Editing Agriculture (section)

=== Production practices ===
[[File:Fendt Tractor Ripping up Kulin.jpg|thumb|[[Tillage|Tilling]] an arable field]]
{{further|Tillage|Crop rotation|Irrigation}}

Tillage is the practice of breaking up the soil with tools such as the plow or [[harrow (tool)|harrow]] to prepare for planting, for nutrient incorporation, or for pest control. Tillage varies in intensity from conventional to [[no-till farming|no-till]]. It can improve productivity by warming the soil, incorporating fertilizer and controlling weeds, but also renders soil more prone to erosion, triggers the decomposition of organic matter releasing CO<sub>2</sub>, and reduces the abundance and diversity of soil organisms.<ref name="Soil nutrient" /><ref name="PCP Tillage">"Land Preparation and Farm Energy", pp. 318–338 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref>

Pest control includes the management of weeds, insects, [[mite]]s, and diseases. Chemical (pesticides), biological ([[biocontrol]]), mechanical (tillage), and cultural practices are used. Cultural practices include crop rotation, [[culling]], [[cover crop]]s, intercropping, [[compost]]ing, avoidance, and resistance. Integrated pest management attempts to use all of these methods to keep pest populations below the number which would cause economic loss, and recommends pesticides as a last resort.<ref name="PCP Pest">"Pesticide Use in U.S. Crop Production", pp. 240–282 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref>

[[Nutrient management]] includes both the source of nutrient inputs for crop and livestock production, and the method of use of manure produced by livestock. Nutrient inputs can be chemical inorganic fertilizers, manure, [[green manure]], compost and minerals.<ref name="PCP Soil">"Soil and Land", pp. 165–210 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref> Crop nutrient use may also be managed using cultural techniques such as crop rotation or a [[fallow]] period. Manure is used either by holding livestock where the feed crop is growing, such as in managed intensive rotational grazing, or [[Manure spreader|by spreading]] either dry or liquid formulations of manure on cropland or [[pasture]]s.<ref name="Soil nutrient">Brady, N. C.; Weil, R. R. (2002). "Practical Nutrient Management" pp. 472–515 in ''Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils''. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. {{ISBN|978-0135051955}}</ref><ref name="CS nutrient">"Nutrition from the Soil", pp. 187–218 in [[#Chrispeels|Chrispeels]]</ref>

[[Water management]] is needed where rainfall is insufficient or variable, which occurs to some degree in most regions of the world.<ref name="CS" /> Some farmers use irrigation to supplement rainfall. In other areas such as the [[Great Plains]] in the U.S. and Canada, farmers use a fallow year to conserve soil moisture for the following year.<ref name="PCP Water">"Plants and Soil Water", pp. 211–239 in [[#Acquaah|Acquaah]]</ref> Recent technological innovations in precision agriculture allow for water status monitoring and automate water usage, leading to more efficient management.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9479en |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2022. Leveraging agricultural automation for transforming agrifood systems |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-5-136043-9 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cb9479en |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035812/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb9479en |url-status=live}}</ref> Agriculture represents 70% of freshwater use worldwide.<ref name="Pimentel water">{{cite journal |author1=Pimentel, D. |author2=Berger, D. |author3=Filberto, D. |author4=Newton, M. |year=2004 |title=Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues |journal=BioScience |volume=54 |pages=909–918 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0909:WRAAEI]2.0.CO;2 |issue=10 |doi-access=free}}</ref> However, water withdrawal ratios for agriculture vary significantly by income level. In least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, water withdrawal ratios for agriculture are as high as 90 percent of total water withdrawals and about 60 percent in [[Small Island Developing States]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1447en |title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. Overcoming water challenges in agriculture |publisher=FAO |year=2020 |isbn=978-92-5-133441-6 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cb1447en |s2cid=241788672 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035813/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb1447en |url-status=live}}</ref>

According to 2014 report by the [[International Food Policy Research Institute]], agricultural technologies will have the greatest impact on food production if adopted in combination with each other. Using a model that assessed how eleven technologies could impact agricultural productivity, food security and trade by 2050, the International Food Policy Research Institute found that the number of people at risk from hunger could be reduced by as much as 40% and food prices could be reduced by almost half.<ref name=ifpri>{{cite book |author1=Rosegrant, Mark W. |author2=Koo, Jawoo |author3=Cenacchi, Nicola |author4=Ringler, Claudia |author5=Robertson, Richard D. |author6=Fisher, Myles |author7=Cox, Cindy M. |author8=Garrett, Karen |author9=Perez, Nicostrato D. |author10=Sabbagh, Pascale |title=Food Security in a World of Natural Resource Scarcity |date=2014 |doi=10.2499/9780896298477 |url=https://www.ifpri.org/publication/food-security-world-natural-resource-scarcity-role-agricultural-technologies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305043943/http://www.ifpri.org/publication/food-security-world-natural-resource-scarcity |archive-date=5 March 2014 |publisher=International Food Policy Research Institute}}</ref>

[[Payment for ecosystem services]] is a method of providing additional incentives to encourage farmers to conserve some aspects of the environment. Measures might include paying for reforestation upstream of a city, to improve the supply of fresh water.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tacconi |first1=L. |year=2012 |title=Redefining payments for environmental services |journal=Ecological Economics |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=29–36 |doi=10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.09.028 |bibcode=2012EcoEc..73...29T}}</ref>