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Science The controversial sale of 'Big John,' the world's largest Triceratops. Science Coronavirus Coverage How antivirals may change the course of the pandemic. When this vegetation dries, she sets fire to it. The heat from the fire makes the soil easy to turn, and the burned vegetation fertilizes it. Between rows of corn, the African farmer plants other staple crops: legumes, such as peas, or root vegetables, such as yams.
This practice of growing several crops in the same plot is called intercropping. By covering most of the ground with vegetation, intercropping prevents moisture loss and soil erosion from seasonal rains. Rain supplies water for the growing plants. The farmer weeds her plot with a hoe. At harvest time, she and her family pick the corn, husk it, and spread the ears in the sun to dry. They grind the dried corn to make porridge.
Traditionally, the African farmer uses the same plot for several years, until its fertility declines. Then she moves to another plot, leaving the first to lie fallow for up to 10 years. Now, an increasing population has caused fallow periods to be reduced and has made permanent cultivation more common.
Agricultural methods used in the Corn Belt of the U. First of all, farmers rarely work alone—the size of American farms requires a lot of labor.
Soon after they harvest the corn in autumn, farmers work leftover vegetation, or stubble, into the soil. In the spring, farmers work the soil again, using an implement with rows of sharp-edged steel discs, called a disc harrow. The discs cut into the soil, breaking it into smaller pieces and supplying it with air.
Next, a tractor-pulled planter sows rows of seed. The machine makes furrows in the soil, drops in kernels of high-yield, genetically modified corn, and covers them with dirt. After the corn seeds have sprouted, another machine injects liquid fertilizer into the ground. The farmers then use chemicals to control weeds and pests, and loosen the soil with a tractor-pulled cultivator during the harvesting season.
The practice of specializing in a single crop is known as monoculture. To harvest the crop, farmers use a mechanical harvester that picks the ears of corn and shells them into a bin.
Little of the corn grown in the Corn Belt is for human consumption. Most of the corn grown in the U. Livestock From alpacas in Peru to zebus in India, billons of domesticated animals around the world are raised and cared for in a variety of ways. In many countries, domesticated animals are an important source of food.
In Nigeria, for example, the Fulani people have long been nomads. They move with their cattle herds from one grazing area to another. The cattle feed on scrub and grasses in land unsuitable for farming. The Fulani rely on cattle for milk, but rarely slaughter their animals for meat. Throughout the U. When they are five to 12 months old, the animals are shipped to feedlots.
There, they are kept in pens and fed grain and vitamin supplements until they reach market size. Then they are slaughtered. The two ways of raising livestock are confronting each other in the developing world. In Uganda, Ankole cattle have been bred to withstand the harsh climate of Central Africa—their long, curved horns help distribute heat and their digestive systems have adapted to poor nutrition and little water.
However, the market for milk has driven many Ugandan farmers to import Holstein cattle. Holsteins are native to Northern Europe. Keeping them healthy in an equatorial region requires a high amount of antibiotics, vaccines, and other chemicals.
The Ankole, which produce little milk and leaner meat, may be extinct within the century. Many farmers throughout the world practice free-range poultry farming. The birds forage for food in farms or community yards, eating whatever they find: seeds, insects, household scraps, and surplus grain. In many developed countries, poultry production has become a major agricultural industry.
Birds are given the same sort of vaccines and hormones used for cattle. Chickens are bred for either eggs or meat. One poultry house may contain more than a million birds.
Often, machines automatically provide feed and water, collect the eggs, and remove waste. Food production must keep pace with population growth and distribution methods. This is an enormous agricultural and political challenge. The ratio of population to farmable land has favored some countries more than others.
Some experts believe government policies in developed and developing countries have hindered equal food distribution. Droughts, floods, and other disasters continue to cause local food shortages. Overpopulation also contributes to unequal distribution of food resources. Much of the population increase over the next years will occur in developing countries, where hunger is already a serious problem.
Exporting food or agricultural technology from countries with surpluses to those with shortages will not solve the problem of world hunger. Poor countries do not have the money to buy all the food they need and do not want to permanently rely on other countries. Many developing countries also regard biodiversity as an important resource and do not want to threaten it with GMOs.
Experts believe that the hunger problem will be solved in two ways. First, citizens of all countries need to have the ability to grow or purchase their own food. Second, citizens of all countries need to have responsible diets and spending habits. What about addressing the problem of overpopulation? Agricultural science will help countries adjust to healthier methods of food production. Scientists are developing new high-yield varieties of crops that require fewer fertilizers or pesticides.
Such crops reduce the need for using costly chemicals and trade. Agricultural practices in developed and developing countries have led to a severe loss of valuable topsoil, water, and other resources. Many countries need better programs for replanting forests. Overpopulation has pushed a growing number of farmers onto lands too fragile to sustain cultivation. Demand for food has led to increased irrigation worldwide. In some areas, irrigation has caused water tables to drop, rivers to run dry, and wells to go empty.
Agricultural chemicals that increase production often contaminate soil and groundwater and disrupt food chains. Agriculture does not have to harm the environment.
By protecting the land, water, and air, and by sharing knowledge and resources, people may yet find solutions for the problem of world hunger. Big Nine Half of the total value of agricultural products in the U.
Touchdown The size of an average farm in the United States in was acres, or about the size of football fields. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. Dunn, Margery G. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.
If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Individuals, communities, and countries depend on a variety of different resources to help them thrive: electricity, timber, oil, water, and food to name a few.
Because these basic resources are such a large part of our daily lives, it is important that we manage them responsibly to ensure future generations have what they need. Human civilization heavily impacts the environment and the rich natural resources we depend on.
All communities face the challenge of managing resources responsibly, not only for themselves, but for the sake of the world around them. Learn more about how individuals and communities can manage their resources to support themselves and the world around them. Freshwater is a precious resource on the Earth's surface.
It is also home to many diverse fish, plant, and crustacean species. The habitats that freshwater ecosystems provide consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, streams, and springs. Use these classroom resources to help students explore and learn about these places. Technological innovations have greatly shaped agriculture throughout time. From the creation of the plow to the global positioning system GPS driven precision farming equipment, humans have developed new ways to make farming more efficient and grow more food.
We are constantly working to find new ways to irrigate crops or breed more disease resistant varieties. These iterations are key to feeding the ever-expanding global population with the decreasing freshwater supply.
Explore developments in agricultural technology and its impacts on civilization with this curated collection of classroom resources. Food safety is the need for people to have food that is free of contamination. Food security is the need for people to have access to food. Who has access to safe, nutritious food depends a lot on where they live and how much money they make. For some, getting food is as easy as opening their refrigerator door or going around the corner.
For too many, however, safe, nutritious food is not available. They may live in a food desert, or face poverty, conflict, or famine conditions. Agricultural communities developed approximately 10, years ago when humans began to domesticate plants and animals. By establishing domesticity, families and larger groups were able to build communities and transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle dependent on foraging and hunting for survival.
Select from these resources to teach your students about agricultural communities. Early gatherers The site bears the remains of six shelters and a particularly rich assemblage of plants. ScienceDaily, 22 July American Friends of Tel Aviv University. First evidence of farming in Mideast 23, years ago: Evidence of earliest small-scale agricultural cultivation. Retrieved November 14, from www. The findings support arguments that Homo sapiens was ScienceDaily shares links with sites in the TrendMD network and earns revenue from third-party advertisers, where indicated.
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