Commercial vs Subsistence Agriculture

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Every one of us depends, either directly or indirectly, on agriculture for our survival. It is easy to forget the Urban-industrial society relies on the food surplus generated by farmers and herders and without agriculture there would be no cities, universities, factories, or offices (Bychkov 211). Agriculture is the cultivation of domesticated crops and the raising of domesticated animals to produce food, feed, drink, and fiber (Bychkov 211). Agriculture has been the principal of humankind throughout history. Even today agriculture remains the primary activity in many countries throughout the world. In fact agriculture is the employment for about 40 percent of the world’s working population. In parts of Asia and Africa, more than 75 percent of the labor force is dedicated to agriculture (Bychkov 211). When it comes to the classification of agriculture, it comes down to the categories of Commercial Agriculture and Subsistence Agriculture. Commercial Agriculture is the large scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets. On the other hand, Subsistence Agriculture is the food production to supply the minimum food and materials necessary for a family or a community to maintain survival (Bychkov 214). When considering the two classes of agriculture one can see the main differences between commercial agriculture and subsistence agriculture are the physical environment, geographic locations, and cultural practices. The first classification is Commercial Agriculture. As previously mentioned, commercial agriculture is the large scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets. When it comes to commercial agriculture one example is livestock fatting. Livestock fatting is where farmers raise and fatten cattle and hogs for slaughter (Bychkov 217).

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