Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Biotechnology Is Used in Agricultural Fields

Biotechnology is making great news in every filed. It is used in producing the effective therapeutic medicines and many other useful medicines which are made with natural elements. It is also used in genetically engineered foods. The new world of genetic engineering produced therapeutic foods like tomatoes and broccoli which has large amount of cancer-fighting chemical and vitamin-enhance crops of rice, sweet potatoes, and root vegetables to help and nourish the poor people. Soy, wheat and peanuts will make free of allergies. Many vegetable oils are useful to produce the useful therapeutic ingredients that doctors prescribe them for patients who are suffering from cancer and heart disease. Many biochemists believe that genetically engineered foods are the key to the next wave of advances in agriculture and health.

The Importance of Agriculture

f employment within most countries. The larger farms usually find it necessary to hire additional hands in which to successfully cultivate the lands and to take care of the related farm animals. Most of these large farms have processing plants located in nearby facilities for finalizing their agricultural products and developing the by-products. It goes without saying that these sub-industries employ considerable man-power within their operations. Most of the modern farms and agriculture-related industries make good use of today's modern equipment as well as the principles of science and technology.

It Would Be Nice to Have Some Good News on Environmental Initiatives For Sustainable Farming

initiatives should have wider publicity than they sometimes receive. It tends to be taken for granted that global agribusiness and particularly the producers of the chemical-based fertilisers that contributed to the success of the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s have also been major contributors to the environmental and food scarcity problems we now face.

While it may be true that improved scientific knowledge since those days has identified the downsides and longer term consequences of those agricultural techniques many of us have become very suspicious of all global enterprises involved in agriculture.

A skeptical approach to new scientific innovations from large multinational companies may be understandable but in the long run it may be counter-productive in making us too risk averse, stifling the openness to innovation we may need to tackle the huge problems facing the world.

One such problem is the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) estimate that we need to increase food production by 70% to feed the nine billion people expected to be inhabiting the planet by 2050.

How that can be done without tearing up even more forest, parkland and natural habitats for agriculture is a serious problem.

There are some suggested solutions, such as using biotechnology in plant breeding, protection of plants with integrated pest management techniques using new-generation low-chem biopesticides, biofungicides and yield enhancers. Properly used such products can potentially increase crop yields by 24% and reduce yield losses by 40-80%.

Agriculture Inventions

cience. Agriculture inventions have evolved massively by the years as farming and farm machines have grown too in these years. What was done by the threshing machine for so many years has been taken over by the combine.

One of the first agriculture invention was the iron plow used a lot those days in the 1700's. Then came the wood plow in the 1800's and the iron plow was discontinued as the wood plow was easier and better to use. And then man had a brain wave and discovered the use of animals in farming and tamed horses and used them in the Reaper which was used in harvesting wheat and were drawn by horses.

The Reaper was a huge success as an agriculture invention. After this man discovered he could do more and a little more machinery will be more helpful and work can be done faster and on a larger scale. The cotton harvester came in the 1920's and it was a rage in agriculture invention. This was used in harvesting wheat on a large scale and really benefited the farmer.

Agriculture Investment - Useful Information for Investors

The US produces 40% of the world's corn. On the 30th of June the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) made two significant announcements, which together with the news in July that Russian corn production was down 30% and exports from the country had been halted, made for great news for those investors who have chosen to invest in agriculture with a well-placed farmland investment.

The announcements from the USDA were important in that they noted both corn production was down, and also that fewer acres had been sown to corn. These factors had a marked effect on values, both of corn itself and therefore also of the land used to produce it.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Farm Management Software - Built Tough for AgricultureBetter

farming operations and increasing productivity levels depend upon better agribusiness decisions being made on a daily basis. As in all other industries, these decisions are being supported by specialist software which collates, processes and analyses important business information; providing business data when and where it is required to make fully informed decisions. Primary producers have recognised the importance of incorporating the latest in information technology in the farming environment; assisting owners, managers and workers to achieve gains in productivity, quality and profitability. Farm management software has enabled those charged with the responsibility of managing agricultural operations the necessary tools to drive the business forward.

Farm management software solves problems, expressed as a set of tasks, which aids in the act of improving the economic viability of the farming operation. Technology which is driving portable and mobile technology is enabling the information to be accessed at a time and place when it is needed most in the farming environment. Laptops, personal digital assistants (PDA's) and Smartphones are easily portable and can be taken with the farmer and used in the fields far away from the farmstead or office.

Agriculture and Civility - Expect More Civil Unrest Due to Rising Wheat Prices in the Middle East

It has been said that the stability of a nation is only a couple of meals away from chaos, yes, even in the most stable of countries, ours included. Okay so, let's talk about the Arab Spring, and the potential challenges of the heat of an Arab Summer. It's not just about freedom, or politics, indeed, it's also about food and economics, perhaps even more so. You see, it's easy to forgive a little when the supply chains are flowing with abundance, but when they stop, the sentiment can change in an instant.

You may not realize this but North African nations, specifically Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia import lots of wheat. In Tunisia and Algeria for instance they import about 465 to 480 pounds on average per person. Egypt is not far behind with about 410 pounds per person, and please consider the huge population there. Iraq also imports a lot of wheat about 290 lbs. per person per year, and prices keep skyrocketing and $8 a bushel may not be the upper limit.