Is Agriculture As Green As We Think It Is?

Images of smoke belching from the chimneys of factories, oil refineries or cars inching their way in a downtown street are typical images that come to one's mind when one thinks of greenhouse emissions. On the other hand vast stretches of emerald fields and meadows nearby with flocks of sheep and cattle grazing idly conjure an image of perfect harmony with nature. This makes us believe that agriculture and animal husbandry are perfectly eco friendly occupations that do not threaten the atmosphere in any way.

The perfect picture post card scenario it seems is far from true according to scientists and agriculture experts and recent studies present a grim picture.

Let us take a quick look at the facts

- Agriculture accounts for 10% of all greenhouse emissions globally
- Paddy fields in particular release 10 million tonnes of methane which is 20% of all human produced methane emission
- Livestock comprising sheep and cattle are responsible for half of the global agricultural emissions with these animals releasing methane directly into the atmosphere.
- A vast amount of nitrous oxide is released due to the decaying of manure.

A fast growing world population demanding a higher and higher output of both grains and meat forced more and more wetlands/peat lands to be brought under agriculture. These lands store an estimated 300 billion to 700 billion tonnes of carbon and their degradation results in massive volumes of carbon dioxide emissions averaging 2 to 3 billion tonnes a year which is the equivalent of 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

This truly is a catch 22 situation, while bringing more lands under cultivation and increasing the number of animals being reared for meat threatens the eco system, producing less crops and meat threatens to starve the world's growing population. While we can reduce industrial emission to an extent by driving around lesser, sharing cars to work using public transport and implementing pollution control measures in factories, how can we stop increasing agricultural activity in proportion to need. This is a question that needs to be addressed by agricultural experts and scientists.

Information Technology in Agriculture

Today's Scenario

Agriculture is the sector which continues to sit on the driver's seat and will remain so forever as long as we don't get rid of stomachs; So it becomes fairly important for any reform or revolution to address this sector and in this race information technology has been the front runner.

Information technology has led from the front in the information sharing process among the Agro scientists, Engineers, Farmers and Students. Because of the core dependency of information technology on Internet might have restricted the reach of the information but situation will not remain so for long.

Now scientists from all over the world collaborate over the internet, for sharing the information about the research on land fertility, seed hybridization, reducing the man efforts and making the farming environment less challenging and cost effective.

Future Guidelines

In an edition of "The economist", I encountered something which could trigger anxiety in anyone when it states "1974 Henry Kissinger, then America's secretary of state, told the first world food conference in Rome that no child would go to bed hungry within ten years. Just over 35 years later, in the week of another United Nations food summit in Rome, 1 billion people will go to bed hungry. This failure, already dreadful, may soon get worse. None of the underlying agricultural problems which produced a spike in food prices in 2007-08 and increased the number of hungry people has gone away. Between now and 2050 the world's population will rise by a third, but demand for agricultural goods will rise by 70%." Usual business is not going to better the estimates, as the panacea lies in the maximum involvement of information technology in agricultural research and knowledge transfer.

Agriculture sector has stood against the time and achieved green, white, yellow, blue and cyber revolutions over the time.

Availability of information and effectively using this information is crucial for successful economic development. Information about expert suggestions, material inputs, financial support, technological innovations and changing market conditions have huge impact on agriculture equally as the case with any other sector.

How well the Agriculture involves information technology in itself, will play a major role in determining the future well being of those who have direct dependency on agriculture for livelihood, especially in developing countries like India.

In this context, it is most prudent to extend the benefits of IT to agriculture and not to underestimate the tremendous growth potential to be unleashed in this sector.

Invest in Agriculture - Defining the Risk in Agricultural Commodities

Many investors shy away from agricultural investments because of the misconception that agriculture is a risky venture. However, whether the venture is risky or not really does not lie in the sector, but more on the investor himself. Agricultural investments have its defined risk and benefits. It will indeed be very risky if one were to invest in low quality land. However, the case if very different if we were talking about prime investment grade farmland which provides stable and consistent returns while appreciating the principle.

Investors who do not have a foot in the agricultural commodity market is sorely missing out. I would guess that almost 90% of those reading this has absolutely no idea how the agricultural commodities can benefit them. This is not your fault entirely as most stock brokers and hedge fund managers are always calling for more buys into properties and bonds. Investors often call the agricultural commodity 'risky', but these are the very same folks who buy heavily into funds where they watch their shares go to zero. No commodity has ever gone to zero, and they never will.

Agriculture is the staple of almost every country's economy. By being able to provide the basic necessarily of life - food, agriculture commodity creates a tremendous economic impact. It cannot be denied that the food and farming industry is critical to the balance of trade and employment in every nation. All across the country, it is agricultural farmland that supports the economic base of nation. Let us not forget the impact that China will have on the worlds agricultural economy. The United States has a population of about 280 million, and about 330 million crop acres in production. In similar comparison, China has 1.4 billion people living off 270 million crops acres! The economic boom in China is imminent and just starting.

In recent years, the land and agricultural business has not received the best of press. There are a few selected companies out there which are measured as trustworthy, and all it takes is determination on your part to seek out these companies and to learn about investing in the agricultural commodity. Investing in agriculture can be very lucrative to the informed investor. Therefore, it is highly advisable that you seek and follow the latest news on very exciting sector.

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Growing Career Opportunities In Biotechnology

Biotechnology unifies biology and technology by covering a wide range of subjects like agriculture, animal husbandry, biochemistry, bio-statistics, cell biology, chemistry, crop management, cropping system, ecology, engineering, genetics, health, immunology, medicine, microbiology, plant physiology, soil science, soil conservation, seed technology, and virology, etc. In biotechnology the living things, especially cells and bacteria are used in industrial process. Through these researches, various medicines, and vaccines are developed.

Scope of biotechnology in India

There is an immense possibility of getting jobs in this field as the demand for biotechnologists is growing in India as well as abroad. It is estimated that more than 6000 biotechnologists of top skill are required in India as per the survey made by the Human Resource Development Ministry.

Eligibility criteria to get into the field of biotechnology

The eligibility for this field requires graduation in science that is in physics, chemistry and biology. There is B.Tech for the undergraduates. Some universities in India offer the B.Sc biotechnology for which you can join after class 12 or equivalent examination, with physics, chemistry and mathematics. Graduates in all sciences, engineering technology, or medicine are eligible for the postgraduate (M.Sc.) course in biotechnology.

There are P.G. courses available in M.Sc. Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Agriculture) Biotechnology, M.V.Sc. (Animal) Biotechnology, M.Tech. Biotechnology, M.Sc./M.V.Sc. in Veterinary Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Marine) Biotechnology and a host of other courses are available.

Institutes that provide biotechnology course

Here are some well-known institutions of biotechnology, which offer graduate courses in the subjects:

o Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

o Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

o Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

o GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Uttar Pradesh

o National Centre for Plant Genome Research, New Delhi

o National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

o National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore

The following are some of the universities that also offer graduate and post graduate courses in biotechnology:

o Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

o Visva-Bharati, Birbhum, West Bengal

o Madras University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

o Biotechnology University of Mysore, Karnataka

o Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

o Benaras Hindu University

o Patna University, Bihar

o Rajasthan University, Rajasthan

o Biotechnology Banglore University, Karnataka

o Sai College Of Medical Science and Technology, Uttar Pradesh

o Biotechnology Gulbarga University, Karnataka

Jobs in biotechnology

Biotechnology as a subject has grown rapidly. A biotechnologist can get into government institutes and organizations, such as Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Development of Education, Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram.

Other fields include agriculture, dairy and horticulture institutes. Pharmaceutical companies like Dabur, Ranbaxy, Hindustan Lever, and Dr. Reddy's Labs, and many more. Food processing industry, chemical industry, and the textile industry are the other areas where you can look for jobs. Hindustan Lever, Thapar Group, Indo American Hybrid Seeds, Bincon India Ltd., IDPL, Hindustan Antibiotics, etc. are some of the big companies that employ biotechnologists.

Remuneration in biotechnology field

India is the next biotech frontier and there's immense scope to earn a lot in this field, but as always, the more well read you are more the amount you can expect. The factors for remuneration depend upon academic qualification, institute or university from which the degree is attained and the level of work experience.

In the corporate sector, a fresher with B.Sc. or B.Tech. degree can expect somewhere from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,000 per month. Candidates with masters degrees, PhDs, or research background can expect Rs. 10,000 to Rs.15,000 per month. Salary increases with your experience, but due to lesser number of openings in this field as compared to other sectors, the salary hikes are low.

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Agriculture in a Nutshell

The word agriculture means "tak­ing care of the fields"-in other words, what we are used to thinking of as farming. And, in fact, agriculture and farming mean just about the same thing. But usually we would say "agriculture" when we mean the entire work and science of using the earth to produce food and other plants that are valuable to us; and we would use the word "farm­ing" to mean some particular branch of this, for example dairy farming, or chicken farming. You will note that the word "science" was used in the paragraph above.

Agri­culture is as much of a science as engi­neering, medicine, or any other scientific fields to which men and women turn for their life's work. Many different sciences go to make up the whole work of agriculture. Many different sciences have helped in making agriculture the respected and profitable work it is today. This has not always been so. Farm­ing used to be laborious, poorly paid work. A farmer had to work hard in his fields all day long, just to raise enough food for his own family. Usu­ally his wife had to help, and had no time for comfortable living; his chil­dren had to help, and had no time to get good educations.

Today the young man or woman of a family in the field of agriculture will go to one of the hun­dreds of agricultural colleges and uni­versities in the United States and will learn to make the family's farm even better in the future. In this encyclopedia there are separate articles on dairy farming and cattle farming and farm machinery and other branches of agriculture. In this article we will tell about what agricul­ture used to be, how it has changed, and what it is today. how agriculture has changed There have been farmers as long as there has been history and for tens of thousands of years before that.

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Organic Agriculture - The Way to Progress

Seeing our society from the past centuries up to the present, it is very much evident that there are several developments that took place. Due to these developments, life has become complicated. As a result of complication, people have overlooked the problems brought about by developments because of the glittering gold and silver that supposed developments offer.

Among the problems that have been overlooked for the past decades are the environmental problems which are becoming worse as the years passed by. Several environmental problems which we are facing right now are the results of agricultural malpractices due to lack of education.

Among the environmental problems is the continuous destruction of the soil because of excessive use of inorganic fertilizers which has resulted to soil infertility. An evidence to justify this fact is the gradual extinction of wild plants which were in the past, just sprout from the soil without human interventions. Another problem is the contamination of the water source and air because of excessive use of pesticides and other chemicals which are being used to spray the plants. As a result, clean water are becoming lesser which also contribute to the spread of communicable diseases. One thing more, is the increasing number of pests and diseases to both plants and animals and even humans. Because of all these problems, some people from the agricultural industry propose organic agriculture believing that this would at least lessen these problems.

Organic agriculture is a holistic production management that discourages the use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and genetically modified organisms. Purposively, it would contribute to the lessening of air soil and water pollutions, and maximizes the health of the interdependent communities of plants animals and humans. This means that there should be a balance in the environment whereby none of these living organisms would out number the other. This is because through organic agriculture, the lives of the beneficial micro-organisms are preserved to avoid the flourishing of pests and diseases that destroy the said interdependent communities. They are called interdependent communities because as the word "interdependent" imply, plants, animals and humans rely on each other in order to survive. Plants give off oxygen and food to humans and animals. On the other hand, animals and humans give off carbon dioxide and waste products for the plants to use in food processing or photosynthesis. Another thing to be given attention is the balance number of preys and predators in the environment. In other words the food chain cycle should not be disturbed because if that will happen there'll be a dominance of one population which results to food scarcity for the other population. For instance, if the farmers continuously use synthetic pesticides, small organisms will be killed which results to growing number of pests because no other organisms that would eat them. Because of this, plants that serve as the food for humans and animals will be destroyed by these pests. That is why organic agriculture is said to be the solution for food scarcity in the future to come.

For organic agriculture to come in reality, farmers should be educated about the proper practices in agriculture. In fact, in the Philippines, there are certain radio programs and television programs allotted for the promotion of organic agriculture. Other than that, seminars are also conducted by experts in agriculture. There are also cooperatives that are being established to cater to the needs and address the problems of the farmers. Other than that are the various government programs that are implemented to different regions of the country. But most importantly is the cooperative effort among the sectors in the society in promoting and supporting the implementation of organic agriculture practices. Among the sectors in the society that should exert more effort is the education sector with the facilitation of educational institutions especially with State universities or any university that offers agricultural courses.

Agricultural Store

Agricultural Stores are specialists in the supply of Agricultural products and equipment. Agriculture is widely used and is a growing market. Mainly farming based you will find a lot of equipment like tractors available along with bigger more expensive machinery.

It is not just machinery you will find; seeds, chemicals and all manner of farm related items are available. These shops are widespread but not found so much ion town centres; you are usually situated out of the way in country sides and farming villages.

Agricultural Stores has more than one meaning though, the other being Storage. Apart from being used as a term to describe a specific shop, it is also a term used to describe the storage of Agricultural Machinery. Farmers do not always have the space to store their larger machinery like combine harvesters and tractors. This is when the stores come in to place, at a price the farmer may rent storage room in which he can store all of his equipment and machines. The stores are also very secure and safe, nobody except yourself will be aloud access (unless you state other people as exceptions). These stores are often even used when the farmer does has room for his machinery but simply does not feel it is safe enough to be left outside.

The only inconvenience of the stores can be its location in relation to you, shipping containers are a way around this, they are mobile and can be set up at your desired location, working in the same way they are secure and allow you lots of storage space.