agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi, and the raising of domesticated animals. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. The related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture. The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, "a field",[1] and cultūra, "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil".[2] Thus, a literal reading of the word yields "tillage of a field / of fields".

Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century a distinction has been made between sustainable agriculture and intensive farming. Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat. The more exotic varieties of agriculture include aquaculture and tree farming.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs, and an assortment of ornamental or exotic products. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals.Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Drugs include tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine,and digitalis. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.

In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).

Reference

Interviews 4 -Charles Walters ... In the field of remineralisation, for example, the work of Albert Carter Savage and John Hamaker can now be dove-tailed with Phil Callahan’s work (on paramagnetism) to magnify ... [1] - 40k -

Audio Tapes from the yearly conf. organized by C Walters, editor of a of 30 years old monthly newspaper

Substantial currency issue articles. ... org/topsoil/soil.htm (david yarrow doing the ... is a continuation from the one above: Callahan and Hensel ... age of the matter: (92K) John Hamaker's 1985 comments on ... - 46k worth on lowly current - 'bottom line currency'