Agriculture is the cultivation of crops or the husbandry of livestock in pure or integrated crop/animal production systems for the main purpose of food production, but also for the provision of biomass for material and energetic use. Together with forestry, agricultural production represents the main activity of resource production and supply in the bioeconomy and is the major activity delivering food as well as starch, sugar and vegetable oil resources. Today, 33% (about 4900 Mha) of the Earth’s land surface is used for agricultural production, providing a living for 2.5 billion people. Agriculture shapes cultural landscapes, but at the same time is associated with degradation of land and water resources, deterioration of related ecosystem goods and services, is made responsible for biodiversity losses, and accounts for about 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In this chapter, the principles of agricultural production, including crop management and animal raising, are described. The focus is on describing how in the future bioeconomy, agriculture can be performed sustainably. Sustainable intensification can partly be achieved by the development and implementation of innovative production technologies, which allow a more efficient use of natural resources, including land, and agricultural inputs. Its implementation requires a knowledge-based approach, in which farmers are made aware of the requirements of sustainable production and are trained in the implementation of sustainable agricultural production systems. The planning of bio-based value chains and sustainable bioeconomic development demands an understanding of the mechanisms of biomass production and supply (as described in this section) for the entire global agricultural sector.

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Agricultural Production

  • Iris Lewandowski,
  • Melvin Lippe,
  • Moritz von Cossel,
  • Evelyn Reinmuth,
  • Joaquín Castro-Montoya

摘要

Agriculture is the cultivation of crops or the husbandry of livestock in pure or integrated crop/animal production systems for the main purpose of food production, but also for the provision of biomass for material and energetic use. Together with forestry, agricultural production represents the main activity of resource production and supply in the bioeconomy and is the major activity delivering food as well as starch, sugar and vegetable oil resources. Today, 33% (about 4900 Mha) of the Earth’s land surface is used for agricultural production, providing a living for 2.5 billion people. Agriculture shapes cultural landscapes, but at the same time is associated with degradation of land and water resources, deterioration of related ecosystem goods and services, is made responsible for biodiversity losses, and accounts for about 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In this chapter, the principles of agricultural production, including crop management and animal raising, are described. The focus is on describing how in the future bioeconomy, agriculture can be performed sustainably. Sustainable intensification can partly be achieved by the development and implementation of innovative production technologies, which allow a more efficient use of natural resources, including land, and agricultural inputs. Its implementation requires a knowledge-based approach, in which farmers are made aware of the requirements of sustainable production and are trained in the implementation of sustainable agricultural production systems. The planning of bio-based value chains and sustainable bioeconomic development demands an understanding of the mechanisms of biomass production and supply (as described in this section) for the entire global agricultural sector.