PRT 3005
Crop Production System
Overview
Outline
• What is agriculture?
• Conventional agriculture
• Sustainable agriculture
• Basic practice in agriculture
• Soil preparation
• Planting
• Irrigation
• Fertilizing
• Pest management
• Harvesting
• Storage
What is agriculture?
• Agriculture:
• The science and art of producing
crops and animals under
supervision of human in a specific
location
• Why?
• Traditional purpose:
Production of food and fiber
for humans and feed for
livestock
What is agriculture
Conventional industrial agriculture
• use of synthetic chemical, pesticides, herbicides and other continual inputs,
• may use genetically modified organisms,
• concentrated animal feeding operations
• heavy irrigation,
• intensive tillage,
• concentrated monoculture production.
• Resource and energy intensive, but highly productive.
• generally capital-intensive and chemical dependent
• Crop productivity increased at cost to the environment and human health.
• Agrochemicals build up in the environment and pollute groundwater and the air.
• Chemical residues in food are health hazards to humans and animals.
Towards sustainable agriculture practice
• Respond to site-specific conditions
• integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices
• cycling of resources,
• promote ecological balance,
• conserve biodiversity.
The general goals of sustainable agriculture:
• Increased profitability of crop production
• Natural resource conservation in crop production
• Use of environmentally prudent farming systems in crop production
Sustainable Agriculture
• Sustainable agriculture aims
to increase crop productivity
without the adverse effects to
environment and society
• Since this is a concept that
emphasizes a goal rather
than a set of practices,
producers adopt various
farm-based innovations to
accomplish the general goal
Towards sustainable agriculture practice
• The innovative aspect of sustainable agriculture comes about because
there is no one correct way to arrive at the general goal
• producer’s farming situation is different, regarding soils, climate, cropping system,
method of production, and market needs
• Sustainable agriculture calls for the use of the best production
technology in a productive, cost-effective, environmentally responsible
manner.
• Integrated natural resources and production technologies
• On-farm cycles that are managed in sustainable agriculture include crop rotations,
nitrogen fixation, genetic resistance in crops, and several others.
Basic practice of production
• Cultivation of crops:
• Involve several activities – agricultural practices
Adding Manure and
Preparation of soil Sowing/Planting
Fertilizers
Protection from
Harvesting Irrigation
weed/pathogen/pests
Storage
Basic practice of production
1) Soil preparation - tillage
• Purpose – to turn the soil and loosen, allowing the roots to penetrate
deep in the soil.
• To encourage growth of microbes and earthworms that are beneficial for
soil structure and characteristic
Types of tillage Pros Cons
No – till - Least soil disturbance -require more pesticide application
- Conservation practice -more likely to deal with early growing
- Faster plant emergence weed
- Cost saving
Strip-till -allow direct contact between fertilizers -fuel and input cost (vs. no-till)
and root zone
-better conservation and efficiency than
conventional tillage
-help dry out wet soil
-more soil organic matter
-warmer soil temperature
Basic practice of production
2) Sowing/Planting
• Selecting healthy seed/seedlings for high yield
• Traditionally done by a tool shaped like funnel, where the
seeds/seedlings pass down through pipes with sharp ends. This end
pierce into soil and place seeds there
SEED DRILL
Sowing/Planting machine, placing seeds/seedlings uniformly
at same distance and depths
Basic practice of production
3) Fertilizers application
• Soil supplies mineral and nutrients to crop, which are essential to plant
growth.
• Continuous cultivation makes the soil poorer in certain nutrients
• Farmers add fertilizers and organic matter to restore the soil with nutrient
and beneficial soil microbes
• Improper or insufficient manuring results in weak crops
• Manure – organic substance obtained from decomposition of plants and
animal wastes. Provide humus – less rich in nutrients
• Fertilizers – inorganic salt, prepared in factories. Does not provide humus
to the soil. Rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium.
Examples are urea, ammonium sulphate, potash, NPK
Basic practice of production
4) Irrigation
• The supply of water to crops at different intervals
• Source – natural sources (wells, ponds, lakes, rivers) and man made (tube
well, dams, canals)
Traditional method Modern method
Drip system Sprinkler system
Basic practice of production
5) Protection from weed/pests/pathogen
• Weeds – undesirable plants that grows naturally along with the crop
• Pathogen – microorganism that infect plants and cause diseases. Viruses,
bacteria and fungi
• Pests – invertebrate (snail, nematodes) and vertebrate (mouse, squirrel)
and insects
• Method of protection
• Spray of cidal agents – herbicides, pesticide, insecticide
• Manually removing weeds by plucking, rooting, cutting
• Intergrated pest management
Basic practice of production
6) Harvesting
• Activities involve cutting after its maturation.
• Traditionally done using sickle and now using harvester machine
• Harvested crop are separated by winnowing and threshing (grain)
Harvester machine Winnowing Threshing
Basic practice of production
7) Storage
• Farmers store produce like grain in bags or bins until further process or
for selling
• Large scale storage is like silo and granaries (for grains), done to protect
from pests like rats and insects.
