essay in traditional agriculture

• Search Menu

Sign in through your institution

• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Numismatics
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Social History
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Acquisition
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Religion
• Music and Culture
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Politics
• Law and Society
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Legal System - Costs and Funding
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Restitution
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Ethics
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Security
• Computer Games
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Social Issues in Business and Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Systems
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Social Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Sustainability
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• Ethnic Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Political Theory
• Politics and Law
• Politics of Development
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Qualitative Political Methodology
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Disability Studies
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

5 (page 86) p. 86 Modern and traditional farming

• Published: April 2016
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

There is a frequent identification of farming with tradition, even if what is seen as traditional might change over time. Farming is seen as a way of life, in which doing right by the land, producing healthy crops and livestock, employing local people, and having a thriving farm to hand on to the next generation are more important than expansion, profit maximization, and integration with the food chain. In contrast to big, modern, mechanized, globalized agribusinesses, it is sustainable, produces wildlife habitats and beautiful landscapes, and cares about animal welfare. How accurate is this view? ‘Modern and traditional farming’ considers the issues of sustainability, animal welfare, and wildlife and landscape.

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Institutional access

Sign in with a library card.

• Sign in with username/password
• Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Environmental Topics and Essays

Just another sb you: web publishing for you site, sustainable vs. conventional agriculture.

I. Introduction

Farming has enabled human populations to dominate the world’s landscapes for many thousands of years.  The science of agriculture has been refined and perfected over time to accommodate for the ever-increasing human population.  Until recent centuries, productive crops were mostly organic and existed with some permanence as part of a landscape.  As communities grow though, less and less land is available for food production and existing crops become easily exhausted.  Food insecurity caused by rapid population growth has pressured science to step in and produce many synthetic chemicals and gene manipulation techniques to maximize the potential of plants.  In addition, agricultural production has increased tremendously worldwide over the last century.  Coupled with this growth however is the pollution and degradation of the natural environment.  Many agricultural techniques exist today, but in an effort to adjust to the exponential trends of our population without compromising the integrity of the environment it is necessary to have a global transition towards sustainable farming.  With the current population at seven billion and rising, an important question must be addressed: What is the most sustainable and cost effective way to feed the world’s population?  Fortunately humans have been perfecting agricultural methods for thousands of years, which can help to answer this question.

This paper will analyze and compare two types of farming, organic and conventional.  In a comparison of agriculture, my goal is to assess the impact and performance of each practice and then identify the best method for growing crops.  Although there are many types of agricultural practices, they can be generalized as sustainable or conventional based on the techniques used.  Sustainable / organic farming aims to produce a number of crops, without the use of synthetic chemicals or fertilizers, while enhancing soil composition and promoting biodiversity.  This is a traditional, more permanent type of farming that relies on ecosystem services to maintain the integrity of the landscape while still producing sufficient yields.  Conventional farming uses synthetic chemicals and fertilizers to maximize the yield of a particular crop or set of crops, which are typically genetically modified.  This method requires a significant amount of chemical and energy input and weakens the ecology of a landscape.  In a comparative analysis of these two techniques, it is important to highlight the fact that the crops studied differed in soil composition, geography, and rotation systems.  “To carry on extensive long-term trials for a number of crops in several different geographical areas would be of fundamental importance to understand the potential of organic farming as well as to improve farming techniques in general.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Due to the many different factors determining crop health and productivity, there is a need for much more extensive research on the subject.  Therefore, my goal in writing this paper was to use reliable, long-term research that made specific assessments of the two generalized types of farming and then compare the results.

II. History of Agriculture

Agriculture has played a tremendous role in the advancement of human society. Agriculture has been around since roughly 10,000 B.C.E. and has enabled humans to manipulate ecosystems and maximize population growth ( Xtimeline.com ).  The science has encouraged people to live and develop rich, permanent settlements all over the world.  When humans first discovered the potential of planting seeds, they suddenly had the ability to explore the world and establish infrastructures wherever soils were fertile.

Soon after the start of agriculture people began to select for genes that maximized plant yields.  Selective breeding was first implemented on plants over 10,000 years ago to produce desired characteristics in crops ( USDA.gov ).  This discovery further contributed to the permanence and size of settlements.  With breakthroughs in agriculture, populations increased and development spread.

Early farming techniques depended on local climate conditions, but most farmers would continue to plant on the same field year-after-year until the soils were exhausted of nutrients.  This encouraged ingenuities such as crop rotation and intercropping ( Economywatch.com ).  Intercropping is a technique in which a variety of crops are grown together, creating a microclimate that favors the survival of each plant, maximizes potential yields and maintains soil fertility ( Archaeology.about.com ).  For example, Native Americans developed an intercropping technique over 5,000 years ago called the three sisters, where maize, beans, and squash were grown together ( Archaeology.about.com ).  Maize consumes a lot of nitrogen, while beans supply nitrogen to the soil, and squash benefits from a shady, moist climate.  Intercropping is one of many early discoveries in agriculture still being implemented today that promotes biodiversity, maintains soil composition, and fortifies plant health.

Techniques such as irrigation, intercropping, and crop rotation have progressively increased efficiency in agriculture.  Over the last few centuries however, radical changes have been made in farming and many countries have made a shift toward conventional methods.  Factors such as growing populations, economic instability, climate change, and pressures from companies to produce higher yields have contributed to this shift.  However, adopting these conventional methods subjects farmers to the greed of industry, as their crops depend on a high input of energy, synthetic chemicals, and genetically modified organisms.  And once committed to the conventional practices, farmers find themselves locked in a perpetual cycle of loans, subsidies, and debt.

III.  Conventional Agriculture

Conventional agriculture is a broad term that has a number of definitions, but a crop can be classified as conventional if synthetic chemicals are used to maintain the plants.  A significant amount of chemical and energy input is required in conventional agriculture to produce the highest possible yield of crops.  “This method usually alters the natural environment, deteriorates soil quality, and eliminates biodiversity.” ( USDA.gov ).   Conventional agriculture was developed to make farming more efficient, but achieves that efficiency at a major cost to the environment.

The goal of conventional agriculture is to maximize the potential yield of crops.  This is achieved through the application of synthetic chemicals, genetically modified organisms, and a number of other industrial products.  In maintaining a conventional system, biodiversity, soil fertility, and ecosystems health are compromised (Huntley, Collins, and Swisher).  Production of these crops is beneficial to nothing but food security and economy.  Once established, a conventional farm requires constant maintenance but produces maximal yields.

Maintenance is made easy for farmers as conventional farming typically involves monocropping, but is also very expensive.  In a conventional system farmers will designate entire fields to just one crop, which creates uniformity.  Uniformity can determine both the success and failure of conventional systems.  A uniform crop is ideal because it reduces labor costs and makes harvesting easy, but it can also impact biodiversity and make crops susceptible to pathogens (Gabriel, Salt, Kunin, and Benton 2013).  Chemicals and genetically modified organisms make maintenance of conventional systems relatively simple for farmers, but require a constant input of energy and money.  In a conventional system, farmers can apply pesticides and herbicides to crops at a much more efficient rate if they are made up of just one type of plant, but this has a number of unintended consequences.  Since the goal of conventional agriculture is to maximize yields, environmental health and biodiversity are usually not preserved.

IV.  Sustainable Agriculture

Where conventional farming represents one extreme of agriculture, sustainable farming represents the other.  “Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people.  It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects.  Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Sustainable agriculture is a more holistic approach to farming than conventional in that it relies on ecosystem services and is typically much less detrimental to the surrounding landscape.  Sustainable agriculture is a natural way to produce food and has a number of social, economic, and environmental benefits.

There are many types of sustainable farming that all rely on natural cycles to ensure plant health and crop performance.  Sustainable farming forgoes the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers to produce food.  Instead, farmers will plant a variety of plants together to promote biodiversity and ward off pests and pathogens (Nicholls and Altieri 2012).  Where conventional systems promote uniformity and depend on synthetic chemicals for protection against disease and pests, sustainable systems rely on biodiversity as a measure to protect against these things.

Sustainable agriculture profits farmers, economies, and food banks while existing symbiotically with the landscape.  One example of many in sustainable farming practices, which emphasizes economic benefits and environmental health, is conservation agriculture.  “By increasing soil organic matter contents and moisture-holding capacity, CA can double subsistence crop yields in areas where use of fertilizers is uneconomic and it can sustain production in years with low rainfall.” (Kassam and Brammer 2013).  Conservation agriculture underlines the focus of sustainable agriculture in that it focuses on producing high yields without compromising the integrity of the environment.

V.  A Comparison of Agriculture

In a comparison of conventional and sustainable agriculture there should be several points of focus: production, biodiversity, soil composition / erosion, water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions.  The environmental impact and production levels of each method will determine its overall viability as a solution to growing trends.  It is necessary to make these comparisons in order to identify the best agricultural method that can sustainably meet the needs of the current population.  Although these comparisons are based off of scientific data, there is much more research that needs to be done in order to make a definitive judgment.

To meet the needs of the current population requires a tremendous amount of resources.  Not taking into account the environmental damage associated with intense production, conventional agriculture is a feasible way to provide for more people; “… population growth and increasing consumption of calorie- and meat-intensive diets are expected to roughly double human food demand by 2050.” (Mueller, Gerber, Johnston, Ray, Ramankutty, and Foley 2012).  In addressing this rapid growth, production levels become a serious point of comparison.  “Organic yields are globally on average 25% lower than conventional yields according to a recent meta-analysis, although this varies with crop types and species and depends on the comparability of farming systems.” (Gabriel, Salt, Kunin, and Benton 2013).  Most research indicates that sustainable crops produce much less than conventional systems.

There are many environmental benefits associated with sustainable agriculture, but its production capacity is limited.  In general, sustainable agriculture fails to match up to conventional agriculture in terms of production.  This result varies though, and in some instances organic crops actually best conventional crops.  For example, under drought conditions organic crops tend to produce higher yields because they typically retain more water; “As part of the Rodale Institute Farming System Trial (from 1981 to 2002), Pimentel et al. , (2005) found that during 1999, a year of extreme drought, (with total rainfall between April and August of 224 mm, compared with an average of 500 mm) the organic animal system had significantly higher corn yield (1,511 kg per ha) than either organic legume (412 kg per ha) or the conventional (1,100 kg per ha).” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Although certain conditions may favor organic crops, conventional agriculture is designed to produce the highest yields possible.

Many factors contribute to this difference in production.  Conventional crops are designed specifically to produce maximal yields; therefore, the difference should be expected.  Typically conventional crops are genetically modified to perform better under certain conditions than sustainable crops (Carpenter 2011).  However, these crops are also sprayed with toxic pesticides and herbicides to make up for their uniformity.  Some research has been done to determine whether increased biodiversity is related to increased yields; “…farmland biodiversity is typically negatively related to crop yield; generally, organic farming per se does not have an effect other than via reducing yields and therefore increasing biodiversity.” (Gabriel, Salt, Kunin, and Benton 2013).  Although levels of production are reduced in sustainable agriculture, studies show that higher levels of biodiversity are linked to healthier crops.

Biodiversity plays a large part in this comparison because it is a determinant of agricultural health and performance.  The greater the biodiversity, the more immune plants are to pests and disease (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  This is important to highlight because conventional agriculture discourages biodiversity and instead relies on synthetic chemicals to maintain crop health.  Over 940 million pounds of pesticides are being applied annually with only 10% of that reaching the desired target, a number that could be greatly reduced if conventional agriculture were to implement sustainable alternatives ( Sustainablelafayette.org ).  Techniques such as integrated pest management and intercropping could be applied to conventional systems and in turn promote biodiversity.

High biodiversity is important to sustainable farming because it enhances the performance of the ecological cycles that the crops depend upon.  Organic agricultural systems are typically much more rich in nutrients and diverse in organisms than conventional systems; “…organic farming is usually associated with a significantly higher level of biological activity, represented by bacteria, fungi, springtails, mites and earthworms, due to its versatile crop rotations, reduced applications of nutrients, and the ban on pesticides.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  It is important to encourage high nutrient levels and biodiversity as these two factors contribute significantly to the health of the crops and the landscape.  Although biodiversity does not directly determine crop yield, it does play a major role in the health and permanence of sustainable farms.

Despite the impacts conventional methods have on agricultural land, not all conventional farms degrade biodiversity.  In fact, there are many ways farmers can reduce the amount of chemicals and energy they use by implementing low input alternatives; “Overall, the review finds that currently commercialized GM crops have reduced the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, through enhanced adoption of conservation tillage practices, reduction of insecticide use and use of more environmentally benign herbicides and increasing yields to alleviate pressure to convert additional land into agricultural use.” (Carpenter 2011).  The global impact agriculture has can be significantly reduced if conventional farmers adopt sustainable techniques.

In addition to higher levels of biodiversity, sustainable farming is typically associated with better soil quality.  Organic farms have stronger soil ecology because they promote biodiversity rather than uniformity; “The results confirm that higher levels of total and organic C, total N and soluble organic C are observed in all of the organic soil.” (Wang, Li, and Fan 2012).  The increased concentrations of these nutrients can be contributed to the depth of the food web and amount of biomass in sustainable systems.  “In a seven-year experiment in Italy, Marinari et al. (2006) compared two adjacent farms, one organic and one conventional, and found that the fields under organic management showed significantly better soil nutritional and microbiological conditions; with an increased level of total nitrogen, nitrate and available phosphorus, and an increased microbial biomass content, and enzymatic activities.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Sustainable crops are more permanent than conventional crops because they work in harmony with the landscape rather than drain it of nutrients and biomass.

Soil management is vital for existing farms because agricultural production is increasing globally and land is becoming less available to accommodate this growth.  Conventional systems can improve soil quality by practicing sustainable methods like no-tillage farming, agroforestry, and integrated pest management, but sustainable agriculture is the most effective form of food production in terms of maintaining soil conditions.  “Establishing trees on agricultural land can help to mitigate many of the negative impacts of agriculture, for example by regulating soil, water and air quality, supporting biodiversity, reducing inputs by natural regulation of pests and more efficient nutrient cycling, and by modifying local and global climates.” (Smith, Pearce, and Wolfe 2012).  Again, research shows that an increase in biodiversity and a reduction of chemical input can result in conventional farms with more healthy soils and improved crop performance.

A major problem concerning agriculture is soil erosion caused by nutrient loss, run-off, salinity, and drought.  Soil erosion presents a threat to the growth of agriculture because, “Intensive farming exacerbates these phenomena, which are threatening the future sustainability of crop production on a global scale, especially under extreme climatic events such as droughts.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Organic systems enhance soil composition as well as prevent soil erosion due to the greater amount of plant material and biomass in the soil.  Conventional systems manipulate the landscape rather than adapt to it; “…soils under organic management showed <75% soil loss compared to the maximum tolerance value in the region (the maximum rate of soil erosion that can occur without compromising long-term crop productivity or environmental quality −11.2 t ha −1 yr −1 ), while in conventional soil a rate of soil loss three times the maximum tolerance value was recorded.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Compared to sustainable farming, conventional crops are terribly inefficient at maintaining the integrity of agricultural landscapes.  Conventional agriculture is therefore unable meet the demands of the growing populations without consuming a substantial amount of land and non-renewable resources.

On a global scale, water is a renewable resource that can meet the needs of our current population.  Locally, however, water is a scarce resource and must be appropriated efficiently.  The amount of fresh water available for consumption globally is small, but regional constraints make accessing that water even more difficult for many millions of people.  Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of water use worldwide ( USDA.gov ).  Increasing demand for fresh water is pressuring global stocks.  To conserve this resource a drastic overhaul of water saving techniques, especially in agriculture, must occur.

Due to the abundance of flora and fauna in sustainable systems, organic soil typically retains much more water than conventional soil.  This increased retention rate enables sustainable agricultural systems to produce much higher yields than conventional systems during drought conditions (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  This is a desirable characteristic in agricultural land as it allows crops to be more tolerable to changing climate.  “In heavy loess soils in a temperate climate in Switzerland water holding capacity was reported being 20 to 40% higher in organically managed soils than in conventional ones… The primary reason for higher yield in organic crops is thought to be due to the higher water-holding capacity of the soils under organic management.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  To manage available water resources, sustainable agriculture is the more efficient approach to feeding the world.

A gap exists between current production rates and potential production rates of crops.  Through better management of water and soil, much greater yields can be produced.  Increasing efficiency to 100% is not entirely feasible, but implementing sustainable farming techniques would conserve resources and improve crop performance; “Globally, we find that closing yield gaps to 100% of attainable yields could increase worldwide crop production by 45% to 70% for most major crops (with 64%, 71% and 47% increases for maize, wheat and rice, respectively).” (Mueller, Gerber, Johnston, Ray, Ramankutty, and Foley 2012).  Meeting future food demands is a dynamic problem that requires consideration of all things, but most importantly water and soil conservation.

Sustainable agriculture relies solely on natural processes for input and recycles nutrients on-site to eliminate the use of non-renewable resources.  Alternatively, conventional agriculture requires an incredible amount of energy to produce, prepare, and transport food.  Energy efficiency is important to agriculture as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower costs of production; “Agricultural activities (not including forest conversion) account for approximately 5% of anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 and the 10–12% of total global anthropogenic emissions of GHGs (5.1 to 6.1 Gt CO 2 eq. yr −1 in 2005), accounting for nearly all the anthropogenic methane and one to two thirds of all anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions are due to agricultural activities.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Agriculture is responsible for a significant percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, but can also mitigate this impact using sustainable methods.  Better management of agricultural land is required to reduce the effects of crop production.

Sustainable agriculture has the ability to offset global greenhouse emissions at a greater rate than conventional agriculture because it is more permanent and does not require much input to produce food.  Conventional systems are inefficient at capturing carbon because of soil composition, constant production, and how much energy is being used to maintain the crops.  “We use so much machinery, pesticides, irrigation, processing, and transportation that for every calorie that comes to the table, 10 calories or energy have been expended.” ( Sustainablelafayette.org ).  However, there are measures that can be taken to increase energy efficiency.  “This carbon can be stored in soil by SOM and by aboveground biomass through processes such as adopting rotations with cover crops and green manures to increase SOM, agroforestry, and conservation-tillage systems.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Conventional agriculture operates at a net energy loss, but implementing sustainable practices can reduce costs and benefit the surrounding landscape.

Sustainable agriculture aims to enhance the composition of a landscape while producing sufficient yields.  This method is so efficient compared to conventional agriculture because it requires no input of synthetic chemicals or fertilizers, which accounts for a large amount of the greenhouse gas emissions.  However, energy efficiency also takes into account the ratio of input to output.  In that sense, there is no substantial difference between the two types of agriculture; “…the energy efficiency, calculated as the yield divided by the energy use (MJ ha −1 ), was generally higher in the organic system than in the conventional system, but the yields were also lower. This meant that conventional crop production had the highest net energy production, whereas organic crop production had the highest energy efficiency.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Even though conventional systems produce greater yields than sustainable systems, organic crop production is the most energy efficient method.

VI.  Conclusion

Studies point toward sustainable agriculture as the best solution to managing the growing population.  Although the benefits of sustainable agriculture are abundant, there are several constraints to adopting this method worldwide.  Climate conditions vary with geography so where sustainable agriculture is the most efficient system in one part of the world, it may not be entirely feasible in another.  “Some authors suggest the adoption of integrated farming, rather than upholding solely organic practices, which they find more harmful than conventional farming, for instance in the case of pest control technologies.” (Gomiero, Pimentel, and Paoletti 2011).  Many factors determine the performance of agricultural methods and often the most effective type of agriculture requires a combination of techniques.  In addition to local constraints, sustainable agriculture also requires much more labor to maintain crops.

The science of agriculture has allowed human populations to grow exponentially and dominate the world’s landscapes.  Advancements in this science have enabled humans to manipulate entire ecosystems to cater to their survival.  But as populations continue to grow, resources are becoming limited.  Water, fuel, and soil are three important factors determining the survival the world’s population and it is crucial that they are used as efficiently as possible.  In a comparison of sustainable and conventional agriculture, organic farming methods are shown to perform much better for a number of indicators.  Sustainable agriculture consumes less water and energy, enhances soil composition, and forgoes synthetic chemical input.  Conventional agriculture cannot meet the needs of the current population without compromising the integrity of the environment.  Sustainable agriculture has the potential to sequester carbon, feed the world, and enrich the environment.  The social, economic, and environmental benefits of this system are reasons why sustainable agriculture is the most viable way to accommodate growing trends.

VII.  References

• Gomiero, T.; Pimentel, D.; Paoletti, M. G. Environmental Impact of Different Agricultural Management Practices: Conventional Vs. Organic Agriculture. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences [Online] 2011 , Volume 30, Issue 1-2: 95-124; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07352689.2011.554355#tabModule (Accessed April 17, 2013).
• Carpenter, J, E. Impact of GM Crops on Biodiversity. GM Crops [Online] 2011, Volume 2:1, 7-23; http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/gmcrops/CarpenterGMC2-1.pdf  (Accessed April 20, 2013).
• Nicholls, C.; Altieri, M. Plant Biodiversity Enhances bees and Other Insect Pollinators in Agroecosystems. A Review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development [Online] 2012 ; http://agroeco.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/nicholls-altieri-pollinators.pdf (Accessed May 10, 2013).
• Wu, J.; Sardo, V. Sustainable Vs. Organic Agriculture. Sociology, Organic Farming, Climate Change, and Soil Science [Online] 2010 , Series 3, 41-76; http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-90-481-3333-8_3 (Accessed May 5, 2013).
• Smith, J.; Pearce, BD.; Wolfe, MS. Reconciling Productivity with Protection of the Environment: Is Temperate Agroforestry the Answer? Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems [Online] 2013 , Volume 28, Issue 1: 80-92; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=4&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=1&doc=1 (Accessed May 9, 2013).
• Smith, P.; Gregory, PJ. Climate Change and Sustainable Food Production. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society [Online] 2013 , Volume 72, Issue 1: 21-28; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=4&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=1&doc=6 (Accessed May 1, 2013).
• Mueller, ND.; Gerber, JS.; Johnston, M.; Ray, DK.; Ramankutty, N.; Foley, JA. Closing Yield gaps Through Nutrient and Water Management. Nature [Online] 2012 , Volume 490, Issue 7419: 254-257; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=4&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=3&doc=24 (Accessed May 8, 2013).
• Kassam, A.; Brammer, H.; Combining Sustainable Agricultural Production with Economic and Environmental Benefits. Geographical Journal [Online] 2013 , Volume 179: 11-18; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=7&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=1&doc=1 (Accessed May 3, 2013).
• Gabriel, D.; Salt, SM.; Kunin, WE.; Benton, TG. Food Production Vs. Biodiversity: Comparing Organic and Conventional Agriculture. Journal of Applied Ecology [Online] 2013 , Volume 50, Issue 2: 355-364; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=10&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=1&doc=1 (Accessed April 28, 2013).
• Wang, S.; Li, Z.; Fan, GS. Soil Quality and Microbes in Organic and Conventional Farming Systems. African Journal of Microbiology Research [Online] 2012 , Volume 6, Issue 24: 5077-5085; http://apps.webofknowledge.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=14&SID=4CpkdIbjgdKHalEipLc&page=1&doc=1 (Accessed May 8, 2013).
• Huntley, EE.; Collins, EE.; Swisher, M.E. Effects of Organic and Conventional Farm Practices on Soil Quality. University of Florida [Online]; http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/nsfc/39.htm (Accessed April 26, 2013)
• USDA.Gov . U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2013. Web. http://www.nal.usda.gov/history-art-and-biography/history-agriculture. 1 May 2013.
• Economywatch . Com . Stanley St Labs. 2010. Web. http://www.economywatch.com/agriculture/types/. 25 Apr. 2013.
• Xtimeline . Com . Famento, Inc. 2013. Web. http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/History-of-agriculture-1. 28 Apr. 2013.
• Archaeology.About.Com . About.Com. Web. http://archaeology.about.com/od/tterms/qt/Three-Sisters.htm. 20 Apr. 2013
• Sustainablelafayette.Org. Sustainable Lafayette. 2013. Web. http://www.sustainablelafayette.org/?page_id=1015. 13 May 2013.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

From the Good Earth: A Photo Essay of Traditional Agriculture Around the World

Bioneers | Published: August 13, 2024 Food and Farming Article

In the 1980s, on a quest to understand the regionally-adapted ways in which traditional agriculture is able to feed people while tending the health of the land, Michael Ableman set out,  on a journey to photograph agrarian cultures around the world to learn the “ valuable information [they had] for modern destructive society.”  Michael was accompanied, on part of the journey (to the  Russian Far East and Mongolia) by legendary environmentalist David Brower who was a key supporter of the project. A master photographer and author of four books on the relationships between food, land, people and culture, Michael is, most of all, a great farmer who considers himself, even after almost 50 years of farming, “a beginner.” In this photo essay, Michael reflects back on that journey and some of the photographs that appeared in his first book   From The Good Earth, A  Celebration of Growing Food Around the World.

Michael Ableman currently operates  Sole Food Street Farm  as well as the large, highly-diverse, rural  Foxglove Farm  in British Columbia. 

All photos are copyrighted and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or reused in any way without the explicit permission of the photographer (Michael Ableman).

Photos are from these books authored by Michael Ableman: Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It, From the Good Earth: A Celebration of Growing Food Around the World, and Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier.

 This article is a transcribed, edited excerpt of a conversation with Michael Ableman

MICHAEL ABLEMAN: By the early 1980s, I had already been farming for a while, and I was interested in understanding more about this 7,000-year tradition I’d stepped into, considering myself, as I still do today after 44 years, a beginner. I was interested in what the lineage is and whose shoulders I’m standing on. At the same time, I was fascinated with the idea of hiking in the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world.

On the way there, I stopped to see a friend who was living and working in China and ended up in the city of Xindu. In those days, there weren’t a lot of foreign visitors in China and visiting rural areas was not something that was encouraged, but I was curious, so I walked for hours on the outskirts of the city on a path that led up a hill, and what I saw was remarkable. There was a vast network of fields being farmed by multigenerational families—kids with their parents and grandparents and, in some cases, even their great grandparents. Those fields had been farmed the same way, over and over, for thousands of years, and yet still appeared fertile and productive without the use of industrial methods. The thought struck me: “How is it possible? There were places near where I was farming in California where the land had been made useless after just a single decade.” I thought it was incredible, and I began photographing feverishly.

This image exemplifies the ability the Chinese had, at that time (1983), to feed a billion people on only 11% of their land base using the techniques that had been passed down since the Han dynasty. It is a highly intensive system. When I returned home from that journey, I was on fire with curiosity. I was young and fearless at that point of my life (neither of which I am now). I was intensely curious, and I was completely amazed and fascinated at the possibility that the profession I had chosen had a deep-rooted, vast, indigenous knowledge and history. I wanted to learn from it, and I wanted to understand how the work I was doing related to these other cultures that had been doing it for thousands of years.

But it wasn’t some sort of romantic quest for a mythic golden age; I wasn’t that stupid. I knew that the places, people and situations that I was looking at were also fraught with challenges and problems. It was more of an intense desire to learn and to record what I was seeing. I spent another winter in China because it was the oldest traditional agriculture in the world. I thought there was no better place to start exploring.

This two-acre onion field was being watered by hand. It was fascinating–like watching a well-choreographed dance. The equipment, which seems so rudimentary, is really well made, and the process is extremely balanced. The man was using both containers at the same time. I watched the entire thing and what was really profound is that two men using watering buckets could irrigate a two-acre field in about two hours without a word spoken. They both were in their 70s and had enormous physical strength, but what I saw was less about physical exertion and more about careful planning and balance. There was a great calm about the whole experience. It was a beautiful, silent dance.

I spent the entire next winter in the Andes in terraced fields built by the Incas that were so steep that farmers were known to fall out of them.

Capturing this image was a three-day process in order to get the lighting right. It gave me a lot of respect for Ansel Adams who would sit and wait for days just to make one frame.

I also traveled to East and Central Africa to try to catch a glimpse of the remnants of the few traditionally agrarian tribes that were still there. Pastoralists were dominant in those regions, but there were some really interesting examples of agrarian people making their own tools and doing some pretty cool stuff.

This photo was taken in the mountains of Burundi at the market in a little town called Ijenda where I lived for a while. The sorghum that the women are working with is made into a slightly fermented drink that’s sipped communally out of a common gourd with straws cut from a local tree. At the time, it was a very popular drink, but you would never see somebody sitting at home alone drinking it. It was a communal and social experience.

There’s an energy to this image of the women, a kind of excitement and enthusiasm around what’s happening. It’s a swirl of color and energy.

There was, at times, a tendency for me to romanticize the experiences I was having with the people I was visiting and sometimes to project my own ideas onto what I was seeing, feeling and experiencing as I was photographing them, but I had to keep all that in check.

People are basically just trying to survive, but the simplicity of some of those farming systems and the long history of those people on the land hold valuable information for modern destructive society.

The Moroccan markets are just incredible. I love the visual perspective of the passing of feet, the colorful clothing, the robes that people were wearing, and the vendor on the ground selling citrus and other items.

After Africa, I went to Southern Europe to Sicily and other places where I could photograph remnants of the traditional agriculture of that region.

In this image of an Italian olive merchant, you can see the diversity of olive varieties. There is also a diversity in the ways that olives were prepared, which is an almost lost art, but one that is coming back.

Traveling in Italy, I saw olive and carob trees that were four to five thousand years old growing wrapped around each other. The planting together was intentional because the carob is a legume that fixes nitrogen and feeds the olive tree.

Those ancient, long-term perennial systems are some of the most interesting to me because I’ve always believed that the fundamental structure of a farm has to be the perennial. The perennials have to be the anchor on the farm on many different levels—holding soil, creating habitat, reducing the churning of the ground, providing shade, etc. The folks in Italy know so much about all of that, as well as the importance of having a lot of diversity in their cultivars.

This image is from the Russian far east near Ulan-Ude in East Siberia. It’s so emblematic of the time: the style of dress, the soldiers and the seriousness with which people reflect on their cabbages.

David Brower had invited me to go to the Russian far east to Baikal the year I turned 40 (27 years ago). He had just turned 80. David had a longtime interest in Lake Baikal in Siberia because it is the oldest, deepest and largest body of freshwater on the planet with species that don’t exist anywhere else. David felt that it was one of the planet’s critical ecological cornerstones that needed to be preserved.

It was an extremely hard trip—long flights followed by long train trips. Transportation was not terribly functional. Food was not good; in fact, it was awful. When we eventually got to Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal, David said to me, “Michael, I want to go to the Mongolian side of Baikal.”

So, we went down to the Mongolian consulate in Ulan-Ude and they said, “You’ve got to be kidding. You should have started six months ago to get that visa; there’s no possibility.” David had written two autobiographies, and he had one of them with him; I asked him to give it to me. There’s a page in that book with him and the Dalai Lama arm-in-arm with big smiles, so I opened it up to that page and I slid it on the table over to the consular agent. Then things happened fast. We got the visas right away. The agent even phoned and got us a ride in an ambulance. It was a hellish trip, super hard but super interesting.

The ambulance could only take us so far, so we took a train to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. As we were standing on the train platform, a drunk guy came right up to my face and out of the blue for no reason punched me as hard as he could in the stomach and put me out onto the ground.

After that, I decided to take a taxi to the marketplace, which is miles up above the city. I began photographing what was quite an incredible scene, but I didn’t realize that I shouldn’t have been there. A gang of young people chased me and pelted me with rocks; I barely got the hell out of there.

I began to realize that photographing those different cultures could be interpreted as appropriation of ideas, information and images that I could never really understand because I wasn’t from those places, and that would be a reasonable criticism. I questioned myself. I heard about people in various parts of the world who thought that taking their photographs was akin to stealing their spirits.  Some Western people would laugh at that idea, but I began to believe that there may be some truth to it. Was I stealing the spirits of the people that I was photographing?

But I felt what I was doing was fundamentally different. I was not a journalist or photojournalist. I didn’t step out of my office at The New York Times and fly off to some remote place. My daily work for most of the year was using my hands to grow food for my own community. Everywhere I went, I carried in my back pocket a little booklet of photographs of my farm and of me out in my fields. I thought that was critical because I shared a connection to the land and a shared interest in farming with the people I was taking photos of. Mind you, some people were farming from pure personal survival perspectives, some were farming to feed more than themselves. I was farming for both reasons, to feed my family and as a livelihood.

But the common thread was farming; that was a bridge. I’m sure I made mistakes, but I feel like that gave me a valid reason to be doing what I was doing. Often, when people see the portraits I made of other farmers, they comment that in many of the photos the farmers are looking into the camera, and you can see that there was a relationship there. Those images could not have been made without some connection. When I say relationship, I don’t mean that I was living with them or that I spent weeks there, but there was some sort of commonality established before the camera got pulled out. 

I never made a photograph of anyone without first developing even just the briefest of relationships. David Brower, who was involved in this project from its inception, said at a public event, “Notice how people in Michael’s photographs are connecting to the person behind the camera.”

There’s a sister image to this, which is of our friend Caroline, a Hopi elder, whom we spent a lot of years with at Hotevilla-Bacavi on Third Mesa in Arizona. Why would I be mentioning her in the context of this Karen tribesman? At the entrance of Hotevilla, there were hand-painted signs saying “no photographing, no drawing, no recording, no filming.” I was always very respectful of that, but in time Caroline gave me the permission to take some photographs of her, also winnowing beans. She had an amazing collection of bean seeds. When the time came for the book to be published, I knew there was no way I could use an image of her without her explicit permission.

So, I showed her a series of different images, and she said, you can use one of them if it’s next to the one of the Karen people winnowing beans. She understood acutely that there was a relationship that existed between Indigenous people all over the world, and she wanted to be thought of in relationship to that.

I took this photo in Todos Santos in the mountains of Guatemala, a little village where we spent a month living with a local family. This is a man on his way to the market outside an old church to sell his wares. The entire village, at that time, was made up of widowed mothers, children and old people. Inside the church where the market was held, the walls were riddled with bullet holes because all of the young men of that village were herded into the church during the civil war and murdered there.

This picture was taken looking south. Directly to my back, to the north, would have been Trump’s steel wall. We guard the borders and build fences and walls to keep out the very people whose hands are doing all the work to grow our food. We’re talking about people who risk their lives to make that journey. The craziest damn stories: being put in a refrigerated truck for hours and hours, stuffed into trunks of cars, all kinds of crazy shit to do the work in service industries, restaurants, factories and farms, that most Americans will no longer do. It’s an absurd situation, and it’s heartbreaking to see what people have to go through to survive.

Hilario slipped over the border in his late teens as an “illegal” farm worker and eventually became a farm owner employing 100 people with a very successful farming operation. It’s one of those rare but important stories to tell because, historically, people like Hilario are not celebrated for their contributions. He’s an exceptional farmer.

I wrote the book The Good Earth: A Celebration of Growing Food Around the World based on these journeys, but when I completed those incredible international visits recording those traditional cultures, I realized that, in a sense, I had been looking at the remnants of where agriculture has come from. I felt that I should also look at what’s happening now and what we are moving towards in the future, so, I delved into the hardest images that I made, the ones of industrial agriculture in California’s Central Valley, the largest feedlot in the world. I went up in helicopters that spray pesticides and did all sorts of crazy shit just to get striking visual examples of industrial agriculture for people who were unaware of the scale of its impact and devastation. I thought if they could see it, maybe they’d want to do something about it.

This very emblematic image taken after the harvest in a California Central Valley cotton field has been used repeatedly by Patagonia and others to illustrate how incredibly destructive we have been in a very short amount of time to the land which we are inextricably tied to and dependent on. The contrast is stark between this field likely totally depleted in less than a decade and some of the fields I saw in China and Peru that were being farmed continuously for thousands of years and were still fertile and productive.

This is a celery field in the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County being fumigated. You can see the sprayer in the background. I didn’t sneak this photograph. The man is posing. He’s looking at me. I think his stance, his willingness to pose, demonstrates a certain pride. This is not a critique of this person. That’s an important point. He was part of a system. The system and the thinking behind the system are all wrong. And yet, I think there was a certain pride in the power of chemistry, the power of the industrial mindset, the power of the ability to control and manipulate the natural world.

This is the same celery field in Oxnard. That chemical being sprayed directly onto the crop’s leaves and stems enters the plant’s cells and then subsequently enters into our cells when we eat it. I believe that in those days they sprayed every 10 days, so you’ve got to understand that the chemical became fully embedded in the crop.

This farmer is pouring fertilizer into a furrow irrigation ditch. It’s crazy, it’s one of the hottest places in California, and they’re furrow irrigating (flooding the rows between crops). This is not precision farming. The day I was there, it was probably 110 degrees, and probably 80% of that overhead irrigation that you see in the background was evaporating into the atmosphere. So, the whole process makes no sense.

• A Young Artist-Activist Works for Equity in the Food System
• Young Leaders Champion Food Sovereignty and Economic Equity in BIPOC Communities

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse

Our bi-weekly newsletter provides insights into the people, projects, and organizations creating lasting change in the world.

• Privacy Overview
• 3rd Party Cookies
• Bioneers Privacy Policy

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

This website uses Google Analytics and Meta (Facebook) Pixel to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

More information about our Privacy Policy can be found here.

Traditional agriculture: a climate-smart approach for sustainable food production

• Review Paper
• Published: 04 September 2017
• Volume 2 , pages 296–316, ( 2017 )

Cite this article

• Rinku Singh 1 &
• G. S. Singh 1  

111k Accesses

175 Citations

30 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Sustainable food production is one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century in the era of global environmental problems such as climate change, increasing population and natural resource degradation including soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Climate change is among the greatest threats to agricultural systems. Green Revolution though multiplied agricultural production several folds but at the huge environmental cost including climate change. It jeopardized the ecological integrity of agroecosystems by intensive use of fossil fuels, natural resources, agrochemicals and machinery. Moreover, it threatened the age-old traditional agricultural practices. Agriculture is one of the largest sectors that sustain livelihood to maximum number of people and contribute to climate change. Therefore, a climate-smart approach to sustainable food production is the need of hour. Traditional agriculture is getting increased attention worldwide in context of sustainable food production in changing climate. The present article advocates traditional agriculture as a climate-smart approach for the sustainable food production and also deliberates the correlation between climate change and agriculture.

Similar content being viewed by others

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Perspectives for Subsistence Crop Farming in Namibia

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Smart Strategies for Enhanced Agricultural Resilience and Food Security Under a Changing Climate in Sub-Saharan Africa

Explore related subjects.

• Environmental Chemistry

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Climate change is one of the most debated issues of the twenty-first century in the socio-ecological and economic perspectives. Anthropogenic activities are largely responsible for mounting environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and natural resource degradation including soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Human-induced changes are major drivers for current and projected climate change (Solomon 2007 ; Ramanathan and Xu 2010 ). Now climate change is a reality and the evidences can be traced through the global warming, glacier melting, sea level rising, ocean acidification, precipitation variability and extreme weather events (Adger et al. 2005 ; Solomon 2007 ). Average global temperature is expected to increase through 0.5–8.6 °F by the end of the twenty-first century (IPCC 2013 ). This increased temperature would affect agricultural production significantly. Agriculture is among the highly sensitive systems influenced by change in weather and climate. In recent years, climate change impacts have been become the greatest threats to global food security (Tripathi et al. 2016 ; Islam and Nursey-Bray 2017 ). Climate change results a decline in food production and consequently rising food prices (IASC 2010 ; Bandara and Cai 2014 ). Climate change threats are further intensified by growing population. It is projected that global population will touch the historic mark of 9.5 billion by 2050 (Godfrey et al. 2010 ). To feed this large population, twofold of food production from the present level will be required (FAO 2016 ). Climate change impacts are more severe in the developing countries due to their agriculture based economy, warmer climate, frequent exposure to extreme weather events and lack of money for adaptation methods (Parry et al. 2001 ; Tubiello and Fischer 2007 ; Morton 2007 ; Touch et al. 2016 ).

According to Rockström et al. ( 2009 ), the boundaries in three systems viz., rate of biodiversity loss, human interference with the nitrogen cycle and climate change have already been overstepped. We are living in the anthropocene era where human-driven environmental changes deteriorate geographical and ecological resilience of the earth system (Crutzen 2002 ; Steffen et al. 2007 ; Rockstrom et al. 2009 ). Agriculture and climate change are correlated as both affect each other significantly (Paustian et al. 1997 ). It is estimated that contribution of agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) is about 21% in the total global emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (FAO 2016 ). Green Revolution though boosted agriculture production but at the huge socio-ecological cost such as environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation, erosion of traditional agricultural knowledge and decline in human health and livelihood (Redclift 1989 ; Alteri 2000 ; Eakin et al. 2007 ; Phungpracha et al. 2016 ; Srivastava et al. 2016 ). Excessive and inappropriate use of agrochemicals, fossil fuels, natural resources, machinery and adoption of high yielding varieties (HYVs) and monocropping patterns are the major causes for such socio-ecological cost (Phungpracha et al. 2016 ).

Climate change mitigation and adaptation are two foremost needs to reduce global warming impacts (Kongsager et al. 2016 ; Song and Ye 2017 ). Achieving the goals of eradicating hunger and poverty by 2030 while addressing the climate change impacts need a climate-smart approach in agriculture. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is based on the objectives of sustainably enhancing food production, climate adaptation and resilience and reduction in GHGs emission (FAO 2010 ). Traditional agricultural practices have regained the increased attention worldwide as climate-smart approach. Traditional agriculture is the outcome of experiences provided by local farming practices through thousands of years (Pulido and Bocco 2003 ). High productivity, biodiversity conservation, low energy inputs and climate change mitigation are some of the salient features of the traditional agriculture systems (Srivastava et al. 2016 ). Traditional agroecosystems are recognized as the time tested models of modern sustainable agriculture systems that occur today (Ellis and Wang 1997 ). Traditional practices like agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, traditional organic composting and integrated crop-animal farming have potentials for enhancing crop productivity and mitigating climate change. Indigenous farmers and local people perceive climate change in their own ways and prepare for it through various adaptation practices (Tripathi and Singh 2013 ).

Farmers due to dogged work and low profit shifted from traditional agriculture towards the modern one. Modern agriculture, however, enhanced food productivity but with the acceleration of several environmental problems such as climate change, food unsafety, biodiversity loss, soil degradation and environmental pollution (Zhang et al. 2017a ). Modern agriculture is a major driver for the loss of crop genetic resources in the Third World due to adoption of HYVs and planting the vast fields with genetically uniform cultivars (Altieri and Merrick 1987 ). Traditional agricultural practices are usually restricted to small farmers. Traditional vegetables grow well in drought-prone areas. Traditional vegetable knowledge is under serious threat due to habitat loss, introduction of new varieties, historical policies, stigma attached to the use of traditional vegetables and altered lifestyle (Dweba and Mearns 2011 ). In the context of sustainable food production in changing climate, adoption of climate-smart traditional practices is an urgent need. It is right time to rediscover and reimplement traditional practices to improve the socio-ecological integrity of agroecosystems. Integration of traditional agriculture with modern agriculture is the necessity of current scenario. This integration would bridge the huge gap between indigenous and modern peasants. Moreover, it would fortify the human–nature relationships. The aim of this article is to advocate traditional agriculture as a climate-smart approach for sustainable food production. Moreover, agriculture-climate change correlation is also described at substantial level. Authors also stated some recommendations for sustainable food production in changing climate.

2 Agriculture and climate change: a two-way relationship

Climate change is statistically significant difference in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, continuing for a long period usually decades or longer (VijayaVenkataRaman et al. 2012 ). It refers to both a shift in mean climatic conditions (e.g. temperature and precipitation) and an increase in the frequency and severity of weather extremes (Tebaldi et al. 2006 ; Eitzinger et al. 2013 ; Porter et al. 2014 ; Mandryk et al. 2017 ). Economic activities prompted by industrial revolution have been contributed to climate change through increasing GHGs emission (IPCC 2007a ). Agricultural activities from cropping to harvesting emit GHGs that cause climate change which in turn disturbs agriculture (Paustian et al. 1997 ). Therefore, climate change and agriculture are correlated (Fig.  1 ).

Correlation between agriculture and climate change

Agriculture is one of the major contributors of global warming through a share of about 10–12% increase in total anthropogenic GHG emission (Stocker et al. 2013 ). Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) are major GHGs emitted by agricultural activities (Tellez-Rio et al. 2017 ). In year 2005, it was estimated that globally agriculture accounted to 50 and 60% of total anthropogenic CH 4 and N 2 O emissions, respectively (Liu et al. 2015 ). Agroecosystems are highly sensitive and vulnerable to climate change (Parry and Carter 1989 ; Reilly 1995 ; IPCC 2014 ). Climate change is a severe threat to both food production and human health (McMichael et al. 2007 ). It influences agriculture through increased temperature, precipitation variability and amplified intensity of weather extremes. Climate change affects agriculture directly through altering the agroecological conditions and indirectly by increasing demand of agricultural production (Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007 ). Climate change is a serious threat to all aspects of agriculture including production, distribution, food accessibility and food prices (Tai et al. 2014 ; Islam and Nursey-Bray 2017 ). During 1980 to 2008, there was a 5.5% fall in wheat yields and a 3.8% fall in maize yields globally, compared to their yields in stable climate (Lobell et al. 2011 ). Climate change also affects the invasive crop pest species (Yan et al. 2017 ), livestock production (Rojas-Downing et al. 2017 ) and aquaculture (Porter et al. 2014 ). Tropical and developing countries are at the greater risk to climate change as compared to temperate and developed countries and this scenario encounters current and future food production (Gornall et al. 2010 ; Hillel and Rosenzweig 2010 ; Deryng et al. 2014 ; Porter et al. 2014 ; Challinor et al. 2014 ).

3 Climate-smart agriculture: principles and objectives

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) devised the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach in order to manage agriculture for food security in the era of global warming (FAO 2010 ). The CSA approach has three objectives: (1) sustainably enhancing agricultural productivity to support equitable increase in income, food security and development (2) increasing adaptive capacity and resilience to shocks at multiple levels, from farm to national and (3) reducing GHG emissions and increasing carbon sequestration where possible. Sustainable food production while reducing GHG emissions and increasing climate resilience of agricultural system is the foremost objective of CSA (Harvey et al. 2014 ; Brandt et al. 2015 ). Lipper et al. ( 2014 ) defined CSA as the strategy that transforms and reorients agroecosystems to produce food in climate change scenario. According to Olayide et al. ( 2016 ), CSA is an emerging approach to enhance food production, biodiversity, environmental quality, agroecosystem resilience, livelihoods and economic development while addressing the climate change impacts. Relative priority of each of the objective of CSA fluctuates with locations, for example, small farmers of developing countries need more emphasis on productivity and adaptive capacity (Neufeldt et al. 2013 ; Campbell et al. 2014 ). CSA has been getting a mounting attention particularly in developing world due to its capabilities to enhance agricultural productivity and agroecosystem resilience while reducing GHG emission (Grainger-Jones 2011 ; Long et al. 2016 ; Mwongera et al. 2017 ).

4 Traditional agriculture: concept and agroecological features

Traditional knowledge is holistic in nature due to its multitude applications in diverse fields such as agriculture, climate, soils, hydrology, plants, animals, forests and human health (Howes and Chambers 1980 ; Jungerius 1985 ; Wilken 1987 ; Agrawal 1995 ; Pulido and Bocco 2003 ). Husbandry and agriculture are among the oldest practices through which human have been interacting with nature and managing ecosystem services (Fisher et al. 2009 ). Traditional agriculture is the result of the experiences delivered by the local farming practices through thousands of years (Pulido and Bocco 2003 ). Traditional farming practices contributed a significant role to the building of scientific knowledge in agriculture (Sandor and Furbee 1996 ; Singh et al. 1997a ). These have been nourished a sizeable population for centuries and continue to feed people in many regions of the world (Koohafkan and Altieri 2010 ).

Farmers throughout the world particularly in developing regions use local, traditional or landraces of both minor and major crops (Jackson et al. 2007 ). Although modern agriculture has been adopted by farmers in every corners of the globe, but 1.9–2.2 billion people still use traditional methods in agriculture (Altieri 1993 ; Pretty 1995 ). Small farmers are stewards of the traditional agricultural practices, and globally about 84% of farms have area less than 2 ha that operate 12% of farmland (Altieri 2004 ; Lowder et al. 2016 ). Smallholder farmers adjust to environmental changes through their indigenous knowledge and experience such as changing farming practices and cultivating adapted crops (Lasco et al. 2014 ). China ranks first in terms of total small farms followed by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam (Altieri 2009 ). In Sub Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers comprise 80% of all farms and their traditionally cultivated fields are generally more productive than that of large-scale farmers (Stifel 1989 ; Bridge 1996 ; Kuivanen et al. 2016 ). About 70% of Mexician peasants particularly smallholders cultivate their fields with traditional agriculture practices (Aguilar-Jiménez et al. 2013 ). Farmers in traditional agroecosystems of the Himalayan mountains are largely dependent on the locally available resources and indigenous technology (Nautiyal et al. 2007 ).

Traditional agricultural landscapes refer to the landscapes with preserved traditional sustainable agricultural practices and conserved biodiversity (Harrop 2007 ; Lieskovský et al. 2015 ). They are appreciated for their aesthetic, natural, cultural, historical and socio-economic values (Barankova et al. 2011 ; Lieskovský et al. 2015 ). Traditional farming landscape occurs in regions where farming practices either remain same or change comparatively little over a long period of time (Fischer et al. 2012 ). Some prominent examples of these regions include the Western Ghats of India, the Satoyama landscapes in Japan, the Milpa cultivation systems in Mexico, traditional village systems in Eastern Europe and South-western China’s terrace landscapes (McNeely and Schroth 2006 ; Palang et al. 2006 ; Ranganathan et al. 2008 ; Hartel et al. 2010 ; Takeuchi 2010 ; Robson and Berkes 2011 ; Fischer et al. 2012 ; Liu et al. 2012 ). The Hani rice terraces of Yunnan Province in Southwest of China are one of the well-known agricultural systems in mountainous regions. These terraces have been designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2009 by FAO and World Cultural Heritage (WCH) sites by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2013 (Zhang et al. 2017b ).

During the last few decades, agrobiodiversity has reduced due to intensive monoculture farming (Matson et al. 1997 ; Evenson and Gollen 2003 ; Sardaro et al. 2016 ). About 80% of the world’s arable land is planted with a handful of crops such as corn, wheat, rice, soyabean and others (Adams et al. 1971 ; Heinemann et al. 2013 ; Altieri et al. 2015 ). FAO estimated that 75% of the world’s food crop diversity has lost in the twentieth century due to replacement of local varieties by genetically uniform HYVs (FAO 2009 ; Gonzalez 2011 ). Worldwide traditional farmers are recognized as the custodians of natural resources including biodiversity (Chhatre and Agrawal 2008 ). Traditional farmers preserve genotypes through unique and valuable traits within their herds and traditional crop varieties that tolerate environmental stresses including climate change (Boyce 2006 ; Gonzalez 2010 , 2011 ; Johns et al. 2013 ). High vegetational diversity and a multifaceted system of indigenous knowledge are the salient features of traditional farming systems in developing countries (Altieri 1993 ; Gliessman 1998 ; Altieri 2002 ). Himalayan agroecosystems are rich in crop diversity and traditional agriculture (Maikhuri et al. 1996 ; Singh et al. 1997b ; Kuniyal et al. 2004 ).

Post-hunter-gather societies have been progressively dependent on extra-somatic energy for food production (McMichael et al. 2007 ). Food production needs energy in every step from cropping to harvesting and harvesting to distribution. Synthetic nitrogen fertlizers are among the high energy demanding sides of modern agriculture (Pelletier et al. 2011 ). Local knowledge and locally available resources have been utilized by peasants to develop sustainable farming systems (Altieri et al. 1987 ). Integration of crop and livestock is a strategy that helps farmers to reduce their reliance on external inputs such as fossil fuels, fertlizers and pesticides (Schiere and Kater 2001 ; Naylor et al. 2005 ; Anex et al. 2007 ). Unlike the modern agriculture systems where the link between agroecosystem and consumer is uni-directional, traditional agriculture systems are linked by bi-directon through recycling of agriculture and other wastes (Ellis and Wang 1997 ). Agrobiodiversity supplies a range of ecosystem services to agriculture and reduce the need of off-farm inputs. Composting and manuring increase soil microbial and invertebrate communities which improve nutrient cycling (Mäder et al. 2002 ; Reganold et al. 2010 ; Kremen and Miles 2012 ). Indigenous farmers of Asia, Africa and Latin America through continuously farming in extreme weather events have developed farming systems resilient to environmental variability with minimal external inputs (Denevan 1995 ; Altieri et al. 2015 ).

5 Traditional agriculture: alternative practices for climate change mitigation

Climate change mitigation is a human-mediated reduction of the anthropogenic forcing of climate system that includes strategies to reduce GHG sources and emissions and enhancing GHG sinks (Halsnæs et al. 2007 ). Indigenous people are good observers of changes in weather and climate and acclimatize through several adaptive and mitigation strategies (Salick and Byg 2007 ; Macchi et al. 2008 ; Salick and Ross 2009 ). Traditional agroecosystems are receiving rising attention as sustainable alternatives to industrial farming (Fraser et al. 2015 ). They are getting increased considerations for biodiversity conservation and sustainable food production in changing climate (Selmi and Boulinier 2003 ). Indigenous agriculture systems are diverse, adaptable, nature friendly and productive (Fernandez 1994 ). Higher vegetational diversity in the form of crops and trees escalates the conversion of CO 2 to organic form and consequently reducing global warming (Misra et al. 2008 ). Mixed cropping not only decreases the risk of crop failure, pest and disease but also diversifies the food supply (Sauerborn et al. 2000 ). It is estimated that traditional multiple cropping systems provide 15–20% of the world’s food supply (Altieri 1999a ). Agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, traditional organic composting and integrated crop-animal farming are prominent traditional agricultural practices. These traditional practices are advocated as the model practices for climate-smart approach in agriculture (Fig.  2 ; Table  1 ).

Climate-smart traditional agricultural practices

5.1 Agroforestry

Trees are well-known sink for carbon dioxide. They fix carbon through the process of photosynthesis and store excess carbon as biomass (Nowak and Crane 2002 ). The integration of trees with crops is an age-old practice that dates to the beginning of farming and animal husbandry (Oelbermann et al. 2004 ). Agroforestry is a practice of planting trees with crops to exploit the ecological and economic interactions of the different components (Lundgren 1982 ; Nair 1993 ; Young 1997 ; Albrecht and Kandji 2003 ). It is widely adopted as a climate-smart practice due to its potentials for climate change mitigation, adaptation, crop productivity and food security (Nair et al. 2009 ; Mbow et al. 2014 ; Luedeling et al. 2014 ; Coulibaly et al. 2017 ). Agroforestry enhances soil organic matter (SOM), agriculture productivity, carbon sequestration, water retention, agrobiodiversity and farmers’ income (Nyong et al. 2007 ; Schoeneberger et al. 2012 ; Zomer et al. 2016 ; Paul et al. 2017 ). Carbon sequestration through agroforestry influenced by several factors such as type of agroecosystems, tree species, age of tree species, geographical location, environmental factors and management practices (Jose 2009 ). Tree components in crop fields reduce the severity of extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes and tropical storms (Lin 2011 ; Matocha et al. 2012 ). Trees in fields serve as the windbreaks and shelter belts (Lasco et al. 2014 ).

Agroforestry is practised worldwide as a land-use management system but widespread in tropical regions (Pandey 2002 ). It is a common practice in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Equatorial Africa (Beer et al. 1990 ; Szott et al. 1991 ; Herzog 1994 ). About 1.2 billion people in developing countries depend on agroforestry to sustain their livelihood and agricultural productivity (FAO 2011b ; Meijer et al. 2015 ). The cocoa agroforestry in West and Central Africa is a traditional method of integrating forest component with crops. It is a multistrata agroforestry that provides agroforestry tree products (AFTPs) like high-quality timber and fruits (Simons and Leakey 2004 ). Dhesa system of Spain is a traditional agroforestry system with animal components. In this system, area under forest canopy is cleared by grazing to use it as cropland (Linares 2007 ). Integration of animals into farming systems not only provide milk and meat but also recycle their feed into manure that enhances the carbon sequestration (Altieri 1999b ). Agroforestry systems are highly adapted to drought conditions as deep roots of tree explore a larger soil volume for water and nutrients (Verchot et al. 2007 ). In the current scenario of rising prices of fossil fuels, agrochemicals, food shortages and changing climate, agroforestry has been increasingly adopted as a cost-effective and climate-smart approach for food production (Mbow et al. 2014 ).

5.2 Intercropping

Intercropping, the concurrent cultivation of more than one crop species on the same field is a practical application of basic ecological principles such as diversity, competition and facilitation (Hauggaard-Nielsen et al. 2008 ). It is one of the highly productive farming systems (Hu et al. 2017 ). Intercropping reduces the climate-driven crop failure as variety of crops have different climatic adaptability (Shava et al. 2009 ). Intercrops efficiently utilize the natural resources such as land, light, water and nutrient and increase biodiversity, productivity, resilience and stability of agroecosystem (Zhang and Li 2003 ; Mushagalusa et al. 2008 ; Ning et al. 2017 ). Analysis of long-term experiments indicated that increasing crop rotation intensity from single crop (corn) to double crop (corn-soybean) enhanced carbon sequestration by 20 g cm −2  year −1 in humid continental climate at Wooster of Ohio, USA (West and Post 2002 ). In India, intercropping is an ancient agricultural practice, particularly intercropping of sorghum and pigeon pea (Willy 1983 ; Wang et al. 2010 ). Latin American farmers grow their 70–90% of the beans with maize, potatoes and other crops (Francis 1986 ). Wheat–maize intercropping combined with conservation agricultural practices can be used for reducing CO 2 emission and increasing crop productivity (Hu et al. 2017 ). Rubber-sugarcane intercropping is a sustainable and environmental friendly method to produce economic benefits while enhancing carbon sequestration (Kumara et al. 2016 ).

Intercropping of legumes with cereals optimizes the facilitation under nutrient limited conditions (Mao et al. 2015 ). Legumes make a symbiotic association with rhizobium bacteria that help in nitrogen fixation (Duchene et al. 2017 ). Leguminous crops not only reduce the N 2 O emission from agricultural fields but also enhance the release and turnover of mineralizable N-containing compounds in soil (Rochette and Janzen 2005 ; Jensen et al. 2010 ; Scalise et al. 2017 ). Global warming potential of N 2 O is 298-fold higher than CO 2 and agriculture alone contributes to about 60% to the total anthropogenic N 2 O emission (Syakila and Kroeze 2011 ; Hauggaard-Nielsen et al. 2016 ). Intensive application of nitrogen fertilisers has been altered climate system and the global N cycle through emissions of N 2 O (Bouwman et al. 2002 ; Rashti et al. 2015 ). Legume intercropping help in reducing the external input of nitrogen fertilisers. Intercropped legumes enhance the availability of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), crop growth and nutrient use efficiency (Latati et al. 2013 ; Lazali et al. 2016 ; Latati et al. 2017 ). Intercropping of maize with legumes reduces nitrate leaching and synthetic fertilisers input and enhances agrobiodiversity, soil health and crop yield (von Cossel et al. 2017 ). Green manure in the form of legume intercrops reduces soil erosion through enhancing soil aggregate stability (Gomes et al. 2009 ; Forte et al. 2017 ). They also encourage N-retention in soil (Cherr et al. 2006 ; Gabriel and Quemada 2011 ; Forte et al. 2017 ).

5.3 Crop rotation

Crop rotation refers to the practice of growing a sequence of plant species on the same land (Bullock 1992 ; Dury et al. 2012 ). It is an ancient practice that has been used for thousands of years (Bullock 1992 ; Hobbs et al. 2008 ). Crop rotation has been recaptured the global attention to solve the increasing agroecological problems such as declining soil quality and climate change resulting from short rotation and monocropping (Liu et al. 2016 ). Crop rotation is an effective approach for carbon sequestration as compared to growing same type of crop continuously (Triberti et al. 2016 ). It is a potential practice to reduce the emissions of CH 4 and other GHGs in irrigated-rice fields (Theisen et al. 2017 ). According to Cha-un et al. ( 2017 ), when rice was cultivated in rotation with corn and sweet sorghum in dry season, there was a significant reduction in GHG emission (combined CH 4 and NO 2 in CO 2 equivalent) by 68–78% as compared to double rice cultivation. Crop rotation is a sustainable approach that increases yield and water use efficiency while reducing soil erosion (Huang et al. 2003 ). In rain fed areas of Southern Spain, rotation between drum wheat ( Triticum drum ) and sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) is a traditional practice that increases soil fertility (Pedraza et al. 2015 ). Crop rotation enhances the soil quality and crop productivity through altering soil structure and aggregation, SOC concentration, nutrient cycling and pests and diseases (Jarecki and Lal 2003 ).

The selection of a crop for incorporating it in rotations is very important. In crop rotation practice, species that enhance N in the soil can increase the phytomass production of the subsequent crops and consequently increasing SOM (Peoples and Baldock 2001 ; Raphael et al. 2016 ). Increasing SOM is a sustainable method to enhance crop productivity while increasing carbon sequestration and maintaining global C-cycle. Soil store more organic carbon than that of the atmosphere and global vegetation combined (Lehmann and Kleber 2015 ). Leguminous crops reduce reliance on N-fertilisers like NPK that emits N 2 O and thereby reducing fossil fuel consumption in manufacturing of fertlizers and consequently lowering of CO 2 emission (Zentner et al. 2001 , 2004 ; Wang et al. 2010 ). Further, such crops improve the soil carbon sequestration (Lal 2011 ). It is estimated that corn-soybean rotation enhances crop productivity and amount of crop residues as compared to monoculture of corn or soybean (Wang et al. 2010 ). Cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) is an important legume for both human food and livestock fodder. It is a drought-tolerant traditional crop that is well grown in semi-arid tropics Asia, Africa, Central and South America (Singh et al. 2003 ). Cow pea is an efficient nitrogen fixer that grows well in sandy and nutrient poor soils (Sanginga et al. 2000 ; Singh et al. 2003 ).

5.4 Cover cropping

Cover cropping is a sustainable approach for enhancing soil health, soil microbial biomass and agroecosytem services such as nutrient cycling, water storage, weed and pest control and carbon sequestration (Schipanski et al. 2014 ; Frasier et al. 2016 ; Pinto et al. 2017 ). Cover crop refers to the crop that is grown to cover the ground for reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss (Reeves 1994 ; Dabney et al. 2001 ). They are usually non-cash crops sown in the autumn to provide winter ground cover (Cooper et al. 2017 ). Replacement of a bare fallow period through cover cropping is a sustainable strategy for reducing runoff and soil erosion (Reeves 1994 ; Alvarez et al. 2017 ). Cover crops can be harvested before planting of the main crops or they can be grown alongside the main crop to provide living mulch (Robacer et al. 2016 ). Cover crops can be leguminous (e.g. pea, vetch and clover) or non-leguminous (e.g. rye, sorghum and brassicas) (Cooper et al. 2017 ). Rye, oat, pea, vetch, clover, sun hemp, velvet bean and sorghum are among the prominent cover crop species that are grown to enhance soil fertility and soil carbon sequestration (Wang et al. 2010 ). Sorghum is a drought-tolerant cover crop (Montgomery et al. 2016 ). In Paraguay, cover cropping is a traditional practice. In Paraguay, indigenous people grow grey-seeded mucuna leaves which are excellent dead cover that protects soil from erosion and weeds (FAO 2011a ). Cover crops are sustainable farming tool that increase SOM and improve soil water dynamics (Steele et al. 2012 ; Poeplau and Don 2015 ; Basche et al. 2016 ; Duval et al. 2016 ). Basche et al. ( 2016 ) found that long-term use of a winter rye cover crop enhanced soil water dynamics such as water content and soil water storage in a maize-soybean cropping system.

Cover crops are recognized as the green manure. They add nitrogen to the agroecosystem either by fixation or by improving the N-mineralization, consequently declining synthetic fertilisers inputs and their resultant GHG emissions (Dabney et al. 2001 ; Thorup-Kristensen et al. 2003 ; Fageria et al. 2005 ; Schipanski et al. 2014 ; Li et al. 2015 ; Alvarez et al. 2017 ). Legume cover crops provide sufficient nitrogen to crops grown in rotation and consequently reducing external inputs of the synthetic fertilisers (Magdoff and Weil 2004 ; Gselman and Kramberger 2008 ; Robacer et al. 2016 ). Grass and legume winter cover crops are recognized as the sustainable tool to supporting nutrient cycling and conserving water and soil resources (Ranells and Wagger 1996 ; Jahanzada et al. 2017 ). Legume cover cropping is commonly practised by smallholder farmers in tropics (Mendham et al. 2004 ). Legume cover crops enhance SOM, biodiversity and carbon sequestration (Uhlen and Tveitnes 1995 ; Fullen and Auerswald 1998 ; Singh et al. 1998 ; Lal 2004 ). SOC maintenance or enrichment is a key provision for increasing soil ecosystem services including carbon sequestration (Hwang et al. 2017 ). Cover crops services in SOC pool enrichment has been reported from European countries such as Hungry, UK, Sweden, Netherlands (Johnston 1973 ; Van Dijk 1982 ; Nilsson 1986 ; Berzseny and Gyrffy 1997 ; Smith et al. 1997 ; Fullen and Auerswald 1998 ; Lal 2004 ). Velvet bean (Mucuna utilis ) is a potential cover crop for the humid tropics of West Africa that improves SOC pool (Lal 2004 ). Sainju et al. ( 2016 ) reported that SOC increased by 0.4% with rye in momoculture and 3% with vetch and rye in biculture at 0.30 cm.

5.5 Traditional organic composting

Fertiliser-driven GHG emission is the largest source of total GHG emission from agriculture sector (Wang et al. 2017 ). Inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilisers contribute to approximately 75% of direct emission from agricultural soil (Zheng et al. 2004 ; Mohanty et al. 2017 ). Besides contributing to GHG emission, nitrogenous fertilisers decrease soil microbial activity and bacterial diversity (Ding et al. 2017 ). On the other hand, use of organic compost is a sustainable and climate-smart approach to increase soil fertility. The use of composted organic wastes to enhance soil fertility and productivity is gaining huge attention worldwide (Goyal et al. 2005 ). Composting is a traditional practice that has been used for centuries (Oudart et al. 2015 ). Composting refers to the natural process of rotting or decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms under controlled conditions (Misra et al. 2003 ). It is a biochemical process in which microbial degradation of organic waste results into a product known as organic manure or compost (Onwosi et al. 2017 ). Composting is a sustainable approach for organic waste management. It not only removes the waste but also transforms waste into nutrient-rich organic product that can be used to enhance soil fertility (Neher et al. 2013 ). Variety of organic materials are used in composting process such as straw, crop residues, agroindustry by-products, livestock waste, sewage sludge and kitchen waste (Proietti et al. 2016 ). A simplified model of traditional organic composting is presented in Fig.  3 .

A simplified model of traditional organic composting

Organic composting process begins after putting the organic waste in a pit for several days or months. The heap of organic waste undergoes microbial degradation that converts organic waste into compost. During composting, organic material passes through the thermophilic phase (45–65 °C) that kills numerous pathogenic microorganisms due to release of CO 2 , water and heat (Lung et al. 2001 ; Alidadi et al. 2005 ; Mehta et al. 2014 ; Soobhany et al. 2017 ). Several physio-chemical parameters affect the composting process such as temperature, moisture, pH, particle size, aeration and electrical conductivity (Li et al. 2013 ; Juárez et al. 2015 ; Onwosi et al. 2017 ). Organic compost increases soil carbon sequestration and reduces GHGs emission (Forte et al. 2017 ). It enriches SOM, soil fertility, soil microbial diversity, soil moisture, cation exchange capacity, soil aeration and reduces soil erosion and crop pests and diseases (Tester 1990 ; Diaz-Zorita et al. 1999 ; Peacock et al. 2001 ; Mäder et al. 2002 ; Magdoff and Weil 2004 ; Sun et al. 2004 ; Fließbach et al. 2007 ; Ge et al. 2008 ; Zhang et al. 2012 ; Liu et al. 2013 ). It is widely recognized that animal manure and crop straw enhance the SOM and crop yield (Yang et al. 2004 ).

It is estimated that global average sequestration potential of organic croplands is 0.9–2.4 Gt CO 2 /year (Niggli et al. 2009 ). Organic matter not only makes soils more resistant to drought but also makes them adaptable with low and high rainfall (Lotter 2003 ; Bot and Benites 2005 ; Lal 2008 ). The use of organic manure can increase soil carbon or nitrogen levels in twofold in about 40 years (Jenkinson et al. 1994 ; Powlson 1994 ; Tilman 1998 ). Traditional thermophillic composting is a low-energy, cost-efficient and sustainable approach to address the issues of soil fertility, environmental pollution, waste management and reducing chemical fertiliser inputs (Ndegwa and Thompson 2001 ; Nasiru et al. 2013 ; Soobhany et al. 2017 ). Composting is an important tool to social, ecological and economic sustainability (Scarpato and Simeone 2013 ; Proietti et al. 2016 ).

Application of organic resources for soil fertility is a common practice among the smallholder farmers in the tropics due to their inability to purchase costly mineral fertilisers (Palm et al. 2001 ). Compost preparation is prominent in Asian countries (Yadav et al. 2017 ). India has a long history of using organic manure to enhance soil fertility (Manna et al. 2003 ). The use of composted FYM is a common practice in Indian Himalayan villages (Gopinath et al. 2008 ). Farmers in Jahrkhand state of India use compressed cakes of plant material and flowers to make organic manure. Plant species like madhu ( Madhuca indica ), neem ( Azadirachta indica ) and karanj ( Derris indica ) are used to make cake and then mixed with leaves, flowers and FYM (Dey and Sarkar 2011 ). The use of organic manure such as farmyard manure (FYM) has been a traditional practice in China (Shen et al. 1997 ; Yang et al. 2004 ). In China, organic manure has been used since Shang dynasty 3000 BC (Liu et al. 2013 ). The use of FYM is a traditional practice in Kilimanjaro region of the South Africa. People in Kilimanjaro make FYM by using materials like livestock wastes including chicken and goat waste and ashes. It is locally called as Samadi or Boru in Kilimanjaro. It increases the soil fertility and prevents crop from insects (Kangalawe et al. 2014 ).

5.6 Integrated crop-animal farming

Crop-animal integrated farming is a well-recognized practice of smallholder farmers in Asia (Devendra and Thomas 2002a ). Although based on crop production, integrated crop-animal farming is a backbone of small-scale Asian agriculture (Devendra and Thomas 2002b ). Integrating animal component to crop is supportive for agrobiodiversity, food diversity and land resource management that strengthens the resilience of agroecosystem in changing climate. Rice-fish culture is an important farming practice that increases diversification, intensification, productivity, profitability with sustainable food production (Ahmed et al. 2007 ; Nhan et al. 2007 ; Ahmed and Garnett 2011 ). Further, it increases soil fertility through improving availability of phosphorous and nitrogen and thus decreases external input of chemical fertilisers and consequently lowering the GHGs emission (Giap et al. 2005 ; Dugan et al. 2006 ; Ahmed and Garnett 2011 ). It is a sustainable practice not only for food production but also for climate change mitigation, natural resource management and biodiversity conservation (Frei and Becker 2005 ; Datta et al. 2009 ; Jian et al. 2011 ). Rice-fish culture system is a sustainable method for using land and water resources, generating employment, enhancing farmers’ income, providing nutritional security and reducing the risks of rice crop damage by natural disasters (Mishra and Mohanty 2004 ). After flooding, oxygen is swiftly depleted in the rice fields and this reducing condition promotes the methanogenic process (Liesack et al. 2000 ; Krüger et al. 2001 ). Fishes raised in the paddy fields obstruct the methanogenic process during their search of feed and consequently mitigating CH 4 emission (Frei and Becker 2005 ).

The rice-fish co-culture system in Zhejiang Province, China is an age-old farming practice. It has been used by local farmers for more than 1200 years (Wang 1997 ; You 2006 ; Jian et al. 2011 ). This practice is recognized as the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the FAO, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Global Environment Facility (GEF) (Jian et al. 2011 ). Integrated rice-fish cultivation is a traditional farming system in Bangladesh (Ahmed and Garnett 2011 ). It is based on sustainable utilization of various resources like water and land (Frei and Becker 2005 ). In India, rice-fish culture is an age-old practice that dates back to about 1500 years (Mohanty et al. 2004 ; Mishra and Mohanty 2004 ). Besides fish, duck raising in paddy fields is also a prominent practice. Duck-rice-fish culture is an indigenous farming system in China for sustainable utilization of land and water resources (Juanwen et al. 2012 ). In paddy fields, fishes are reared which eat plant hoppers and weeds while providing nutrient for rice. Fishes also soften the soil and transport oxygen in water by their movement in rice field. Besides fishes, each household also raises ducks in their paddy fields. Ducks eat insects in the paddy field thus ensuring good rice harvest. Conventional rice culture needs intensive application of chemical fertilisers for enhancing yields. It is widely recognized that fertiliser application is reduced through rice-duck cultivation (Long et al. 2013 ).

6 Traditional agriculture: a sustainable approach for climate change adaptation

Adaptation contributes a significant role in climate change vulnerability assessment and policy framework to check climate change impacts (Fankhauser 1996 ; Smith and Lenhart 1996 ; Smit et al. 1999 ). Climate change adaptation is an adjustment to reduce vulnerability or enhance resilience in response to observed or expected changes in climate and associated extreme weather events (IPCC 2007b ). Climate change adaptation is the need of hour to ensure global food security and environmental quality (Connor and Mínguez 2012 ; Sayer and Cassman 2013 ). Farmers in different regions have different perceptions and adaptation strategies to adjust with change in climate. Farmers’ perception to climate change play a great role not only to adaptation strategies but also in designing policy and integration of scientific and indigenous knowledge for climate change adaptation (Juana et al. 2013 ; Ayal and Filho 2017 ; Woods et al. 2017 ). In agriculture, climate change adaptation is as old as the agriculture itself. Since the beginning of agriculture, peasants have been continually adjusting their agriculture practices with change in climatic conditions. (Burger 2015 ). Indigenous farmers have a long history of climate change adaptation through making changes in agriculture practices. The Institute of Advanced Studies at the United Nations University recently identified more than 400 examples of indigenous peoples’ contribution in climate change monitoring, adaptation and mitigation (McLean 2010 ).

Integrating traditional knowledge into climate change policies paves the way for cost-effective and sustainable adaptation coupled with mitigation strategies (Nyong et al. 2007 ). Without adaptation, climate change is generally challenging for agricultural production. But through adaptation methods, climate change impacts can be minimized (Nordhaus 1991 ; Easterling et al. 1993 ; Rosenzwieg and Parry 1994 ; Fankhauser 1996 ; Smith 1996 ; Mendelsohn 1998 ; Wheaton and Maciver 1999 ). Environmental conditions, geographical location, socio-economic status, cultural differences and diverse knowledge systems influence perceptions of climate change and adaptation approaches (Saarinen 1976 ; Deressa et al. 2011 ; Wolf et al. 2013 ; Touch et al. 2016 ; Ayal and Filho 2017 ). Farmers with extensive knowledge about climate change and its impacts are better adjusted (Adger et al. 2003 ; Kemausuor et al. 2011 ; Akerlof et al. 2013 ; Tripathi and Singh 2013 ; Menapace et al. 2015 ; Tesfahunegn et al. 2016 ; Li et al. 2017 ). Shifting planting and harvesting dates, crop diversification, integrated crop-livestock farming, cropping drought-resistant varieties and high yielding water sensitive crops are some of the sustainable approaches to climate change adaptation (Bradshaw et al. 2004 ; Di Falco et al. 2011 ; Di Falco and Veronesi 2011 ; Moniruzzaman 2015 ). It has been observed that when compared to monoculture, polyculture systems exhibit a greater yield stability and less productivity decline during drought (Altieri and Nicholls 2008 ).

Indigenous knowledge should be used in climate change adaptation approaches and policies (Bernstein et al. 2008 ). Small farmers use several techniques to reduce climate-driven crop failure such as use of drought-tolerant local varieties, polyculture, agroforestry, water harvesting and conserving soil (Browder 1989 ; Altieri and Nicholls 2008 ; Chhetri et al. 2012 ). Indigenous peasnats use various natural indicators to forecast the weather patterns such as changes in the behaviour of local flora and fauna (Kalanda-Joshua et al. 2011 ; Nkomwa et al. 2014 ). Farmers in Chagaka Village, Chikhwawa, Southern Malawi use several indicators for climate and weather prediction. According to these farmers, occurrence of grasshoppers and a bird called Chinkhaka flying in household vicinity indicates the drought. Moreover, shedding of leaves by Adonsonia digitata (baobab/mlambe), Cordyla africana (mtondo) and Faidherbia albida (nsangu) indicates the onset of rainfall and well distributed rainfall season (Nkomwa et al. 2014 ). Farmers of Cameroon use the height of an ant nest in trees or colour of frog to forecast the onset and cessation of rainy season as well as the quantity of rain (Molua 2006 ; Tingem and Rivington 2009 ).

Traditional farming systems promote agroecosystem sustainability through conserving soil, harvesting water and cropping varieties of crop under the conditions of water stress, limited resources and low level of technology (Altieri and Toledo 2005 ). In Ethiopia and South Africa, farmers use several drought adaptation strategies such as changing planting dates, adopting new crop varieties and migrating seasonally (Deressa et al. 2009 ; Bryan et al. 2009 ; Lei et al. 2016 ). Sweet potato is a traditional drought-tolerant and potential food security crop in South Africa (Motsa et al. 2015 ). In Ethiopia, farmers harvest rainwater through traditional water harvesting pits locally known as zai pits (Chhetri et al. 2012 ). Farmers of Zimbabwe acclimatize in drought conditions through switching to more drought-tolerant crop varieties (Matarira et al. 1996 ; Chhetri et al. 2012 ). Besides their medicinal, commercial and cultural values, traditional vegetables are also important for sustainable food production, climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability with minimum external input. Cucuminsmelo var. agrestis (kachri) is a drought-tolerant traditional vegetable with short growth cycles and it can survive in harsh climatic conditions of Rajasthan, India (Maurya et al. 2007 ; De la Peña et al. 2011 ; Hughes and Ebert 2013 ; Ebert 2014 ). Farmers in North-West Cambodia cultivate cassava in their fields. Cassava is a drought-resistant crop that can be grown in different soils and requires less management and generates extra income (Touch et al. 2016 ).

Framers in Bangladesh make changes in the selection of rice varieties during high temperature conditions. They replace rainfed variety such as Aman rice crop by irrigation based Boro, Aus and other rice crops (Moniruzzaman 2015 ). Farmers in Sahel, Africa adapt to climate change through making alterations in animal husbandry. They domesticate sheep (Capra) and goat in place of cattle (Bos) as formers have comparatively less feed requirements (Oba 1997 ). They also include diversity of herds in their husbandry practices to survive under extreme climate (Nyong et al. 2007 ). Bangladesh is one of the highly vulnerable countries to climate change impacts particularly floods and waterlogging (IPCC 2012 ). Floating agriculture is an indigenous method of farming in the Southern floodplains of Bangladesh. It is highly self innovated farming technique in which crops and vegetables are grown on floating platforms (beds). These floating beds are built through utilizing locally available materials such as water hyacinth and other aquatic weeds (Chowdhury and Moore 2017 ).

7 Conclusion and recommendations

Agriculture is one of the leading sectors that contribute to global GHG emission. Utilization of traditional agriculture knowledge for food production is an age-old practice. Traditional agriculture is still a growing concern for widespread use and inclusion in policy framework. This review article advocates traditional agriculture as a climate-smart agriculture approach to sustainable food production. Traditional agricultural practices have potentials to adapt and mitigate climate change through their agroecological features. They increase agrobiodiversity and resilience of agroecosystems. Moreover, they are low-cost, energy-efficient and based on locally available resources. Indigenous people are custodians of traditional agriculture knowledge. Traditional agriculture can be adopted as an alternative method for sustainable food production in changing climate. Besides mitigating climate change, traditional agriculture is also helpful for human health safety, natural resource management, energy conservation and socio-ecological integrity. Agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, traditional organic composting and integrated crop-animal farming can be adopted as the model practices for climate-smart approach in agriculture. These practices not only mitigate climate change but also enhance agricultural sustainability.

The necessity for enhancing food production in climate change scenario has been much debated. Traditional practices coupled with modern sustainable farming practices would be a noble choice for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The following recommendations are suggested for the sustainability of food production while addressing climate change issues.

Increasing food productivity while addressing climate change impacts needs the integration of traditional and modern agricultural practices. Climate-smart agriculture practices both modern as well as traditional should be encouraged and used widely.

Adoption of sustainable practices for socio-economic development would be a better decision to make a balance between environment, society and economy.

Indigenous cultures, their languages, rituals, traditions and practices should be respected and campaigned positively for their preservation.

Farmers should be given sufficient crop insurance during climate-driven crop failure or during crop damage by natural disasters such as flood and fire.

More inclusive research focused on the identification and exploration of traditional agriculture knowledge at larger scale is the need of hour.

There is an urgent need to develop a concrete policy framework to protect and utilize traditional agricultural practices.

The use of inorganic fertilisers should be minimized and substituted by organic compost to reduce the GHGs emission.

Fossils fuels utilization should be reduced and use of biofuels should be encouraged for climate change mitigation.

There is a pressing need to enhance the agrobiodiversity for making agroecosystem more resilient to climate change.

Cooperation and coordination between various stakeholders such as local people, policy makers and researchers is urgently required to form effective strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Adams MW, Ellingboe AH, Rossman EC (1971) Biological uniformity and disease epidemics. Bioscience 21:1067–1070. doi: 10.2307/1295991

Article   Google Scholar  

Adger WN, Hug S, Brown K, Conway D, Hume M (2003) Adaptation to climate change in developing world. Prog Dev Stud 3(3):179–195. doi: 10.1191/1464993403ps060oa

Adger WN, Arnell NW, Tompkins EL (2005) Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Glob Environ Change 15(2):77–86

Agrawal A (1995) Indigenous and scientific knowledge: some critical comments. Indigenous Knowledge & Development Monitor 3:3–5

Google Scholar  

Aguilar-Jiménez CE, Tolón-Becerra A, Lastra-Bravo XB (2013) Traditional agroecosystems vs. alternative agroecosystems in maize in Chiapas Mexico. J Anim Plant Sci 23:633–646

Ahmed N, Garnett ST (2011) Integrated rice-fish farming in Bangladesh: meeting the challenges of food security. Food Secur 3(1):81–92

Ahmed N, Wahab MA, Thilsted SH (2007) Integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems in Bangladesh: potential for sustainable livelihoods and nutritional security of the rural poor. Aquac Asia 12(1):14–22

Akerlof K, Maibach EW, Fitzgerald D, Cedeno AY, Neuman A (2013) Do people “personally experience” global warming, and if so how, and does it matter? Glob Environ Chang 23:81–91. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.006

Albrecht A, Kandji ST (2003) Carbon sequestration in tropical agroforestry systems. Agric Ecosyst Environ 99(1):15–27

Alidadi H, Parvaresh AR, Shahmansouri MR, Pourmoghadas H (2005) Combined compost and vermicomposting process in the treatment and bioconversion of sludge. Iran J Environ Health Sci Eng 2:251–254

Altieri MA (1993) Ethnoscience and biodiversity: key elements in the design of sustainable pest management systems for small farmers in developing countries. Agr Ecosyst Environ 46(1–4):257–272

Altieri MA (1999a) Applying agroecology to enhance the productivity of peasant farming systems in Latin America. Environ Dev Sustain 1(3):197–217

Altieri MA (1999b) The ecological role of biodiversity in agroecosystems. Agr Ecosyst Environ 74(1):19–31

Altieri MA (2000) Multifunctional dimensions of ecologically based agriculture in Latin America. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 7:62–75

Altieri MA (2002) Agroecology: the science of natural resource management for poor farmers in marginal environments. Agr Ecosyst Environ 93(1):1–24

Altieri MA (2004) Linking ecologists and traditional farmers in the search for sustainable agriculture. Front Ecol Environ 2(1):35–42

Altieri MA (2009) Agroecology, small farms, and food sovereignty. Mon Rev 61(3):102

Altieri MA, Merrick L (1987) In situ conservation of crop genetic resources through maintenance of traditional farming systems. Econ Bot 41(1):86–96

Altieri MA, Nicholls CI (2008) Scaling up agroecological approaches for food sovereignty in Latin America. Development 51(4):472–480

Altieri MA, Toledo VM (2005) Natural resource management among small-scale farmers in semi-arid lands: building on traditional knowledge and agroecology. Ann Arid Zone 44(3/4):365

Altieri MA, Anderson M, Merrick LC (1987) Peasant agriculture and the conservation of crop and wild plant resources. Conserv Biol 1(1):49–58

Altieri MA, Nicholls CI, Henao A, Lana MA (2015) Agroecology and the design of climate change-resilient farming systems. Agron Sustain Dev 35(3):869–890

Alvarez R, Steinbach HS, De Paepe JL (2017) Cover crop effects on soils and subsequent crops in the pampas: a meta-analysis. Soil Till Res 170:53–65

Anex RP, Lynd LR, Laser MS, Heggenstaller AH, Liebman M (2007) Potential for enhanced nutrient cycling through coupling of agricultural and bioenergy systems. Crop Sci 47:1327–1335

Ayal DY, Leal Filho W (2017) Farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and its adverse impacts on crop and livestock production in Ethiopia. J Arid Environ 140:20–28

Bandara JS, Cai Y (2014) The impact of climate change on food crop productivity, food prices and food security in South Asia. Econ Anal Policy 44(4):451–465

Barankova Z, Dobrovodska M, Stefunkova D, Babicova D, Moyzeova M, Petrovic F (2011) Participation of local people on identifying the landscape values and future development in historical agricultural landscapes. Ekologia 30:216–228. doi: 10.4149/ekol_2011_02_216

Basche AD, Kaspar TC, Archontoulis SV, Jaynes DB, Sauer TJ, Parkin TB, Miguez FE (2016) Soil water improvements with the long-term use of a winter rye cover crop. Agric Water Manag 172:40–50

Beer J, Bonnemann A, Chavez W, Fassbender HW, Imbach AC, Martel I (1990) Modelling agroforestry systems of cacao ( Theobroma cacao ) with laurel ( Cordia alliodora ) or poro ( Erythrina poeppigiana ) in Costa Rica. Agrofor Syst 12(3):229–249

Bernstein L, Bosch P, Canziani O, Chen Z, Christ R, Riahi K (2008) IPCC 2007: climate change 2007—synthesis report. IPCC, Bangkok

Berzseny Z, Gyrffy B (1997) Effect of crop rotation and fertilization on maize and wheat yield stability in long-term experiments. Agrok ma s Talajtan 46:377–398

Bot A, Benites J (2005) The importance of soil organic matter: key to drought-resistant soil and sustained food production (No. 80). Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome

Bouwman AF, Boumans LJM, Batjes NH (2002) Emissions of N2O and NO from fertilized fields: summary of available measurement data. Global Biogeochem Cycles 16(4):1080

Boyce JK (2006) A future for small farms? Biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. In: Boyce JK, Cullenberg S, Pattanaik PK, Pollin R (eds) Human development in the era of globalization. Edward Elga, Cheltenham, pp 83–104

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Bradshaw B, Dollan H, Smit B (2004) Farm-level adaptation to climate variability and change: crop diversification in the Canadian prairies. Clim Chang 67:119–141

Brandt P, Kvakić M, Butterbach-Bahl K, Rufino MC (2015) How to target climate-smart agriculture? Concept and application of the consensus-driven decision support framework “target CSA”. Agric Syst 151:234

Bridge J (1996) Nematode management in sustainable and subsistence agriculture. Annu Rev Phytopathol 34(1):201–225

Browder JO (1989) Fragile lands in Latin America: strategies for sustainable development. Westview Press, Boulder

Bryan E, Deressa TT, Gbetibouo GA, Ringler C (2009) Adaptation to climate change in Ethiopia and South Africa: options and constraints. Environ Sci Policy 12:413–426

Bullock DG (1992) Crop rotation. Crit Rev Plant Sci 11(4):309–326

Burger P (2015) Climate change mitigation and adaptation in drylands. Action by dryland members. https://dry-net.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Climate-Change-Mitigation-and-Adaptation-in-Drylands.pdf

Campbell BM, Thornton P, Zougmoré R, Van Asten P, Lipper L (2014) Sustainable intensification: What is its role in climate smart agriculture? Curr Opin Environ Sustain 8:39–43

Challinor AJ, Watson J, Lobell DB, Howden SM, Smith DR, Chhetri N (2014) A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation. Nat Clim Change 4:287–291

Cha-un N, Chidthaisong A, Yagi K, Sudo S, Towprayoon S (2017) Greenhouse gas emissions, soil carbon sequestration and crop yields in a rain-fed rice field with crop rotation management. Agr Ecosyst Environ 237:109–120

Cherr CM, Scholberg JMS, McSorley R (2006) Green manure approaches to crop production: a synthesis. Agron J 98:302–319

Chhatre A, Agrawal A (2008) Forest commons and local enforcement. Proc Nati Acad Sci USA 105:13286–13291

Chhetri N, Chaudhary P, Tiwari PR, Yadaw RB (2012) Institutional and technological innovation: Understanding agricultural adaptation to climate change in Nepal. Appl Geogr 33:142–150

Chowdhury RB, Moore GA (2017) Floating agriculture: a potential cleaner production technique for climate change adaptation and sustainable community development in Bangladesh. J Clean Prod 150:371–389

Connor DJ, Mínguez MI (2012) Evolution not revolution of farming systems will best feed and green the world. Glob Food Secur 1:106–113

Cooper RJ, Aziza JH, Hiscocka KM, Lovetta AA, Dugdalea SJ, Sünnenberga G, Noble L, Beamish J, Hovesen P (2017) Assessing the farm-scale impacts of cover crops and non-inversion tillage regimes on nutrient losses from an arable catchment. Agr Ecosyst Environ 237:181–193

Coulibaly JY, Chiputwa B, Nakelse T, Kundhlande G (2017) Adoption of agroforestry and the impact on household food security among farmers in Malawi. Agric Syst 155:52–69

Crutzen PJ (2002) Geology of mankind: the Anthropocene. Nature 415:23

Dabney SM, Delgado JA, Reeves DW (2001) Using winter cover crops to improve soil and water quality. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 32:1221–1250. doi: 10.1081/CSS-100104110

Datta A, Nayak DR, Sinhababu DP, Adhya TK (2009) Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from an integrated rainfed ricefish farming system of Eastern India. Agr Ecosyst Environ 129:228–237

De la Peña RC, Ebert AW, Gniffke P, Hanson P, Symonds RC (2011) Genetic adjustment to changing climates: vegetables. In: Yadav SS, Redden RJ, Hatfield JL, Lotze-Campen H, Hall AE (eds) Crop adaptation to climate change, 1st edn. Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, pp 396–410

Denevan WM (1995) Prehistoric agricultural methods as models for sustainability. Adv Plant Pathol 11(1995):21–43

Deressa TT, Hassan RM, Ringler C, Alemu T, Yesuf M (2009) Determinants of farmers’ choice of adaptation methods to climate change in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. Glob Environ Change 19(2):248–255

Deressa TT, Hassan RM, Ringler C (2011) Perception of and adaptation to climate change by farmers in the Nile basin of Ethiopia. J Agric Sci 149:23–31

Deryng D, Conway D, Ramankutty N, Price J, Warren R (2014) Global crop yield response to extreme heat stress under multiple climate change futures. Environ Res Lett 9(3):034011

Devendra C, Thomas D (2002a) Crop–animal interactions in mixed farming systems in Asia. Agric Syst 71(1):27–40

Devendra C, Thomas D (2002b) Smallholder farming systems in Asia. Agric Syst 71(1):17–25

Dey P, Sarkar AK (2011) Revisiting indigenous farming knowledge of Jharkhand (India) for conservation of natural resources and combating climate change. Indian J Tradit Knowl 10(1):71–79

MathSciNet   Google Scholar  

Di Falco S, Veronesi M (2011) On adaptation to climate change and risk exposure in the Nile basin of Ethiopia. IED Working Paper 15

Di Falco S, Veronesi M, Yesuf M (2011) Does adaptation to climate change provide food security? Microevidence from Ethiopia. Am J Agric Econ 93(3):829–846

Diaz-Zorita M, Buschiazzo DE, Peinemann N (1999) Soil organic matter and wheat productivity in the semiarid Argentine Pampas. Agron J 91(2):276–279

Ding J, Jiang X, Guan D, Zhao B, Ma M, Zhou B, Li J (2017) Influence of inorganic fertilizer and organic manure application on fungal communities in a long-term field experiment of Chinese Mollisols. Appl Soil Ecol 111:114–122

Drinkwater LE, Wagoner P, Sarrantonlo M (1998) Legume based cropping systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen losses. Nature 396(6708):262–265

Duchene O, Vian JF, Celette F (2017) Intercropping with legume for agroecological cropping systems: Complementarity and facilitation processes and the importance of soil microorganisms: a review. Agr Ecosyst Environ 240:148–161

Dugan P, Dey MM, Sugunan VV (2006) Fisheries and water productivity in tropical river basins: enhancing food security and livelihoods by managing water for fish. Agric Water Manag 80:262–275

Dury J, Schaller N, Garcia F, Reynaud A, Bergez JE (2012) Models to support cropping plan and crop rotation decisions: a review. Agron Sustain Dev 32(2):567–580

Duval ME, Galantini JA, Capurro JE, Martinez JM (2016) Winter cover crops in soybean monoculture: effects on soil organic carbon and its fractions. Soil Till Res 161:95–105

Dweba TP, Mearns MA (2011) Conserving indigenous knowledge as the key to the current and future use of traditional vegetables. Int J Inf Manage 31(6):564–571

Eakin H, Webhe M, Avila C, Sanchez Torres G, Bojorquez-Tapia LA (2007) Climate change and vulnerability. Earthscan, London

Easterling WE, Crosson PR, Rosenberg NJ, McKenney MS, Katz LA, Lemon KM (1993) Agricultural impacts of and responses to climate change in the Missouri-Iowa-NebraskaKansas region. Clim Change 24(1–2):23–62

Ebert AW (2014) Potential of underutilized traditional vegetables and legume crops to contribute to food and nutritional security, income and more sustainable production systems. Sustainability 6(1):319–335

Eitzinger J, Thaler S, Schmid E, Strauss F, Ferrise R, Moriondo M, Bindi M, Palosuo T, Roetter R, Kersebaum KC, Olesen JE, Patil RH, Şaylan L, Çaylac ÇB (2013) Sensitivities of crop models to extreme weather conditions during flowering period demonstrated for maize and winter wheat in Austria. J Agric Sci 151(06):813–835. doi: 10.1017/S0021859612000779

Ellis E, Wang SM (1997) Sustainable traditional agriculture in the Tai Lake Region of China. Agric Ecosyst Environ 61(2–3):177–193

Evenson RE, Gollen D (2003) Assessing the impact of the green revolution, 1960 to 2000. Science 300:758–762

Fageria NK, Baligar VC, Bailey BA (2005) Role of cover crops in improving soil and row crop productivity. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 36:2733–2757

Fankhauser S (1996) The potential costs of climate change adaptation. In: Smith JB, Bhatti N, Menzhulin G, Bennioff R, Budyko M, Campos M, Jallow B, Rijsberman F (eds) Adapting to climate change: an international perspective. Springer, New York, pp 80–96

FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization (2009) First fruits of plant gene pact (June 21, 2009). http://www.fao.org/news/story/0/item/20162/icode/en/[hereinafterFirstFruits]

FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization (2010) Climate smart agriculture: policies, practices and financing for food security. Adaptation and Mitigation, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy

FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization (2011a) Green manure/cover crops and crop rotation in conservation agriculture on small farms. Plant Production and Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome

FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2011b) Facts and figures: people and forests [online]. http://www.fao.org/forestry/28811/en/ . Accessed 11 August 2012

FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization (2016) The State of Food and Agriculture, Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2016. www.fao.org

Fernandez PG (1994) Indigenous seed practices for sustainable agriculture. Indig Knowl Dev Monit 2(2):9–12

Fisher B, Turner RK, Morling P (2009) Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making. Ecol Econ 68(3):643–653

Fischer J, Hartel T, Kuemmerle T (2012) Conservation policy in traditional farming landscapes. Conserv Lett 5(3):167–175

Fließbach A, Oberholzer HR, Gunst L, Mäder P (2007) Soil organic matter and biological soil quality indicators after 21 years of organic and conventional farming. Agr Ecosyst Environ 118(1):273–284

Forte A, Fagnano M, Fierro A (2017) Potential role of compost and green manure amendment to mitigate soil GHGs emissions in Mediterranean drip irrigated maize production systems. J Environ Manage 192:68–78

Francis CA (1986) Distribution and importance of multiple cropping. In: Francis CA (ed) Multiple cropping systems. MacMillan Publishing Company, New York, USA

Fraser JA, Frausin V, Jarvis A (2015) An intergenerational transmission of sustainability? Ancestral habitus and food production in a traditional agro-ecosystem of the Upper Guinea Forest, West Africa. Glob Environ Change 31:226–238

Frasier I, Quiroga A, Noellemeyer E (2016) Effect of different cover crops on C and N cycling in sorghum NT systems. Sci Total Environ 562:628–639

Frei M, Becker K (2005) Integrated rice-fish culture: coupled production saves resources. Nat Resour Forum 29:135–143

Fullen MA, Auerswald K (1998) Effect of grass ley set-aside on runoff, erosion and organic matter levels in sandy soil in east Shropshire, UK. Soil Till Res 46:41–49

Gabriel JL, Quemada M (2011) Replacing bare fallow with cover crops in a maize cropping system: yield, N uptake and fertiliser fate. Eur J Agron 34:133–143

Ge Y, Zhang JB, Zhang LM, Yang M, He JZ (2008) Long-term fertilization regimes affect bacterial community structure and diversity of an agricultural soil in Northern China. J Soils Sediments 8:43–50

Giap DH, Yi Y, Lin CK (2005) Effects of different fertilization and feeding regimes on the production of integrated farming of rice and prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man). Aquac Res 36:292–299

Gliessman SR (1998) Agroecology: ecological process in sustainable agriculture. Ann Arbor Press, Ann Arbor

Godfray HCJ, Beddington JR, Crute IR, Haddad L, Lawrence D, Muir JF, Pretty J, Robinson S, Thomas SM, Toulmin C (2010) Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science 327:812–818

Gomes J, Bayer C, de Souza CF, de Cassia Piccolo M, Zanatta JA, Vieira FCB, Six J (2009) Soil nitrous oxide emissions in long-term cover cropsbased rotations under subtropical climate. Soil Till Res 106:36–44

Gonzalez CG (2010) Comment, the global food crisis: law, policy, and the elusive quest for justice. Yale Hum Rts Dev LJ 13:462, 468 (see also FOWLER & MOONEY, supra note 2, at 42)

Gonzalez CG (2011) Climate change, food security, and agrobiodiversity: toward a just, resilient, and sustainable food system. Fordham Environ Law Rev 22:493–522

Gopinath KA, Saha S, Mina BL, Pande H, Kundu S, Gupta HS (2008) Influence of organic amendments on growth, yield and quality of wheat and on soil properties during transition to organic production. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 82(1):51–60

Gornall J, Betts R, Burke E, Clark R, Camp J, Willett K, Wiltshire A (2010) Implications of climate change for agricultural productivity in the early twenty-first century. Philos Trans R Soc London B Biol Sci 365(1554):2973–2989

Goyal S, Dhull SK, Kapoor KK (2005) Chemical and biological changes during composting of different organic wastes and assessment of compost maturity. Bioresour Technol 96(14):1584–1591

Grainger-Jones E (2011) Climate-smart smallholder agriculture: What’s different? No. 3. IFAD Occasional Paper, Rome

Gselman A, Kramberger B (2008) Benefits of winter legume cover crops require early sowing. Aust J Agric Res 59:1156–1163

Halsnæs K, Shukla P, Ahuja D, Akumu G, Beale R, Edmonds J, Gollier C, Grübler A, Ha Duong M, Markandya A, McFarland M, Nikitina E, Sugiyama T, Villavicencio A, Zou J (2007) 2007: Framing issues. In: Metz B, Davidson OR, Bosch PR, Dave R, Meyer LA (eds) Climate change 2007: mitigation. Contribution of working group III to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Harrop SR (2007) Traditional agricultural landscapes as protected areas in international law and policy. Agric Ecosyst Environ 121:296e307. doi: 10.1016/j.agee.2006.12.020

Hartel T, Schweiger O, Ollerer K, Cogalniceanu D, Arntzen JW (2010) Amphibian distribution in a traditionally managed rural landscape of Eastern Europe: probing the effect of landscape composition. Biol Conserv 143:1118–1124

Harvey CA, Chacón M, Donatti CI, Garen E, Hannah L, Andrade A, Bede L, Brown D, Calle A, Chará J, Clement C, Gray E, Hoang MH, Minang P, Rodríguez AM, Seeberg-Elverfeldt C, Semroc B, Shames S, Smukler S, Somarriba E, Torquebiau E, van Etten J, Wollenberg E (2014) Climate-smart landscapes: opportunities and challenges for integrating adaptation and mitigation in tropical agriculture. Conserv Lett 7:77–90. doi: 10.1111/conl.12066

Hauggaard-Nielsen H, Jørnsgaard B, Kinane J, Jensen ES (2008) Grain legume-cereal intercropping: The practical application of diversity, competition and facilitation in arable and organic cropping systems. Renew Agric Food Syst 23(01):3–12

Hauggaard-Nielsen H, Lachouani P, Knudsen MT, Ambus P, Boelt B, Gislum R (2016) Productivity and carbon footprint of perennial grass–forage legume intercropping strategies with high or low nitrogen fertilizer input. Sci Total Environ 54:1339–1347

Heinemann JA, Massaro M, Coray DS, Agapito-Tenfen SZ, Wen JD (2013) Sustainability and innovation in staple crop production in the US Midwest. Int J Agric Sustain. doi: 10.1080/14735903.2013.806408

Herzog F (1994) Multipurpose shade trees in coffee and plantations in Cˆote d’Ivoire. Agrofor Syst 27:259–268

Hillel D, Rosenzweig C (2010) Climate change and agroecosystems: main findings and future research directions ICP series on climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation, vol 1. In: Hillel D, Rosenzweig C (eds) Handbook of climate change and agroecosystems impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Imperial College Press, London

Hobbs PR, Sayre K, Gupta R (2008) The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture. Philos Trans R Soc London B Biol Sci 363(1491):543–555

Howden SM, Soussana JF, Tubiello FN, Chhetri N, Dunlop M, Meinke H (2007) Adapting agriculture to climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104(50):19691–19696

Howes M, Chambers R (1980) Indigenous knowledge: analysis, implications and issues. In: Brokensha D (ed) Indigenous knowledge and development. University Press of America, Lanham, pp 323–334

Hu F, Feng F, Zhao C, Chai Q, Yu A, Yin W, Gan Y (2017) Integration of wheat-maize intercropping with conservation practices reduces CO 2 emissions and enhances water use in dry areas. Soil Till Res 169:44–53

Huang M, Shao M, Zhang L, Li Y (2003) Water use efficiency and sustainability of different long-term crop rotation systems in the Loess Plateau of China. Soil Till Res 72(1):95–104

Hughes JDA, Ebert AW (2013) Research and development of underutilized plant species: the role of vegetables in assuring food and nutritional security. In: Massawe F, Mayes S, Alderson P (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium on underutilized plant species: crops for the future-beyond food security, vol 2. International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), Korbeek-Lo, pp 79–91

Hwang HY, Kim GW, Kim SY, Haque MM, Khan MI, Kim PJ (2017) Effect of cover cropping on the net global warming potential of rice paddy soil. Geoderma 292:49–58

IASC, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (2010) Addressing the humanitarian challenges of climate change–regional and national perspectives, finding from the iasc regional and national consultations. http://www.humanitarianinfor/IASC . Accessed 16 Sept 2014

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2000) Land use, land-use change, and forestry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007a) Synthesis report. Contribution of working groups I, Ii and Iii to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007b) Climate Change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 976

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2012) In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken, DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner GK, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 582

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013) Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014) Summary for policymakers. Fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Islam MT, Nursey-Bray M (2017) Adaptation to climate change in agriculture in Bangladesh: the role of formal institutions. J Environ Manage 200:347–358

Jackson LE, Pascual U, Hodgkin T (2007) Utilizing and conserving agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Agr Ecosyst Environ 121(3):196–210

Jahanzada E, Barkera AV, Hashemia M, Sadeghpourc A, Eatona T, Park Y (2017) Improving yield and mineral nutrient concentration of potato tubers through cover cropping. Field Crops Res 212:45–51

Jarecki MK, Lal R (2003) Crop management for soil carbon sequestration. Crit Rev Plant Sci 22(6):471–502

Jenkinson DS, Bradbury NJ, Coleman K (1994) How the Rothamsted classical experiments have been used to develop and test models for the turnover of carbon and nitrogen in soil. In: Leigh RA, Johnston AE (eds) Long-term experiments in agricultural and ecological sciences. CAB International, Wallingford, pp. 117–138

Jensen ES, Peoples MB, Hauggaard-Nielsen H (2010) Faba bean in cropping systems. Field Crop Res 115:203–216

Jian XIE, Xue WU, Tang JJ, Zhang JE, Luo SM, Xin C (2011) Conservation of traditional rice varieties in a globally important agricultural heritage system (GIAHS): rice-fish co-culture. Agric Sci China 10(5):754–761

Johns T, Powell B, Maundu P, Eyzaguirre PB (2013) Agricultural biodiversity as a link between traditional food systems and contemporary development, social integrity and ecological health. J Sci Food Agric 93(14):3433–3442

Johnston AE (1973) The effects of ley and arable cropping systems on the amount of organic matter in the Rothamstead and Woburn Ley-Arable Experiments. Rothamstead Report for 1972 Part 2, 131: 159

Johnston AE (1994) In: Leigh RA, Johnston AE (eds) In long-term experiments in agricultural and ecological sciences. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 9–37

Jose S (2009) Agroforestry for ecosystem services and environmental benefits: an overview. Agrofor Syst 76:1–10

Juana J, Kahaka Z, Okurut F (2013) Farmers’ perceptions and adaptations to climate change in sub-Sahara Africa: a synthesis of empirical studies and implications for public policy in African agriculture. J Agric Sci 5(4):2013

Juanwen Y, Quanxin W, Jinlong L (2012) Understanding indigenous knowledge in sustainable management of natural resources in China: taking two villages from Guizhou Province as a case. For Policy Econ 22:47–52

Juárez MFD, Prähauser B, Walter A, Insam H, Franke-Whittle IH (2015) Co-composting of biowaste and wood ash, influence on a microbially driven-process. Waste Manag 46:155–164

Jungerius PD (1985) Perception and use of the physical environment in peasant societies. Geographical Papers, vol 93. Department of Geography, University of Reading, England, p 19

Kalanda-Joshua M, Ngongondo C, Chipeta L, Mpembeka F (2011) Integrating indigenous knowledge with conventional science: enhancing localised climate and weather forecasts in Nessa Mulanje, Malawi. J Phys Chem Earth 36(14–15):996–1003

Kangalawe RY, Noe C, Tungaraza FS, Naimani G, Mlele M (2014) Understanding of traditional knowledge and indigenous institutions on sustainable land management in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. Open J Soil Sci 4(13):469

Kemausuor F, Dwamena E, Bart-Plange A, Nicholas Kyei-Baffour N (2011) Farmers’ perception of climate change in the Ejura-Sekyedumase district of Ghana. ARPN J Agric Biol Sci 6(10):26–37

Kongsager R, Locatelli B, Chazarin F (2016) Addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation together: a global assessment of agriculture and forestry projects. Environ Manage 57(2):271–282

Koohafkan P, Altieri MA (2010) Globally important agricultural heritage systems: a legacy for the future. UNFAO, Rome

Kremen C, Miles A (2012) Ecosystem services in biologically diversified versus conventional farming systems: benefits, externalities, and trade-offs. Ecol Soc 17(4):40

Krüger M, Frenzel P, Conrad R (2001) Microbial processes influencing methane emission from rice fields. Glob Change Biol 7(1):49–63

Kuivanen KS, Michalscheck M, Descheemaeker K, Adjei-Nsiah S, Mellon-Bedi S, Groot JCJ, Alvarez S (2016) A comparison of statistical and participatory clustering of smallholder farming systems: a case study in Northern Ghana. J Rural Stud 45:184–198

Kumara PR, Munasinghe ES, Rodrigo VHL, Karunaratna AS (2016) Carbon footprint of rubber/sugarcane intercropping system in Sri Lanka: a case study. Proc Food Sci 6:298–302

Kuniyal JC, Vishvakarma SC, Singh GS (2004) Changing crop biodiversity and resource use efficiency of traditional versus introduced crops in the cold desert of the northwestern Indian Himalaya: a case of the Lahaul valley. Biodivers Conserv 13(7):1271–1304

Lal R (2004) Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Geoderma 123:1–22

Lal R (2008) Carbon sequestration. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 363(1492):815–830

Lal R (2011) Sequestering carbon in soils of agro-ecosystems. Food Policy 36:S33–S39

Lasco RD, Delfino RJP, Catacutan DC, Simelton ES, Wilson DM (2014) Climate risk adaptation by smallholder farmers: the roles of trees and agroforestry. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 6:83–88

Latati M, Pansu M, Drevon JJ, Ounane SM (2013) Advantage of intercropping maize ( Zea mays L.) and common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) on yield and nitrogen uptake in Northeast Algeria. Int J Res Appl Sci 1:1–7

Latati M, Aouiche A, Tellah S, Laribi A, Benlahrech S, Kaci G, Ounane SM (2017) Intercropping maize and common bean enhances microbial carbon and nitrogen availability in low phosphorus soil under Mediterranean conditions. Eur J Soil Biol 80:9–18

Lazali M, Brahimi S, Merabet C, Latati M, Benadis C, Maougal RT, Ounane SM (2016) Nodular diagnosis of contrasting recombinant inbred lines of Phaseolus vulgari s in multi-local field tests under Mediterranean climate. Eur J Soil Biol 73:100–107

Lehmann J, Kleber M (2015) The contentious nature of soil organic matter. Nature 528(7580):60–68

Lei Y, Liu C, Zhang L, Luo S (2016) How smallholder farmers adapt to agricultural drought in a changing climate: A case study in southern China. Land Use Policy 55:300–308

Li Z, Lu H, Ren L, He L (2013) Experimental and modeling approaches for food waste composting: a review. Chemosphere 93:1247–1257

Li X, Sorensen P, Li F, Petersen SO, Olensen JE (2015) Quantifying biological nitrogen fixation of different catch crops, and residual effects of roots and tops on nitrogen uptake in barley using in situ 15 N labelling. Plant Soil 395:273–287

Li S, Juhász-Horváth L, Harrison PA, Pintér L, Rounsevell MD (2017) Relating farmer’s perceptions of climate change risk to adaptation behaviour in Hungary. J Environ Manage 185:21–30

Liesack W, Schnell S, Revsbech NP (2000) Microbiology of flooded rice paddies. FEMS Microbiol Rev 24(5):625–645

Lieskovský J, Bezák P, Špulerová J, Lieskovský T, Koleda P, Dobrovodská M, Gimmi U (2015) The abandonment of traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia-analysis of extent and driving forces. J Rural Stud 37:75–84

Lin BB (2011) Resilience in agriculture through crop diversification: adaptive management for environmental change. Bioscience 61(3):183–193

Linares AM (2007) Forest planning and traditional knowledge in collective woodlands of Spain: the dehesa system. For Ecol Manage 249(1):71–79

Lipper L, Thornton P, Campbell BM, Baedeker T, Braimoh A, Bwalya M, Hottle R (2014) Climate-smart agriculture for food security. Nat Clim Change 4(12):1068–1072

Liu Y, Duan M, Yu Z (2012) Agricultural landscapes and biodiversity in China. Agric Ecosyst Environ. doi: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.05.009

Liu Y, Duan M, Yu Z (2013) Agricultural landscapes and biodiversity in China. Agr Ecosyst Environ 166:46–54

Liu Y, Zhou Z, Zhang X, Xu X, Chen H, Xiong Z (2015) Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity from the double rice system with integrated soil–crop system management: a three-year field study. Atmos Environ 116:92–101

Liu X, Lehtonen H, Purola T, Pavlova Y, Rötter R, Palosuo T (2016) Dynamic economic modelling of crop rotations with farm management practices under future pest pressure. Agric Syst 144:65–76

Lobell DB, Schlenker W, Costa-Roberts J (2011) Climate trends and global crop production since 1980. Science (May). doi: 10.1126/science.1204531

Long P, Huang H, Liao X, Fu Z, Zheng H, Chen A, Chen C (2013) Mechanism and capacities of reducing ecological cost through rice–duck cultivation. J Sci Food Agric 93(12):2881–2891

Long TB, Blok V, Coninx I (2016) Barriers to the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations for climate-smart agriculture in Europe: evidence from the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Italy. J Clean Prod 112:9–21

Lotter DW (2003) Organic agriculture. J Sustain Agric 21(4):59–128

Lowder SK, Skoet J, Raney T (2016) The number, size, and distribution of farms, smallholder farms, and family farms worldwide. World Dev 87:16–29

Luedeling E, Kindt R, Huth NI, Koenig K (2014) Agroforestry systems in a changing climate challenges in projecting future performance. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 6:1–7

Lundgren B (1982) Introduction [Editorial]. Agrofor Syst 1:3–6

Lung AJ, Lin CM, Kim JM, Marshall MR, Nordstedt R, Thompson NP, Wei CI (2001) Destruction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis in cow manure composting. J Food Protect 64:1309–1314

Macchi M, Oviedo G, Gotheil S, Cross K, Boedhihartono A, Wolfangel C, Howell M (2008) Indigenous and traditional peoples and climate change. Indigenous and traditional peoples and climate change, IUCN Issues Paper. http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads (Online)

Mäder P, Fliessbach A, Dubois D, Gunst L, Fried P, Niggli U (2002) Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science 296(5573):1694–1697

Magdoff F, Weil R (2004) Soil organic matter management strategies. In: Magdoff F, Weil R (eds) Soil organic matter in sustainable agriculture. CRC Press, Boca Raton

Maikhuri RK, Rao KS, Saxena KG (1996) Traditional crop diversity for sustainable development of Central Himalayan agroecosystems. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 3(3):8–31

Mandryk M, Reidsma P, van Ittersum MK (2017) Crop and farm level adaptation under future climate challenges: an exploratory study considering multiple objectives for Flevoland, the Netherlands. Agric Syst 152:154–164

Manna MC, Ghosh PK, Acharya CL (2003) Sustainable crop production through management of soil organic carbon in semiarid and tropical India. J Sustain Agric 21(3):85–114

Mao LL, Zhang LZ, Zhang SP, Evers JB, van der Werf W, Wang JJ, Spiertz H (2015) Resource use efficiency, ecological intensification and sustainability of intercropping systems. J Integr Agric 14(8):1542–1550

Matarira CH, Kamukondiwa W, Mwamuka FC, Makadho JM, Unganai LS (1996) Vulnerability and adaptation assessments in Zimbabwe. In: Lenhart S, Huq S, Mata LJ, Nemesova I, Toure S, Smith JB (eds) Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change: a synthesis of results from the U.S. country studies. U.S. Country Studies Program, Washington, pp 129–140

Matocha J, Schroth G, Hills T, Hole D (2012) Integrating climate change adaptation and mitigation through agroforestry and ecosystem conservation. In: Nair PKR, Garrity D (eds) Agroforestry-the future of global land use. Springer, Netherlands, pp 105–126

Matson PA, Parton WJ, Power AG, Swift MJ (1997) Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science 277:504–509

Maurya IB, Arvindakshan K, Sharma SK, Jalwania R (2007) Status of indigenous vegetables in Southern Part of Rajasthan. In: Chadha MI, Kuo G, Gowda CLL (eds) Proceedings of the 1st international conference on indigenous vegetables and legumes-prospectus for fighting poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition. International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), Korbeek-Lo, pp 193–196

Mbow C, Van Noordwijk M, Luedeling E, Neufeldt H, Minang PA, Kowero G (2014) Agroforestry solutions to address food security and climate change challenges in Africa. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 6:61–67

McLean KG (2010) Advance guard: climate change impacts, adaptation, mitigation and indigenous peoples—a compendium of case studies. United Nations University-Traditional Knowledge Initiative, Darwin. http://www.unutki.org/news.php

McMichael AJ, Powles JW, Butler CD, Uauy R (2007) Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. Lancet 370(9594):1253–1263

McNeely J, Schroth G (2006) Agroforestry and biodiversity conservation-traditional practices, present dynamics, and lessons for the future. Biodivers Conserv 15:549–554

Mehta CM, Uma P, Franke-Whittle IH, Sharma AK (2014) Compost: its role, mechanism and impact on reducing soil-borne plant diseases. Waste Manage 34:607–622

Meijer SS, Catacutan D, Ajayi OC, Sileshi GW, Nieuwenhuis M (2015) The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Int J Agric Sustain 13(1):40–54

Menapace L, Colson G, Raffaelli R (2015) Climate change beliefs and perceptions of agricultural risks: an application of the exchangeability method. Glob Environ Change 35:70–81. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.07.005

Mendelsohn R (1998) Climate-change damages. In: Nordaus WD (ed) Economics and policy issues in climate change. Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.

Mendham DS, Kumaraswamy S, Balasundaran M, Sankaran KV, Corbeels M, Grove TS, Rance SJ (2004) Legume cover cropping effects on early growth and soil nitrogen supply in eucalypt plantations in south-western India. Biol Fertil Soils 39(5):375–382

Mishra A, Mohanty RK (2004) Productivity enhancement through rice–fish farming using a two-stage rainwater conservation technique. Agric Water Manag 67(2):119–131

Misra RV, Roy RN, Hiraoka H (2003) On-farm composting methods. UN-FAO, Rome

Misra S, Dhyani D, Maikhuri RK (2008) Sequestering carbon through indigenous agriculture practices. Leisa India 10(4):21–22

Mohanty RK, Verma HN, Brahmanand PS (2004) Performance evaluation of rice-fish integration system in rainfed medium land ecosystem. Aquaculture 230(1):125–135

Mohanty S, Swain CK, Sethi SK, Dalai PC, Bhattachrayya P, Kumar A, Lal B (2017) Crop establishment and nitrogen management affect greenhouse gas emission and biological activity in tropical rice production. Ecol Eng 104:80–98

Molua EL (2006) Climate trends in Cameroon: implications for agricultural management. Clim Res 30:255–262

Moniruzzaman S (2015) Crop choice as climate change adaptation: evidence from Bangladesh. Ecol Econ 118:90–98

Montgomery SC, Martin RJ, Guppy C, Wright GC, Flavel RJ, Phan S, Tighe MK (2016) Crop choice and planting time for upland crops in Northwest Cambodia. Field Crops Res 198:290–302

Morton JF (2007) The impact of climate change on smallholder and subsistence agriculture. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104:19680–19685

Motsa NM, Modi AT, Mabhaudhi T (2015) Sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas L.) as a drought tolerant and food security crop. S Afr J Sci 111(11–12):1–8

Mushagalusa GN, Ledent JF, Draye X (2008) Shoot and root competition in potato/maize intercropping: effects on growth and yield. Environ Exp Bot 64:180–188

Mutuo PK, Cadisch G, Albrecht A, Palm CA, Verchot L (2005) Potential of agroforestry for carbon sequestration and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from soils in the tropics. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 71(1):43–54

Mwongera C, Shikuku KM, Twyman J, Läderach P, Ampaire E, Van Asten P, Twomlowd S, Winowiecki LA (2017) Climate smart agriculture rapid appraisal (CSA-RA): a tool for prioritizing context-specific climate smart agriculture technologies. Agric Syst 151:192–203

Nair PKR (1993) An Introduction to agroforestry. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, p 499

Book   Google Scholar  

Nair PR, Nair VD, Kumar BM, Haile SG (2009) Soil carbon sequestration in tropical agroforestry systems: a feasibility appraisal. Environ Sci Policy 12(8):1099–1111

Nasiru A, Ismail N, Ibrahim MH (2013) Vermicomposting: tool for sustainable ruminant manure management. J Waste Manage. doi: 10.1155/2013/732759

Nautiyal S, Kaechele H, Rao KS, Maikhuri RK, Saxena KG (2007) Energy and economic analysis of traditional versus introduced crops cultivation in the mountains of the Indian Himalayas: a case study. Energy 32(12):2321–2335

Naylor R, Steinfeld H, Falcon W, Galloway W, Smil V, Bradford E, Alder J, Mooney H (2005) Losing the links between livestock and land. Science 310:1621–1622

Ndegwa PM, Thompson SA (2001) Integrating composting and vermicomposting in the treatment and bioconversion of biosolids. Biores Technol 76(2):107–112

Neher DA, Weicht TR, Bates ST, Leff JW, Fierer N (2013) Changes in bacterial and fungal communities across compost recipes, preparation methods, and composting times. PLoS ONE 8(11):e79512

Neufeldt H, Jahn M, Campbell BM, Beddington JR, DeClerck F, De Pinto A, Gulledge J, Hellin J, Herrero M, Jarvis A (2013) Beyond climate-smart agriculture-towards safe operating spaces for global food systems. Agric Food Secur 2:12

Nhan DK, Phong LT, Verdegem MJC, Duong LT, Bosma RH, Little DC (2007) Integrated freshwater aquaculture, crop and livestock production in the Mekong delta, Vietnam: determinants and the role of the pond. Agric Syst 94:445–458

Niggli U, Fliessbach A, Hepperly P, Scialabba N (2009) Low greenhouse gas agriculture: mitigation and adaptation potential of sustainable farming systems. FAO, Rome

Nilsson LG (1986) Data of yield and soil analysis in the long-term soil fertility experiments. J R Swed Acad Agric For Supply 18:32–70

Ning C, Qu J, He L, Yang R, Chen Q, Luo S, Cai K (2017) Improvement of yield, pest control and Si nutrition of rice by rice-water spinach intercropping. Field Crops Res 208:34–43

Nkomwa EC, Joshua MK, Ngongondo C, Monjerezi M, Chipungu F (2014) Assessing indigenous knowledge systems and climate change adaptation strategies in agriculture: a case study of Chagaka Village, Chikhwawa, Southern Malawi. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 67:164–172

Nordhaus WD (1991) To slow or not to slow: the economics of the greenhouse effect. Econ J 101:920–937

Nowak DJ, Crane DE (2002) Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the USA. Environ Pollut 116(3):381–389

Nyong A, Adesina F, Elasha BO (2007) The value of indigenous knowledge in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the African Sahel. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 12(5):787–797

Oba G (1997) Pastoralists’ traditional drought coping strategies in Northern Kenya. A Report for the Government of the Netherlands and the Government of Kenya, Euroconsult BV, Arnheim and Acacia Consultants Ltd, Nairobi

Oelbermann M, Voroney RP, Gordon AM (2004) Carbon sequestration in tropical and temperate agroforestry systems: a review with examples from Costa Rica and southern Canada. Agr Ecosyst Environ 104(3):359–377

Olayide OE, Tetteh IK, Popoola L (2016) Differential impacts of rainfall and irrigation on agricultural production in Nigeria: Any lessons for climate-smart agriculture? Agric Water Manag 178:30–36

Onwosi CO, Igbokwe VC, Odimba JN, Eke IE, Nwankwoala MO, Iroh IN, Ezeogu LI (2017) Composting technology in waste stabilization: on the methods, challenges and future prospects. J Environ Manage 190:140–157

Oudart D, Robin P, Paillat JM, Paul E (2015) Modelling nitrogen and carbon interactions in composting of animal manure in naturally aerated piles. Waste Manag 46:588–598

Palang H, Printsmann A, Gyuro EK, Urbanc M, Skowronek E, Woloszyn W (2006) The forgotten rural landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe. Landsc Ecol 21:347–357

Palm CA, Gachengo CN, Delve RJ, Cadisch G, Giller KE (2001) Organic inputs for soil fertility management in tropical agroecosystems: application of an organic resource database. Agric Ecosyst Environ 83(1):27–42

Pandey DN (2002) Carbon sequestration in agroforestry systems. Clim Policy 2(4):367–377

Parry ML, Carter TR (1989) An assessment of the effects of climatic change on agriculture. Clim Change 15:95–116

Parry ML, Arnell NW, McMichael AJ, Nicholls RJ, Martens P, Kovats RS, Livermore MTJ, Rosenzweig C, Iglesias A, Fischer G (2001) Millions at risk: defining critical climate change threats and targets. Glob Environ Change 11:181–183

Paul C, Weber M, Knoke T (2017) Agroforestry versus farm mosaic systems: comparing land-use efficiency, economic returns and risks under climate change effects. Sci Total Environ 587:22–35

Paustian KA, Andrén O, Janzen HH, Lal R, Smith P, Tian G, Woomer PL (1997) Agricultural soils as a sink to mitigate CO2 emissions. Soil Use Manag 13:230–244

Peacock AD, Mullen MD, Ringelberg DB, Tyler DD, Hedrick DB, Gale PM, White DC (2001) Soil microbial community responses to dairy manure or ammonium nitrate applications. Soil Biol Biochem 33:1011–1019

Pedraza V, Perea F, Saavedra M, Fuentes M, Castilla A, Alcántara C (2015) Winter cover crops as sustainable alternative to soil management system of a traditional durum wheat-sunflower rotation in Southern Spain. Proc Environ Sci 29:95–96

Pelletier N, Audsley E, Brodt S, Garnett T, Henriksson P, Kendall A, Troell M (2011) Energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. Annu Rev Environ Resour 36:223–246

Peoples MB, Baldock JA (2001) Nitrogen dynamics of pastures: nitrogen fixation inputs, the impact of legumes on soil nitrogen fertility, and the contributions of fixed nitrogen to Australian farming systems. Aust J Exp Agric 41(3):327–346

Phungpracha E, Kansuntisukmongkon K, Panya O (2016) Traditional ecological knowledge in Thailand: mechanisms and contributions to food security. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 37(2):82–87

Pinto P, Long MEF, Piñeiro G (2017) Including cover crops during fallow periods for increasing ecosystem services: Is it possible in croplands of Southern South America? Agr Ecosyst Environ 248:48–57

Poeplau C, Don A (2015) Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils via cultivation of cover crops-a meta-analysis. Agric Ecosyst Environ 200:33–41

Porter JR, Xie L, Challinor AJ, Cochrane K, Howden SM, Iqbal MM, Lobell DB, Travasso MI (2014) Food security and food production systems. In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects, pp. 485–533. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Powlson DS (1994) In Long-term experiments in agricultural and ecological sciences. In: Leigh RA, Johnston AE (eds), pp 97–115. CAB International. Wallingford

Pretty J (1995) Regenerating agriculture. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC

Proietti P, Calisti R, Gigliotti G, Nasini L, Regni L, Marchini A (2016) Composting optimization: integrating cost analysis with the physical-chemical properties of materials to be composted. J Clean Prod 137:1086–1099

Pulido JS, Bocco G (2003) The traditional farming system of a Mexican indigenous community: the case of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Michoaca´n, Mexico. Geoderma 111:249–265

Ramanathan V, Xu Y (2010) The Copenhagen Accord for limiting global warming: criteria, constraints, and available avenues. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(18):8055–8062

Ranells NN, Wagger MG (1996) Nitrogen release from grass and legume cover crop monocultures and bicultures. Agron J 88(5):777–882

Ranganathan J, Daniels RJR, Chandran MDS, Ehrlich PR, Daily GC (2008) Sustaining biodiversity in ancient tropical countryside. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:17852–17854

Raphael JP, Calonego JC, Milori DMB, Rosolem CA (2016) Soil organic matter in crop rotations under no-till. Soil Till Res 155:45–53

Rashti MR, Wang W, Moody P, Chen C, Ghadiri H (2015) Fertiliser-induced nitrous oxide emissions from vegetable production in the world and the regulating factors: a review. Atmos Environ 112:225–233

Reganold JP, Andrews PK, Reeve JR, Carpenter- Boggs L, Schadt CW, Alldredge JR, Ross CF, Davies NM, Zhou J, El-Shemy AH (2010) Fruit and soil quality of organic and conventional strawberry agroecosystems. PLOS ONE 5(9):12346. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012346

Redclift M (1989) The environmental consequences of Latin America’s agricultural development: some thoughts on the Brundtland Commission report. World Dev 17:365–377

Reeves DW (1994) Cover crops and rotations. Crops Residue Management, Advances in Soil Science, pp 125–172

Reilly J (1995) Climate change and global agriculture: recent findings and issues. Am J Agric Econ 77:727–733

Robačer M, Canali S, Kristensen HL, Bavec F, Mlakar SG, Jakop M, Bavec M (2016) Cover crops in organic field vegetable production. Sci Hortic 208:104–110

Robson JP, Berkes F (2011) Exploring some of the myths of land use change: can rural to urban migration drive declines in biodiversity? Glob Environ Change 21:844–854

Rochette P, Janzen H (2005) Towards a revised coefficient for estimating N2O emissions from legumes. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 73:171–179

Rockström J, Steffen W, Noone K, Persson Å, Chapin FS, Lambin EF, Nykvist B et al (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461(7263):472–475

Rojas-Downing MM, Nejadhashemi AP, Harrigan T, Woznicki SA (2017) Climate change and livestock: impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Clim Risk Manag 16:145–163

Rosenzweig C, Parry ML (1994) Potential impact of climate change on world food supply. Nature 367(6459):133–138

Saarinen T (1976) Environmental planning: perception and behavior. Houghton Mifflin Comp, Boston

Sainju UM, Lenssen AW, Allen BL, Stevens WB, Jabro JD (2016) Nitrogen balance in response to dryland crop rotations and cultural practices. Agric Ecosyst Environ 233:25–32

Salick J, Byg A (Eds.) (2007) Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change. Tyndall Centre, Oxford, UK. http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/Indigenouspeoples.pdf (Online)

Salick J, Ross N (2009) Traditional peoples and climate change. Glob Environ Change 19:137–139

Sandor JA, Furbee L (1996) Indigenous knowledge and classification of soils in the Andes of southern Peru. Soil Sci Soc Am J 60:1502–1512

Sanginga N, Lyasse O, Singh BB (2000) Phosphorus use efficiency and nitrogen balance of cowpea breeding lines in a low P soil of the derived savanna zone in West Africa. Plant Soil 220(1–2):119

Sardaro R, Girone S, Acciani C, Bozzo F, Petrontino A, Fucilli V (2016) Agro-biodiversity of Mediterranean crops: farmers’ preferences in support of a conservation programme for olive landraces. Biol Cons 201:210–219

Sauerborn J, Sprich H, Mercer-Quarshie H (2000) Crop rotation to improve agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. J Agron Crop Sci 184:67–72

Sayer J, Cassman KG (2013) Agricultural innovation to protect the environment. Proc Natl Acad Sci 110:8345–8348

Scalise A, Pappa VA, Gelsomino A, Rees RM (2017) Pea cultivar and wheat residues affect carbon/nitrogen dynamics in pea-triticale intercropping: a microcosms approach. Sci Total Environ 592:436–450

Scarpat D, Simeone M (2013) Euro-Mediterranean integration and competitiveness of the agro-food sector: an empirical analysis in Campania region. New Medit 12(3):56–64

Schiere H, Kater L (2001) Mixed crop–livestock farming: a review of traditional technologies based on literature and field experiences. FAO, Rome

Schipanski ME, Barbercheck M, Douglas MR, Finney DM, Haider K, Kaye JP, White C (2014) A framework for evaluating ecosystem services provided by cover crops in agroecosystems. Agric Syst 125:12–22

Schmidhuber J, Tubiello FN (2007) Global food security under climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104(50):19703–19708

Schoeneberger M, Bentrup G, De Gooijer H, Soolanayakanahally R, Sauer T, Brandle J, Current D (2012) Branching out: agroforestry as a climate change mitigation and adaptation tool for agriculture. J Soil Water Conserv 67(5):128A–136A

Selmi S, Boulinier T (2003) Breeding bird communities in southern Tunisian oases : the importance of traditional agricultural practices for bird diversity in a semi-natural system. Biol Cons 110(2):285–294

Shava S, O’Donoghue R, Krasny ME, Zazu C (2009) Traditional food crops as a source of community resilience in Zimbabwe. Int J Afr Renaiss Stud 4(1):31–48

Shen Q, Wang Y, Chen W, Shi R (1997) Changes of soil microbial biomass C and P during wheat growth after application of fertilizers. Pedosphere 7:225–230

Simons AJ, Leakey RRB (2004) Tree domestication in tropical agroforestry. In: New vistas in agroforestry. Springer, Netherlands, pp 167–181

Singh GS, Ram SC, Kuniyal JC (1997a) Changing traditional land use patterns in the Great Himalayas: a case study of Lahaul Valley. J Environ Syst 25:195–211

Singh GS, Rao KS, Saxena KG (1997b) Energy and economic efficiency of the mountain farming system: a case study in the north-western Himalaya. J Sustain Agric 9(2–3):25–49

Singh BR, Borresen T, Uhlen G, Ekeberg E (1998) Long-term effects of crop rotation, cultivation practices and fertilizers on carbon sequestration in soils in Norway. In: Lal R, Kimble JM, Follett RF, Stewart BA (eds) Management of carbon sequestration in soil. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 195–208

Singh BB, Ajeigbe HA, Tarawali SA, Fernandez-Rivera S, Abubakar M (2003) Improving the production and utilization of cowpea as food and fodder. Field Crops Res 84(1):169–177

Smit B, Burton I, Klein RJT, Street R (1999) The science of adaptation: a framework for assessment. Miti Adapt Strat Global Change 4:199–213

Smith JB (1996) Using a decision matrix to assess climate change adaptation. In: Smith JB, Bhatti N, Menzhulin G, Benioff R, Budyko MI, Campos M, Jallow B, Rijsberman F (eds) Adapting to climate change: an international perspective. Springer, New York, pp 68–79

Smith JB, Lenhart SS (1996) Climate change adaptation policy options. Clim Res 6:193–201

Smith P, Powlson DS, Glendining MJ, Smith JU (1997) Potential for carbon sequestration in European soils : preliminary estimates for five scenarios using results from long-term experiments. Glob Change Biol 3:67–79

Solomon S (2007) Climate change 2007-the physical science basis: working group I contribution to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC, vol 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Song X, Ye C (2017) Climate change adaptation pathways for residential buildings in Southern China. Energy Proc 105:3062–3067

Soobhany N, Mohee R, Garg VK (2017) Inactivation of bacterial pathogenic load in compost against vermicompost of organic solid waste aiming to achieve sanitation goals: a review. Waste Manag 64:51–62

Srivastava P, Singh R, Tripathi S, Raghubanshi AS (2016) An urgent need for sustainable thinking in agriculture: an Indian scenario. Ecol Ind 67:611–622

Steele MK, Coale FJ, Hill RL (2012) Winter annual cover crop impacts on no-till soil physical properties and organic matter. Soil Sci Soc Am J 76:2164–2173

Steffen W, Crutzen PJ, McNeill JR (2007) The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of Nature? Ambio 36:614–621

Stifel LD (1989) Transforming traditional agriculture. In: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Annual Reports, 1988/89. Ibadan, Nigeria, pp. 6–11

Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner GK, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Midgley PM (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). Cambridge University Press, New York

Sun HY, Deng SP, Raun WR (2004) Bacterial community structure and diversity in a century-old manure-treated agroecosystem. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:5868–5874

Syakila A, Kroeze C (2011) The global nitrous oxide budget revisited. Greenh Gas Meas Manag 1:17–26

Szott LT, Fernandes ECM, Sanchez PA (1991) Soil–plant interactions in agroforestry systems. In: Jarvis PG (ed) Agroforestry: principles and practices. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 127–152

Tai AP, Martin MV, Heald CL (2014) Threat to future global food security from climate change and ozone air pollution. Nat Clim Change 4(9):817–821

Takeuchi K (2010) Rebuilding the relationship between people and nature: the Satoyama initiative. Ecol Res 25:891–897

Tebaldi C, Hayhoe K, Arblaster J, Meehl G (2006) Going to the extremes. Clim Change 79(3–4):185–211. doi: 10.1007/s10584-006-9051-4

Tellez-Rio A, Vallejo A, García-Marco S, Martin-Lammerding D, Tenorio JL, Rees RM, Guardia G (2017) Conservation agriculture practices reduce the global warming potential of rainfed low N input semi-arid agriculture. Eur J Agron 84:95–104

Tesfahunegn GB, Mekonen K, Tekle A (2016) Farmers’ perception on causes, indicators and determinants of climate change in northern Ethiopia: implication for developing adaptation strategies. Appl Geogr 73:1–12

Tester CF (1990) Organic amendment effects on physical and chemical properties of a sandy soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:1284–1292

Theisen G, Silva JJC, Silva JS, Andres A, Anten NPR, Bastiaans L (2017) The birth of a new cropping system: towards sustainability in the sub-tropical lowland agriculture. Field Crops Research 212:82–94

Thorup-Kristensen K, Magid J, Stoumann Jensen L (2003) Catch crops and green manure as biological tools in nitrogen management in temperate zones. Adv Agron 79:227–302

Tilman D (1998) The greening of the green revolution. Nature 396(6708):211–212

Tingem M, Rivington M (2009) Adaptation for crop agriculture to climate change in Cameroon: turning on the heat. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 14(2):153–168

Touch V, Martin RJ, Scott JF, Cowie A, Li Liu D (2016) Climate change adaptation options in rainfed upland cropping systems in the wet tropics: a case study of smallholder farms in North-West Cambodia. J Environ Manage 182:238–246

Triberti L, Nastri A, Baldoni G (2016) Long-term effects of crop rotation, manure and mineral fertilisation on carbon sequestration and soil fertility. Eur J Agron 74:47–55

Tripathi A, Singh GS (2013) Perception, anticipation and responses of people to changing climate in the Gangetic Plain of India. Curr Sci 105:1673–1684

Tripathi A, Tripathi DK, Chauhan DK, Kumar N, Singh GS (2016) Paradigms of climate change impacts on some major food sources of the world: a review on current knowledge and future prospects. Agric Ecosyst Environ 216:356–373

Tubiello FN, Fischer G (2007) Reducing climate change impacts on agriculture: global and regional effects of mitigation, 2000–2080. Technol Forecast Soc Change 74(7):1030–1056

Uhlen G, Tveitnes S (1995) Effects of long-term crop rotation, fertilizers, farm manure and straw on soil productivity. Nor J Agric Sci 9:143–161

Van Dijk H (1982) Survey of Dutch soil organic research with regard to humification and degradation rates in arable land. In: Boels DD, Davis B, Johnston AE (eds) Land use seminar on land degradation. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 133–143

Verchot LV, Van Noordwijk M, Kandji S, Tomich T, Ong C, Albrecht A, Palm C (2007) Climate change: linking adaptation and mitigation through agroforestry. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 12(5):901–918

VijayaVenkataRaman S, Iniyan S, Goic R (2012) A review of climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 16(1):878–897

von Cossel M, Möhring J, Kiesel A, Lewandowski I (2017) Methane yield performance of amaranth ( Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) and its suitability for legume intercropping in comparison to maize ( Zea mays L.). Ind Crops Prod 103:107–121

Wang ZB (1997) Chronicles of agriculture of Yongjia County. Ocean Press, Beijing, p 11, 631 (in Chinese)

Wang Q, Li Y, Alva A (2010) Cropping systems to improve carbon sequestration for mitigation of climate change. J Environ Prot 1(03):207

Wang ZB, Chen J, Mao SC, Han YC, Chen F, Zhang LF, Li CD (2017) Comparison of greenhouse gas emissions of chemical fertilizer types in China’s crop production. J Clean Prod 141:1267–1274

West TO, Post WM (2002) Soil organic carbon sequestration rates by tillage and crop rotation: a global data analysis. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:1930–1946

Wheaton EE, Maciver DC (1999) A framework and key questions for adapting to climate variability and change. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 4(3):215–225

Wilken GC (1987) Good farmers: traditional agricultural resource management in Mexico and Central America. University of California Press, Berkeley

Willy RW (1983) Intercropping studies with annual crops. In: Nugent J, O’Connor M (eds) Better crops for food, CIBA foundation symposium 97. Pitman, London, p 1983

Wolf J, Allice I, Bell T (2013) Values, climate change, and implications for adaptation: evidence from two communities in Labrador. Can Global Environ Change 23:548–562

Woods BA, Nielsen HØ, Pedersen AB, Kristofersson D (2017) Farmers’ perceptions of climate change and their likely responses in Danish agriculture. Land Use Policy 65:109–120

Yadav H, Fatima R, Sharma A, Mathur S (2017) Enhancement of applicability of rock phosphate in alkaline soils by organic compost. Appl Soil Ecol 113:80–85

Yan Y, Wang YC, Feng CC, Wan PHM, Chang KTT (2017) Potential distributional changes of invasive crop pest species associated with global climate change. Appl Geogr 82:83–92

Yang C, Yang L, Yang Y, Ouyang Z (2004) Rice root growth and nutrient uptake as influenced by organic manure in continuously and alternately flooded paddy soils. Agric Water Manag 70(1):67–81

Article   MathSciNet   Google Scholar  

You XL (2006) Rice-fish culture: a typical model of sustainable traditional agriculture. Agric Archaeol 4:222–224 (in Chinese)

Young A (1997) Agroforestry for soil management, 2nd edn. CAB International, Wallingford, p 320

Zentner RP, Campbell CA, Biederebeck VO, Miller PR, Selles R, Fernandez MR (2001) In search of a suitable cropping system for the semi-arid Canadian Prairies. J Sustain Agric 18(2–3):117–136

Zentner RP, Campbell CA, Biederebeck VO, Selles F, Lemke R, Jefferson PG, Gan Y (2004) Longterm assessment of management of an annual legume green manure crop for fallow replacement in the brown soil zone. Can J Plant Sci 83:475–482

Zhang FS, Li L (2003) Using competitive and facilitative interactions in intercropping systems enhances crop productivity and nutrient use efficiency. Plant Soil 248:305–312

Zhang QC, Shamsi IH, Xu DT, Wang GH, Lin XY, Jilani G, Hussain N, Chaudhry AN (2012) Chemical fertilizer and organic manure inputs in soil exhibit a vice versa pattern of microbial community structure. Appl Soil Ecol 57:1–8

Zhang Y, Min Q, Li H, He L, Zhang C, Yang L (2017a) A conservation approach of globally important agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS): improving traditional agricultural patterns and promoting scale-production. Sustainability 9(2):295

Zhang Y, Min Q, Zhang C, He L, Zhang S, Yang L, Xiong Y (2017b) Traditional culture as an important power for maintaining agricultural landscapes in cultural heritage sites: a case study of the Hani terraces. J Cult Herit 25:170–179

Zheng X, Han S, Huang Y, Wang Y, Wang M (2004) Re-quantifying the emission factors based on field measurements and estimating the direct N 2 O emission from Chinese croplands. Global Biogeochem Cycles 18:GB2018

Zomer RJ, Neufeldt H, Xu J, Ahrends A, Bossio D, Trabucco A, van Noordwijk M, Wang M (2016) Global tree cover and biomass carbon on agricultural land: the contribution of agroforestry to global and national carbon budgets. Sci Rep 6:29987. doi: 10.1038/srep29987

Download references

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the University Grants Commission, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, for providing financial support in the form of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) to Rinku Singh. We are thankful to the Director, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development and Coordinator, Mahamana Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, for providing infrastructure throughout the process.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

Rinku Singh & G. S. Singh

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. S. Singh .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Singh, R., Singh, G.S. Traditional agriculture: a climate-smart approach for sustainable food production. Energ. Ecol. Environ. 2 , 296–316 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7

Download citation

Received : 09 July 2016

Revised : 11 August 2017

Accepted : 12 August 2017

Published : 04 September 2017

Issue Date : October 2017

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Agroforestry
• Climate change
• Climate-smart agriculture
• Intercropping
• Sustainability
• Traditional agriculture
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

A pressure to modernize: a comparison between traditional and industrial agricultural practices.

As the pressures of globalization and modernization increase over time, traditional agricultural practices and knowledge become obsolete. These pressures have created a shift away from a food system dependant on millions of farmers to a system controlled by few agribusinesses.    Modern agricultural practices emphasize production, capital gain, input intensity and crop consistence.   In contrast, traditional agricultural practices emphasize localization, biodiversity, shared genetic resources and a cultural appreciation for many different crops.   S hifts from traditional agricultural to modern agriculture will have significant implications for the biodiversity of cultivated and wild plants.  In the face of global environmental problems, it is essential that agriculture remains resilient to maintain and increase food security. Cultural and biological diversity are essential to agricultural resilience; if one method or crop fails, there are many to compensate. Cultural diversity can maintain biodiversity if the pressure to modernize is reduced and the number of conservation projects continue to grow.

The Development of Agriculture

The development of agricultural about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived. They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming.

Social Studies, World History

Loading ...

The Farming Revolution Taking root around 12,000 years ago, agriculture triggered such a change in society and the way in which people lived that its development has been dubbed the “ Neolithic Revolution.” Traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles, followed by humans since their evolution, were swept aside in favor of permanent settlements and a reliable food supply. Out of agriculture, cities and civilizations grew, and because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet demand, the global population rocketed—from some five million people 10,000 years ago, to eight billion today.

There was no single factor, or combination of factors, that led people to take up farming in different parts of the world. In the Near East , for example, it’s thought that climatic changes at the end of the last ice age brought seasonal conditions that favored annual plants like wild cereals . Elsewhere, such as in East Asia, increased pressure on natural food resources may have forced people to find homegrown solutions. But whatever the reasons for its independent origins, farming sowed the seeds for the modern age.

Plant Domestication

The wild progenitors of crops including wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), barley ( Hordeum vulgare ), and peas ( Lathyrus oleraceus ) are traced to the Near East region. Cereals were grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago, while figs ( Ficus carica ) were cultivated even earlier; prehistoric seedless fruits discovered in the Jordan Valley suggest fig trees were being planted some 11,300 years ago. Though the transition from wild harvesting was gradual, the switch from a nomadic to a settled way of life is marked by the appearance of early Neolithic villages with homes equipped with grinding stones for processing grain.

The origins of rice and millet farming date to the same Neolithic period in China. The world’s oldest known rice paddy fields, discovered in eastern China in 2007, reveal evidence of ancient cultivation techniques such as flood and fire control.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began around 10,000 years ago, but corn ( maize ) had to wait for natural genetic mutations to be selected for in its wild ancestor, teosinte. While maize -like plants derived from teosinte appear to have been cultivated at least 9,000 years ago, the first directly dated corn cob dates only to around 5,500 years ago.

Corn later reached North America, where cultivated sunflowers ( Helianthus annuus ) also started to bloom some 5,000 years ago. This is also when potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) growing in the Andes region of South America began.

Farmed Animals

Cattle ( Bos taurus ), goats ( Capra hircus ), sheep ( Ovis aries ), and pigs ( Sus domesticus ) all have their origins as farmed animals in the so-called Fertile Crescent , a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq, and southwestern Iran. This region kick-started the Neolithic Revolution. Dates for the domestication of these animals range from between 13,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Genetic studies show that goats and other livestock accompanied the westward spread of agriculture into Europe, helping to revolutionize Stone Age society. While the extent to which farmers themselves migrated west remains a subject of debate, the dramatic impact of dairy farming on Europeans is clearly stamped in their DNA. Prior to the arrival of domestic cattle in Europe, prehistoric populations weren’t able to stomach raw cow milk. But at some point during the spread of farming into southeastern Europe, a mutation occurred for lactose tolerance that increased in frequency through natural selection thanks to the nourishing benefits of milk. Judging from the prevalence of the milk-drinking gene in Europeans today—as high as 90 percent in populations of northern countries such as Sweden—the vast majority are descended from cow herders.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Production Managers

Program specialists, last updated.

January 5, 2024

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Alternatives, traditions, and diversity in agriculture (Review Essay)

Agriculture and Human Values

This review essay examines several recent books about agriculture, including two books on the links between cultural and biological diversity in traditional agriculture, two books on the US farm crisis, and a collected volume examining global aspects of agricultural restructuring and sustainability. Finally, a history of " alternative " agriculture provides a framework for thinking about the ways the different cases shed light on the complex relations between tradition and innovation in agriculture. A historical perspective highlights the extent to which " alternative " is a relative term. The monocrop, " factory " mode that dominate US agriculture today certainly differs from what has characterized farming for most of history and in most of the world. Small-scale, more or less organic, diversified farms, which appear so " alternative " in the present context, have until lately counted as the norm, here and elsewhere. These books also highlight both the dangers of the currently dominant industrial agriculture and the potential for genuine alternatives.

Related Papers

Jonathan Code

This is a book chapter in the Routledge Companion to Landscape and Food, published 2018. It outlines initiatives in agriculture often labelled as 'alternative' and explores both this designation, some of the practices and approaches outlined in a selection of 'alternative' approaches to agriculture. The chapter also opens a discussion on epistemological and ontological stances that give rise to different theoretical and practical approaches to agriculture.

Michael E Gertler , JoAnn Jaffe , Lenore Swystun

Chidi Oguamanam

Taking into account the historic transitions and progressions in agricultural science, this article examines the emergence of the phenomenon of agricultural biotechnology. It identifies pivotal sites of tension between agricultural biotechnology and alternative approaches to agriculture. The article identifies two distinct sources of contemporary social tension around agricultural science. First it identifies the epistemological fault line and examines how the latter is promoted by intellectual property. Second, it spotlights the gene-wandering syndrome- a byproduct of genetic modification- and evaluates its impact on the escalating tension in our agricultural communities. Drawing from recent court decisions in Canada, the article recognizes the present urgency for a better jurisprudence and practical regulatory policy on aspects of agricultural biotechnology to mediate current tensions in those communities. It argues that judicial and policy response must be predicated on recognition of agro-epistemic pluralism and an understanding of broader socioeconomic impact of agro-biotechnology on alternative forms of agriculture.

Ed. Agroprint Timişoara, 2011, ISSN 1453-1410, pp. 105-114

Florentina Simona Barbu

It is more and more obvious the necessity of implementing another type of agriculutre, necessity that comes from peoples’ growing interest in enviromental and health issues. Conventional management must be focused on long term sustainability. Alternative forms of agriculture must be sustained by authorities, communities, ideas, social behaviours and adequate lifestyles. Culture can contribute to the paradigm shift, from the conventional one to the alternative sustainable one. Culture can trigger awareness, can offer discussion subjects, can provide legitimacy and can create new oportunities in ways that enable sustainability to dominate agriculture.

Early Agricultural Remnants and Technical Heritage (EARTH): 8,000 Years of Resilience and Innovation

Andreas G. Heiss , John Whittaker , Patricia C. Anderson

This volume is the outcome of collaborative European research among archaeologists, archaeobotanists, ethnographers, historians and agronomists, and frequently uses experiments in archaeology. It aims to establish new common ground for integrating different approaches and for viewing agriculture from the standpoint of the human actors involved. Each chapter provides an interdisciplinary overview of the skills used and the social context of the pursuit of agriculture, highlighting examples of tools, technologies and processes from land clearance to cereal processing and food preparation. This is the second of three volumes in the EARTH monograph series, The dynamics of non-industrial agriculture: 8,000 years of resilience and innovation , which shows the great variety of agricultural practices in human terms, in their social, political, cultural and legal contexts.

Contemporary Sociology

Don Albrecht

Critical Sociology

Philip Mancus

Caroline Knowles

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Graham Dutfield

Culture <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&amp;"/> Agriculture

Geoffrey Lawrence , Kristen Lyons

Stavriani Koutsou

Agricultural Systems

Charles Andrew Francis

Classical Antiquity

David Cleveland

Journal of Peasant Studies

Cristobal Kay

Darryl McLeod

Diritto e Giurisprudenza Agraria, Alimentare e dell'Ambiente

Annals of the Association of American …

Mrill Ingram

Global Environment

Drew Kershen

Antonio Pérez-Díaz

Racine Jacques

The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics

michiel korthals

Sociologia Ruralis

Hans Pongratz

George Liodakis

Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, 4th edition, eds. U. Felt, R. Fouché, C. Miller, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press., and L. Smith-Doerr

Maywa Montenegro

Pashupati Chaudhary

Peter J . Jacques (he, him) , Racine Jacques

Ulrich Schmutz

Gaurav Bansal

Vantage: Journal of Thematic Analysis

Gopi Tripathy

Food Security

Veronika Settele

Horticulturae

Andy Hector

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Traditional vs. Modern Farming Techniques: A Comparative Analysis

Farming techniques have evolved over time, with traditional and modern approaches being at the forefront of agricultural practices. Understanding the differences between these two methods is crucial for making informed decisions regarding sustainability, productivity, and environmental impact. In this comparison, we explore the key contrasts between traditional and modern farming techniques.

1. Approach

Traditional Farming:

• Rooted in centuries-old practices and local knowledge.
• Emphasizes manual labor and simple tools.
• Often geared towards subsistence farming for local consumption.
• Favors crop diversity and organic practices.
• Relies on preservation of indigenous seed varieties.

Modern Farming:

• Incorporates both advanced technology and mechanization.
• Focuses on large-scale production for global markets.
• Utilizes genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for enhanced traits.
• Implements precision agriculture to optimize resource use.
• Aims for higher productivity and efficiency.

2. Environmental Impact

• Low environmental impact due to organic practices.
• Relies on natural pest control and crop rotation to maintain soil fertility.
• Preserves biodiversity through diverse crops and native seeds.
• Higher environmental impact due to chemical inputs and intensive practices.
• Utilizes synthetic both pesticides and fertilizers for pest and disease management.
• May lead to monoculture, reducing biodiversity.

3. Productivity

• Generally lower productivity compared to modern farming.
• Suitable for small-scale and needs.
• Higher productivity and yield due to technological advancements.
• Can meet the demands of a growing global population.

4. Sustainability

• Promotes sustainability through organic practices and community reliance.
• Well-suited for maintaining traditional cultures and local ecosystems.
• Faces challenges in sustainability due to resource-intensive practices.
• Requires responsible management to lessen environmental impact.

Traditional and modern farming techniques offer different approaches to agriculture, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Traditional farming emphasizes cultural heritage, local sustainability, and low environmental impact. On the other hand, modern farming prioritizes high productivity, global market demands, and technological advancements.

The key to sustainable agriculture lies in finding a balance between these two methods. Integrating traditional wisdom with modern innovations can lead to a more resilient and productive agricultural system that respects both cultural heritage and the environment. By fostering knowledge sharing and responsible practices, we can ensure a sustainable future for agriculture while meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Related Posts

How ranchers are restoring soil health, the role of bees on the ranch, how farm-to-table dining supports a greener future.

• No products in the cart.

• Essay On Agriculture

Essay on Agriculture

500+ words essay on agriculture.

In India, agriculture is considered a primary livelihood for most of the population, which can never be underestimated. Agriculture has existed for thousands of years in our country and has developed with new technologies and equipment that have replaced traditional farming methods. In India, few farmers still use the traditional farming method because they lack the resources to use modern techniques. Agriculture is the only sector that contributes to itself and other country sectors. India is the second-largest wheat, rice, cotton, fruit, vegetables, and tea producer. It is also a global powerhouse of agricultural production. It is the world’s largest producer of spices, milk, wheat, rice and cotton.

Role of Agricultural in Economic Development

The population of India largely depends on agriculture, and it is not only just a means of livelihood but a way of living. The Government of India is continuously developing the agricultural sector by framing new laws, implementing modern technology, etc. In India, the entire nation depends on agriculture for food. In earlier times, agriculture was mainly dependent on the monsoon, but dams, canals, pump sets, and tube wells are now being constructed.

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economic development of India as 3/4th of the population is based on agriculture. It is one of the largest sources of livelihood for the country. The country was dependent on agriculture for a thousand years.

The agricultural sector also benefits the industries in getting their raw materials, which clearly states that a large part of the economy will freeze without a flourishing agriculture sector. It leads to the expansion of the industrial sector. Indian agriculture provides employment opportunities to most people, and 70% of the population, especially in rural areas, earn their livelihood from cultivation.

In India, agriculture plays an imperative role in enhancing foreign exchange. To other nations, India exports commodities such as coffee, spices, tea, vegetables, tobacco, etc. Agriculture contributes to Indian exports. With the invention of organic farming, exports have also increased in the last few decades.

Agriculture is the Indian economy’s most important sector, and India’s farm sector is the largest industry. With constant changes and developments happening and introduced policies, it will only go upwards. It will always remain a significant factor in the nation’s economic growth.

An essay on Agriculture is crucial that can be asked during the exam. Students can also access CBSE Essays from our BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions on Agriculture Essay

Where was agriculture originally developed.

Agriculture was developed in modern-day Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, parts of Turkey and Iran which was also known as the Fertile Crescent.

What are the main types of agriculture?

The four main types of agricultural activities include livestock production, crop production, agricultural economics and agricultural engineering.

What are agricultural methods which are famous in India?

The majority of Indian farmers practice subsistence farming which involves the cultivation of crops on small pieces of land.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Request OTP on Voice Call

Post My Comment

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

• Bachelor’s Degrees
• Master’s Degrees
• Doctorate Degrees
• Certificate Programs
• Nursing Degrees
• Cybersecurity
• Human Services
• Science & Mathematics
• Communication
• Liberal Arts
• Social Sciences
• Computer Science
• Admissions Overview
• Tuition and Financial Aid
• Incoming Freshman and Graduate Students
• Transfer Students
• Military Students
• International Students
• Early Access Program
• About Maryville
• Our Faculty
• Our Approach
• Our History
• Accreditation
• Tales of the Brave
• Student Support Overview
• Online Learning Tools
• Infographics

Home / Blog

Why Is Agriculture Important? Benefits and Its Role

July 12, 2022 

Tables of Contents

What Is Agriculture?

Why is agriculture important, how is agriculture important, importance of agriculture in everyday life, how does agriculture affect the economy, importance of agricultural biodiversity, why is agriculture important for the future.

When people think of agriculture, they often envision crop farming: soil and land preparation and sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting different types of plants and vegetation.

However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) , crop farming is just one element of the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sector. Agriculture also encompasses raising livestock; industrial forestry and fishing; and agricultural support services, such as agricultural equipment repair and trucking operations.

Why is agriculture important? It helps sustain life by providing the food we need to survive. It also contributes $7 trillion to the U.S. economy. Despite agriculture’s importance, the Economic Policy Institute reports that farmworkers are among the lowest-paid workers in the U.S.

However, agriculture also provides opportunities for economic equity and helps people prosper around the world. For example, since 2000, the agricultural growth rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has surpassed that of any other region in the world (approximately 4.3% annually), contributing to the region’s economic gains, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). While there’s been a global decline in agricultural jobs — from 1 billion in 2000 to 883 million in 2019, according to employment indicators from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — agriculture remains the second-highest source of employment (26.7% of total work).

Study the impact of access to natural resources, such as water, air, plants and animals

The online BS in sustainability from Maryville University will prepare you to build a better, more sustainable future. Accelerate your degree completion with our transfer credit-friendly program. No SAT or ACT scores required.

• Engage in a range of relevant course topics, from biology to business statistics.
• Learn how human health is connected to the environment through environmental science and health courses.

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating natural resources to sustain human life and provide economic gain. It combines the creativity, imagination, and skill involved in planting crops and raising animals with modern production methods and new technologies.

Agriculture is also a business that provides the global economy with commodities: basic goods used in commerce, such as grain, livestock, dairy, fiber, and raw materials for fuel. For example, fiber is a top crop in U.S. agricultural production , according to The Balance Small Business, and a necessary commodity for the clothing sector.

Back To Top

Agriculture impacts society in many ways, including: supporting livelihoods through food, habitat, and jobs; providing raw materials for food and other products; and building strong economies through trade. Source: The Balance Small Business.

A key to why agriculture is important to business and society is its output — from producing raw materials to contributing to the global supply chain and economic development.

Providing Raw Materials

Raw materials are a core building block of the global economy. Without access to raw materials, manufacturers can’t make products. Nonagricultural raw materials include steel, minerals, and coal. However, many raw materials derive from agriculture — from lumber for construction materials to herbs for adding flavor to food. Corn, for example, is used to produce foods and serves as a foundation for ethanol, a type of fuel. Another example is resins : plant products used in various industrial applications, such as adhesives, coatings, and paints used in construction.

Creating a Strong Supply Chain

Importing and exporting goods such as agricultural products requires shipping methods such as ocean freight, rail, and trucking. Delays in shipping agricultural products from a Los Angeles port can create problems in China, and vice versa, impacting the global supply chain.

For example, sales of soybean crops from Iowa skyrocketed in 2021 due to various factors including delays in South American crop shipments, according to the Iowa Soybean Association. In this example, Iowa benefited from a competitive standpoint. However, delays in shipping crops could also be detrimental to regions expecting shipment, limiting availability of products on store shelves and affecting livelihoods.

Encouraging Economic Development

Agriculture impacts global trade because it’s tied to other sectors of the economy, supporting job creation and encouraging economic development. Countries with strong agricultural sectors experience employment growth in other sectors, according to USAID. Countries with agricultural productivity growth and robust agriculture infrastructure also have higher per capita incomes, since producers in these countries innovate through technology and farm management practices to boost agricultural productivity and profitability.

Resources on the Importance of Agriculture

The following resources provide information about the importance of agriculture as a source of raw materials and its impact on transportation and contribution to economic development:

• American Farm Bureau Federation, Fast Facts About Agriculture & Food : Provides various statistics demonstrating why agriculture is important.
• The Western Producer, “Suddenly Agriculture Is Important ”: Highlights agriculture’s role as a stable commodity provider even amid disruption.
• LinkedIn, “What Is Agriculture and Its Importance? ”: Discusses the importance of agriculture in 10 areas.

When global supply chains are disrupted , considerable attention is given to the technology sector. For example, the lack of computer chips — made from silicon, a nonagricultural raw material — limits a manufacturer’s ability to make computers, cars, and other products. This impacts many areas of society and business.

Agriculture also plays a central role in meeting consumer and business market demand in a world with interconnected economies. Here are different types of products derived from agriculture.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are essential sources of fiber, proteins, and carbohydrates in human diets. Vitamins, such as A, C, and E, and minerals, such as magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus, are naturally occurring in many fruits and vegetables. In addition to health benefits, fruits and vegetables add flavors to the human palette.

Animal Feed

Some fruits and vegetables are grown to provide feed for animals, from poultry to livestock. The American Industry Feed Association reports that about 900 animal feed ingredients are approved by law in the U.S. These include ingredients that come from agricultural production, including hay, straw, oils, sprouted grains, and legumes.

Natural Rubber Production

The number of vehicles in the world  is more than 1.4 billion, according to Hedges & Company market research. Every single one runs on rubber tires. According to GEP, the top rubber-producing countries are Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia — collectively representing approximately 70% of  global natural rubber production  — and about 90% of suppliers are small-scale farmers.

Cotton for Clothing

From cotton to clothes, the journey starts with agricultural production. Cotton is grown, harvested, and then processed, spun, and woven into fabric before it becomes a piece of clothing. Cotton production encompasses an expansive global supply chain, and according to Forum for the Future , it’s a leading commodity, making up approximately 31% of all textile fibers globally.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports favorable economics of biofuels , produced from biomass sources including agricultural products such as corn, soybeans, sugarcane, and algae. The benefits include reduced greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions and the potential for increased incomes for farmers. However, biodiesel production requires the use of land and water resources that can affect food costs.

Industrial Products

Bio-based chemistry involves using raw materials derived from biomass to develop industrial products. Different industrial products derived from bio-based chemicals include bioplastics, plant oils, biolubricants, inks, dyes, detergents, and fertilizers. Bio-based chemicals and products offer an alternative to conventional products derived from petroleum products. Bio-based chemistry is considered a type of green chemistry because it promotes the reduction of environmental impacts in industrial production.

Pharmaceutical Products

For thousands of years, humans have turned to plants to help treat what ails them. For example, ginger, a plant root typically consumed in tea, can help aid digestion. Substances derived from plants and herbs can also help in healthcare. For example, extracted chemicals from the foxglove plant are used for digoxin, a drug used for heart failure. Another example is polylactic acid (PLA), a chemical produced when glucose is fermented into lactic acid in green plants. PLA has applications in tissue engineering, cardiovascular implants, orthopedic interventions, cancer therapy, and fabrication of surgical implants, according to a study published in Engineered Regeneration .

Agricultural products provide essential resources for daily activities, such as: getting ready for work in the morning, thanks to coffee and clothes; washing hands with soap; fueling vehicles to travel; preparing and eating food; and minding health through medicines and treatments. Sources: Commodity.com, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ThoughtCo, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For thousands of years, agriculture has played an important role in everyday life. Before agriculture, hunting and gathering enabled humans to survive. It wasn’t until the transition to the planned sowing and harvesting of crops that humans began to thrive. Humans developed tools and practices to improve agricultural output with more efficient means of sustaining themselves. From there, innovations that created industries led to the modern era.

Today, the importance of agriculture in everyday life can’t be minimized. Without the agriculture sector, activities such as getting dressed for work and cleaning the home wouldn’t be possible. Here are examples of the agricultural products we use in our everyday lives:

• Shelter . Wood and plant-based materials, such as bamboo, can be used for indoor décor and construction materials.
• Morning routine.  Mint is often an ingredient in toothpaste, adding flavor while brushing your teeth, and the caffeine in coffee that keeps you awake is derived from the coffee bean.
• Dressing up.  In addition to cotton, clothing can be manufactured from hemp, ramie, and flax. Bio-based materials can be used to produce grooming products such as skin creams and shampoos.
• Cleaning.  Two types of chemicals used in detergents, cleaning products, and bath or hand soap — surfactants and solvents — can be produced from biomass.
• Driving to work.  Plants make it possible to get to and from work. Think of rubber (sourced from rubber trees) and biodiesel fuel, which often includes ethanol (sourced from corn).
• Entertainment.  Paper from trees enables you to write, and some musical instruments, such as reed instruments, require materials made from plants.
• Education.  From pencils (still often made of wood) to paper textbooks, students rely on agricultural products every day.

Agriculture can have a significant effect on the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service reports that  agricultural and food sectors  provided 10% of all U.S. employment in 2020 — nearly 20 million full- and part-time jobs. Additionally, the USDA reported that  cash receipts from crops  totaled nearly $198 billion in 2020.  Animal and animal product receipts  weren’t far behind in 2020, totaling $165 billion.

The interdependence of the  food and agriculture sector  with other sectors, including water and wastewater systems, transportation systems, energy, and chemical, makes it a critical engine for economic activity, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Agriculture also impacts economic development by contributing to the overall U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), directly and indirectly. It does so through farm production, forestry, fishing activities, textile mills and products, apparel and food and beverage sales, and service and manufacturing.

• Farm production.  The latest USDA data on  farming and farming income  report the U.S. had a little over 2 million farms, encompassing 897 million acres, in 2020. Farm production includes producing fruits, vegetables, plants, and varieties of crops to meet demand for agricultural products throughout the country and abroad.
• Forestry and fishing activities.  Agricultural activities include forestry and harvesting fish in water farms or in their natural habitat.  Agroforestry is focused on “establishing, managing, using, and conserving forests, trees and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values,” according to the USDA. A form of fishing activity known as  aquaculture  involves the production of fish and other sea animals under controlled conditions to provide food.
• Textile mills and products.  The  S. cotton industry  produces $21 billion in products and services annually, according to the USDA. The industry has created various employment roles, such as growers, ginners, and buyers working on farms and in textile mills, cotton gins, offices, and warehouses.
• Apparel and food and beverage sales.  Since agriculture is a business, selling products made from agricultural production is essential. A key aspect of the sales component in agriculture is to help growers build capacity and understand the market dynamics to meet the needs of customers, many of whom care deeply about Food services and eating and drinking places accounted for 10.5 million jobs in 2020, the largest share among all categories within the agriculture and food sectors, according to the USDA.
• Manufacturing.  Agricultural products contribute to the manufacturing of a huge variety of goods, including food and beverage products, textiles, cleaning and personal products, construction materials, fuels, and more. According to the USDA, food and beverage manufacturing companies employ about 1.7 million people in the U.S.

Here’s how agriculture directly and indirectly contributes to the U.S. gross domestic product: farm production, forestry and fishing activities, textile mills and products, apparel and food and beverage sales, and service and manufacturing. Sources: American Farm Bureau Federation, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the USDA.

Here are ways agriculture and related industries impact economic development:

Agribusiness

Agribusiness  consists of the companies that perform the commercial activities involved in getting agricultural goods to market. It includes all types of businesses in the food sector, from small family farms to global agricultural conglomerates. In the U.S., farms contributed about $136 billion to GDP (about 0.6% of total GDP) in 2019, according to the USDA.

However, farms are just one component of agribusiness. Agribusiness also includes businesses involved in manufacturing agricultural equipment (such as tractors) and chemical-based products (like fertilizers) and companies involved in the production and refinement of biofuels. USDA data reports that in total, farms and related industries contributed more than $1.1 trillion to GDP, a little over 5% of the GDP, in 2019.

The  economics of agribusiness  also entails building production systems and supply chains that help maintain a country’s economic and social stability. Through the development of organizational and technological knowledge, agribusiness plays a vital role in protecting the environment and biodiversity near farms and using natural resources sustainably.

Food Security

Food security  is central to the agricultural industry:  Sustainable agriculture  is a key to fulfilling the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including  SDG 2 :  Zero Hunger . In addition to food security, the agricultural sector raises the incomes among the poorest communities  up to four times more effectively  than other sectors, according to the World Bank.

Job Creation

Throughout the world, agriculture plays an important role in job creation. For example, agriculture accounts for 25% of exports in developing countries in Latin America, about 5% of their regional GDP, according to a report about  the importance of agribusiness  from BBVA, a corporate and investment bank. This activity is a source of economic activity and jobs in these countries. In the U.S., agriculture and related industries provide 19.7 million full- and part-time jobs, about 10.3% of all employment.

Resources on the Economic Impact of Agriculture

The following resources highlight agriculture’s impact on the economy, from how disruption affects the business and the benefits of the sector to people’s livelihoods:

• Economic Research Service, Farming and Farm Income : Provides an overview of trends in farming and economic development statistics.
• American Journal of Agricultural Economics, “The Importance of Agriculture in the Economy: Impacts from COVID-19” : Highlights why agriculture is important based on the impact of COVID-19’s disruptions to the sector.
• Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, “Agriculture, Transportation, and the COVID-19 Crisis” : Discusses how transportation services that COVID-19 has disrupted can impact agricultural supply chains.

Advanced farming equipment and the increased use of fertilizers and pesticides have resulted in higher crop yields. At the same time, they’ve impacted the environment, contributing to soil and water pollution and climate change. NASA projects a 24% decline in corn crop yields by 2030, thanks to climate change. However, ensuring a healthy biodiversity can help mitigate the impact. Here are some factors to consider:

• Sustainable agriculture.  Through  sustainable agricultural practices , farmers and ranchers help ensure the profitability of their land while improving soil fertility, helping promote sound environmental practices, and minimizing environmental impacts through  climate action .
• Climate change regulation.  The agricultural sector produced about 10% of U.S.  greenhouse gas emissions  in 2019, according to the EPA. Regulation and policy changes can help promote sustainable practices in the sector and provide guidance on agricultural adaptation to address the challenges that climate change poses.
• Agriculture technology and innovation.  From temperature- and moisture-sensing devices to GPS technologies for land surveys to robots,  agriculture technology  can result in higher crop yields, less chemical runoff, and lower impact on natural resources.

Agricultural Biodiversity Resources

Find information about agricultural biodiversity and its impacts in the following resources:

• Our World in Data, “Environmental Impacts of Food Production” : Discusses how sustainable agriculture offers a path to addressing food and nutrition issues.
• IBM, “The Benefits of Sustainable Agriculture and How We Get There” : Addresses how artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics technologies help farmers maximize food production and minimize their environmental impact.
• S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Sources and Solutions: Agriculture : Explains how agriculture can contribute to reducing nutrient pollution.
• FoodPrint, Biodiversity and Agriculture : Provides answers to what it will take to preserve the health of the planet to safeguard our own food supply.
• Brookings, “What Is the Future of Work in Agri-Food? ”: Discusses the future of agricultural automation and its impact on work.

Agriculture offers an opportunity to improve the lives of millions of food-insecure people and help countries develop economies that create jobs and raise incomes. Today’s agriculture also impacts future generations. To ensure the long-term success of the global agricultural sector, building a more sustainable economic system aligned with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals is a crucial imperative to help create a more equitable society.

Infographic Sources

American Farm Bureau Federation, “Farm Contribution to Agricultural GDP at Record Low”

Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate), and GDP by Industry, Second Quarter 2021”

Commodity.com, “Learn All About Agricultural Commodities and Market Trends”

Environmental Protection Agency, Commonly Consumed Food Commodities

The Balance Small Business, “What Is Agricultural Production?”

ThoughtCo, “List of Medicines Made From Plants”

USDA, Ag and Food Sectors and the Economy

USDA National Agricultural Library, Industrial, Energy, and Non-food Crops

Bring us your ambition and we’ll guide you along a personalized path to a quality education that’s designed to change your life.

Take Your Next Brave Step

Receive information about the benefits of our programs, the courses you'll take, and what you need to apply.

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction
• Research techniques
• Earliest beginnings
• Southwest Asia
• The Americas
• The Nile valley
• Mesoamerica
• South America
• North America
• Early history
• The classical-imperial era
• Tools and techniques
• Early historic period
• The Mughal century ( c. 1600 ce )
• Southeast Asia
• Farm implements
• Cropping systems
• Harvesting and processing
• Open-field system
• Plows and plowing
• New lands and crops
• The Netherlands
• The tractor
• Grain combine
• Mechanized equipment for corn
• Mechanized equipment for cotton
• Tomato-harvesting equipment
• Automobiles, trucks, and airplanes
• The soybean
• The sugar beet
• Dry farming
• Vertical Farming and the Future
• Early work in genetics
• Maize, or corn
• The Green Revolution
• Genetic engineering
• Beef cattle
• Artificial breeding
• Electrical cooperatives
• Modern applications
• Beginnings of pest control
• Pesticides as a panacea: 1942–62
• Integrated control
• Economics, politics, and agriculture

origins of agriculture

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• World History Encyclopedia - Origins of World Agriculture
• Biology LibreTexts - Agriculture
• National Geographic - Agriculture
• Frontiers - Apes and agriculture
• Oregon State University Pressbooks - History and Science of Cultivated Plants - The Origins of Agriculture
• Table Of Contents

Recent News

origins of agriculture , the active production of useful plants or animals in ecosystems that have been created by people. Agriculture has often been conceptualized narrowly, in terms of specific combinations of activities and organisms—wet-rice production in Asia , wheat farming in Europe , cattle ranching in the Americas, and the like—but a more holistic perspective holds that humans are environmental engineers who disrupt terrestrial habitats in specific ways. Anthropogenic disruptions such as clearing vegetation or tilling the soil cause a variety of localized changes; common effects include an increase in the amount of light reaching ground level and a reduction in the competition among organisms. As a result, an area may produce more of the plants or animals that people desire for food , technology , medicine , and other uses.

Over time, some plants and animals have become domesticated, or dependent on these and other human interventions for their long-term propagation or survival. Domestication is a biological process in which, under human selection, organisms develop characteristics that increase their utility, as when plants provide larger seeds, fruit , or tubers than their wild progenitors. Known as cultigens, domesticated plants come from a wide range of families (groups of closely related genera that share a common ancestor; see genus ). The grass ( Poaceae ), bean ( Fabaceae ), and nightshade or potato ( Solanaceae ) families have produced a disproportionately large number of cultigens because they have characteristics that are particularly amenable to domestication.

Domesticated animals tend to have developed from species that are social in the wild and that, like plants, could be bred to increase the traits that are advantageous for people. Most domesticated animals are more docile than their wild counterparts, and they often produce more meat , wool , or milk as well. They have been used for traction, transport, pest control, assistance, and companionship and as a form of wealth. Species with abundant domesticated varieties, or breeds, include the dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ), cat ( Felis catus ), cattle ( Bos species), sheep ( Ovis species), goat ( Capra species), swine ( Sus species), horse ( Equus caballus ), chicken ( Gallus gallus ), and duck and goose (family Anatidae ).

Because it is a cultural phenomenon, agriculture has varied considerably across time and space. Domesticated plants and animals have been (and continue to be) raised at scales ranging from the household to massive commercial operations. This article recognizes the wide range of activities that encompass food production and emphasizes the cultural factors leading to the creation of domesticated organisms. It discusses some of the research techniques used to discern the origins of agriculture as well as the general trajectory of agricultural development in the ancient societies of Southwest Asia , the Americas, East Asia , Southeast Asia , the Indian subcontinent , and Europe . For specific techniques of habitat alteration and plant propagation , see horticulture . For techniques of animal propagation, see livestock farming ; poultry farming .

Essay on Agriculture – The Backbone of the India

Students are often asked to write an essay on Agriculture – The Backbone of the India in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Agriculture – The Backbone of the India

Introduction.

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. It provides raw materials to industries and is the backbone of the Indian economy.

Importance of Agriculture

Agriculture is important as it feeds the nation. It also creates vast employment opportunities. Industries like textiles and sugar depend on agriculture for raw materials.

Challenges in Agriculture

Despite its importance, agriculture faces challenges like lack of modern technology, dependence on monsoon, and low productivity. These need to be addressed for sustainable growth.

Agriculture is vital for India’s economic and social well-being. It’s the backbone of the nation and deserves attention and support.

250 Words Essay on Agriculture – The Backbone of the India

The significance of agriculture in india, interdependence of agriculture and indian society.

The interdependence of agriculture and Indian society is profound, as it not only provides livelihoods but also ensures food security. The diversity of crops, ranging from cereals to fruits and vegetables, caters to the dietary needs of the vast population. Moreover, agriculture has a direct bearing on rural development, as it influences the rural economy and shapes the social dynamics in these areas.

Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability

In the context of environmental sustainability, agriculture plays a critical role. Traditional agricultural practices in India have always advocated for harmony with nature. However, the challenge lies in balancing the need for increased production with sustainable practices. Innovative strategies such as organic farming and precision agriculture are being adopted to address this.

The Way Forward

The future of Indian agriculture hinges on technological advancements, policy reforms, and a shift towards sustainable farming practices. Emphasizing research and development, improving access to credit, and strengthening the agricultural value chain are crucial steps in this direction.

In conclusion, agriculture remains the lifeblood of India’s economy and society. Its importance transcends beyond mere economic contributions, linking to social cohesion, food security, and environmental sustainability. As such, the need to prioritize and modernize this sector is more imperative than ever.

500 Words Essay on Agriculture – The Backbone of the India

Agriculture, often referred to as the backbone of India, is a significant part of the country’s economy, contributing to approximately 17% of the total GDP. It is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population, emphasizing its crucial role in the socio-economic fabric of the country.

Historical Significance

The modern agricultural landscape.

Today, India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat, and spices. It’s the second-largest fruit producer and the third-largest in vegetables. Yet, the sector faces numerous challenges such as inadequate irrigation facilities, small and fragmented land-holdings, and lack of modern technology.

Technological Interventions in Agriculture

In the age of digital revolution, technology has started making its way into the agricultural sector. Precision farming, using AI and IoT, is enhancing productivity and reducing wastage. Drones are being used for crop monitoring, and mobile apps are providing real-time weather forecasts and market prices to farmers.

Agriculture and Climate Change

The role of government.

The government plays a pivotal role in supporting agriculture. Policies like Minimum Support Price (MSP), crop insurance schemes, and subsidies on fertilizers aim to safeguard farmers’ interests. The recent farm bills have sparked debates about their potential impact on farmers’ income and the agricultural sector at large.

Agriculture and India’s Future

Agriculture’s role extends beyond mere food production. It is a key player in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the right mix of policies, technological interventions, and sustainable practices, agriculture can be the driving force in India’s journey towards sustainable development.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

• School Education /

Essay on Agriculture: Short Essay, 100 and 250 Words

• Updated on  
• May 18, 2024

Agriculture is one of the major sectors in India that provide livelihood to the people. The majority of the Indian population depends on agriculture as it is the major source of income and contributes to around 18.3% of India’s GDP. It provides food, raw materials, and employment to billions of people across the world. As common people, most of us anticipate that agriculture is just the cultivation of crops.

However, it is much more than that, it includes fishery , livestock, forestry , and crop production . It is the backbone of the civilization. Read this blog and get to know how to write an essay on agriculture with the help of examples!

Table of Contents

• 1 Short Essay on Agriculture
• 2 Essay on Agriculture 100 Words
• 3.1 Significance of Agriculture
• 3.2 Challenges for Agriculture
• 3.3 Sustainable agriculture

Short Essay on Agriculture

India is also referred to as agricultural land because a major part of India is covered by agricultural activities. The entire world has been practising agriculture for thousands of years from the nomadic times to date. 

Agriculture started during the Neolithic Revolution for the production of food. Nowadays, the scenario has been completely changed with the application of AI tools and Machinery in the world of Agriculture. New technologies and equipment are being developed to replace the traditional methods of farming. Some of the AI technologies are integrated sensors, weathering forecasting, IoT-powered agriculture drones, smart spraying, etc. 

Millions of people across the world depend on agriculture, even animals are also dependent on agriculture for their fodder and habitat. Besides that, agriculture also plays a key role in the economic development of the country because 3/4th of the population depends on agriculture.

Also Read: Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 

Essay on Agriculture 100 Words

Agriculture is the main source of life on earth. Animals and humans depend on agriculture for a living. It is the oldest practice in the history of mankind. There has been tremendous growth and evolution in the field of agriculture.

The use of AI-based technology and modern techniques in farming is helping the sector to generate high yields with better quality. 

Now, our country is able to produce surplus food crops which is enough to satisfy domestic needs. It also helps to eradicate malnutrition and address hunger issues in various parts of the world. Thus, agriculture will always remain the cornerstone of human existence and continue to fulfil the demands of the changing world.

Also Read: Essay on Population Explosion

Essay on Agriculture 250 Words

Agriculture can be termed as the global powerhouse of the world. It is feeding billions of people across the world. Every individual directly or indirectly depends on agriculture.

Significance of Agriculture

The significance of agriculture is listed below:

• The food we consume is a gift of the agriculture sector. Farmers are working day and night to cultivate food crops for the entire human population.
• It also adds value to the Gross Domestic Product as well as the national income of the country.
• As it is one of the largest sectors, there is a huge need for a labor force and employees. Thus, it imparts employment to 80% of the people in this world.
• 70% of the total food crop production of India is used for the purpose of exports. Some of the main items of export are rice, spices, wheat, cotton, tea, tobacco, jute products, and many more.

Challenges for Agriculture

Every year, the agriculture sector has to face difficult challenges. It includes harsh weather conditions be it drought or flood or extreme heat waves and cold breezes. Soil degradation is also one of the major threats to agriculture due to soil erosion and soil pollution. All these conditions create the need to generate sustainable practices in the agriculture sector.

Sustainable agriculture

Advancement in technology helps to create sustainable agriculture. The use of technology in the field of agriculture like weather forecasts, automated sowing, drones, AI-driven sensors, pest control, etc. helps in developing sustainable agriculture.

Besides that, farmers are adopting new farming practices such as crop rotation reduced chemicals, organic farming, etc. for sustainable agriculture.

Also Read: Essay on Water Pollution

Agriculture is the process of cultivation of crops. Every individual is dependent on agriculture for food crops, and employment. The perfect essay on agriculture must include, what is agriculture, the importance, and the significance of agriculture.

Here are 5 main points about agriculture: Agriculture is the source of food and fodder for the world; It is one of the oldest human practices that date back thousands of years; Agriculture is essential for the breeding and raising of livestock; The incorporation of modern techniques in farming helped in the evolution of the agriculture sector; and Agriculture contributes to the economy of the nation.

Agriculture refers to the science, art, or practice of cultivating crops, raising livestock, and marketing the finished products for the use of human consumption while contributing to the economy of the country.

Related Reads

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu.

Kajal Thareja

Hi, I am Kajal, a pharmacy graduate, currently pursuing management and is an experienced content writer. I have 2-years of writing experience in Ed-tech (digital marketing) company. I am passionate towards writing blogs and am on the path of discovering true potential professionally in the field of content marketing. I am engaged in writing creative content for students which is simple yet creative and engaging and leaves an impact on the reader's mind.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Connect With Us

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. take the first step today..

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

Don't Miss Out

Farmer Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on farmer.

Farmers are the backbone of our society. They are the ones who provide us all the food that we eat. As a result, the entire population of the country depends upon farmers . Be it the smallest or the largest country. Because of them only we are able to live on the planet. Thus Farmers are the most important people in the world. Though farmers have so much importance still they do not have proper living.

Importance of farmers

Farmers have great importance in our society. They are the ones who provide us food to eat. Since every person needs proper food for their living, so they are a necessity in society.

There are different types of farmers. And they all have equal significance. First are the farmers who grow a crop like wheat, barley, rice, etc. Since the maximum intake in the Indian houses is of wheat and rice. So, the cultivation of wheat and rice is much in farming. Moreover, farmers who grow these crops are of prime importance. Second, are the ones who cultivate fruits. These farmers have to prepare the soil for different types of fruits. Because these fruits grow according to the season. Therefore the farmers need to have a great knowledge of fruits and crops. There are many other farmers who grow different other types . Furthermore, they all have to work very hard to get maximum harvesting.

In addition to the farmers contribute almost 17% of the Indian economy. That is the maximum of all. But still, a farmer is deprived of every luxury of society.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conditions of farmers in India

The condition of farmers in India is critical. We are hearing suicide news of farmers every week or month. Moreover, farmers are all living a difficult life from past years. The problem is they are not getting enough pay. Since the middlemen get most of the money, so a farmer gets nothing in hand. Moreover, farmers are not having money to send their kids to school. Sometimes the situation gets so worse that they are not even having proper food. Thus farmers go in famine. As a result, they attempt suicides.

Furthermore, the other reason for the worst condition of farmers is Global warming. Since Global Warming is hampering our planet in every way, it affects our farmers too. Because of global warming, there is a delay in season. As different crops have their own season to ripe, they are not getting nourishment. Crops need proper sunlight and rain to grow. So if the crops are not getting it they get destroyed. This is one of the main reasons why farms are getting destroyed. As a result, farmers commit suicide.

In order to save farmers, our Government is trying to provide them with various privileges. Recently the government has exempted them from all the loans. Moreover, the government pays an annual pension of Rs. 6000 to them. This helps them to at least have some earning apart from their profession. Furthermore, the government provides quotas (reservations) to their children. This ensures that their children get a proper education. All the children should get a proper education in today’s world. So that they get a chance to live a better life.

At last, farming is a profession which hard labor and effort . Moreover seeing the growing population of our country we should take initiatives to help farmers of our country.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [{ “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Who are farmers?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Farmers are the one who grows crops in farms. Thus they provide us food to eat.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Why are farmers attempting suicides?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”:”Farmers are attempting suicides because their profession is not providing them even food to eat. Moreover, their farms are getting destroyed. As a result, it leaves them with nothing.”} }] }

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Agriculture Essay

Agriculture is known to be one of the most significant economic activities. It involves the production of plants, livestock, fiber, fuel and more by utilizing natural resources such as water and land. The term agriculture is broader than it is commonly anticipated to be. It includes forestry, fishery, livestock and most importantly crop production. Agriculture sector is also one of the largest employers across the world, mainly in developing and under developed nations. Millions of people around the world, directly or indirectly depend on agriculture sector for their livelihood. It is an activity which provides our everyday requirement of food, vegetables, fruits, spices etc.

Long and Short Essay on Agriculture in English

Here are essay on agriculture in English of varying lengths to help you with the topic in the exam.

These Agriculture Essays will let you understand the meaning of “agriculture” and the significant role it plays in the overall economic growth and prosperity of a nation.

After going through the following Agriculture essay you will be able to understand the advantages of agriculture.

These essays will be helpful during several of your school assignments. You can select any agriculture essay as per your need and interest.

Agriculture Essay 1 (200 words)

Introduction

Agriculture is basically the cultivation of plants for the production of food, fuel, fiber, medicines and many other things that have become a necessity for the mankind. Agriculture also involves the breeding of animals. The development of agriculture turned to be a boon for the human civilization as it also gave way to their development.

Agriculture is said to be an art, science and commerce all at the same time as it suffices the factors involved in all three.

It is said to be an art as it involves the growth, development and management of crop and animal husbandry. It requires patience and dedication to yield good results in this field and only someone who possesses this art can achieve it.

The knowledge of breeding and genetics is employed to come up with new improved methods of agriculture. Several inventions and explorations are being made in the field. It is ever evolving and thus qualifies as science.

Agriculture supports the economy like no other sector and thus undoubtedly falls in this category too.

With around two-third of the Indian population dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture, it is considered to be the basis of the country’s economic development. It is not just known to be a source of livelihood in India but a way of life.

Agriculture Essay 2 (300 words)

The term agriculture comes from the Latin word ager which means field and cultura that means cultivation. Agriculture basically involves the cultivation and production of crops and livestock products.

History of Agriculture

The history of agriculture dates back several centuries. It began in different parts of the world independently about 105,000 years back mostly by the collection of wild grains for the purpose of eating. Here is how different countries were involved in this activity:

• In Mesopotamia, pigs were domesticated around 15,000 years ago. They began domesticating sheep around 2000 years later.
• In China, rice was cultivated around 13,500 years ago. They eventually began cultivating soy, azuki beans and mung.
• In Turkey, cattle were domesticated around 10,500 years ago.
• Beans, potato, coca, llamas and alpacas were domesticated around 10,000 years ago.
• Sugarcane and certain root vegetables were cultivated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago.
• Cotton was domesticated in Peru around 5,600 years ago.

Similarly, the domestication of various plants and animals is being done in many other parts of the country since thousands of years.

Impact of Modern Technology on Agriculture

The development in the field of science and technology led to the use of modern techniques in agriculture. While it has contributed a great deal to the development of the agriculture sector, the modern technology has also had certain negative repercussions on the sector. Here is the kind of impact it has had:

• The use of fertilizers and pesticides as well as the use of technologically advanced equipments for the cultivation of crops has increased the yields drastically however it has also been the cause of ecological damage and impacted the human health negatively.
• Selective breeding and the use of other modern practices in the rearing of animals has increased the supply of meat however it has raised the concern about animal welfare.

Like every other sector, the agricultural sector has also evolved over the centuries and its development has brought about certain positive and negative repercussions to the society.

Agriculture Essay 3 (400 words)

Agriculture is a vast subject. It encompasses the production of crops, animal husbandry, soil science, horticulture, dairy science, extension education, entomology, agriculture chemistry, agri engineering, agri economics, plant pathology and botany. These subjects are taught in various universities across the world to train people in the field.

Different Kinds of Farming

Here is a look at how the agricultural field has broadly been categorized in our country:

• Subsistence Farming

One of the most widely practiced technique of farming in India. Under this type of farming, the farmers grow grains for themselves as well as for the purpose of sale.

• Commercial Agriculture

This type of agriculture focuses on high yield with the aim to export it to other countries to generate profit. Some of the commonly grown commercial crops in the country include cotton, wheat and sugarcane.

• Shifting Agriculture

This type of farming is majorly practiced by tribal groups to grow root crops. They mostly clear the forested area and grow crops there.

• Extensive Agriculture

This is more common in the developed countries. However, it is also practiced in certain parts of India. It focuses on the use of machinery to grow and raise crops.

• Intensive Agriculture

This is a common practice in densely populated areas of the country. It is focused on generating maximizing output of the land by employing different techniques. A good amount of investment in terms of money and huge labour force is required for this.

• Plantation Agriculture

This type of agriculture involves the cultivation of crops that require a good amount of time and space for growing. Some of these crops include tea, rubber, coffee, cocoa, coconut, fruits and spices. This is mostly practiced in the states of Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala.

• Wet Land Farming

The areas that receive heavy rainfall are well irrigated and these are apt for the farming of crops such as jute, rice and sugarcane.

• Dry Land Farming

It is practiced in desert-like areas such as the central and northwest India. Some of the crops grown in such areas are bajra, jowar and gram. This is because these crops require less water for growth.

With the advancement in technology, agriculture has come a long way. It is not limited to just growing crops and rearing of cattle. It includes a whole lot of other subjects and someone who is interested in getting into the agricultural field can choose to specialize in one.

Agriculture Essay 4 (500 words)

Agriculture basically involves the cultivation of crops and the domestication of animals for the purpose of generating food and other things necessary for the mankind. While it is being practiced since centuries, it has evolved over the time and has become one of the major factors in the development of our country’s economy.

Significance of Agriculture

Here is a look at the significance of agriculture:

• Major Source of Food

It goes without saying that the food we eat is a gift of the agricultural activities that take place in the country. The country has seen times of acute food shortage before independence however the problem was resolved with the advent of the green revolution in agriculture in the year 1969.

• Major Contributor to National Income

Statistics reveal that, the national income from primary agricultural activities was about 59% in the year 1950-51. While it has come down eventually and reached around 24% about a decade back, the agricultural sector in India is still one of the major contributors to the national income.

• Development of the Industrial Sector

Agriculture plays a major role in the development of the industrial sector by providing the raw material. Industries such as the cotton textiles, sugar, jute, oil, rubber and tobacco are majorly dependent on the agricultural sector.

• Employment Opportunities

The agricultural sector offers numerous employment opportunities as a large labour force is required for the smooth functioning of various agricultural activities. It does not only open a vast arena of direct employment opportunities but indirect as well. For instance, the agricultural products need to be transported from one place to another and hence it supports the transport sector.

• Boost in Foreign Trade

Foreign trade relies majorly on the agricultural sector. Agricultural exports form a good 70% of the total exports. India is an exporter of tea, tobacco, cotton textiles, jute products, sugar, spices and many other agricultural products.

• Generation of Government Revenue

Excise duty on agro-based goods, land revenue and taxes on the sale of agricultural machinery make for a good source of government revenue.

• Formation of Capital

The surplus income generated from agricultural activities can very well be invested in banks for capital formation.

Agriculture: A hazardous Industry

While agricultural sector is of great importance to the country, we cannot deny the fact that is a hazardous industry. Farmers across the globe have a high risk of work related injuries. One of the common causes of agricultural injuries is tractor rollovers and other motor and machinery related accidents. Due to the nature of their job they are also prone to skin diseases, lung infections, noise-induced hearing problems, sun strokes as well as certain types of cancers. Those exposed to pesticides may have serious illnesses and might even have kids with birth defects.  

However, that said, agriculture does play a significant part in the development of the human civilization as a whole. As Booker T. Washington said, “No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem”, agriculture sector is an integral part of the country.

Agriculture Essay 5 (600 words)

Agriculture is one sector that has been in place since thousands of years. It has developed over the years with the use of new equipments and techniques of farming and domestication. This is one sector that has not only seen immense growth but has also been the reason for growth of various other sectors.

The Growth and Development of Agricultural Sector

India is one such country which is largely dependent on the agricultural sector. Agriculture in India is not just a means of livelihood but a way of life. The government is continually making efforts to develop this sector. Let us learn how this sector has evolved with time.

Though agriculture is being practiced since centuries in India, it remained under developed for a pretty long time. We were unable to produce sufficient food for our people and foreign export was simply out of question. On the contrary, we had to purchase food grains from other countries. This was because agriculture in India depended on the monsoon.

In case, there was enough rain, the crops fertilized properly, when there wasn’t enough rain the crops just failed and most parts of the country were hit by famine. However, things changed with time. After independence, the government planned to bring about improvement in this sector. Dams were constructed, tube-wells and pump-sets were set up, better quality seeds, fertilizers were made available and new techniques were employed.

With the use of technologically advanced equipment, good irrigation facilities and with specialized knowledge about the field things began improving. We soon started producing much more than we required and subsequently started exporting food grains and different agricultural products. Our agricultural sector is now stronger than that of many countries. India stands first in the production of groundnuts and tea and ranks second in the production of sugarcane, rice, jute and oil seeds across the globe.

However, we still have a long way to go and the government is making efforts in this direction.

Negative Repercussions of Agriculture on Environment

As much as it has helped in the development of the human civilization and the growth of the country’s economy, agriculture has also had certain negative repercussions on the people involved in this sector as well as the environment as a whole. Here are the negative repercussions of agriculture on environment:

• Agriculture has led to deforestation. Many forests are cut to turn them into fields to cultivate crops. The negative impacts of deforestation and the need to control it is hidden from none.
• Not many of you may be aware that the building of watersheds and draining of water from the rivers for irrigation of fields leads to drier natural habitats.
• The runoff from the fields into the rivers and other water bodies results in that water getting poisoned owing to the use of excessive nutrients and insecticides.
• Topsoil depletion and groundwater contamination are some of the other issues that the agricultural activities have given way to.

Agriculture has thus impacted the soil and water resources negatively and this has had a major impact on the environment.

Agriculture is also considered to be a hazardous occupation. Those involved in farming are constantly exposed to different chemical based fertilizers and pesticides and the continual use of these can lead to several health hazards such as skin diseases, lung infections and certain other serious illnesses.

While agriculture has given so much to our society, it comes with its own set of cons that cannot be overlooked. While the government is doing so much to bring about growth and development in this field, it should also take measures to tackle the negative impact it is creating on the environment and those involved in the field.

Related Information:

Speech on Agriculture

Essay on Agriculture and Rural Development

Essay on Farmer Suicides in India

Essay on Indian Farmer

Speech on Indian Farmer

Essay on Organic Farming

Related Posts

Money essay, music essay, importance of education essay, education essay, newspaper essay, my hobby essay.

Traditional agriculture

Quick access.

- Definition - Others Definitions - Videos

Traditional agriculture, the most practised form of agriculture around the world , became commonplace following the two world wars , as it was during that era that knowledge about chemistry greatly increased. Traditional agriculture is based on treating the soil and plants with products that are more likely than not noxious, and more likely than not synthetically produced in a laboratory . These products are used to prevent disease or pests from blighting the plant.

The result is that these products – and the same applies to products used in organic agriculture – find themselves in our food. (Granted, the level is higher in products grown according to traditional agriculture than to organic agriculture . ) It has been proven that these products accumulate in our fatty tissues , and when the level is high enough, the chance of developing an illness, like cancer, is higher .

Jean-Paul Jaud's documentary film Nos enfants nous accuseront (Our Children Will Accuse Us) traces the life of farmers, children and the people who live near to cultivated fields. Today, cancer is an inherence in the life of people who live in the countryside. Why do we let this happen?

One of the biggest problems with traditional agriculture is that it kills off life in the topsoil and subsoil. In order to be worth anything, soil needs microflora (bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria) and microfauna (protozoa, nematodes and arthropods). Use of powerful chemical products that destroy or inhibit harmful fungi or fungal spores (fungicides), that kill or inhibit harmful insects and other pests (insecticides) and that control unwanted vegetation (herbicides) has ultimately contributed to the reduction in microbial life in the soil, to the point that, in order to yield sufficient crops, it is necessary to use very large amounts of fertilisers. This all, in turn, results in near-barren land unable to generate its own organic matter.

Massive erosion is the result of 30 years of no ground cover at this vineyard.

In viticulture, for example, making a wine that expresses its terroir – its sense of place, a reflection of the climate and soil type and location – is thus nonsense, because there is no longer any terroir that can be expressed, not in the grapes on the vine, nor in the finished wine in the glass. Any organic matter present throughout the process came from a factory.

But the pattern continues. The arrival of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not a solution, though the giant corporations producing them would have us think otherwise . Insects against which GMOs are supposed to be resistant evolve to become themselves resistant to the anti-insect properties in the GM plants. So, in addition to genetically modified seeds, the farmer must then use products even more toxic than those used previously. The cost, economically and environmentally, of GMOs risks being very high in the near future.

Another very good documentary film, The World According To Monsanto by Marie-Monique Robin , gives a useful overview of what is at stake for huge agricultural corporations in using GMOs.

Furthermore, what is called responsible farming can often be a quick-and-easy strategy that dodges a total commitment to agricultural practices that respect the environment. It's something of an illusion, a deception, a way to profit from marketable keywords and catch phrases. But the fact is that “green” farming methods are more than just marketing – they are something that is necessary, both because of how we have been harming the earth with toxic substances, and for our future. Previously, fertilisers and other chemical treatments were used for no better reason than the fact that they existed. Today, people are starting to think about their overall impact before starting to spray. And it's a good thing!

To conclude, traditional agriculture answers to the economic demands of a capitalist world by making it possible to produce massive amounts of food and feed with minimal physical effort . Tractors, seeds, and synthetic fertilisers and treatments are used immoderately without much thought given to their impact on the soil or on plant biodiversity. Instead, a monoculture is favoured. Yet it is not the agriculturalists with whom we should be upset, but industrial lobbies, the petroleum industry and other such mega-corporations that utilise the earth each day to keep their systems rolling.

Thank's to Magdalena Rahn for the translation of this page.

Others definitions

Organic agriculture

Biodynamic agriculture

Wine The Green Revolution - Documentary Film - Buy the Film

Understand the evolution of the Domain Patrick Hudelot crossed between 2000 and 2012 of the conventional agriculture in the bio-dynamic farming .

Available in Wine The Green Revolution complements...

Tags: agriculture , définition

• Events to come
• Presentation
• DVD & Blu-Ray
• Specification Sheet
• Guillaume Bodin
• Acknowledgements
• Film Distribution
• DVD & Blu-Ray Distribution
• TV Distribution
• Books to read
• Tasted wines
• Agriculture
• Traditional Agriculture
• Organic Agriculture
• Biodynamic Agriculture
• What is the terroir?
• Sulfites in Wine
• Sensitive Crystallisation

Like what you see?

Hit the buttons below to follow us, you won't regret it...

New competition bubbles up in Europe’s sparkling wine market

By Hugo Struna | Euractiv

23-08-2024 (updated: 26-08-2024 )

News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Prosecco (43%), champagne (15%) and cava (10%) own the lion's share of exports. In 2023, twice as many bottles of prosecco - 650 million - as bottles of champagne - 300 million - were exported worldwide. [SibFilm / Shutterstock]

Print Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram

Changing consumer habits and climate change are paving the way for new sparkling wine producers, such as the UK and Sweden, to challenge the hegemony of traditional players and get a share of the market, experts say. 

The recent “Prosecco and the Spritz craze” has disrupted established wine consumption habits. “This ‘Prosecco effect’ has accelerated consumption of sparkling wines in Europe,” Edouard Cassanet, a spokesman for the National Federation of Crémant Producers and Elaborators in France, told Euractiv.

Sparkling wines like Spanish Cava and French Crémant de Loire also benefitted from this demand surge. The latter saw an unprecedented growth of 5.7% compared to 2022, with 108 million bottles produced in 2023.

“It is a wine that responds to new consumption patterns; it is affordable and less alcoholic than traditional sparkling wines,” added Cassanet.

Affordability is key amid high inflation. For example, while traditional sparkling wine like Champagne costs between €25 and €50 in France, a bottle of Crémant costs less than €20. The same goes for Prosecco or Cava.

Not only traditional sparkling wine sales have declined, but general wine consumption in Europe is also falling. Between 2010 and 2020, wine consumption dropped by 24%, with the European Commission expecting an additional annual decline of 0.2% from 2020 to 2031.

In contrast, new sparkling wine sales are booming.

A bubbly market

In Spain, Cava set a new record in 2023 with 252 million bottles produced, a 3.9% increase from 2022 and a 10.6% rise in value, according to the official Spanish wine website.

Similarly, in Italy, bubbles and white wines now account for more than a quarter of total wine exports by value (€885.1 million annually), with a 9.1% increase in the first five months of 2024 compared to 2023, according to specialis ed press data.

According to Eurostat data , from 2017 to 2021, extra-European sparkling wine exports grew by an average of 7% annually. The top markets are the United States (31%) and the United Kingdom (28%).

In 2021, exports reached 636 million litres, a 29% rise after a 6% drop in 2020 due to COVID-19. Prosecco (43%), Champagne (15%), and Cava (10%) account for the lion’s share of exports.

New competitors in the vineyard

The rising demand for sparkling wine and climate change are attracting new competitors from northern Europe.

“Grapes for sparkling wines are normally harvested earlier” compared to still wine, “before they fully ripen, to maintain acidity,” Jean-Marc Touzard, research director at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE), explained Euractiv.

This, combined with the warming climate in Europe, makes sparkling wine production more feasible in cooler regions.

Specific grape varieties can also help. For example, Solaris, a grape variety developed in Germany in 1975, adapts well to cooler climates.

In Sweden, the Särtshöga vineyard currently produces 5,000 bottles with Solaris and plans to reach 10,000 by 2026.

The Scandinavian country, which is fond of bubbles, recently signed a contract with English vineyards to import their sparkling wine to meet domestic demand and diversify its range.

In the UK, most vineyards already produce effervescent wine. This is the case of the Kent-based Chapel Down, the country’s largest winemaker, which aims to  double  its sales between 2021 and 2026.

“In northern Europe, sparkling wine consumption is already well-established, and the new climate is opening up new prospects for producers,” noted Touzard, who is conducting studies on the outlook for 2050-2070.

EU Commission wants to expand wine producers' opportunities to enter low-alcohol market

Addressing the Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the European Commission announced that it wants to develop the European legal framework on organic wines and labelling to give more producers the possibility to enter the new low-alcohol wine market.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Martina Monti]

Read more with Euractiv

Food stakeholders get back to work on much-awaited dialogue on agriculture 

Topics  .

• effervescent wine
• sparkling wine
• wine-growing

Subscribe to our newsletters