Crop agriculture encompasses the rigorous cultivation to produce fiber, food and feed.
Crop agriculture also provides ingredients which are of industrial or medicinal use.
Ornamental products can also be obtained through
crop agriculture.
Crop agriculture first made it's appearance when hunters of the stone age switched over to the culture of species which were favored.
Crop agriculture produced new variety of crops which were derived from their predecessors by choosing seeds which were comparatively larger in size and possessed other suitable features.
Middle east, Southern Europe and North African countries produced sugar beet, barley,oats, wheat, millet, forage legumes in specific regions of the above mentioned countries.
Crop agriculture in North America as well as South America produced tobacco,
sunflowers, corn, potatoes, peanuts. Crop agriculture in China produced rice, sugarcane while
bananas and
citrus fruits were produced by South Asia.
Latest techniques employed in
crop agriculture vary vastly in its range.
Crop agriculture during the modern times range from management of small lands to big lands for
commercial purposes.
Crop agriculture farmers are well versed in the selection of those varieties of plants which are capable of adapting themselves to the varying or fluctuating soil and
climatic conditions.
A good crop agriculture farmer should be capable enough to store crops, harvesting crops,
planting crops, growing as well as
protecting crops.
Managing crops and to prevent the crops from being infected by pests, insects and diseases is required to be taken care of by the expert
crop agriculture farmer.
Possessing marketing skills goes a long way to determine the amount of return an individual farmer can avail of from the crops.
Given below is a comparative account of
grain crops and
forage crops.
| Grain crops | Forage crops |
| This category of grain crops consists of large seeds which are edible. | Crop agriculture farmers produce legumes in unison with a grass. |
| Examples: Barley, rye, oats, sorghum, wheat, maize, rice. | Examples: Forage crops are white clovers, alfalfa, red clovers, birds foot. |
| Sorghum, corn, oats, barley serve as poultry feed and livestock. | Grasses may comprise of orchard grass, bluegrass, timothy etc.,. |
| Rye, barley,wheat and barley are grown in areas where there is low to moderate rainfall.(Temperate climate) | Consumption of forage crops as pastures is prevalent in tropical and sub tropical areas.
Forage crops for storage is prevalent in the temperate regions. |