Editing Agriculture (section)

== Disciplines ==
=== Agricultural economics ===
{{Main|Agricultural economics}}
[[File:1846 - Anti-Corn Law League Meeting.jpg|thumb|In 19th century Britain, the [[protectionist]] [[Corn Laws]] led to high prices and widespread protest, such as this 1846 meeting of the [[Anti-Corn Law League]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Anti-Corn Law League |url=http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/history/anti-corn-law-league/ |website=Liberal History |access-date=26 March 2018 |archive-date=26 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326202833/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/history/anti-corn-law-league/ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Agricultural economics is economics as it relates to the "production, distribution and consumption of [agricultural] goods and services".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/aers/agriculturaleconomics |title=Agricultural Economics |publisher=[[University of Idaho]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401181613/http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/aers/agriculturaleconomics |archive-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> Combining agricultural production with general theories of marketing and business as a discipline of study began in the late 1800s, and grew significantly through the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/13649/1/wp06-01.pdf |page=4 |title=Agricultural Economics: A Brief Intellectual History |last=Runge |first=C. Ford |date=June 2006 |access-date=16 September 2013 |publisher=[[Center for International Food and Agriculture Policy]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021133005/http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/13649/1/wp06-01.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> Although the study of agricultural economics is relatively recent, major trends in agriculture have significantly affected national and international economies throughout history, ranging from [[tenant farmer]]s and [[sharecropping]] in the post-[[American Civil War]] Southern United States<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/t/te009.html |title=Tenant Farming and Sharecropping |website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=[[Oklahoma Historical Society]] |last=Conrad |first=David E. |access-date=16 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527204119/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TE009.html |archive-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> to the European [[feudal]] system of [[manorialism]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YjJc_c4BxsC |title=Medieval Castles |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |last=Stokstad |first=Marilyn |isbn=978-0-313-32525-0 |year=2005 |access-date=17 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516160241/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_YjJc_c4BxsC&hl=en |page=43 |archive-date=16 May 2022}}</ref> In the United States, and elsewhere, food costs attributed to [[food processing]], distribution, and [[agricultural marketing]], sometimes referred to as the [[Agricultural value chain|value chain]], have risen while the costs attributed to farming have declined. This is related to the greater efficiency of farming, combined with the increased level of [[value added|value addition]] (e.g. more highly processed products) provided by the supply chain. [[Market concentration]] has increased in the sector as well, and although the total effect of the increased market concentration is likely increased efficiency, the changes redistribute [[economic surplus]] from producers (farmers) and consumers, and may have negative implications for rural communities.<ref name=Sexton2000>{{cite journal |last=Sexton |first=R. J. |year=2000 |title=Industrialization and Consolidation in the US Food Sector: Implications for Competition and Welfare |journal=[[American Journal of Agricultural Economics]] |volume=82 |issue=5 |pages=1087–1104 |doi=10.1111/0002-9092.00106 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

National government policies, such as taxation, [[Subsidy|subsidies]], tariffs and others, can significantly change the economic marketplace for agricultural products.<ref name=LloydCroserAnderson2013>{{cite web |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/4101/WPS4864.pdf?sequence=1 |title=How Do Agricultural Policy Restrictions to Global Trade and Welfare Differ across Commodities? |last1=Lloyd |first1=Peter J. |last2=Croser |first2=Johanna L. |last3=Anderson |first3=Kym |website=Policy Research Working Paper #4864 |publisher=The World Bank |access-date=16 April 2013 |date=March 2009 |pages=2–3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605125346/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/4101/WPS4864.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref> Since at least the 1960s, a combination of trade restrictions, [[exchange rate policy|exchange rate policies]] and subsidies have affected farmers in both the developing and the developed world. In the 1980s, non-subsidized farmers in developing countries experienced adverse effects from national policies that created artificially low global prices for farm products. Between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s, several international agreements limited agricultural tariffs, subsidies and other trade restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8699/wps3901.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Do Global Trade Distortions Still Harm Developing Country Farmers? |last1=Anderson |first1=Kym |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Ernesto |website=World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3901 |date=April 2006 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |access-date=16 April 2013 |pages=1–2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605145451/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8699/wps3901.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>

However, {{as of|2009|lc=y}}, there was still a significant amount of policy-driven distortion in global agricultural product prices. The three agricultural products with the most trade distortion were sugar, milk and rice, mainly due to taxation. Among the [[oilseed]]s, sesame had the most taxation, but overall, feed grains and oilseeds had much lower levels of taxation than livestock products. Since the 1980s, policy-driven distortions have decreases more among livestock products than crops during the worldwide reforms in agricultural policy.<ref name=LloydCroserAnderson2013 /> Despite this progress, certain crops, such as cotton, still see subsidies in developed countries artificially deflating global prices, causing hardship in developing countries with non-subsidized farmers.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/24/american-cotton-subsidies-illegal-obama-must-act |title=America's $24bn subsidy damages developing world cotton farmers |last=Kinnock |first=Glenys |date=24 May 2011 |access-date=16 April 2013 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906122834/http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/24/american-cotton-subsidies-illegal-obama-must-act |archive-date=6 September 2013}}</ref> Unprocessed commodities such as corn, soybeans, and cattle are generally graded to indicate quality, affecting the price the producer receives. Commodities are generally reported by production quantities, such as volume, number or weight.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agriculture's Bounty |url=http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/studies/AgriculturesBounty.pdf |date=May 2013 |access-date=19 August 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826100413/http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/studies/AgriculturesBounty.pdf |archive-date=26 August 2013}}</ref>

=== Agricultural science ===
{{Main|Agricultural science}}
{{further|Agronomy}}
[[File:Research-mapping plant genomes.jpg|thumb|An [[agronomy|agronomist]] mapping a plant [[genome]]]]

[[Agricultural science]] is a broad multidisciplinary field of [[biology]] that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and [[social science]]s used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. It covers topics such as agronomy, plant breeding and genetics, [[plant pathology]], crop modeling, soil science, [[entomology]], production techniques and improvement, study of pests and their management, and study of adverse environmental effects such as soil degradation, [[waste management]], and [[bioremediation]].<ref name="Bosso 2015">{{cite book |last=Bosso |first=Thelma |title=Agricultural Science |publisher=Callisto Reference |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-63239-058-5}}</ref><ref name="Boucher 2018">{{cite book |last=Boucher |first=Jude |title=Agricultural Science and Management |publisher=Callisto Reference |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-63239-965-6}}</ref>

The scientific study of agriculture began in the 18th century, when [[Johann Friedrich Mayer (agriculturist)|Johann Friedrich Mayer]] conducted experiments on the use of [[gypsum]] (hydrated [[calcium sulphate]]) as a fertilizer.<ref name="JB 1840">John Armstrong, Jesse Buel. ''A Treatise on Agriculture, The Present Condition of the Art Abroad and at Home, and the Theory and Practice of Husbandry. To which is Added, a Dissertation on the Kitchen and Garden.'' 1840. p. 45.</ref> Research became more systematic when in 1843, [[John Lawes]] and Henry Gilbert began a set of long-term agronomy field experiments at [[Rothamsted Research Station]] in England; some of them, such as the [[Park Grass Experiment]], are still running.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Long Term Experiments |url=https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/long-term-experiments |publisher=Rothamsted Research |access-date=26 March 2018 |archive-date=27 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327084207/https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/long-term-experiments |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silvertown |first1=Jonathan |last2=Poulton |first2=Paul |last3=Johnston |first3=Edward |last4=Edwards |first4=Grant |last5=Heard |first5=Matthew |last6=Biss |first6=Pamela M. |title=The Park Grass Experiment 1856–2006: its contribution to ecology |journal=[[Journal of Ecology]] |volume=94 |issue=4 |date=2006 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01145.x |pages=801–814 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2006JEcol..94..801S}}</ref> In America, the [[Hatch Act of 1887]] provided funding for what it was the first to call "agricultural science", driven by farmers' interest in fertilizers.<ref>Hillison, J. (1996). [http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/vol37/37-04-08.pdf The Origins of Agriscience: Or Where Did All That Scientific Agriculture Come From?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002140821/http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/vol37/37-04-08.pdf |date=2 October 2008 }}. ''Journal of Agricultural Education''.</ref> In agricultural entomology, the USDA began to research biological control in 1881; it instituted its first large program in 1905, searching Europe and Japan for natural enemies of the [[Lymantria dispar dispar|spongy moth]] and [[brown-tail]] moth, establishing [[parasitoid]]s (such as solitary wasps) and predators of both pests in the US.<ref name="Coulson J. R. 2000">Coulson, J. R.; Vail, P. V.; Dix M. E.; Nordlund, D. A.; Kauffman, W. C.; Eds. 2000. ''[[iarchive:CAT30852465/page/n3/mode/2up|110 years of biological control research and development in the United States Department of Agriculture: 1883–1993]]''. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. pp. 3–11</ref><ref name=Berkeley>{{cite web |title=History and Development of Biological Control (notes) |access-date=10 April 2017 |publisher=[[University of California Berkeley]] |url=https://nature.berkeley.edu/biocon/BC%20Class%20Notes/6-11%20BC%20History.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124001647/http://nature.berkeley.edu/biocon/BC%20Class%20Notes/6-11%20BC%20History.pdf |archive-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Reardon |first1=Richard C. |title=Biological Control of The Gypsy Moth: An Overview |url=http://www.main.nc.us/SERAMBO/BControl/gypsy.html#conclu |website=Southern Appalachian Biological Control Initiative Workshop |access-date=10 April 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905052259/http://www.main.nc.us/SERAMBO/BControl/gypsy.html |archive-date=5 September 2016}}</ref>