace food production as well as the path of food-borne diseases to a much higher degree.

Owning and controlling a farm has historically been linked to status and power, especially in Medieval European agrarian societies. Farm ownership has also been historically linked to types of government (feudalism, democracy, etc.).

The word “farm” is from the Old French ferme, meaning to “rent, lease,” and the Latin firmare, “to fix, settle, confirm, strengthen.

Farm-based biofactories

LED indoor crop technology

The United States exported $136 billion in farm goods in 2011, with a $37 billion trade surplus.

LED indoor crop technology

The advent of LED technology has enabled the fine tuning of light recipes optimized to the needs of specific crops. Plants’ sensitivity to light is very different from the human eye, so plants use certain wavelengths of light more efficiently and respond in a different way to different sets of wavelengths.

The world population will jump from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. Farmers will need to double food production by then to keep pace

Livestock farming feeds billions of people and employs 1.3 billion people. That means about 1 in 5 people on Earth work in some aspect of the livestock farming

For every $1 spent on food, farmers get less than 12 cents for the raw product

The phrase “fetch the farm” is prisoner slang from at least 1879 for “get sent to the infirmary,” where there is a better diet and not as much hard labor

The phrase “buy the farm” is WWII slang meaning to die or get killed.

The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of farmers, known as Oakies, to leave their farms. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American histor

In 1830, it took about 250 to 300 labor hours to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat. In 1975, it took just 3¾ hours

In 1890-99 the average consumption of commercial fertilizer was 1,845,900 tons per year. From 1980-89 it was 47,411,166 tons per year

In 1954, the number of tractors on farms surpassed the number of horses and mules for the first time.

Henry A. Wallace (October 7, 1888—November 18, 1965) was Secretary of Agriculture and supported government intervention in farming practices. For example, he ordered slaughtering pigs and plowing up cotton fields in rural America to help increase the price of these commodities in order to help the economic situation of American farmers.

Fritz Haber (December 1868—January 1934) co-developed with Carl Bosch the process of ammonia synthesis, which is known today as the “Haber Synthesis.” While his work led to the production of nitrogen fertilizer, which has helped to feed billions of people (the entire global population, in fact), he also contributed to human destruction with his involvement in chemical agents during WWI.

Cyrus McCormick is considered the “Father of Modern Agriculture.” He invented the world’s first mechanical reaper in 1831, which helped replace manpower for machine power to harvest crops. His invention is often cited as key in the westward expansion of the United States. Jo Anderson, a slave, also worked with McCormick to develop the mechanical reaper.

Eli Whitney’s (1765—1825) invention of the cotton gin catapulted the rise of cotton production in the Deep South which, some historians note, led to an increase in slavery and contributed to slavery issues.

Approximately 60% of the farmers in the United States are 55 years old or older. Aging farmers have led to concern about the long-term health of family farms.

Most concerns about genetically modified crops fall into three categories: 1) environmental hazards, 2) human health risks, and 3) economic concerns.

Monsanto Company is the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed

Total global cropland amounts to roughly 1.5 billion hectares. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) make up more than 11% of all cropland in the world.