Agriculture art

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CHAPTER 1

Basic Concepts of Agricultural

Crop Production

take the challenge!

At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

Lesson 1: Define and Appreciate Agriculture
Lesson 2: Understand the Brief History of Agriculture
Lesson 3: Distinguish the Branches of Agriculture
Lesson 4: Determine the Types of Agricultural Crops

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take the challenge!

At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

Lesson 5: Define the Different Types of Commercial Food Crops
in the Philippines, Its Common, Local and Scientific
Names
Lesson 6: Identify and Explain the Parts of the Plants and Its
Function

PRE-TEST

Test I. Multiple choice

Direction: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. What is the science, art and practice of farming which includes the
cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops, fruit-bearing trees and
livestock production?
a. agronomy
b. horticulture
c. agriculture
d. olericulture
2. It is the science dealing with the cultivation of vegetable crops.
a. horticulture
b. agronomy
c. olericulture
d. agriculture
3. It is a plant that lives more than two years.
a. annual crops
b. biennial crops
c. perennial crops
d. millennial crops

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4. It refers to the raising of birds either domestically or

commercially, primarily for meat and eggs including feathers.
a. swine raising
b. bird culture
c. poultry farming
d. zoology
5. is the study of the allocation, distribution and utilization of
the resources used along with the commodities produced, by farming.
a. agricultural management
b. agricultural economics
c. agricultural administration
d. agricultural organization
6. is the area of engineering concerned with the design,
construction and improvement of farming equipment and
machinery.
a. agricultural construction
b. agricultural design
c. agricultural system
d. agricultural engineering
7. is the cultivation of fruit crops.
a. floriculture
b. fruiticulture
c. pomology
d. horticulture
8. is the science and art of growing and caring for plants,
especially flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
a. floriculture
b. olericulture
c. pomology
d. horticulture

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9. is the husbandry of grazing animals viewed as an ideal way

of making a living and the regular movement of all or part of the society
considered a normal and natural part of life.
a. nomadic pastoralism
b. greek pastoralism
c. roman pastoralism
d. pastoralism
10. is the vital part of every economy.
a. Farming
b. Agro-industrial
c. Agriculture
d. Agribusiness

Test II: True or False

Directions: Write True if the statement is correct and False if it is wrong.

1. Agriculture is only the cultivation of soil to prepare for

planting.

2. Agriculture is one of the best examples of farming.

3. Animal Husbandry is a branch of agriculture.

4. The major source of raw materials is from the product of

agriculture.

5. Agriculture obstructs the economic growth because of the

industrial and commercial buildings are unable to expand their land
possessions.

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DEFINITION OF
TERMS

Agriculture – it is the science, art and practice of cultivating the soil,

producing crops and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation
and marketing and resulting of products

Farm Equipment - These are machineries used in crop production. They are
used in land preparation and in transporting farm inputs and products. These
equipment need a highly skilled operator to use

Farm Implements - accessories pulled by animals or mounted to

machineries to make the work easier

Farm Tools - objects that are usually light and are used without the help of
animals and machines

Fertile Crescent – semicircle of fertile land stretching from southeast coast of

Mediterranean around Syrian Desert, North of Arabia to Persian Gulf

Neolithic – of or relating to the latest period of the Stone Age characterized

by polished stone implements

Parthenocarpy – the production of fruits without fertilization

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LESSON 1:

DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE

OF AGRICULTURE

What is Agriculture?

Nominal Definition (explains what a name is)

Agriculture comes from the Latin words ager, agri meaning field and
cultura meaning growing, cultivation. Therefore it means “growing and
cultivating of the field.”
Real Definition (explains what a thing is)
Agriculture is the science or practice of farming which includes the
cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and fruit-bearing trees. It also
considers the raising of animals to provide food and other raw materials which
can produce another product.

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Elements in the Definition of Agriculture

 It is a science, because of systematically organized body of knowledge
which not only based on opinions, hypothesis and theories but on factual
and absolute knowledge. Also, it is a practice because of the actual
applications of the ideas.
 Of farming, because is the act or process of working the ground,
planting seeds, and growing edible plants. It can also include raising
animals for milk, meat and wool.

VALUE OF AGRICULTURE

Agriculture has a vital role in the life and progress of an economy. It

does provide food which is the basic needs of mankind, not only to sustain food
and raw material but also employment opportunities to a vast number of the
population of a country. It can be a source of livelihood which can contribute to
micro and macro community, supplying and sustaining food and fodder that are
the basic necessities of human to live, promoting the diplomatic friendship
facilitated by trading system in local, national and international arena,
marketable surplus products, source of saving of the entire national budget and
basis of the economic development of a country.
Without agriculture, the economy will be at high risk to food security
that may result into serious national problems. The effect may be adverse or
even worse.

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Activity

Direction: Answer the following questions.

1. What is the definition of agriculture? Justify.

2. Cite a value of agriculture that without it can create serious national

problem.

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LESSON 2:

BRIEF HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE

Agriculture was developed at least 10,000 years ago, and it has

undergone significant developments since the time of the earliest cultivation.

Ancient Origins
The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East was the site of the earliest
planned sowing and harvesting of plants that had previously been gathered in
the wild. Independent development of agriculture occurred in northern and
southern China, Africa's Sahel, New Guinea and several regions of the
Americas. Barley has been found in archeological sites in Levant, and East of
the Zagros Mountains in Iran.
The eight so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture includes
emmer wheat einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick
peas and flax. Bitter vetch and lentils along with almonds and pistachios appear
in Franchthi Cave Greece simultaneously, about 9,000 BC. Neither was native

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to Greece, and they appear 2,000 years prior to domesticated wheat in the same
location. This suggests that the cultivation of legumes and nuts preceded that of
grain in some Neolithic cultures.
By 7,000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7,000
BC the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by
archaeological excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan.
By 6,000 BC, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the
Nile. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East,
with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian
farmers went on to domesticate taro and beans including mung, soy and azuki.
To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net
fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes
of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing
inaugurated human population boom dwarfing all previous expansions, and it
continues today.
By 5,000 BC, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques
including large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized
irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, particularly along the
waterway now known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the
confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and
mouflon into cattle and sheep, respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of
animals for food/fiber and as beasts of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer
as an essential provider for sedentary and semi-nomadic societies. Maize,
manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as
5,200 BC.
The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, tobacco,
and several other plants were also developed in the New World, as was
extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America. The
Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians but made
few fundamentally new advances. Southern Greeks struggled with very poor

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soils, yet managed to become a dominant society for years. The Romans were
noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade.

Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, Muslim farmers in North Africa and the Near
East developed and disseminated agricultural technologies including irrigation
systems based on hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, the use of machines and
the use of water raising machines, dams, and reservoirs. They also wrote
location-specific farming manuals, and were instrumental in the wider adoption
of crops including sugar cane, rice, citrus fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes,
aubergines, and saffron. Muslims also brought lemons, oranges, cotton,
almonds, figs and sub-tropical crops such as bananas to Spain. The invention of
a three field system of crop rotation during the Middle Ages, and the
importation of the Chinese-invented moldboard plow, vastly improved
agricultural efficiency. Another important development towards the end of this
period was the discovery and subsequent cultivation of fodder crops which
allowed over-wintering of livestock.

Modern Era
After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock
breeds occurred. Key crops involved in this exchange included the tomato,
maize, potato, cocoa and tobacco going from the New World to the Old, and
several varieties of wheat, spices, coffee, and sugar cane going from the Old
World to the New. The most important animal exportations from the Old
World to the New were those of the horse and dog (dogs were already present
in the pre-Columbian Americas but not in the numbers and breeds suited to
farm work). Although not usually food animals, the horse (including donkeys
and ponies) and dog quickly filled essential production roles on western
hemisphere farms.
By the early 1800s, agricultural techniques, implements, seed stocks and
cultivated plants selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or
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useful characteristics had so improved that yield per land unit was many times
seen in the Middle Ages. With the rapid rise of mechanization in the late 19th
and 20th centuries, particularly in the form of the tractor, farming tasks could
be done with a speed and on a scale previously impossible. These advances
have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern farms in the United States,
Argentina, Israel, Germany, and a few other nations to output volumes of high
quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit.
The Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate
represented a major breakthrough and allowed crop yields to overcome
previous constraints. In the past century agriculture has been characterized by
enhanced productivity, the substitution of labor for synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides, selective breeding, mechanization, water pollution, and farm
subsidies. In recent years there has been a backlash against the external
environmental effects of conventional agriculture, resulting in the organic
movement.
Agricultural exploration expeditions, since the late nineteenth century,
have been mounted to find new species and new agricultural practices in
different areas of the world.

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Activity

Direction: Answer the following questions. Write your answer on one whole piece of yellow
pad paper.

1. Collect pictures of agricultural technologies from the ancient origins until the
contemporary times. What are the similarities and differences of agricultural
technologies comparing to each era?
2. Why is it important to know and understand the history of agriculture?

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