Why is agriculture important around the world?

By Salma Wisoky

1 Article

What Is Agriculture?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.Drift Boss

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.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.

Agriculture has allowed the human population to grow explosively, and its industrialization over the past two centuries fueled the jump from 1 billion to nearly 7.7 billion people. As a result, agriculture in its modern form has tested the limits of our environmental resources.