Agricultural commodities are divided into three groups: natural resources, seeds and organisms, and fertilizers and equipment. Arable land and water are essential for food production, with 36% of dry land used for farming and 26% of fresh water used for agriculture. Livestock and seeds are also important, with 30% of the Earth’s landmass used for grazing or growing grain to feed animals. Some argue that vegetarianism is more efficient as it takes less grain and water to produce vegetable proteins than meat. Advanced agricultural commodities include fertilizers and machinery, with a 150% increase in use since the 1960s.
Agricultural commodities fall into three general groups. The first and most essential of these are basic natural resources that are fed into the agricultural process to produce various types of food, including fresh, unpolluted water and fertile soil, or marine environments where life can grow such as coral reefs. along the continental shelves. The second most important category of agricultural commodities are seeds for growing plants, domesticated livestock, and natural organisms in the environment that benefit the production of these species, such as pollinating insects such as bees, and bacteria and earthworms in the soil that decompose in decay. organic matter for plant nutrients. The final group of agricultural commodities that is vital to large-scale, healthy production of food supplies in the 21st century includes fertilizers, pesticides, or other organic means to control harmful insect populations, as well as mechanized equipment and reliable sources of energy. to run modern agricultural operations.
Probably among the most vital types of raw materials for food production are those of arable land and abundant supplies of fresh, clean water. Estimates indicate that the cultivation of arable land for agricultural production has been steadily increasing since the early 1960s. As of 1961, 1,351,000,000 hectares (1,351 x 1013 square meters) of land was under cultivation globally and this number increased to 2,682,000,000 hectares (2,682 x 1013 square meters) by the year 1998. It is estimated that this is 36% of all dry land on Earth that is fertile enough to potentially be used for farming. In contrast, it is estimated that, as of the year 2000, nearly 26% of all fresh water on Earth generated by evapotranspiration and runoff from land-based sources has been used for the combined agricultural purposes of rangeland, cropland and production of forest products.
Livestock and seeds are second only to land and water as key agricultural commodities in the global food supply chain for humanity. Although the Earth reached a human population of 7,000,000,000 people in 2011, there were 19,000,000,000 chickens living alongside them, with an additional 1,400,000,000 cattle and an estimated 1,000,000,000 sheep and pigs. The United Nations estimates that, as of 2011, 30% of the Earth’s entire landmass is now used exclusively for grazing or growing grain to feed these livestock, and 70% of all grain grown by humanity is grown for consumption by these animals only.
Since agricultural supplies exist in limited quantities, there is often a valid argument for the conversion of the human population to vegetarianism. Supporting such a large number of farm animals is considered by some to be an inefficient use of agricultural raw materials, as it takes on average 16 pounds of grain to produce a pound of meat and 11 times more energy than it would be to produce an equal amount of vegetable proteins. Fresh water is also used in large quantities to raise animals for food, with estimates that 2,400 gallons (9,085 liters) are needed to create a pound of meat versus only 25 gallons (95 liters) of water to generate a pound of grain .
In terms of advanced agricultural commodities that are considered vital to improving crop yields, the numbers are just as large. As of 1999, the world was using 141,360,000 tons of fertilizer annually and 26,334,690 tractors to grow crops with these chemicals and other machinery. This is about a 150% increase in use for fertilizers and machinery for the US alone since the 1960s, with a corresponding increase in US crop yields of about 100% over the same time period.
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