Economic prosperity of many countries directly depends on the productivity of its agricultural sector. This applies to many developing countries, like those in Asia and Africa. For developed nations that own a considerable area of cultivable land, like the USA, good farming contributes significantly to the country’s economic profile. The relation between agriculture and economy runs both ways: better farming strengthens the economy and generous economic packages ensure enhanced agricultural production. Certainly, the relation between the two concepts is far more complex. For the sake of brevity, we may think of agriculture and economy as two main components of a system that runs on feedbacks and determines the growth and development of a country (or broadly, a region).

Producing more food and other farming products is not the only determinant of agriculture’s contribution to economy. Effective management of the agricultural products, including their preservation and marketing, is integral to the success of the ago-economic system. Maintaining a good reputation of farming products for commercial progress calls for quality – in turn, a requirement that can not be met without adopting sustainable farming practices. Otherwise, the input in farming is put to risk. Then there is the issue of charming incentives for farming communities, without which the quality of products is bound to dwindle.

A key point in sustainable agriculture for well-off economies is the balance between production and market demands. Framing needs to be considered as a business here, especially in countries like the US where agriculture has been established along well-defined commercial lines. In fact, the corporate nature of agricultural practice in America and other business-oriented countries has led to the use of the term agribusiness. Advanced methods of cultivation and farm management as well as the interest of the corporate sector has more than once led to overproduction of agricultural products in the US, resulting in depression of prices – a problem linked to the imbalance of agro-corporate elements.

Today, a number of factors determining the quantity and quality of agricultural yield remain beyond human control. Environment is the biggest and most fundamental of these factors. Droughts, floods, unexpected seasonal variations, and a range of other environmental phenomena interfere with the predictability of agribusiness in America. Agricultural reforms aiming at thriving economies need to go beyond the interplay of business and science. For more promising results in agribusiness, we ought to include economic and environmental considerations for a well-off future.

farmcommunities.com