Agricultural science

Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. (Veterinary science, but not animal science, is often excluded from the definition.)

Agriculture and agricultural science

The two terms are often confused. 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 agriculture.
• Agricultural sciences include research and development on:
  • Production techniques (e.g., irrigation management, recommended nitrogen inputs).
  • 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).
  • 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, sometime 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 greater than that of industrial agriculture, which in may be more sustainable than some modern agricultural systems.
  • Food production and demand on a global basis, with special attention paid to the major producers, such as China, India, Brazil and the USA.

Agricultural science: a local science

With the exception of theoretical agronomy, research in agronomy, more than in any other field, is strongly related to local areas. It can be considered a science of ecoregions, because it is closely linked to soil properties and climate, which are never exactly the same from one place to another. Many people think an agricultural production system relying on local weather, soil characteristics, and specific crops has to be studied locally. Others feel a need to know and understand production systems in as many areas as possible, and the human dimension of interaction with nature.

History of agricultural science

Agricultural science began with Mendel's genetic work, but in modern terms might be better dated from the chemical fertilizer outputs of plant physiological understanding in eighteenth century Germany. In the United States, a scientific revolution in agriculture began with the Hatch Act of 1887, which used the term "agricultural science". 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. After 1906, public expenditures on agricultural research in the US exceeded private expenditures for the next 44 years.
Intensification of agriculture since the 1960s in developed and developing countries, often referred to as the Green Revolution, was closely tied to progress made in selecting and improving crops and animals for high productivity, as well as to developing additional inputs such as artificial fertilizers and phytosanitary products.

As the oldest and largest human intervention in nature, the environmental impact of agriculture in general and more recently intensive agriculture, industrial development, and population growth have raised many questions among agricultural scientists and have led to the development and emergence of new fields. These include technological fields that assume the solution to technological problems lies in better technology, such as integrated pest management, waste treatment technologies, landscape architecture, genomics, and agricultural philosophy fields that include references to food production as something essentially different from non-essential economic 'goods'. In fact, the interaction between these two approaches provide a fertile field for deeper understanding in agricultural science.

New technologies, such as biotechnology and computer science (for data processing and storage), and technological advances have made it possible to develop new research fields, including genetic engineering, agrophysics, improved statistical analysis, and precision farming. Balancing these, as above, are the natural and human sciences of agricultural science that seek to understand the human-nature interactions of traditional agriculture, including interaction of religion and agriculture, and the non-material components of agricultural production systems.

Prominent agricultural scientists

• Justus von Liebig
• Robert Bakewell
• Norman Borlaug
• Luther Burbank
• George Washington Carver
• René Dumont
• Jay Lush
• Gregor Mendel
• Louis Pasteur
• Eli Whitney
• Sewall Wright

Agricultural science and agriculture crisis

Agriculture sciences seek to feed the world's population while preventing biosafety problems that may affect human health and the environment. This requires promoting good management of natural resources and respect for the environment, and increasingly concern for the psychological wellbeing of all concerned in the food production and consumption system.

Economic, environmental, and social aspects of agriculture sciences are subjects of ongoing debate. Recent crises (such as Avian Flu, mad cow disease and issues such as the use of genetically modified organisms) illustrate the complexity and importance of this debate.

Fields or related disciplines

• Agricultural economics
• Agricultural engineering
• Agricultural philosophy
• Agricultural marketing
• Agrophysics
• Animal science
  • Animal breeding
  • Animal nutrition
• Agronomy
  • Plant science
  • Theoretical production ecology
  • Horticulture
  • Plant breeding
  • Plant fertilization
• Aquaculture
• Biological engineering
  • Genetic engineering
  • Microbiology
• Environmental science
• Food science
  • Human nutrition
• Irrigation and water management
• Soil science
  • Agrology
• Waste management

See also

• Agricultural sciences basic topics
• Agroecology
• List of agriculture topics
• History of agricultural science
• Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
• International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development
• Research Institute of Crop Production (RICP) (in the Czech Republic)
• University of Agricultural Sciences

References

• Hillison J. (1996). The Origins of Agriscience: Or Where Did All That Scientific Agriculture Come From?. Journal of Agricultural Education.
• Huffman WE, Evenson RE. (2006). Science for Agriculture. Blackwell Publishing.

Further reading

• 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.
• 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, Oezkan Hakan, Brandolini Andrea, Schaefer-Pregl Ralf, Martin William, Genetics and geography of wild cereal domestication in the Near East, in Nature, vol. 3, ju. 2002.
• Saltini Antonio, Storia delle scienze agrarie, 4 vols, Bologna 1984-89.
• 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.