Discus types of agriculture

Answer 1

• Collective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise.[1] A collective farm is essentially an agricultural production cooperative in which members-owners engage jointly in farming activities. Typical examples of collective farms are the kolkhozy that dominated Soviet agriculture between 1930 and 1992 and the Israeli kibbutzim. • Factory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses. Confinement at high stocking density is one part of a systematic effort to produce the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. Confinement at high stocking density requires antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions.[6] There are differences in the way factory farming techniques are practiced around the world. • Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs of capital, fertilizers, labour, or labour-saving technologies such as pesticides relative to land area.[1][2] This is in contrast to the concept of Extensive Agriculture which involves a low input of materials and labour with the crop yield depending largely on the naturally available soil fertility, water supply or other land qualities.[3]Modern day forms of intensive crop based agriculture involve the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, plant growth regulators and/or pesticides. It is associated with the increasing use of agricultural mechanization, which have enabled a substantial increase in production.Intensive animal farming practices can involve very large numbers of animals raised on limited land which require large amounts of food, water and medical inputs (required to keep the animals healthy in cramped conditions).[2] Very large or confined indoor intensive livestock operations (particularly descriptive of common US farming practices) are often referred to as Factory farming and are criticised by opponents for the low level of animal welfare standards and associated pollution and health issues.[7][8] • Vertical farming is a proposal to perform agriculture in urban high-rises. These building have been called "farmscrapers."[1] Using greenhouse methods and recycled resources, these building would produce fruit, vegetables, fish, and livestock year-round in cities. This proposal might allow cities to become self-sufficient. Aquaculture, farming of aquatic organisms in fresh, brackish or salt water. A wide variety of aquatic organisms are produced through aquaculture, including fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, algae, and aquatic plants. Unlike capture fisheries, aquaculture requires deliberate human intervention in the organisms' productivity and results in yields that exceed those from the natural environment alone. Stocking water with seed (juvenile organisms), fertilizing the water, feeding the organisms, and maintaining water quality are common examples of such intervention. Most aquacultural crops are destined for human consumption. However, aquaculture also produces bait fishes, ornamental or aquarium fishes, aquatic animals used to augment natural populations for capture and sport fisheries (see Fishing), algae used for chemical extraction, and pearl oysters (see Oyster) and mussels, among others. Aquaculture is considered an agricultural activity, despite the many differences between aquaculture and terrestrial agriculture. Aquaculture mainly produces protein crops, while starchy staple crops are the primary products of terrestrial agriculture. In addition, terrestrial animal waste can be disposed of off-site, whereas in aquaculture such waste accumulates in the culture environment. Consequently, aquaculturists must carefully manage their production units to ensure that water quality does not deteriorate and become stressful to the culture organisms. Crop Farming, extensive cultivation of plants to yield food, feed, or fiber; to provide medicinal or industrial ingredients; or to grow ornamental products. Crop farming developed in ancient times as hunters and gatherers of the Stone Age turned to the cultivation of favored species (see Agriculture). Modern crops were gradually derived from their wild ancestors through continual selection for larger seed size, improved fruit, and other desired traits. Modern crop farming varies widely in its scope, ranging from intensively managed small plots to commercial farms covering thousands of acres. Successful crop farmers must be expert at selecting the kinds and varieties of plants that are adapted to their soils and climate. They must be skilled in preparing soil and in planting, growing, protecting, harvesting, and storing crops. They must be able to control weeds, insects, and diseases, and they need good marketing skills to gain reasonable returns from their crops. New applications of technologies in the 1990s are increasing crop production. Precision farming, also known as prescription farming, site specific farming, or variable rate farming, utilizes global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) in the satellite collection and transmission of data as farmers plant, fertilize, and harvest their crops. Combines and other harvesting machines equipped with electronic scales, which are linked to a GPS, measure yield as a crop is being harvested. A computerized yield map, which locates to within one meter (one yard) those spots in a field where the yield is highest and lowest, is produced. The next time that field is planted and fertilized, the farmer adjusts seeding and fertilizer application rates according to information on the yield map. This increases crop production while reducing the use of both fertilizers and fuel. GPS also help farmers comply with environmental regulations that require a buffer free of pesticides between areas where they are applied to crops and nearby streams. Pesticide spraying equipment can be preprogrammed to turn off when it reaches the buffer zones. Biotechnology is also increasing agricultural productivity. Farmers in Georgia are producing a new, genetically engineered oilseed crop that grows from canola, an oilseed producing plant, to yield lauric oil, which comes naturally from coconuts and palm kernels. Scientists developed the new seed by transplanting a single gene from a laurel tree into canola plants. New hybrid (offspring from dissimilar parents) corn seed recently developed to resist the corn borer, an insect poisonous to that crop, is now under cultivation. Improved varieties of barley with new disease resistant genes represent another application of biotechnology that reduces the use of pesticides while increasing yield. Dairy Farming, the branch of agriculture concerned with production and use of milk and milk products. Dairy husbandry includes the management of dairy cows, the cultivation of crops for feed, the production of milk and cream, and the manufacture of butter, cheese, and ice cream. On a properly managed dairy farm, many of the nutrients taken from the soil by crops may be replaced by the supply of manure provided by the dairy herd. Many by-products of milk are used as food and in various industrial processes. Dryland Farming, method of agricultural cultivation in dry regions usually receiving less than 50 cm (less than 20 in) of rainfall a year. Dryland, or dry, farming normally produces crops without any irrigation and depends mainly upon tillage methods that conserve soil moisture. Poultry Farming, commercial raising of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese for their meat and eggs. Since the 1930s and 1940s, the poultry industry has become one of the most efficient producers of protein for human consumption. It expanded rapidly during World War II because of the shortage of beef and pork, which require a much longer time to develop; only seven weeks are required to produce a broiler and five months to produce a laying hen. More recently, in response to public concern over dietary fat, poultry has again become a popular substitute for beef and pork. As a result of modern technological development, many poultry houses now provide excellent environmental control, and the management and marketing of the birds are finely regulated.