Agronomy is the branch of agricultural sciences that studies crops, crop production and the soils they are grown in. This soil science includes not only topics of crop production but also the environmental concerns of soil management and sustainable agriculture lands.
The agronomy field covers topics as wide ranging as plant physiology, plant breeding, the biological physical and chemical properties of soil and the efficient production of food, fiber, feed, oil and turf crops. Organic, mineral and chemical fertilizers and their proper use is a central core of the agronomics professional providing for the proper nutrition of the soil. Tools like GIS, geographic information systems, and GPS, global positioning systems, are important technology tools for collecting and analyzing land uses. The agronomy professional uses these technologies to monitor changes on the land and work with other professionals to make decisions about the use of available resources.
The number of factors involved in growing healthy crops and maintaining sustainable agricultural lands can be overwhelming. Just consider: soil fertility, planting date, planting depth, crop emergence, plant populations, crop variety selections, pests, pest removal and pest risk management, precipitation and soil moisture and soil temperature…just to name a few. The needs of the land vary not just by region but often change within individual fields.
The debate over sustainable agriculture and organic versus modern agriculture practices is likely to continue for decades. What is agreed to by all is that soil must be properly prepared in order to grow the plants needed to feed us all. Understanding the use of fertilizers like nitrogen, potassium and potash and their proper management is a necessity for the farmer as well as the home gardener. Good soil conservation practices are vital to soil management and crop production.
Deciding what seed to plant and where to plant impacts yield. Seed selection has become more complicated with the choices of traditional, hybrid and GMO. The use of genetically modified seed has increased every year since 1999 and while there is no clear concensus its use is here to stay.
Whether it’s a backyard garden or thousands of acres of wheat, soybeans or rice, agronomists develop methods to improve production of food and fiber crops and to preserve the land.
In other words there are no silver bullets to achieving above average harvests. It requires the proper management of many contributing factors. Reduced yields and crop quality can be mitigated by understanding and implementing proper procedures at the correct time. The trained agronomist understands the different crop types, soil conditions, equipment and management practices who aids the farm producer in reaching their production goals.
The worlds population continues to grow at unprecedented speed. That means more people to feed. Food, and food safety, is one of the most important subjects for all of us! Our ancestors great challenge was simply finding and gathering food. Today, because of modern agronomy practices, we consumers have a choice of the most diverse and nutritious food products ever produced.
