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Agricultural science

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Agricultural science (or agriscience for short[1]) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professionals of the agricultural science are called agricultural scientists or agriculturists.

History

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Main article: History of agricultural science

In the 18th century, Johann Friedrich Mayer conducted experiments on the use of gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate) as a fertilizer.[2]

In 1843, John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert began a set of long-term field experiments at Rothamsted Research in England, some of which are still running as of 2018.[3][4][5]

In the United States, a scientific revolution in agriculture began with the Hatch Act of 1887, which used the term "agricultural science".[6][7] The Hatch Act was driven by farmers' interest in knowing the constituents of early artificial fertilizer. The Smith–Hughes Act of 1917 shifted agricultural education back to its vocational roots, but the scientific foundation had been built.[8] For the next 44 years after 1906, federal expenditures on agricultural research in the United States outpaced private expenditures.[9]: xxi 

Prominent agricultural scientists

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Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution.
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Scope

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Agriculture, agricultural science, and agronomy are closely related. However, they cover different concepts:

  • Agriculture is the set of activities that transform the environment for the production of animals and plants for human use. Agriculture concerns techniques, including the application of agronomic research.
  • Agronomy is research and development related to studying and improving plant-based crops.
  • Geoponics is the science of cultivating the earth.[10]
  • Hydroponics involves growing plants without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in an artificial environment.

Research topics

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Agricultural sciences include research and development on:[11][12]

  • Improving agricultural productivity in terms of quantity and quality (e.g., selection of drought-resistant crops and animals, development of new pesticides, yield-sensing technologies, simulation models of crop growth, in-vitro cell culture techniques)
  • Minimizing the effects of pests (weeds, insects, pathogens, mollusks, nematodes) on crop or animal production systems.
  • Transformation of primary products into end-consumer products (e.g., production, preservation, and packaging of dairy products)
  • Prevention and correction of adverse environmental effects (e.g., soil degradation, waste management, bioremediation)
  • Theoretical production ecology, relating to crop production modeling
  • Traditional agricultural systems, sometimes termed subsistence agriculture, which feed most of the poorest people in the world. These systems are of interest as they sometimes retain a level of integration with natural ecological systems greater than that of industrial agriculture, which may be more sustainable than some modern agricultural systems.
  • Food production and demand globally, with particular attention paid to the primary producers, such as China, India, Brazil, the US, and the EU.
  • Various sciences relating to agricultural resources and the environment (e.g. soil science, agroclimatology); biology of agricultural crops and animals (e.g. crop science, animal science and their included sciences, e.g. ruminant nutrition, farm animal welfare); such fields as agricultural economics and rural sociology; various disciplines encompassed in agricultural engineering.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Agriscience | Meaning & Definition for UK English". Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press via Lexico. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  2. ^ John Armstrong, Jesse Buel. A Treatise on Agriculture, The Present Condition of the Art Abroad and at Home, and the Theory and Practice of Husbandry. To which is Added, a Dissertation on the Kitchen and Garden. 1840. p. 45.
  3. ^ "The Long Term Experiments". Rothamsted Research. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Fertilizer History: The Haber-Bosch Process". tfi.org. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Lawes and Gilbert: an unlikely Victorian agricultural partnership". Harpenden History. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  6. ^ "The Hatch Act of 1887". National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Hatch Act of 1887". College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  8. ^ Hillison J. (1996). The Origins of Agriscience: Or Where Did All That Scientific Agriculture Come From? Archived 2 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Journal of Agricultural Education.
  9. ^ Huffman WE, Evenson RE. (2006). Science for Agriculture. Blackwell Publishing.
  10. ^ “Geoponics.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/geoponics. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
  11. ^ Bosso, Thelma (2015). Agricultural Science. Callisto Reference. ISBN 978-1-63239-058-5.
  12. ^ Boucher, Jude (2018). Agricultural Science and Management. Callisto Reference. ISBN 978-1-63239-965-6.

Further reading

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  • Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty: Studies of Economic and Social Impacts in Six Countries Edited by Michelle Adato and Ruth Meinzen-Dick (2007), Johns Hopkins University Press Food Policy Report[1]
  • Claude Bourguignon, Regenerating the Soil: From Agronomy to Agrology, Other India Press, 2005
  • Pimentel David, Pimentel Marcia, Computer les kilocalories, Cérès, n. 59, sept-oct. 1977
  • Russell E. Walter, Soil conditions and plant growth, Longman group, London, New York 1973
  • Salamini, Francesco; Özkan, Hakan; Brandolini, Andrea; Schäfer-Pregl, Ralf; Martin, William (2002). "Genetics and geography of wild cereal domestication in the near east". Nature Reviews Genetics. 3 (6): 429–441. doi:10.1038/nrg817. PMID 12042770. S2CID 25166879.
  • Saltini Antonio, Storia delle scienze agrarie, 4 vols, Bologna 1984–89, ISBN 88-206-2412-5, ISBN 88-206-2413-3, ISBN 88-206-2414-1, ISBN 88-206-2415-X
  • Vavilov Nicolai I. (Starr Chester K. editor), The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants. Selected Writings, in Chronica botanica, 13: 1–6, Waltham, Mass., 1949–50
  • Vavilov Nicolai I., World Resources of Cereals, Leguminous Seed Crops and Flax, Academy of Sciences of Urss, National Science Foundation, Washington, Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem 1960
  • Winogradsky Serge, Microbiologie du sol. Problèmes et methodes. Cinquante ans de recherches, Masson & c.ie, Paris 1949
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agricultural science.


  1. ^ Agricultural research, livelihoods, and poverty | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Archived 26 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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