Agriculture

Draw

Draw what comes to mind when you hear the word agriculture!

Agriculture

In today's lesson, you will begin to learn about agriculture. You will learn what agriculture is. You will also learn:

• how agriculture affected humans throughout history; and

• how agriculture affects humans today.

​Agriculture - the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the raising of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

​Pennsylvania contains a lot of farms. Some of the major farm areas of the state include:

• the fruit belt of Adams County;

• cornfields of the Ridge and Valley Region;

• dairy farms of Lancaster County; and

• Potter County potato farms.

Thousands of Pennsylvanian families earn a living by farming.

This link contains an interactive map of the different ways land is used in Pennsylvania. After you open the link, look for:

• hay/pasture

• cultivated crops

Those areas are farmland.

​Agriculture

Agriculture is another word for farming. Farmers practice agriculture by creating a habitat for plants and animals. Agriculture can produce two main products.

• Crops are plants that farmers grow. Crops include fruit, vegetables, grains, and cotton. Most crops are eaten by humans or animals.

• Livestock are animals that farmers raise. Livestock can include cattle, sheep, chickens, and fish.

Farmers earn money by selling the crops or livestock they raise.

​Human agriculture is part of a food chain. Imagine that you eat a steak for dinner.

1. The farmer grows hay and corn on a farm.

2. Cows eat the hay and corn.

3. Humans eat steak, which is meat from a cow.

Carbon atoms move through this food chain. During photosynthesis, the crops capture carbon dioxide and convert it into glucose.


People and cows eat the crops and use that glucose to perform cellular respiration. The cellular respiration releases carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Continue on to learn how humans benefitted from agriculture in the past.

​What do you think it was like to live before agriculture really boomed?

Do you think that you would have enjoyed growing up and living in that time?

How would you have gotten your food?

​Historical Significance Agriculture Video

Before agriculture was invented, humans lived in small, scattered settlements. People gathered plants and hunted animals for food. Agriculture allowed people to produce large amounts of food more easily than in the past. Inventions like the plow made producing food easier than ever before. More people were able to do jobs other than finding food.

Agriculture allowed human civilization to change in three major ways.

1. When people did not have to spend all of their time gathering food, they found other jobs to do. More people began to do specialized jobs.

2. People moved to cities. Rural farms provided food to support the populations of the cities.

3. A steady food supply allowed people to be healthier and live longer.

​Urban Agriculture in New York City

Unless you have a home garden or raise your own animals, all of the food you eat comes from a farm. People rely on farms to survive. In addition to providing food to eat, farms also impact:

• the economy

• the environment (there will be a draw it slide for you to answer this one!)

How can farms affect the economy and the environment?

​Economy

Agriculture is important to the economy. Many people make a living as farmers. Even more people earn money in industries that process or transport the food produced by farms.

One in ten jobs in Pennsylvania relies on agriculture. Farmers rely on resources such as rich soil and water to perform their important jobs.

Draw

Draw one way that farming can affect the environment.

​Environment

Agriculture affects the environment in a variety of ways.

• Land used for farms used to be habitats for native plants and animals.

• Fertilizers from farms run off to pollute waterways.

• Fossil fuels used to run farm machinery add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

People need food, so farmers need to find ways to balance human needs against the ways farming harms the environment.