Knowra Industrial agriculture Industrial agriculture Industrial agriculture is large-scale, input-intensive farming organized around high-volume production and specialized operations, often using mechanization, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and concentrated livestock production.
Agricultural mechanization : The use of machines to perform farm tasks such as planting, harvesting, and milking. Tractors and harvesters let fewer workers manage much larger areas.
Agricultural runoff : Water flowing from farmland that carries soil, nutrients, pesticides, or animal waste into waterways. Excess fertilizer and manure can move from fields into rivers and lakes.
Agroecology : The study and practice of applying ecological principles to the design and management of food systems. Agroecology emphasizes ecological interactions and local knowledge over input-intensive specialization.
Green Revolution : A mid-twentieth-century transformation in crop production driven by high-yield varieties, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides. Its input-intensive package expanded cereal yields and became a defining model of modern farming.
Food security : A condition in which people have reliable access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. High aggregate output does not by itself ensure equitable access to food.
Synthetic fertilizer : Manufactured plant nutrients, especially nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, added to soil or crops. Purchased nutrients support high yields beyond what local nutrient cycling alone provides.
Eutrophication : Nutrient enrichment of water that can trigger excessive plant or algal growth and oxygen depletion. Nutrient runoff from intensive farming contributes to harmful algal blooms and aquatic dead zones.
Organic farming : A farming system governed by standards that restrict many synthetic inputs and specify approved practices. It replaces many industrial inputs with biological or cultural methods, though farms can still be large-scale.
Haber-Bosch process : An industrial method for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. It made large-scale production of nitrogen fertilizer possible.
Food sovereignty : The right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems. It challenges who controls production choices and whose priorities guide food systems.
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