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and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands that are suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dryland farming. Livestock are raised in a combination of grassland-based and landless systems, in an industry that covers almost one-third of the world's ice- and water-free area. In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has become the dominant system of modern farming, although there is growing support for sustainable agriculture, including permaculture and organic agriculture. Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population labored in agriculture. Pre-industrial agriculture was typically subsistence agriculture/self-sufficiency in which farmers raised most of their crops for their own consumption instead of cash crops for trade. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies, and the development of world markets. This also has led to technological improvements in agricultural techniques, such as the Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate which made the traditional practice of recycling nutrients with crop rotation and animal manure less important. Modern agronomy, plant breeding, agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal welfare and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production. Genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts. Significant degradation of land and water resources, including the depletion of aquifers, has been observed in recent decades, and the effects of global warming on agriculture and of agriculture on global warming are still not fully understood. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals ''grains'', vegetables, fruits, oils, meats and spices. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. Over one third of the world's workers are employed in agriculture, second only to the services' sector, although the percentages of agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased significantly over the past several centuries. Etymology and terminology'' The word agriculture is a late Middle Inglés Latin adaptation of agriculture, from ager, "field", and Culture, "cultivation" or "Growing" Agriculture usually we Refers to human activities,, Although it también está Observed in Un Certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture Means to use the natural resources to "produce commodities Which Maintain life, treats including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops, and Their related services." This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, animal husbandry and forestry. A distinction is made: sometimes Between forestry and agriculture, based on the former management's longer rotations, extensive versus intensive management practices and development mainly by nature, rather than by man. Even then a, it is Acknowledged That there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap Between silviculture (the management of forests) and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are combined Often even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry. History'' Agricultural practices: such as irrigation, crop rotation, application of fertilizers 'and' pesticides, and the domestication of livestock Were developed long ago, but great progress made unavailable in the past century. The history of agriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural progress has-been a crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. Division of labor in agricultural societies made commonplace specializations rarely seen in hunter-gatherer cultures, Which allowed the growth of towns and cities, and the complex societies we call civilizations. When farmers Became capable of producing food beyond the needs of Their own families, others Were In Their society free to devote Themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and Anthropologists Have Argued That long the development of agriculture made civilization possible. According To geographer Jared Diamond, the costs of agriculture Were: "the average daily number of work hours Increased, Deteriorated nutrition, infectious disease and body Increased wear, and shortened lifespan." Prehistoric Origins: Forest gardening, a plant-based food production system, is thought to be the world's oldest agroecosystem. Forest gardens originated in prehistoric jungle-clad times along river banks and in the foothills of wet monsoon regions. In the gradual process of a family Improving Their immediate environment, tree and vine species useful Were Identified, protected and improved Whilst Were eliminated undesirable species. Eventually superior foreign species Were selected and incorporated into the family's Garden: Global exchange'' After 1492, a global exchange of crops and livestock with previously Local breeds occurred. Key crops Involved in exchange esta included maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc traveling from the New World to the Old, and several varieties of wheat, barley, rice and turnips going from the Old World to the New. There were very few livestock species in the New World, with horses, cattle, sheep and goats Being Completely unknown before Their arrival With Old World settlers. Crops Both moving in directions across the Atlantic Ocean Caused population growth around the world, and had a lasting effect on many cultures....
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