Commercial crops

Commercial Farming is the production of crops, raising of livestock, or both with the sole intent of making profits. It is typically practiced at a large scale to leverage economies of scale and benefit from market efficiencies and the latest technologies to maximize profit. The Commercial Farming industry has seen its fair share of changes over the past few decades where large farms, high-yield variety seeds, mechanization, automation and technological innovations have helped keep food costs low while allowing farmers to produce more in less time and less space. At the same time, the growth of consumers wanting alternate choices like vegan or organic or sustainable or “locally produced” has forced Commercial Farmers to change the way they do business and cater to these new and growing market segments. Commercial Farming is a complex business that requires an understanding of the land, the people who work it, the produce that is grown or raised, the technologies that maximize efficiencies and the dynamics of the market where profits are made. Many factors impact the ability to succeed in this competitive industry, so it’s important to be prepared. And this comprehensive guide on Commercial Farming is a great place to start! Commercial Farming Topics Here’s what we’ll cover in this article. • What is Commercial Farming? • Characteristics of Commercial Farming • The Importance of Commercial Farming • Different Types of Commercial Farming • Advantages and Disadvantages of Com...

Land area devoted to organic agriculture has increased steadily over the last 20 years in the United States, and elsewhere around the world. A primary criticism of organic agriculture is lower yield compared to non-organic systems. Previous analyses documenting the yield deficiency in organic production have relied mostly on data generated under experimental conditions, but these studies do not necessarily reflect the full range of innovation or practical limitations that are part of commercial agriculture. The analysis we present here offers a new perspective, based on organic yield data collected from over 10,000 organic farmers representing nearly 800,000 hectares of organic farmland. We used publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture to estimate yield differences between organic and conventional production methods for the 2014 production year. Similar to previous work, organic crop yields in our analysis were lower than conventional crop yields for most crops. Averaged across all crops, organic yield averaged 80% of conventional yield. However, several crops had no significant difference in yields between organic and conventional production, and organic yields surpassed conventional yields for some hay crops. The organic to conventional yield ratio varied widely among crops, and in some cases, among locations within a crop. For soybean ( Glycine max) and potato ( Solanum tuberosum), organic yield was more similar to conventional yield in s...

Jump to Section • • • • • • • What Is Industrial Agriculture? Industrial agriculture is the large-scale, intensive production of crops and animals, often involving chemical fertilizers on crops or the routine, harmful use of antibiotics in animals (as a way to compensate for filthy conditions, even when the animals are not sick). It may also involve crops that are genetically modified, heavy use of pesticides, and other practices that deplete the land, mistreat animals, and increase various forms of pollution. In recent decades, consolidation in the industry has intensified as agriculture has undergone what is known as “vertical integration,” a transition from small, diverse farms producing a variety of crops and livestock to an industrialized system dominated by big multinational corporations. These corporations reap the benefits while farmers, growers, and their workers see their profits evaporate, even as the What Is a CAFO? The term “factory farm” is commonly used to refer to large, industrialized facilities raising animals for food, but it isn’t a legal or scientific term. The official name for these facilities is concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. The term refers to a facility that keeps a very large number of live animals confined for more than 45 days per year and brings food into their enclosures rather than allowing them to graze. A “large CAFO” Policymakers have long known that big CAFOs can mean big pollution. In In addition to pollution, these o...

Over the past 50 years, the agriculture sector has taken new turns towards improvement and advancement. Technological advancement has expanded the scale of production, speed, and even the productivity of farming equipment. This means cultivation has become more efficient. Thanks to seed irrigation and improved fertilizers, farmers have been able to increase yields to cope with the growing demand for food. Agriculture is an important part of socio-economic development for countries all over the world. Most countries depend on agriculture to generate income. Commercial agriculture provides raw materials to several industries in an economy, the output is exported, and thus income is generated. The demand for food is growing but the supply side is not able to match this increasing demand. This is because of the constraints it faces in both land and farming inputs. Plus, climate changes and veganism are pressuring the industry further, pushing for more sustainable and ethical farm practices. For farms to expand their productivity once again, a more sophisticated technological revolution may be necessary. First things first: what is commercial farming? Unlike subsistence farming where livestock is reared or crops are cultivated for personal use, commercial agriculture involves raising crops and livestock for business. Since the motive behind commercial farming is to earn profits, it is also sometimes known as agribusiness. This type of farming is practiced on a large-scale o vas...

In the threatening trouble of climate change, growing commercial crops on solar farms is a potentially efficient use of agricultural land that can both increase commercial food production and improve solar panel performance and longevity, according to new Cornell research. The group published new research “We now have, for the first time, a physics-based tool to estimate the costs and benefits of co-locating solar panels and commercial agriculture from the perspective of increased power conversion efficiency and solar-panel longevity,” said lead author Henry Williams, a doctoral student in Cornell Engineering. “There is potential for agrivoltaic systems – where agriculture and solar panels coexist – to provide increased passive cooling through taller panel heights, more reflective ground cover and higher evapotranspiration rates compared to traditional solar farms,” said senior author Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, “We can generate renewable electricity and conserve farmland through agrivoltaic systems.” In New York, for example, about 40% of utility-scale solar farm capacity has been developed on agricultural lands, while about 84% of land deemed suitable for utility-scale solar development is agricultural, according to a By using a computational fluid dynamics-based microclimate model and solar panel temperature data, the group evaluated solar panel height, the light reflectivity of the ground and rates of evapotranspir...