Agriculture,

Environment and
Society

Introduction
 A Chinese Proverb
The well being of a people is like a
tree.
Agriculture is its root,
Manufacture and commerce are its
branches and its leaves.
If the root is injured, the leaves fall,
the branches break away,

And the tree dies.

 Agriculture and Society
1. Hunters-gatherers turned to agriculture
only as a last resort when population
pressure decreed it.

2. Humans were hunter-gatherers for over

99% of their existence.

3. Man began practicing elementary

agriculture around 10,000 years ago.

4. Civilization was spawned by agriculture.

5. Agriculture leads to increasing populations.

6. Increasing population lead to increased

agriculture.
 Agriculture and the
Environment
1. Agriculture has led to environmental
degradation.

2. While hunting-gathering entails minimal

environmental disruption…agriculture impacts
the environment greatly.

3. American agriculture requires 2.6% of the

nation’s energy budget…consumer of 8% of the
nation’s oil.

4. A minimum 4% annual world increase in food

production is necessary to feed the present
world population.
 Assignment for Lecture 2
 Look in the newspaper, the internet, a
magazine or some other source of
information and bring an article for discussion
that involves Agriculture and its impact on
Society and/or the Environment.
Alternative…an article on some specific ag
issue.

 2nd question…search the internet to find how

much farmland is in California and how much
of California’s water is used by agriculture

 Read How it all began…

 Define Agriculture…
The science, art, and the
business of cultivating the
soil, producing crops for food
and fiber, and raising
livestock; farming.
 Agribusiness…
 Farming engaged in as a large-
scale business operation
embracing the production,
processing, and distribution of
agricultural products and the
manufacture of farm machinery,
equipment and supplies.
 Environment…
I. The circumstances or conditions that
surround one; surroundings.

II. The totality of circumstances

surrounding an organism or a group of
organisms.

A. The combination of external physical

conditions that affect and influence the
growth, development, and survival of
organisms.

B. The complex of social and cultural

conditions affecting the nature of an
individual or a community.
 Ecology…

I. Study of the interrelationships that

occur between organisms and the
environment.

II. The science dealing with relationships

of plants and animals to their
environment and to the site factors that
operates in controlling their distribution
and growth.
 Concept of Human Ecology
 The inevitable crowding of organisms upon
limited resources produces a complex
interaction of organism with organism and
of organism with environment in the
course of which individuals adjust to one
another in ways conducive to a more
effective utilization of the habitat.
(Hawley, 1966)

 Break this down and analyze each part of

this statement…
 End of Lecture number…hooray!

 Next…The history of Agriculture