What is agriculture?

Answer 1

By definition, Agriculture is "the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products."

However, when people are asked what comes to mind when they hear the word, "agriculture," that's all they think of: Farming. Ranching. The dirty guy wearing bib overalls chewing on a piece of straw; dirty, hard, laborious physical work that involves digging in the dirt and chasing cows.

The reality is that there is much more to it than that. Agriculture is deep into technology, research, genetics, engineering, financial services, computing sciences, chemistry, mathematics, agronomy, ethology, economics, politics, marketing, sales, and many others. Agribusiness is agriculture, and agricultural marketing is also agriculture. Farmers and ranchers treat their farm or ranch, respectively, as a business, and must market their product in order to get their pay--it's a job, you know! People who don't farm are involved in creating and supplying products that go directly to farmers and ranchers, or take the products that come from farms and ranches and send them to other suppliers which turn them into things like clothing, horse tack, tennis shoes or footballs. Beef is marketed and imported to other countries. Mechanics work to build tractors. Engineers work on creating the latest fuel-efficient, computerized engine for a new model of combine harvester. Researchers find better ways to produce more feed efficient cows or develop a more drought-resistant hybrid of corn, or work in sterile laboratories doing genetic research on wheat or hogs.

The message is, agriculture isn't all dirty, stinky, physical work. There's a lot of sterile, mental and managerial jobs associated with it and heavily involved in it. Farmers can't operate alone in this world without all those other people that create products for farmers so that farmers can produce food. Agriculture is most commonly known as farming. The growing of crops and raising stock for consumption.
The science or practicing off farming. Examples growing food,rearing of animals to get food. xander

Answer 2

Agriculture is an art and science of crop and livestock production.