1. From Dirt to DNA Agriscience Applications

2. What is Agriculture?
Activities concerned with the production of plants and animals, and related supplies, services, mechanics, products, processing, and marketing.

3. USDA refers to agriculture as….
“Agriculture/ Agribusiness and renewable natural resources”.
Another definition is food, fiber, and environmental systems.

4. What is Agriscience?
The application of scientific principles and new technologies to agriculture.

5. Agriscience is……
An applied science because it uses principles learned in biology, chemistry, and physics (the basic sciences) in a practical way.

6. Examples of Applied Sciences
Agronomy
Uses biology and chemistry to discover new ways to control weeds in crops.
Entomology
Uses biology and chemistry to study insect life.
Agricultural Engineering
Uses physics to develop new machinery.
Saw Stop

7. Agriscience employs….. The scientific method to solve problems.
The steps to the scientific method are….
Identify the problem.
Review literature.
Form a hypothesis.
Prepare a project proposal.
Design the experiment.
Collect the data.
Draw conclusions.
Prepare a written report.

8. Why is Agriculture/Agriscience Important?
Largest “employer” and the largest source of income in the United States and North Carolina.

9. Opportunities in Agriculture
Agricultural production is supported by many more careers than actually exist in production.
Many careers in agriscience products & distribution are needed to grade, transport, process, package, & market agriculture commodities.
Products, Processing & Distribution
Projections show that the average size of farms in the U.S. will increase while the number of farms will decrease.

10. Opportunities in Agriculture
Twenty percent of all jobs in the U.S. are agriscience related.
In addition to farming, agriscience jobs help support farmers to meet the world’s food & fiber needs.
Areas include:
Production
Processing, products, and distribution
Supplies and services.

11. World Outlook
The world population will grow as more people beget more people.
More children are surviving to adulthood.
More adults are living longer.
Population growth will….
Add stress to environmental systems of air, water, soil, and natural resources.
Create challenges to meet the demands for food and fiber (clothing and shelter).

12. Trends for Agriculture/Agriscience
Agriculture will always be an essential industry.
Increased commercialization of agriculture will continue.
New types of farming such as aquaculture (fish farming and farming the sea) will be used as well as traditional farming methods.

13. Trends for Agriculture/Agriscience
An expanded view of agriculture is necessary.

14. 7 Divisions of Agriculture
Agribusiness
Agriscience Mechanics
Agronomy
Animal Science
Biotechnology
Horticulture
Natural Resources
Where Did That
Come From?

15. What is Agribusiness?
Commercial firms that have developed with or stem out of agriculture.

16. Agribusiness includes….
Farming
Chemical company
Fertilizer dealer
Seed store
Tractor dealer
Horticulture
Landscape nursery
Greenhouse dealer
Horticulture supply company

17. What is Agriscience Mechanics?
The application of engineering principles in agricultural settings.

18. Agriscience Mechanics includes….
The design, operation, maintenance, service, selling, and use of power units, machinery, equipment, structures, and utilities in agriscience.

19. What is Agronomy?
The application of soil and plant sciences to land management and crop production.

20. Agronomy includes…. Crop Science Soil Science Turfgrass Management
Weed Science
Range Management

21. What is Animal Science?
The care, management, and production of domestic animals.

22. Animal Science includes….
Livestock
Companion Animals
Specialty Animals

23. What is Biotechnology?
The application of living processes to technology.
The use of microorganisms, animal cells, plant cells, or components of cells to produce products or carry out processes.

24. Biotechnology includes….
Genetics
Biochemistry
Microbiology
Toxicology
Plant Pathology

25. What is Horticulture?
Involves the producing, marketing fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. (Green Industry)
Continues to expand as the standard of living is raised.

26. Horticulture includes….
Greenhouse Management
Nursery Management
Landscape Architecture
Plant Physiology
Integrated Pest Management

27. What are Renewable Natural Resources?
Resources provided by nature that can replace or renew themselves.
Important both economically and for posterity’s sake to maintain life.
Agriculture & resources management will include pollution control.

28. Natural Resources - Forestry
Timber management for lumber, poles, post, plywood, and etc. is another part of the agricultural industry.

29. Other Examples include:
Wildlife
Water
Fish
Soils
Air

30. What are Commodities? Agricultural products which are sold. Examples:
Milk
Corn
Wheat
Beef
Cotton

31. U.S. Agricultural Commodities (Market Value of Products Sold)
Total Crops
California
Total Livestock
Texas
Total Ag Income

32. Top 10 U.S. Ag Commodity Exports
#1 Soybeans
#2 Corn*
#3 Wheat
#4 Cotton
#5 Misc. Hort Products
#6 Poultry Meat**
#7 Feed
#8 Edible Tree Nuts
#9 Pork
#10 Feed Grain
*Consistently ranks in top 5 in U.S. grain exports year after year.
**Number 1 meat export as far as tonnage shipped from the U.S.

33. Agricultural Commodities
Corn
_______ ranks in the top five in US agricultural commodities every year.
__________ are the world’s most important source of vegetable oil and provide basic materials for hundreds of products.
During the 1990s ________ was the number one meat export from the US.
Soybeans
Poultry

34. U.S. Dept of Agriculture
Secretary
Mike Johanns
Nebraska

35. U.S. Dept of Agriculture Oversees the following:
Food Safety Inspection
Commodity Grading
Meat
Fruit
Vegetables
Eggs

36. U.S. Dept of Agriculture Oversees the following: School Lunch Program
Food Stamps
Agricultural Cooperatives
U.S. Forest Service
Cooperative Extension
Agricultural Marketing

37. North Carolina Agriculture

38. General NC Ag. Information
There are 2,200,000 farms in N.C.
Includes small farms
90.8% of farms in N.C. are family farms.
The average N.C. farmer is 57 years old.
The county with the most amount of agricultural sales is Duplin County.

39. Top Commodities In NC
During the 1990s the top three agricultural commodities in terms of cash receipts for North Carolina were:
Hogs
Broilers
Tobacco

40. North Carolina Agriculture
North Carolina is #1 in the following commodities.
Tobacco
Sweet potatoes

41. North Carolina Agriculture
North Carolina is #2 in the following commodities.
Hogs
Christmas Trees
Turkeys

42. North Carolina Agriculture
North Carolina is #3 in the following commodities.
Cucumber Processing
Trout
Total Poultry & Eggs

43. Agricultural Statistics - Cash Receipts : 2008
Rank
Item
Million Dollars 1
Broilers ¹
2,692 2
Hogs
2,171 3
Greenhouse/Nursery/Floriculture/Christmas Trees
777 4
Tobacco
687 5
Turkeys ¹
652 6
Soybeans
440 7
Chicken eggs ¹
374 8
Corn
333 9
Wheat
291 10
Cattle and calves
198 11
Cotton & Cottonseed
193 12
Dairy Products
190 13
Sweet Potatoes
142 14
Peanuts 68 15
Blueberries 48 16
Tomatoes, Fresh 34 17
Irish Potatoes 26 18
Cucumbers 25 19
Apples 22 20
Strawberries 21
SOURCE: Economic Research Service, USDA
¹ Value of Production

44. North Carolina Agriculture

45. NC Dept of Agriculture Steve Troxler Current Commissioner
Guilford County

46. NC Dept of Agriculture Oversees the following: All agricultural issues
Weights & Standards
Food & Drugs in North Carolina
NC State Fair

47. NC Dept of Agriculture Oversees the following: Marketing
Farmer’s Markets
Goodness Grows Program
Research Stations
Structural Pests
Veterinarian Program

48. Cooperative Extension Service
Located in all 100 counties and the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
Provides information for those working in agriculture.
Best free source of information for small agricultural businesses.
Administers the 4H program.

49. Progress in Agriculture
Mechanization helps 2% of America’s work force to meet the food & fiber needs of our nation.
(2% of US population works “on the farm”.)
There has been a reduction from 90% of the nation’s populace involved in farming 200 years ago.

50. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
George Washington
In 1785, he became the first American to own mules.
Also introduced agricultural concepts such as terracing, crop rotation, and the use of cover crops.

51. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Eli Whitney
Invented the cotton gin in 1793.
Turned cotton into an usable product by removing cottonseed from the cotton fiber.

52. Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin

53. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Thomas Jefferson
In 1814, Jefferson had his moldboard plow cast in iron, thus inventing the iron plow.
Was a marked improvement over the inefficient European plow.

54. Thomas Jefferson’s Plow

55. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Cyrus McCormick
Invented the grain reaper in 1834 to save labor in cutting wheat, oats, and similar crops.
It only CUT the grain.
Later a threshing machine was added and it became known as a combine.

56. Cyrus McCormick’s Reaper

57. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
John Deere
In 1837, improved the iron plow by inventing the steel moldboard plow.
Need caused by tough prairie soils.

58. John Deere’s Plow

59. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Edmund W. Quincy
Invented the mechanical corn picker in 1850.
Anna Baldwin
Changed the dairy industry in 1878 by inventing a milking machine to replace hand milking.

60. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Joseph Glidden
Invented barbed wire in 1874.
Used for livestock fencing.
Tamed the west by allowing ranches with fixed boundaries to be established.

61. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Booker T. Washington
Founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Advocate of vocational education/skills development.
The school was later given land-grant status.

62. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
George Washington Carver
Director of agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute in early 1900’s.
Found new uses for soybeans, peanuts, and sweetpotatoes.
Diversified southern agriculture.

63. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Benjamin Holt
Invented the tractor
Company went one to become Caterpillar Inc.
Also invented the traction method used on many tanks

64. Benjamin Holt’s Tractor

65. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
Harry Ferguson
Invented the 3 point hitching system on tractors.
Met with Henry Ford in 1938 and had the famous “Handshake Agreement”.

66. “The Handshake Agreement”

67. Ferguson Insignia on a Ford Tractor

68. Progress in Agriculture: Historical Events
In 1954, the tractor finally surpasses the mule as the main source of agricultural power.

69. Assignment
With a partner you must design a new agricultural invention.
Requirements:
Must be something that has not already been invented.
Must have a name and price.
Must have a color picture.
Must include a four sentence description of the invention and how it works.

70. Improving Life through Agriscience
Soybeans
Known as the “Yellow Jewell” to the Chinese.
World’s most important source for vegetable oil.
Provide basic materials for hundreds of products.
Used as major food source in China in the form of tofu.

71. Improving Life through Agriscience
The Green Revolution
Process whereby many countries became self sufficient in food production in the 1960s by using improved crop varieties and practices.

72. Improving Life through Agriscience
The Green Industry
The modern horticulture industry with emphasis on turf and landscape plants.

73. Agriscience and the Future
The average American farmer produces enough food and fiber for 128 people.
As the world’s population increases, it will require a more sophisticated agriscience industry to keep pace with demand.

74. Agriscience and the Future
The science of food production, processing, and distribution will require:
College graduates to fill roles as scientists, engineers, and other professionals.
USDA reported an increased demand for graduates from agricultural colleges in the 90s.

75. Agribusiness
Activity