Question

Provide a Historical Overview and Economic Performance of the Agriculture and rural life

Answer 1

Agrarian society is one of the oldest society existing in the world,It was preceded by the hunter society .It marked the shifting of nomadic hunter people to relatively settled people which was enormously profound and a story of humankind's development started.It has evolved to a great extent considering the significant development of technologies in this field which has enhanced the productivity of crops along with it quality.As agriculture further developed, the ecosystem got disturbed as the increasing situation of plants and trees growing got differentiated from that of their natural environments.Crop rotation was practised in order to prevent soil of farms to get used to only one set of nutrients and also helps in increasing soil nutrients.

The farm crisis of 1980's in US was one of the most severe crisis ever since the Great Depression.Those who relied on agriculture were heavily ruined financially. The women were more affected by the drought in this crisis than the men.This led to the active participation of women in rural area and we're bestowed with more agricultural tasks.This was termed as "feminization of agriculture" by the UN.During this time, migration became quite common,Male migrated leaving the family void of male leader in rural household so women used to take up the charge of day to day farm management.Since in those time,male used to dominate in agricultural field in the family so a sudden breakdown in the family due to migration of family head lead to women heads of household making adjustments to cropping patterns and farming systems by hiring labor to fulfill the labor needs as women alone were not able to cope up with the job.Since men labor were not available,they used to make it up with women labor which not only lead to boost in women empowerment but also indirectly lead to rural development.Earlier farms employed close to half of the workforce in USA,but now thanks to development workforce in this field has been reduced to one-fourth which is a good sign as other work forces have contributed to other developments in the society.As a result of transformation due to technology,US farming sector has become extremely efficient.This not only changed the lives of farmers but also played an important factor in the rural development who since early days were a part of this industry and most of them still are.

Inspite of farming being one of the oldest profession,modern farming is governed by modern economic factor.Since the globalisation of agriculture,consumer has variety of options to chose from.So,quality becomes a huge factor in modern day farming. Government also gives incentives in certain types of crops. Though there are some independent-minded thoughts who are able to create a market of their own in this competitive world, majority to American farmers depends upon the government, economic factors and of course weather.Demand too plays an important role in deciding which crops should be grown.Growing cash crop,crops for biofuels, has also become a way of earning.In addition to demand,farmer keep an eye on international economic factor too like strengthening/weakening of dollar as these farmers are not only competing with American products but also foreign crops.

American government also plays an important role in governing the price of certain crops like corn by setting a ceiling or a floor price so that well-being of consumer as well as producer is maintained.They also provide subsidy inorder to encourage the farmer to grow more and more . Immigration also play an important part as it make cheap labor for land owners who could help them in growing crops. Availability of low wage worker is required if we want to continue consuming the food at such low price.20th century was a revolution in Agricultural Industry,thanks to development, consumer influence and good policies. Some stuck to this as their first occupation while some made this as their second occupation as it became a good source of income for them.Also,it contributed immensely in the economic growth of the country which also led to rural development.