Agricultural science is a vast multidisciplinary area of study that strives to nourish the world’s population through prevention of biosafety problems that may be harmful to human health and the environment. It aims at finding means to meet growing human needs for food and fiber while maintaining environmental stability and conserving resources for future generations. Agricultural science comprises of parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. It also encourages and promotes high-quality management of natural resources and perseverance of the environment. Agriculture Science involves the usage of biology and chemistry studies with a practical understanding of crop and livestock production and management. It involves technical knowledge in the areas of soils and fertilizers, pests and control procedures, and crop and livestock production and management.
Agricultural sciences involves research and development in the filed of production agriculture, an applied agricultural science closely linked to soil properties and climate, relies on local weather, specific crops and soil characteristics including the structure and function of soils in relation to soil fertility. Production techniques including irrigation management, recommended nitrogen inputs are all part of agricultural science. This involves improving agricultural productivity with regards to quantity and quality, selecting drought-resistant crops and animals, developing new pesticides, yield-sensing technologies, new technologies for better crop growth like in-vitro cell culture techniques, etc.
Agricultural science also includes converting primary products into end-consumer products which involves production, preservation and packaging of end products like dairy products, preventing and rectifying unfavorable environmental effects such as soil degradation, waste management, bioremediation. It also involves cultivation, production, improvement, processing or marketing of aquatic or terrestrial plants or animals. It classifies, manages, uses, conserves, protects, restores, reclaims or enhances aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems that are influenced by and continue to have the potential to sustain the cultivation or production of aquatic or terrestrial plants or animals;
It also looks at crop modeling like subsistence agriculture systems which mainly focuses on feeding most of the poorest people in the world. These systems have the ability to retain some level of integration with natural ecological more than that of industrial agriculture. Advanced technologies like biotechnology and computer science have evolved new research fields, including genetic engineering, agrophysics, improved statistical analysis, and precision farming.
Individuals in the field of agricultural science usually work as consultants, researchers, teachers, farm advisors They also work in agricultural experiment stations, federal, state or local government agencies, industrial firms, or universities.