Agriculture is the practice of cultivating land, raising animals, and producing food and other crops. It is one of the oldest human pursuits and has played a critical role in shaping human civilization. There is a wide range of agriculture trivia questions that can be asked, whether you're a farmer or someone who is simply interested in the subject.
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Here are some examples of agriculture trivia questions you might come across: What is the most widely grown crop in the world? What is the name of the process that uses insects to pollinate plants? How much of the world's land is used for agriculture? What is the name of the method of farming that involves rotating crops? These questions cover a wide range of agriculture topics, from crops, farming practices, and innovations.
In addition to the various farming practices, there are also many fun and interesting facts to learn about agriculture. For example, did you know that the most widely grown crop in the world is maize? Or that the process of using insects to pollinate plants is called entomophily? These trivia questions will not only test your knowledge, but also give you a glimpse into the many fascinating aspects of agriculture, the history of its development, the different types of farming and its impact on the environment and human society.
164 Agriculture Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for )
- In the s, what illness previously thought to be confined to cattle was found to have been expanded to impact livestock, other animals, and even humans?
Answer: Mad Cow's Disease
- California produces 98% of the United States' output of what green-colored nuts?
Answer: Pistachios
- North Carolina's Piedmont region has historically been known for the growth of what crop, with modern companies such as Phillip Morris, Reynolds American, and Lorillard still having a heavy presence within the state?
Answer: Tobacco
- Hydroponics is growing plants without soil using water-based mineral nutrient solutions. What is the name of the similar process of growing plants without soil but with roots suspended in air and feed using mist-based nutrients, rather than being immersed in water?
Answer: Aeroponics
- New Holland, Case IH, and Kubota are among that brands that make what large-wheeled motor vehicles, often used on farms to haul equipment and trailers?
Answer: Tractors
- What common leafy green is native to Persia and is often associated with a specific cartoon character who made his maritime debut in ?
Answer: Spinach
- What method of applying seed, fertilizer, or pesticide in a wide pattern shares its name with the method of using public airwaves to transmit television?
Answer: Broadcast
- What scary sounding "H" farm implement is defined as "a heavy frame set with teeth or tines which is dragged over plowed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover seed?"
Answer: Harrow
- Craisins are both a popular snack and a registered trademark. What fruit is used to make craisins?
Answer: Cranberries
- In agriculture, "apiculture" is the technical term for raising what type of insects?
Answer: Bee
- Featuring more than 900 varieties of plants and designated a National Historic Site of Canada, Butchart Gardens is a horticultural marvel located on Vancouver Island in what province?
Answer: British Columbia
- Aside from a billy, what other B word can used to describe a male goat? The word can also be used as slang for a dollar bill.
Answer: Buck
- The Kona Coast of Hawaii's Big Island is the only major production area in the U.S. of what crop?
Answer: Coffee
- In , there was a landmark piece of legislation in the U.S. meant to encourage frontier families to settle further West. However, there were few takers as the allotted 160 acres of federal land was inadequate for a farm to support a family in Montana's arid territory. What was this famous Act?
Answer: Homestead Act
- What grade comes between Prime, which is the most marbled, and Select, which is less marbled, on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's beef grading scale?
Answer: Choice
- What crop, the most common to be rotated with corn, was the focus of China trade war discussions because of the fact that 60% of the U.S. crop was exported to China in ?
Answer: Soybean
- Mehndi is a form of body art and temporary skin decoration that originated in ancient India and is still popular today in many countries on the Indian subcontinent. The practice uses a pasted made from the leaves of what plant?
Answer: Henna
- What is the stone fruit that is the national fruit of India, Haiti, and the Philippines? Strangely enough, is also the summer national fruit of Pakistan. Using seasons to claim four different national fruits: brilliant.
Answer: Mango
- What is the horticultural technique in which the scion of one plant is grown on the rootstock of another?
Answer: Grafting
- The boomerang shaped region of the Middle East, spanning modern day Iraq, Syria, and other countries, sometimes called The Cradle Of Civilization, is also called what kind of Crescent, because early civilizations there were able to innovate irrigation and general agriculture?
Answer: Fertile Crescent
- A term also used in anthropology to mean a society that lacks diversity, what word is used to describe the agricultural practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time?
Answer: Monoculture
- What country was the leader (by a large margin) in exporting beef in , with Australia a not-very-close second?
Answer: Brazil
- In the 's, the "Cavendish" overtook the "Gros Michel" as the most commonly grown variety of what culinary fruit in the genus Musa?
Answer: Banana
- Three dairy cows try to protect their home, the Patch of Heaven farm, from creditors in what Disney animated film named for a classic country-western song?
Answer: Home on the Range
- If you're comparing Scotts, Vigoro, and Schultz in an aisle, you're almost certainly looking to buy what critical agricultural "ingredient" that is considered a crucial component of conventional food systems?
Answer: Fertilizer
- Alaskan farmers took out low-interest loans from the Rural Electrification Administration, established as one of what president's New Deal reforms?
Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- What marital name is given to the science of breeding, feeding, and caring for farm animals in the proper way?
Answer: Animal Husbandry
- While it is known as the Peach State, Georgia is also the nation's largest producer of what legume that is also the state crop?
Answer: Peanut
- An economic bubble of what plant in the Netherlands is frequently referenced when referring to overspeculation of an asset?
Answer: Tulip
- Tree nut allergies and peanut allergies are largely separate because peanuts fall into what group of plants that belong to the family Fabaceae and includes mesquite, alfalfa and lentils?
Answer: Legumes
- As of the early s, what Canadian province has easily the highest number of syrup farms with over 7,000 of these sweet agricultural sites?
Answer: Quebec
- Tower, bunker, and bag are currently the three most common types of what building whose name comes from a Greek word for pit for holding grain?
Answer: Silo
- Derived from the French for bell, what name is given to a covering protecting plants from cold temperatures? This word can also refer to a type of tableware cover or a type of hat.
Answer: Cloche
- Although they're not at all related, the grasses of the genus Zizania, some of which are native to Asia and others which predate European contact in the Americas, are typically referred to as a "wild" version of what other staple crop?
Answer: Rice
- An Alabama monument pays tribute to what agricultural pest, credited by many for helping the Southern U.S. diversify its agriculture by devastating the cotton industry?
Answer: Boll Weevil
- "Linseed" is another name for what flowering plant, which has been cultivated by humans for over 30,000 years, and which is the source of linen fiber?
Answer: Flax
- Edaphology is the study of which natural materialspecifically, how it affects organisms (especially plants) and the ways in which humans can change it to meet their agricultural needs?
Answer: Soil
- Which P-word refers to the mindful creation of stable, sustainable ecosystemsfor example, trying to work with nature rather than go against it when youre designing buildings? (Hint: Think rooftop gardens)
Answer: Permaculture
- Provender is another name for which agricultural term for food like sillage and hay that is meant to feed animalsespecially livestock?
Answer: Fodder
- In , what inventor created the steel plow, which was stronger than the iron plows then in use? His name is still well-known for agricultural equipment.
Answer: John Deere
- What crop, North America's most widely grown grain, was developed in southern Mexico from a wild grass called teosinte?
Answer: Corn
- Two dudes with Midwest connections founded Farmers Insurance Group in what non-Midwest U.S. state that leads the world in almond production?
Answer: California
- What agricultural machine, sometimes called a harvester, gets its name from the fact that it merges four different farming techniques? These are reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnowing.
Answer: Combine
- Although the statue is located more than 60 miles from its company headquarters, the city of Blue Earth, MN is home to a 55-foot-tall statue of what verdant vegetable mascot?
Answer: Jolly Green Giant
- What popular American restaurant chain derives its name from a Nahuatl name for a specific smoked and dried vegetable?
Answer: Chipotle
- Before his stints as Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack served two terms as governor of what corn-fed state?
Answer: Iowa
- What tart fruit are sometimes called bounce berries because they will, indeed, bounce when theyre ripe?
Answer: Cranberries
- Indigenous people in pre-Columbian North America developed a system of companion planting in which maize, beans, and squash were grown together in a mutually beneficial system. These three crops were typically known as "the Three" what?
Answer: Sisters
- What common type of farm implement is used to compress and cut a raked crop like cotton, flax, or hay, into shapes that are easy to transport and store?
Answer: Baler
- Looking more like quinoa than anything in an artichoke, the shelled seeds of a hemp plant are known by the name of what pump-y organ?
Answer: Heart
- The pear is the official state fruit of what U.S. state? The designation is likely because they are the top-selling tree fruit crop in the state, growing particularly well in the Rogue River Valley and along the Columbia River near Mt. Hood.
Answer: Oregon
- What four letter word is a type of rich soil, usually considered ideal for gardening and agriculture, comprising a mixture of sand, clay and humus?
Answer: Loam
- Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's landmark work of environmental writing, helped lead to a worldwide ban on what three-letter agricultural pesticide?
Answer: DDT
- What food item "stands alone" at the end of the classic children's song "The Farmer in the Dell?"
Answer: Cheese
- According to statistics, what crop of the Musa genus isat 125 million metric tons grown per yearthe most popular fruit among global producers?
Answer: Banana
- U.S. inventor Frank Shuman built the world's first thermal solar power station in at Maadi, in what African country? The power station provided energy to power pumps for agriculture.
Answer: Egypt
- Famously, Reinheitsgebot is the series of rules and regulations limiting the ingredients of beer in Germany and former states of the Holy Roman Empire. The best-known version of the law went into effect in in what landlocked German state?
Answer: Bavaria
- Most popular and important to folks in the Central Asian steppes from Turkic and Mongol origins, what is the fermented "K" dairy product traditionally made from mare's milk or dairy milk?
Answer: Kumis
- What two-word machine invented in by Eli Whitney separates fibers of a certain plant from its seeds? It also sounds like a cocktail idea that would taste bad.
Answer: cotton gin
- What six-letter adjective describes arable land that is deliberately not planted with crops for one or more growing seasons to allow the soil to recover and restore depleted nutrients?
Answer: Fallow
- The Haber Process, also called the Haber-Bosch Process, is an artificial method of nitrogen fixation, and the primary method of manufacturing what farming compound? Chemical formula NH3, it is commonly used in fertilizer.
Answer: Ammonia
- What country has the most cultivated land area in the world? Their major agricultural products include pulses, milk, jute, and rice.
Answer: India
- Unrelated to the spice company, what American inventor is generally credited with the development of the mechanical reaper, which revolutionized farming by allowing more grain to be harvested?
Answer: Cyrus McCormick
- Hurricane Ike devastated parts of southeast Texas in , causing tremendous damage to cattle ranchers, timberlands, and growers of what most common crop in the world, but primarily only grown in coastal Texas and the Mississippi River Delta in the United States?
Answer: Rice
- What agricultural process is the creation of small holes in the soil, allowing air and other nutrients to reach a plants roots?
Answer: Aeration
- What A location is a specialized container designed to keep and maintain honeybees? Its a key resource in the field of collecting honey.
Answer: Apiary
- What F verb is the process by which a pig gives birth to a litter of baby pigs? Coincidentally, it is the surname of a family that includes an actress who starred in Rosemarys Baby.
Answer: Farrow
- The Dust Bowl, a period of severe drought in the s that devastated farmers, started in what state, before spreading east?
Answer: Oklahoma
- What C term refers to an intact male horse that is four years of age or younger? It is also the name of a member of the NFL franchise based out Indianapolis.
Answer: Colt
- Which term is defined as green fodder compacted and stored in airtight conditions, typically in a silo, without first being dried, and used as animal feed in the winter?
Answer: Silage
- What is the biggest crop export of Texas, and has been for the last 100 years?
Answer: Cotton
- What region in California between the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges, including Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, and Sacramento, produces 8% of American crop value on just 1% of American farmland and provides over half of the fruit, vegetables, and nuts produced in America?
Answer: Central Valley
- Beefalo has been crossbred in the United States since the early s. The hybrid is part buffalo and which animal?
Answer: Cow
- Which region of the U.S. is called the Corn Belt because its states produce almost all of Americas corn?
Answer: Midwest
- Commonly referred to as beekeeping, whats the technical term for maintaining these buzzy colonies? (Hint: The name comes from Apisthe genus that most honeybees belong to).
Answer: Apiculture
- What H term refers to the stems or stalks of crops, such as peas or potatoes, especially as used for animal bedding?
Answer: Haulm
- If it looks like a goat, sounds like a goat, and walks like a goat, its you could describe it with which adjective that starts with C and applies both to actual goats and goat-adjacent terms (for example, arthritis that goats get)?
Answer: Caprine
- Which currency term is used for a crop that is grown to be sold for profit?
Answer: Cash
- Each year, which 17-day end-of-the-summer event is held at Cal Expo and features musical performances, a carnival, sports competitions, agriculture showcases, and plenty of food?
Answer: California State Fair
- What's the name of the process by which the chaff, a dry protective casing, is separated from a grain like wheat or rice? It usually follows "threshing" in the process of grain preparation.
Answer: Winnowing
- According to U.S. News and World Report, Wageningen University is the #1 Agricultural Studies school. Wageningen is located in the "food valley" of what European country?
Answer: Netherlands
- Which D-term isnt just something that beavers buildit also refers to an animals mom?
Answer: Dam
- Which P-term refers to a young female chicken (under a year old) who has yet to lay eggs?
Answer: Pullet
- The "sinensis" species of what flowering shrub from East Asia is harvested to make tea? Other species of this plant are used as common garden flowers.
Answer: Camellia
- Which A-term describes when the same species of plant grows in separate locations and ends up splitting off into two isolated groups since it cant crossbreed?
Answer: Allopatric
- What swanky apple cultivar passed the Red Delicious in to become the most highly produced in the United States?
Answer: Gala
- What's the name of the starch that is extracted from the cassava plant, native to Brazil? A staple crop for much of the world, it's also used to form "pudding" and "pearls."
Answer: Tapioca
- Tillage involves using something like a shovel or plow to agitate what natural substance and prepare it for crop planting?
Answer: Soil
- 80% of sugar produced in the world is from sugarcane, with most of the rest being produced from the "sugar" variety of what root vegetable?
Answer: Beets
- Kharif crops, including chili peppers, mangos, and rice, are ones planted from June to November, known as what specific "season" in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh?
Answer: Monsoon
- If youre interested in winemaking, youll want to study viticulture, which tells you everything you need to know about growing which fruit?
Answer: Grapes
- Although it sounds like something more alarming, what seven-letter "S" word means to break up the surface of a field to remove weeds with shallow roots?
Answer: Scarify
- One of the greatest drivers of deforestation in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries is the planting of monocultures of what type of tree, from which oil is produced?
Answer: Palms
- Tags for identification and bug-repelling are often clipped to which body part on beef cattle?
Answer: Ear
- Its name is a little misleading, since which palm tree fruit is neither a legume nor chocolate?
Answer: Coconut
- What food-growing system uses fish as biofilters for water that can then be given to plants?
Answer: Aquaponics
- A sheep or cow that has been "polled" has had what removed?
Answer: Horns
- Which term that sounds like a forecast actually refers to a male sheep or goat thats been castrated?
Answer: Wether
- Ovine refers to which wooly, ruminant farm animal?
Answer: Sheep
- Mirabelle, Damson, and Greengage are all the names of varieties of what common fruit crop?
Answer: Plums
- Gibberellin is an example of what kind of chemical substance that stimulates plant growth?
Answer: Hormone
- You can use the temperature and relative humidity to figure out which meteorological measurement that actually tells you a lot more about how damp it feels, since it shows how much the air needs to be cooled for humidity to reach 100% (e.g., it cant possibly hold any more water vapor)? (For example, when youd notice drops on the grass)
Answer: Dew point
- What American agribusiness company, best known for producing Roundup glyphosate herbicide, has also controversially produced genetically-modified "Roundup Ready" crop seeds?
Answer: Monsanto
- It can take seven to ten years to harvest what naturally occurring agricultural product from the Brazilian tree Hevea brasilensis? The process begins when harvesters make several shallow cuts in the latex-producing vessels of the tree.
Answer: Rubber
- What "I" word refers to the practice of planting several crops in one place at one time, which often leads to a greater yield for each individual crop?
Answer: Intercropping
- What kind of landfill takes compacted waste and holds it together with plastic or steel straps? (Hint: You might see hay displayed this way in a field)
Answer: Balefill
- What crop, that's common to tropical climates is harvested either by the "climbing method" or the "pole method," in which a sharpened pole is used to cut the harvest from trees?
Answer: Coconuts
- The first secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Norman Jay Coleman, was appointed during the first of the two nonconsecutive terms of which U.S. President?
Answer: Grover Cleveland
- Farmwises first high-tech version of what common agricultural tool used AI and computer vision to create a robotic way to yank up unruly plants in crops without chemicals?
Answer: Weeder
- If youve got 43,560 square feet of land to plow, that equals 1 of which unit of measurement you may prefer to describe the farmland you own?
Answer: Acre
- Each year, Minnesota's "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" has her likeness sculptured in what agricultural product, millions of pounds of which are produced each year in the state?
Answer: Butter
- In , Bayer announced a partnership with what tech company to develop cloud-based digital tools for use in agriculture, to complement Bayer's Climate FieldView platform?
Answer: Microsoft
- What agricultural science is concerned with field crop production and soil management, including plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science?
Answer: Agronomy
- The harvest festival of Vendimia begins when the Archbishop of Mendoza sprinkles the seasons first grapes with holy water. Most of those grapes will end up in what popular Argentinian wine?
Answer: Malbec
- The first grain elevator not powered by animals (it was powered by steam) was built by Jospeh Dart, Jr. in in what Eastern U.S. city?
Answer: Buffalo, NY
- With shorter lines than you'd expect, what UNESCO World Heritage Site in southwest London claims "we house the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world"?
Answer: Kew Gardens
- Not to be confused with the film about a sharecropping family in the deep South, wild and feral pigs often live in groups called what?
Answer: Sounders
- The AFIS certification developed by the International Risk Management Institute is designed to educate insurance professionals about issues facing insurers in what field?
Answer: Agriculture
- Accounting for approximately 134 million tons in , what country is the world's largest supplier of wheat?
Answer: China
- This ones a little cute but try not to squeal. A female pig thats given birth to a litter of little piglets is technically called what?
Answer: Sow
- What mascot is shared by Texas A&M, North Carolina A&T, New Mexico State, Utah State, and many other universities in recognition of their heritage as agricultural training institutions?
Answer: Aggies
- Radicchio and Belgian endive are both varieties of what woody, perennial crop, whose roots are often cultivated as an additive to (or replacement for) coffee?
Answer: Chicory
- The "fuzz" on the surface of a peach occurs thanks to a dominant gene; what peach variety commonly grown in the U.S. gets its "fuzzless" or "shaved" surface from recessive genes?
Answer: Nectarine
- What Asian country whose national flag features a blue 24-spoke Ashoka Chakra wheel in its center is the worlds largest producer of milk?
Answer: India
- What term is used for the reproductive part of a plant that produces pollen?
Answer: Stamen
- A leafy vegetable native to the Mediterranean along with other cabbage species began appearing in northern Europe during the 5th century and a few hundred years later became closely associated with a major European city on the river Senne. Today, their name continues to reference that city. What is this vegetable?
Answer: Brussels Sprouts
- What word means a female dairy animal that has not yet given birth and therefore does not produce milk?
Answer: Heifer
- Known as a controller of more destructive garden pests, what bug is the official insect of Delaware and Massachusetts?
Answer: Ladybug
- According to the Farmer's Almanac, which flower may "vary in shape from...cups, bowls & goblets to more complex forms?"
Answer: Tulips
- Previously serving in the same role during the Obama administration from to , who was confirmed on February 23, as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture?
Answer: Tom Vilsack
- What B term refers to when a plant produces flowers or seeds prematurely, often the result of excessive heat? It is a word often associated with lightning in another context.
Answer: Bolt
- Given the choices of agriculture, services, or industry, which of those three segments generated the SMALLEST percentage of Costa Rican GDP?
Answer: Agriculture
- What agricultural product, often found within 'factory farms', has the most economic value of any agricultural products in the state of Delaware at nearly $1 billion?
Answer: Broilers
- What culinary fruit of the genus Actinidia, 90% of which is cultivated in New Zealand, is also known in English as the "Chinese gooseberry?"
Answer: Kiwi
- What 18th century Englishman revolutionized agriculture by inventing horse-drawn versions of the seed drill and hoe? He's certainly more famous today for being the namesake of the rock band behind albums like Aqualung.
Answer: Jethro Tull
- "I've even got hives on my roof!" That's a quote about the hemp and honey farm owned by what CBD-enthusiastic singer-slash-Ivy Park fashion entrepreneur?
Answer: Beyoncé
- Used to lift water into aqueducts, a noria is a pretty effective irrigation device shaped like which simple machine?
Answer: Wheel
- The relatively high price of what type of edible tree nut (Anacardium occidentale) can be partly attributed to the fact that it releases a toxic compound similar to its relative, poison ivy, and needs extra care in harvesting?
Answer: Cashews
- An early and critical proponent of crop rotation, what man headed the Agriculture Department at the Tuskegee Institute and taught there for 47 years while researching soil's nitrogen contents and new crop products?
Answer: George Washington Carver
- Often known for its cheddar cheese products and often associated with the state of Vermont, what American dairy producer is technically an agriculture marketing cooperative owned by local dairy farmers throughout New England?
Answer: Cabot
- What chain of 45 retail stores across the Midwest that sells outdoor equipment and appliances was founded in Minnesota, features an orange-and-black color scheme, and has an alliterative F name?
Answer: Fleet Farm
- An animal science professor at the University of Nebraska is credited with developing the process behind restructured meats after he was approached by the National Pork Producers Council to create a new product. Examples of restructured meats include Dino Nuggets and what fast food sandwich that has attracted a cult following since its introduction in ?
Answer: McRib
- Sometimes called going to seed, whats the B term that describes a plant thats flowered too early because its gotten too much sun or heat exposure?
Answer: Bolting
- What popular cultivar of avocado is named for an amateur horticulturist and mail carrier?
Answer: Hass
- Though its culinary usage is much different, what word refers, in a botanical sense, to any pitless fruit that grows from a single flower, including bananas and tomatoes?
Answer: Berry
- In the early 20th century, Japanese farmers stunned consumers by figuring out how to grow what popular fruit crop in sturdy, stackable square shapes?
Answer: Watermelon
- Horrific as it sounds, what common tree-cutting tool was actually invented in the s to make it easier to cut through the pelvic bone during difficult childbirths?
Answer: Chainsaw
- The small-eared breed of dairy goat called LaManchas was developed in what country?
Answer: U.S.
- Named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, what is the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, making it by far the closest dwarf planet to the Sun?
Answer: Ceres
- Used in the cultivation of crops such as sugarcane, what term means a method of harvesting a crop which leaves the roots and the lower parts of the plant uncut? It is thought that this word derives from the Latin retonus, meaning to cut down.
Answer: Ratooning
- What book by Rachel Carson awakened the world to the devastating effects of widespread agricultural use of pesticides?
Answer: Silent Spring
- What round, green food is one of Brazil's most common pizza toppings? Though considered a vegetable nutritionally, this plant is botanically a fruit and it makes occasional appearances in carbonara sauces.
Answer: Green Peas
- "Sericulture" is the name for the cultivation of what animal, scientific name Bombyx mori, which began in China over 5,000 years ago?
Answer: Silkworm
- The gasoline-powered tractor was invented by John Froelich in in the village of Clayton in what Midwestern state?
Answer: Iowa
- What Q word describes a gently sloping underground channel or tunnel, used to lead water to a village? They are still used in parts of the Middle East.
Answer: Qanat
- What process of making soil capable of creating living crops comes from a Latin word meaning prepared for crops?
Answer: Cultivation
- There's a town in the Peloponnese region of Greece with a namesake food item known for its purple color and smooth meaty texture. What is this fruit?
Answer: Kalamata Olive
- Beating out Australia, India, and Turkey, what north hemisphere country is the worlds largest grower of lentils and produces more than half of the worlds total lentil exports?
Answer: Canada
- What branch of botany, one of the four major divisions of horticulture, studies fruit and its cultivation? Its name appropriately comes from the Latin word for fruit.
Answer: Pomology
- What O science involves the production of leafy greens, alliums, and other food plants?
Answer: Olericulture
- Dating back to BCE in Persia, water-filled "bladder" mattresses were made from an oft-discarded organ of a particular domesticated animal. What is this animal?
Answer: Goat
- Biotech scientists at Germany's Max Planck Institute have experimented with using what stimulating chiral alkaloid as a defensive substance against herbivorous insects? This substance is often associated with human usage in various forms.
Answer: Nicotine
- Whats it called when you set your pigs free to roam the woods for acorns and nuts on the forest floor?
Answer: Pannage
- The production of linen from flax and coir fiber from coconut involves what process, the separation of fibers in the plant's xylem from the stem?
Answer: Retting
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Here are 10 things to know about industrial farming.
Photo by Riley on Unsplash
1. It is not quite the bargain it seems.
According to some estimates, industrialized farmingwhich produces greenhouse gas emission, pollutes air and water, and destroys wildlifecosts the environment the equivalent of about US$3 trillion every year.
Externalized costs, such as the funds required to purify contaminated drinking water or to treat diseases related to poor nutrition, are also unaccounted for by the industry, meaning that communities and taxpayers may be picking up the tab without even realizing it.
Photo by Mabel Amber on Pixabay
2. It can facilitate the spread of viruses from animals to humans.
While their genetic diversity provides animals with natural disease resistance, intensive livestock farming can produce genetic similarities within flocks and herds. This makes them more susceptible to pathogens and, when they are kept in close proximity, viruses can then spread easily among them. Intensive livestock farming can effectively serve as a bridge for pathogens, allowing them to be passed from wild animals to farm animals and then to humans.
Photo by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Unsplash
3. It has been linked to zoonotic diseases.
Clearing forests and killing wildlife to make space for agriculture and moving farms nearer to urban centres can also destroy the natural buffers that protect humans from viruses circulating among wildlife. According to a recent UNEP assessment, increasing demand for animal protein, unsustainable agricultural intensification and climate change are among the human factors affecting the emergence of zoonotic diseases.
Photo by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Unsplash
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4. It fosters antimicrobial resistance.
In addition to preventing and treating disease, antimicrobials are commonly used to accelerate livestock growth. Over time, microorganisms develop resistance, making antimicrobials less effective as medicine. In fact, about 700,000 people die of resistant infections every year. By , those diseases may cause more deaths than cancer. According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance threatens the achievements of modern medicine and may precipitate a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can kill.
Photo by Skeeze on Pixabay
5. Its use of pesticides may have adverse health effects.
Large volumes of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used to increase agricultural yields and humans may be exposed to these potentially-toxic pesticides through the food they consume, resulting in adverse health effects. Some pesticides have been proven to act as endocrine disruptors, potentially affecting reproductive functions, increasing the incidence of breast cancer, causing abnormal growth patterns and developmental delays in children, and altering immune function.
Photo by Dennis Ottink on Unsplash
6. It contaminates water and soil and affects human health.
Agriculture plays a major role in pollution, releasing large volumes of manure, chemicals, antibiotics, and growth hormones into water sources. This poses risks to both aquatic ecosystems and human health. In fact, agricultures most common chemical contaminant, nitrate, can cause blue baby syndrome, which can lead to death in infants.
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7. It has caused epidemics of obesity and chronic disease.
Industrial agriculture produces mainly commodity crops, which are then used in a wide variety of inexpensive, calorie-dense and widely available foods. Consequently, 60 per cent of all dietary energy is derived from just three cereal cropsrice, maize and wheat.
Although it has effectively lowered the proportion of people suffering from hunger, this calorie-based approach fails to meet nutritional recommendations, such as those for the consumption of fruits, vegetables and pulses. The popularity of processed, packaged and prepared foods has increased in almost all communities. Obesity is also on the rise globally and many suffer from preventable diseases often related to diets, like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers.
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8. It is an inefficient use of land.
In spite of an insufficient global supply of pulses, fruits and vegetables, livestock farming is ever more ubiquitous, perpetuating a self-sustaining cycle of supply and demand. Between and , livestock increased from 7.3 billion to 24.2 billion units, worldwide, with about 60 per cent of all agricultural land used for grazing. Agriculture has become less about producing food and more about generating animal feed, biofuels and industrial ingredients for processed food products. Meanwhile, while there may be fewer people in the world who are undernourished, there are many more people who are now malnourished.
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9. It entrenches inequality.
Although small farms make up 72 per cent of all farms, they occupy just 8 per cent of all agricultural land. In contrast, large farmswhich account for only 1 per cent of the worlds farmsoccupy 65 per cent of agricultural land. This gives large farms disproportionate control, and there is little incentive to develop technologies that could benefit resource-poor small-hold farmers, including those in developing countries.
At the other end of the food supply chain, food that is affordable to the poor may be energy-dense but is invariably nutrient-poor. Micronutrient deficiencies may impair cognitive development, lower resistance to disease, increase risks during childbirth and, ultimately, affect economic productivity. The poor are effectively disadvantaged both as producers and consumers.
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10. It is fundamentally at odds with environmental health.
In the early 20th century, the Haber-Bosch processwhich would transform modern agricultureused very high temperatures and pressure to extract nitrogen from the air, combine it with hydrogen, and produce ammonia, which is now the basis of the chemical fertilizer industry. That effectively rendered natures own fertilization process (sun, healthy micro-biotic soils, crop rotation) obsolete. Today, ammonia production consumes 1-2 per cent of the worlds total energy supply accounts for about 1.5 per cent of total global carbon dioxide emissions.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) supports a transition toward global food systems that provide net positive impacts on nutrition, the environment and farmer livelihoods. Contributing to the One Planet Network Sustainable Food Systems Programme. UNEP has led the development of a guideline for collaborative policymaking and improved governance.
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