Food And Agriculture Organization - United Nations Food And Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO; French: Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, Italian: Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura) is an agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy.

FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, and helps developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates as "let there be bread". As of 6 January 2017, FAO has 194 member states, along with the European Union (a "member organization"), and the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members.

History

The idea of an international organization for food and agriculture emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century, advanced primarily by the US agriculturalist and activist David Lubin. In Mayâ€"June 1905, an international conference was held in Rome, Italy, which led to the creation of the International Institute of Agriculture.

Later in 1943, the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt called a United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture. Representatives from forty four governments gathered at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia from 18 May to 3 June. They committed themselves to founding a permanent organization for food and agriculture, which happened in Quebec City, Canada on 16 October 1945 with the conclusion of the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization. The First Session of the FAO Conference was held in the Chateau frontenac at Quebec, Canada, from 16 October to 1 November 1945.

The Second World War effectively ended the International Agricultural Institute, though it was only officially dissolved by resolution of its Permanent Committee on 27 February 1948. Its functions were then transferred to the recently established FAO.

Structure and finance

In 1951, FAO's headquarters were moved from Washington, D.C., United States, to Rome, Italy. The agency is directed by the Conference of Member Nations, which meets every two years to review the work carried out by the organization and to Work and Budget for the next two-year period. The Conference elects a council of 49 member states (serve three-year rotating terms) that acts as an interim governing body, and the Director-General, that heads the agency.

FAO is composed of six departments: Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Economic and Social Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Forestry, Corporate Services and Technical Cooperation and Programme Management.

Beginning in 1994, FAO underwent the most significant restructuring since its founding, to decentralize operations, streamline procedures and reduce costs. As a result, savings of about US$50 million, €35 million a year were realized.

Budget

FAO's Regular Programme budget is funded by its members, through contributions set at the FAO Conference. This budget covers core technical work, cooperation and partnerships including the Technical Cooperation Programme, knowledge exchange, policy and advocacy, direction and administration, governance and security.

The total FAO Budget planned for 2016-17 is USD 2.6 billion. The voluntary contributions provided by members and other partners support mechanical and emergency (including rehabilitation) assistance to governments for clearly defined purposes linked to the results framework, as well as direct support to FAO's core work. The voluntary contributions are expected to reach approximately US$1.6 billion in 2016-17.

This overall budget covers core technical work, cooperation and partnerships, leading to Food and Agriculture Outcomes at 71%; Core Functions at 11%; the Country Office Network â€" 5%; Capital and Security Expenditure â€" 2%; Administration â€" 6%; and Technical and Cooperation Program â€" 5%.

Directors-General

Deputy Directors-General

Offices

FAO World headquarters

The world headquarters are located in Rome, in the former seat of the Department of Italian East Africa. One of the most notable features of the building was the Axum Obelisk which stood in front of the agency seat, although just outside the territory allocated to FAO by the Italian Government. It was taken from Ethiopia by Benito Mussolini's troops in 1937 as a war chest, and returned on 18 April 2005.

Regional offices

• Regional Office for Africa, in Accra, Ghana
• Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in Bangkok, Thailand
• Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, in Budapest, Hungary
• Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Santiago, Chile
• Regional Office for the Near East, in Cairo, Egypt

Sub-regional offices

• Sub-regional Office for Central Africa (SFC), in Libreville, Gabon
• Sub-regional Office for Central Asia, in Ankara, Turkey
• Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SFE), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Sub-regional Office for Mesoamerica (SLM), in Panama City, Panama
• Sub-regional Office for North Africa, in Tunis, Tunisia
• Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa and East Africa, in Harare, Zimbabwe
• Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean, in Bridgetown, Barbados
• Sub-regional Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council States and Yemen, Abu Dhabi
• Sub-regional Office for the Pacific Islands, in Apia, Samoa

Liaison offices

• Liaison Office for North America, in Washington, D.C.
• Liaison Office with Japan, in Yokohama
• Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium, in Brussels
• Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, in Moscow
• Liaison Office with the United Nations, in Geneva
• Liaison Office with the United Nations, in New York

Priority work areas

FAO has outlined the following priorities in its fight against hunger.

• Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition â€" contribute to the eradication of hunger by facilitating policies and political commitments to support food security and by making sure that up-to-date information about hunger and nutrition challenges and solutions is available and accessible.
• Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable â€" promote evidence-based policies and practices to support highly productive agricultural sectors (crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries), while ensuring that the natural resource base does not suffer in the process.
• Reduce rural poverty â€" help the rural poor gain access to the resources and services they need â€" including rural employment and social protection â€" to forge a path out of poverty.
• Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems â€" help to build safe and efficient food systems that support smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty and hunger in rural areas.
• Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises â€" help countries to prepare for natural and human-caused disasters by reducing their risk and enhancing the resilience of their food and agricultural systems.

Two fundamental areas of work â€" gender and governance - are fully integrated in the above strategic objective action plans.

Programmes and achievements

Food

Codex Alimentarius

FAO and the World Health Organization created the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1961 to develop food standards, guidelines and texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/ WHO Food Standards Programme. The main aims of the programme are protecting consumer health, ensuring fair trade and promoting co-ordination of all food standards work undertaken by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

World Food Summit

In 1996, FAO organised the World Food Summit, attended by 112 Heads or Deputy Heads of State and Government. The Summit concluded with the signing of the Rome Declaration, which established the goal of halving the number of people who suffer from hunger by the year 2015. At the same time, 1,200 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from 80 countries participated in an NGO forum. The forum was critical of the growing industrialisation of agriculture and called upon governments â€" and FAO â€" to do more to protect the 'Right to Food' of the poor.

TeleFood

Raising awareness about the problem of hunger mobilizes energy to find a solution. In 1997, FAO launched TeleFood, a campaign of concerts, sporting events and other activities to harness the power of media, celebrities and concerned citizens to help fight hunger. Since its start, the campaign has generated close to US$28 million, €15 million in donations. Money raised through TeleFood pays for small, sustainable projects that help small-scale farmers produce more food for their families and communities.

The projects provide tangible resources, such as fishing equipment, seeds and agricultural implements. They vary enormously, from helping families raise pigs in Venezuela, through creating school gardens in Cape Verde and Mauritania or providing school lunches in Uganda and teaching children to grow food, to raising fish in a leper community in India.

FAO Goodwill Ambassadors

The FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Programme was initiated in 1999. The main purpose of the programme is to attract public and media attention to the unacceptable situation that some 1 billion people continue to suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition in a time of unprecedented plenty. These people lead a life of misery and are denied the most basic of human rights: the right to food.

Governments alone cannot end hunger and undernourishment. Mobilization of the public and private sectors, the involvement of civil society and the pooling of collective and individual resources are all needed if people are to break out of the vicious circle of chronic hunger and undernourishment.

Each of FAO's Goodwill Ambassadors â€" celebrities from the arts, entertainment, sport and academia such as Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini, actress Gong Li, the late singer Miriam Makeba, International Singers Ronan Keating, and Anggun. And soccer players Roberto Baggio and Raúl, to name a few â€" has made a personal and professional commitment to FAO's vision: a food-secure world for present and future generations. Using their talents and influence, the Goodwill Ambassadors draw the old and the young, the rich and the poor into the campaign against world hunger. They aim to make Food for All a reality in the 21st century and beyond.

Right to Food Guidelines

In 2004 the Right to Food Guidelines were adopted, offering guidance to states on how to implement their obligations on the right to food.

Response to food crisis

In December 2007, FAO launched its Initiative on Soaring Food Prices to help small producers raise their output and earn more. Under the initiative, FAO contributed to the work of the UN High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, which produced the Comprehensive Framework for Action. FAO has carried out projects in over 25 countries and inter-agency missions in nearly 60, scaled up its monitoring through the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture, provided policy advice to governments while supporting their efforts to increase food production, and advocated for more investment in agriculture. It has also worked hand-in-hand with the European Union. One example of its work is a US$10.2 million, €7.5 billion scheme to distribute and multiply quality seeds in Haiti, which has significantly increased food production, thereby providing cheaper food and boosting farmers' incomes.

FAOâ€"EU partnership

In May 2009, FAO and the European Union signed an initial aid package worth €125 million to support small farmers in countries hit hard by rising food prices. The aid package falls under the EU's €1 billion Food Facility, set up with the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis and FAO to focus on programmes that will have a quick but lasting impact on food security. FAO is receiving a total of around €200 million for work in 25 countries, of which €15.4 million goes to Zimbabwe.

Food security programmes

The Special Programme for Food Security is FAO's flagship initiative for reaching the goal of halving the number of hungry in the world by 2015 (currently estimated at close to 1 billion people), as part of its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Through projects in over 100 countries worldwide, the programme promotes effective, tangible solutions to the elimination of hunger, undernourishment and poverty. Currently 102 countries are engaged in the programme and of these approximately 30 have begun shifting from pilot to national programmes. To maximize the impact of its work, FAO strongly promotes national ownership and local empowerment in the countries in which it operates.

Online campaign against hunger

The 1billionhungry project became the EndingHunger campaign in April 2011. Spearheaded by FAO in partnership with other UN agencies and private nonprofit groups, the EndingHunger movement pushes the boundaries of conventional public advocacy. It builds on the success in 2010 of The 1billonhungry project and the subsequent chain of public events that led to the collection of over three million signatures on a global petition to end hunger (www.EndingHunger.org). The petition was originally presented to representatives of world governments at a ceremony in Rome on 30 November 2010.

The web and partnerships are two pivotal and dynamic aspects of EndingHunger. The campaign relies on the assistance of organizations and institutions that can facilitate the project's diffusion, by placing banners on their own websites or organizing events aimed to raise awareness of the project. In its 2011 season, the campaign expanded its multimedia content, pursued mutual visibility arrangements with partner organizations, and sharpened its focus on 14- to 25-year-olds, who were encouraged to understand their potential as a social movement to push for the end of hunger.

Moreover, the EndingHunger project is a viral communication campaign, renewing and expanding its efforts to build the movement through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Those who sign the petition can spread the link of the EndingHunger website to their friends, via social media or mail, in order to gain awareness and signatures for the petition. The next interim objective is to grow the EndingHunger movement's Facebook community to 1 million members. As with the petition, the more people who get involved, the more powerful the message to governments: "We are no longer willing to accept the fact that hundreds of millions live in chronic hunger." Groups and individuals can also decide on their own to organize an event about the project, simply by gathering friends, whistles, T-shirts and banners (whistles and T-shirts can be ordered, and petition sign sheets downloaded, on the endinghunger.org website) and thereby alert people about chronic hunger by using the yellow whi stle.

The original 1billionhungry campaign borrowed as its slogan the line "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!", used by Peter Finch in the 1976 film, Network. Meanwhile, the yellow whistle has been the campaign symbol from the start, from 1billionhungry to Ending Hunger. (The creative concept was provided by the McCann Erickson Italy Communication Agency.) It symbolizes the fact that we are "blowing the whistle" on the silent disaster of hunger. It is both a symbol and â€" at many live events taking place around the world â€" a physical means of expressing frustration and making some noise about the hunger situation.

Both The 1billionhungry and the EndingHunger campaigns have continued to attract UN Goodwill Ambassadors from the worlds of music and cinema, literature, sport, activism and government. Some of the well known individuals who have become involved include former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former presidents of Chile Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet, actress Susan Sarandon, actors Jeremy Irons and Raul Bova, singers Céline Dion and Anggun, authors Isabelle Allende and Andrea Camilleri, musician Chucho Valdés and Olympic track-and-field legend Carl Lewis.

Agriculture

International Plant Protection Convention

FAO created the International Plant Protection Convention or IPPC in 1952. This international treaty organization works to prevent the international spread of pests and plant diseases. Among its functions are the maintenance of lists of plant pests, tracking of pest outbreaks, and coordination of technical assistance between member nations. As of May 2012, 177 governments had adopted the treaty.

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition

The Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM) aims to address how countries and organizations can be more effective in advocating and carrying out actions to address hunger and malnutrition. As a global partnership, AAHM creates global connections between local, regional, national and international institutions that share the goals of fighting hunger and malnutrition. The organization works to address food security by enhancing resources and knowledge sharing and strengthening hunger activities within countries and across state lines at the regional and international levels.

Following the World Food Summit, the Alliance was initially created in 2002 as the 'International Alliance Against Hunger (IAAH)' to strengthen and coordinate national efforts in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The mission of the Alliance originates from the first and eight UN Millennium Development Goals; reducing the number of people that suffer from hunger in half by 2015 (preceded by the "Rome Declaration" in 1996) and developing a global partnership for development. The Alliance was founded by the Rome-based food agencies â€" the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN World Food Programme (WFP), International Fund for Agriculture Fund for Development (IFAD), â€" and Bioversity International.

AAHM connects top-down and bottom-up anti-hunger development initiatives, linking governments, UN organizations, and NGOs together in order to increase effectiveness through unity.

Integrated pest management

During the 1990s, FAO took a leading role in the promotion of integrated pest management for rice production in Asia. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were trained using an approach known as the Farmer Field School (FFS). Like many of the programmes managed by FAO, the funds for Farmer Field Schools came from bilateral Trust Funds, with Australia, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland acting as the leading donors. FAO's efforts in this area have drawn praise from NGOs that have otherwise criticized much of the work of the organization.

Transboundary pests and diseases

FAO established an Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases in 1994, focusing on the control of diseases like rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu by helping governments coordinate their responses. One key element is the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme, which has advanced to a stage where large tracts of Asia and Africa have now been free of the cattle disease rinderpest for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, Locust Watch monitors the worldwide locust situation and keeps affected countries and donors informed of expected developments.

Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building

The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) is a global partnership dedicated to increasing plant breeding capacity building. The mission of GIPB is to enhance the capacity of developing countries to improve crops for food security and sustainable development through better plant breeding and delivery systems. The ultimate goal is to ensure that a critical mass of plant breeders, leaders, managers and technicians, donors and partners are linked together through an effective global network.

Increasing capacity building for plant breeding in developing countries is critical for the achievement of meaningful results in poverty and hunger reduction and to reverse the current worrisome trends. Plant breeding is a well recognized science capable of widening the genetic and adaptability base of cropping systems, by combining conventional selection techniques and modern technologies. It is essential to face and prevent the recurrence of crises such as that of the soaring food prices and to respond to the increasing demands for crop based sources of energy.

Investment in agriculture

FAO's technical cooperation department hosts an Investment Centre that promotes greater investment in agriculture and rural development by helping developing countries identify and formulate sustainable agricultural policies, programmes and projects. It mobilizes funding from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, regional development banks and international funds as well as FAO resources.

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, GIAHS The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Partnership Initiative was conceptualized and presented by Dr. Parviz Koohafkan the Task Manager of Chapter 10 of Agenda 21 in Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations, FAO in 2002 during World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. This UN Partnership Initiative aims to identify, support and safeguard Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and their livelihoods, agricultural and associated biodiversity, landscapes, knowledge systems and cultures around the world. The GIAHS Partnership recognizes the crucial importance of the well-being of family farming communities in an integrated approach while directing activities towards sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Animal Genetic Resources

FAO has a unit focused on Animal Genetic Resources, which are defined as “those animal species that are used, or may be used, for the production of food and agriculture, and the populations within each of them. These populations within each species can be classified as wild and feral populations, landraces and primary populations, standardised breeds, selected lines, varieties, strains and any conserved genetic material; all of which are currently categorized as Breeds.". FAO assists countries in implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. FAO supports a variety of ‘ex situ’ and ‘in situ’ conservation strategies including cryoconservation of animal genetic resources.

Forestry

One of FAO's strategic goals is the sustainable management of the world's forests. The Forestry Department works to balance social and environmental considerations with the economic needs of rural populations living in forest areas. FAO serves as a neutral forum for policy dialogue, as a reliable source of information on forests and trees and as a provider of expert technical assistance and advice to help countries develop and implement effective national forest programmes.

FAO is both a global clearinghouse for information on forests and forest resources and a facilitator that helps build countries' local capacity to provide their own national forest data. In collaboration with member countries, FAO carries out periodic global assessments of forest resources, which are made available through reports, publications and the FAO's Web site. The Global Forest Resources Assessment provides comprehensive reporting on forests worldwide every five years. FRA 2015 is the most recent global assessment. The results, data and analyses are available online in different formats, including the FAO synthesis report Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: How are forests changing?, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 Desk Reference containing summary tables, 234 country reports and the FRA 2015 Infographics. Moreover, in 2015, the journal Forest Ecology and Management published a special issue, Changes in Global Forest Resources from 1990 to 2015 reporting forest change over the period 1990â€"2015.

Every two years, FAO publishes the State of the World's Forests, a major report covering current and emerging issues facing the forestry sector.

Since 1947, FAO has published the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products, a compilation of statistical data on basic forest products from over 100 countries and territories of the world. It contains data on the volume of production; and the volume, value and direction of trade in forest products.

Unasylva, FAO's peer-reviewed journal on forestry, has been published in English, French and Spanish on a regular basis since 1947, the longest-running multilingual forestry journal in the world.

The FAO is an official sponsor of International Day of Forests, on 21 March each year, as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 28 November 2012.

Every 6 years since 1926, FAO and a host member state hold the World Forestry Congress. It is a forum for the sharing of knowledge and experience regarding the conservation, management and use of the world's forests, and covers such issues as international dialogue, socio-economic and institutional aspects, and forest policies.

The Forestry Department is also organised geographically in several groups covering the whole world's forest ecosystems. One of them is the Silva mediterranea workgroup, covering the pan-mediterranean region.

Fisheries

The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department is defined through its vision and mission statements:

• Vision: A world in which responsible and sustainable use of fisheries and aquaculture resources makes an appreciable contribution to human well-being, food security and poverty alleviation.
• Mission: To strengthen global governance and the managerial and technical capacities of members and to lead consensus-building towards improved conservation and utilization of aquatic resources.

The work of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department centers on the "Sustainable management and use of fisheries and aquaculture resource," embracing normative as well as operational activities, whether implemented from headquarters or from the field.

Statistics

The FAO Statistical Division produces FAOSTAT, which offers free and easy access to data for 245 countries and 35 regional areas from 1961 through the most recent year available. Enhanced features include browsing and analysis of data, an advanced interactive data download, and enhanced data exchange through web services. The Land and Water Division maintains a database of global water statistics, Aquastat.

Membership

There are a total of 197 members comprising 194 member nations, 1 member organization (European Union) and 2 associate members (Faroe Islands and Tokelau).

The UN member state that is a non-member of the FAO is Liechtenstein.

Some countries may denote specific representatives to the FAO, for instance the United States Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, who has ambassador rank and is also part of the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome.

Criticism

1970s, 80s, 90s

There has been public criticism of FAO for at least 30 years. Dissatisfaction with the organisation's performance was among the reasons for the creation of two new organisations after the World Food Conference in 1974, namely the World Food Council and the International Fund for Agricultural Development; by the early eighties there was intense rivalry among these organisations. At the same time, the World Food Programme, which started as an experimental 3-year programme under FAO, was growing in size and independence, with the Directors of FAO and WFP struggling for power.

Early in 1989, the organisation came under attack from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. The Foundation wrote that "The sad fact is that the FAO has become essentially irrelevant in combating hunger. A bloated bureaucracy known for the mediocrity of its work and the inefficiency of its staff the FAO in recent years has become increasingly politicised". In September of the same year, the journal Society published a series of articles about FAO that included a contribution from the Heritage Foundation and a response by FAO staff member, Richard Lydiker, who was later described by the Danish Minister for Agriculture (who had herself resigned from the organisation) as 'FAO's chief spokesman for non-transparency'.

Edouard Saouma, the Director-General of FAO, was also criticised in Graham Hancock's book Lords of Poverty, published in 1989. Mention is made of Saouma's 'fat pay packet', his 'autocratic' management style, and his 'control over the flow of public information'. Hancock concluded that "One gets the sense from all of this of an institution that has lost its way, departed from its purely humanitarian and developmental mandate, become confused about its place in the world â€" about exactly what it is doing, and why". Despite the criticism, Edouard Saouma served as DG for three consecutive terms from 1976 to 1993.

In 1990, the US State Department expressed the view that "The Food and Agriculture Organization has lagged behind other UN organizations in responding to US desires for improvements in program and budget processes to enhance value for money spent".

A year later, in 1991, The Ecologist magazine produced a special issue under the heading "The UN Food and Agriculture Organization: Promoting World Hunger". The magazine included articles that questioned FAO's policies and practices in forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, and pest control. The articles were written by experts such as Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, Edward Goldsmith, Miguel A. Altieri and Barbara Dinham.

2000s

The 2002 Food Summit organised by FAO was considered to be a waste of time by many of the official participants. Social movements, farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, environmentalists, women's organisations, trade unions and NGOs expressed their "collective disappointment in, and rejection of the official Declaration of the ... Summit".

In 2004, FAO produced a controversial report called 'Agricultural Biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor?'. The report claimed that "agricultural biotechnology has real potential as a new tool in the war on hunger". In response to the report, more than 650 organisations from around the world signed an open letter in which they said "FAO has broken its commitment to civil society and peasants' organisations". The letter complained that organisations representing the interests of farmers had not been consulted, that FAO was siding with the biotechnology industry and, consequently, that the report "raises serious questions about the independence and intellectual integrity of an important United Nations agency". The Director General of FAO responded immediately, stating that decisions on biotechnology must "be taken at the international level by competent bodies" (in other words, not by non-governmental organizations). He acknowledged, however, that "biotechnology research is es sentially driven by the world's top ten transnational corporations" and "the private sector protects its results with patents in order to earn from its investment and it concentrates on products that have no relevance to food in developing countries".

In May 2006, a British newspaper published the resignation letter of Louise Fresco, one of eight Assistant Directors-General of FAO. In her letter, the widely respected Dr Fresco stated that "the Organisation has been unable to adapt to a new era", that "our contribution and reputation have declined steadily" and "its leadership has not proposed bold options to overcome this crisis".

October 2006 saw delegates from 120 countries arrive in Rome for the 32nd Session of FAO's Committee on World Food Security. The event was widely criticised by Non-Government Organisations, but largely ignored by the mainstream media. Oxfam called for an end to the talk-fests while Via Campesina issued a statement that criticised FAO's policy of Food Security.

On 18 October 2007, the final report of an Independent External Evaluation of FAO was published. More than 400 pages in length, the evaluation was the first of its kind in the history of the Organization. It had been commissioned by decision of the 33rd Session of the FAO Conference in November 2005. The report concluded that "The Organization is today in a financial and programme crisis" but "the problems affecting the Organization today can all be solved".

Among the problems noted by the IEE: "The Organization has been conservative and slow to adapt", "FAO currently has a heavy and costly bureaucracy", and "The capacity of the Organization is declining and many of its core competencies are now imperiled".

Among the solutions: "A new Strategic Framework", "institutional culture change and reform of administrative and management systems".

The official response from FAO came on 29 October 2007: "Management supports the principal conclusion in the report of the IEE on the need for 'reform with growth' so as to have an FAO 'it for this century'".

Meanwhile, hundreds of FAO staff signed a petition in support of the IEE recommendations, calling for "a radical shift in management culture and spirit, depoliticization of appointments, restoration of trust between staff and management, [and] setting strategic priorities of the organization".

In conclusion the IEE stated that, "If FAO did not exist it would need to be invented".

In November 2008, a Special Conference of FAO member countries agreed a US$42.6 million (€38.6 million), three-year Immediate Plan of Action for "reform with growth" as recommended by an Independent External Evaluation (IEE).

Under the plan US$21.8 million, €15 million will be spent next year on overhauling the financial procedures, hierarchies and human resources management.

World food crisis

In May 2008, while talking about the ongoing world food crisis, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal expressed the opinion that FAO was "a waste of money" and "we must scrap it". Mr Wade said that FAO was itself largely to blame for the price rises, and that the organisation's work was duplicated by other bodies that operated more efficiently, like the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development. However, this criticism may have had more to do with personal animosity between the President and the Director-General, himself a Senegalese, particularly in light of the significant differences in the work carried out by the two organizations.

In 2008, the FAO sponsored the High-Level Conference on World Food Security. The summit was notable for the lack of agreement over the issue of biofuels.

The response to the summit among Non-governmental organizations was mixed, with Oxfam stating that "the summit in Rome was an important first step in tackling the food crisis but greater action is now needed", while Maryam Rahmanian of Iran's Centre for Sustainable Development said "We are dismayed and disgusted to see the food crisis used to further the policies that have led us to the food crisis in the first place".

As with previous food summits, civil society organizations held a parallel meeting and issued their own declaration to "reject the corporate industrial and energy-intensive model of production and consumption that is the basis of continuing crises."

FAO renewal

The FAO Conference in November 2007 unanimously welcomed the IEE report and established a Conference Committee for the Follow-up to the Independent External Evaluation of FAO (CoC-IEE) to be chaired by the Independent Chairperson of Council, and open to full participation by all Members. The CoC-IEE was charged to review the IEE report and its recommendations and develop an Immediate Plan of Action (IPA) for their implementation.

A comprehensive programme of organizational reform and culture change began in 2008 after the release of an Independent External Evaluation. Headquarters restructuring and delegation of decision making created a flatter more responsive structure and reduced costs. Modernizing and streamlining of administrative and operational processes took place. Improved internal teamwork and closer external partnerships coupled with upgrading of IT infrastructure and greater autonomy of FAO's decentralized offices now allows the Organization to respond quickly where needs are greatest. As FAO is primarily a knowledge based organization, investing in human resources is a top priority. Capacity building including a leadership programme, employee rotation and a new junior professional programme were established. Individual performance management, an ethics and ombudsman officer and an independent office of evaluation were designed to improve performance through learning and strengthened oversight.

In January 2012, the Director-General José Graziano da Silva acted upon the commitment made during his campaign to bring the FAO reform to a successful and anticipated completion. In addition, the new Director-General shifted the focus of the reform process to realization of its benefits and mainstreaming the reform into the work of the Organization.

Agricultural Education - Journal Of Agricultural Education

Agricultural Education is the teaching of agriculture, natural resources, and land management through hands on experience and guidance to prepare students for entry level jobs or to further education to prepare them for advanced agricultural jobs. Classes that may be taught in an agricultural education curriculum include horticulture, land management, turf grass management, agricultural science, small animal care, machine and shop classes, health and nutrition, livestock management, biology courses, etc. Agricultural education can be taught at the elementary level, middle school level, secondary, post secondary and adult levels. Elementary agriculture is taught in public schools and private schools, and deals with such subjects as how plants and animals grow and how soil is farmed and conserved. Vocational agriculture trains people for jobs in such areas as production, marketing, and conservation. College agriculture involves training of people to teach, conduct research, or provide information to advance the field of agriculture and food science in other ways. General education agriculture informs the public about food and agriculture.

In the United States

The chief sources of agriculture education in the United States are:

• High Schools
• Community Colleges
• Universities and colleges
• Youth organization
• 10x15

Elementary school

In 2006, Walton Rural Life Center in Walton, Kansas was the first public elementary school in the United States to base its curriculum around agriculture.

High schools

Agricultural education at the high school level focuses on three main categories: classroom instruction, supervised agricultural experience (SAE), and active involvement in the National FFA Organization (Future Farmers of America).

• Classroom Instruction- classroom instruction of an agricultural class teaches the students the basic concepts of the particular course through hands on learning and experience. Students will be taught the information in the curriculum in order for them to understand and develop skills in the application and problem solving issues that would occur in an agricultural setting. Another requirement for agricultural education at the high school level is the Young Farmers association group, but this is a requirement for the teacher, not the students.
• Supervised Agricultural Experience- The supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) portion of the agricultural curriculum is when a student must use the knowledge they have gained in the classroom instruction and use it in real life situations. Several topic choices are available for the student to choose between, whether it is on a farm setting, exploratory setting, entrepreneurship, agribusiness, or research projects. The student will choose a task from one of these topic areas and conduct a research experiment throughout the course of the agricultural class. The teacher is involved in the process and will help guide the student along the way. SAE programs give students the opportunity to take the information learned in the classroom setting and use it on an agricultural topic that interests them. This portion of an agricultural education will give students an idea of how it is working out in the real world and solving problems that will arise in the work field.
• National FFA Organization- The FFA is a national organization that all agricultural classes at the high school level are involved in. The agricultural teacher is the leader of that particular schools FFA chapter, and will guide students’ activities and programs held throughout the year. FFA is an educational program designed to teach students leadership skills in both agricultural settings and everyday life, encourages personal growth in students, boosts self-confidence, builds character, encourage healthy lifestyles, and give students opportunities to be a part of the agricultural economy. FFA chapters will volunteer in communities, conduct banquets for FFA members and their families, raise awareness of agriculture, compete in FFA competitions, and attend national FFA conventions.
• Young Farmers Association- Young Farmers Association is a requirement that any agricultural teacher must meet. This is a group led by the agricultural teacher that meets usually monthly. The group will consist of all the local farmers, citizens, or anyone interested in learning more about agriculture and the new methods that are being created. The Young Farmers Association is designed so that the technologies made in the agricultural field will be introduced and used in the economy. It also gives the agricultural teachers the opportunity to meet the local citizens and reach out in the community.

Colleges and universities

Agricultural education is taught on the college level as well. Degrees in agricultural education can be used to teach agriculture or obtain a job in an agricultural related work field. This degree can give students the qualifications and knowledge necessary to teach agricultural classes such as the courses offered at the high school level. Students will be required to complete agriculture classes as well as education classes in order to become qualified to teach. A bachelor's degree in agricultural education will qualify a person to teach classes all the way up to the high school level. A Master's degree is required in order to teach on the college level. An agricultural education degree also gives the qualifications to do extension work for universities and agriculture related companies and organizations. Colleges and universities award about 21,000 bachelor's degrees in agriculture each year (1988). About 6,000 other students receive a master's or doctor's degree (1988).

Universities involved with Agricultural Education Teacher Education

To teach agricultural education in secondary schools, certification programs exits. The following universities provide pathways to complete certification requirements of their home states in secondary agricultural education:

• Alcorn State University
• Auburn University [5]
• Colorado State University, Degree Requirements
• Middle Tennessee State University
• Montana State University
• North Carolina State University
• North Dakota State University
• Oregon State University
• The Pennsylvania State University, Degree Requirements
• South Dakota State University, Degree Requirements
• The University of Idaho
• Texas A&M University
• University of Missouri
• Utah State University
• Washington State University
• West Virginia University

Land-grant universities

Land-grant universities award more than three-quarters of all agricultural degrees (1988). These state schools receive federal aid under legislation that followed the Morrill Act of 1862, which granted public lands to support agricultural or mechanical education. Land-grant universities have three chief functions:

• Teaching
• Research
• Extension/Outreach

Teaching

Colleges of agriculture prepare students for careers in all aspects of the food and agricultural system. Some career choices include food science, veterinary science, farming, ranching, teaching, marketing, agricultural communication, management, and social services.

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers, provides resources for agricultural education.

Research

Each land-grant university has an agricultural experiment station equipped with laboratories and experimental farms. There, agricultural scientists work to develop better farming methods, solve the special problems of local farmers, and provide new technology. Research published in scholarly journals about agricultural safety is available from the NIOSH-supported National Agricultural Safety Database. The American Dairy Science Association provides research and education scholarships focused on the dairy farm and processing industries.

1. Journal of Agricultural Education
2. Journal of Extension
3. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education
4. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
5. Journal of Leadership Education
6. Journal of Applied Communication
7. Journal of Career & Technical Education
8. Career & Technical Education Research
9. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Journal

Extension service

The Cooperative Extension System is a partnership of the federal, state, and county governments. This service distributes information gathered by the land-grant universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to farmers, families, and young people. County extension agents, located in most countries (1988), train and support about 3 million (1988) volunteer leaders. Agents and volunteers carry out extension programs through meetings, workshops, newsletters, radio, television, and visits.

Closely Related Disciplines

Agricultural Communications

Agricultural Leadership

Extension Education

Related Professional Organizations

American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE)

Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE)

National Association of Agricultural Education (NAAE)

The Council for Agricultural Education

Youth organizations

Youth organizations involved in agricultural education include 4-H and National FFA Organization (FFA).

• 4H Club- 4H Club is considered a youth development program that teaches children about sciences, leadership, research, etc. 4H club has over 6 million members nationwide and is the largest youth development organization in the United States. 4H members use hands on learning to reach goals and help in communities. Members of 4-H carry out group and individual projects dealing with conservation, food and agriculture, health and safety, and other subjects. The 4-H program in the United States is part of the Cooperative Extension service.
• National FFA Organization- The FFA is a national organization that teaches students leadership skills and is designed to help members become more well rounded citizens in the agricultural field. The FFA is an integral part of the program of agricultural education in many high schools as a result of Public Law 740 in 1950 (Currently revised as Publication 105-225 of the 105th Congress of the United States), with 500,823 FFA members (2007â€"2008). Local chapters participate in Career Development Events (individually and as a team), each student has a Supervised Agricultural Experience program (SAE), and participates in many conferences and conventions to develop leadership, citizenship, patriotism and excellence in agriculture. The National FFA Organization is structured from the local chapter up, including local districts, areas, regions, state associations, and the national level. The FFA Mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potent ial for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

History

The rapid growth of agricultural education began during the late 19th century. In 1862, the United States Congress created the Department of Agriculture to gather and distribute agricultural information. The Morrill Act, which provided the land-grant schools, became law that same year. The Hatch Act of 1887 gave federal funds to establish agricultural experiment stations. The first dairy school in the U.S. was created at the University of Wisconsinâ€"Madison in 1890.

Government support for agricultural education has increased during the 20th century. For example, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created what is now the Cooperative Extension System (1988). The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 and the George-Barden Act of 1946 financed high-school instruction in farming. Woodlawn High School (Woodlawn, Virginia) was the first public high school in the United States to offer agricultural education classes under the Smith-Hughes Act. The Vocational Education Act of 1963 funded training in other fields of agriculture.

Agricultural science and education expanded after 1900 in response to a need for more technical knowledge and skill. This development led to the use of modern farming methods that required fewer farmworkers. Another major result of this change was the creation of larger farms and ranches. This development increased the need for more agriculture science and education. Other legislation influenced the development of agricultural education into what the field is today. It has developed throughout the last century from various laws and pieces of legislation. Some of the laws include:

• • Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975- this law required all public schools to provide a free and appropriate education to all students with disabilities. Children with disabilities were allowed to enroll in agricultural classes.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act of 1986- This law required public schools to give students with disabilities equal opportunities as all the other students. It required teachers to let students with disabilities participate in more agricultural based classes.
  • Educate America Act of 1994- This raised the standards for public education and the goals that school districts had for their students. The curriculum and development requirements became stricter for all classes, including agricultural classes.
  • School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994- This law required teachers to teach students tasks and disciplines that would help their students prepare for employment once they graduated. Teaching real life applications in agriculture was a major part of this law because of the need for employment in the agricultural field.
  • No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001) - Raised the standards for students in public schools and the requirements of the teachers. This law helped provide financial support for public schools in low income areas. [3]

In other countries

The history of agricultural education predates USA activities and derives from, the development of Scottish, Italian and German colleges. The land grant approach of the USA owes much to the Scottish system in particular. Changes in higher agricultural education around the world today are highlighting implicit approaches that have hampered development and exceptional advances that have fed the world. the process has been described in one text (below) which takes a global perspective.

Agricultural education in other countries resembles that in the United States. Canada has its own 4-H program. Agriculture Canada distributes information on new farming methods and maintains experimental farms, research stations, and research institutions throughout the country. BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation operates in the province of British Columbia. In Australia, each state has several agricultural research stations and an extension service. Great Britain has a program of youth clubs called Young Farmer's Clubs that resemble 4-H. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations works to train people throughout the world in modern farming methods. The United States gives technical assistance to farmers in developing nations through its Agency for International Development (AID).

Australia

As of February 2015 Agriculture in Australia employs over 235,300 people in the agriculture, fishing and forestry and fishing industry. This industry alone equates to 12% share of the GDP earning close to $155 billion a year. The farmers own a combined 135,997 farms covering approximately 61% of the land mass.

Given these figures the agricultural programs in place in school and universities in very important to the future of the county. Several high schools operate across the country specifying in agriculture education. Predominantly these high schools are set in the rural areas with access to land. On the majority of cases the students often travel 1000 km to attend schools, taking up residence at the schools as boarders for the school term. The one of the biggest in Australia is Farrer Memorial Agricultural High Schoolin central New South Wales.
The Agriculture in Education programme launched by the Australian government in 2015 helps teachers better understand the products and processes associated with food and fibre production and gives students an opportunity to understand the importance of agriculture in the Australian economy. Topics covered by the materials include: designing and making a financial plan for a market garden, free range chicken farming, food security, and sustainable production practices in food and fibre. The agricultural environment has changed enormously over the past 15 years, with greater emphasis on product quality issues, vertical integration from production to consumer, diversity in demand options, and environmental namely drought, welfare and ethical issues. This has led to the way the content of curriculums and the way they are delivered.

Western Australia

In Western Australia, The Western Australian College of Agriculture is the primary provider of high schools in the state providing excellent educational opportunities at six campuses located near Cunderdin, Denmark, Esperance, Harvey, Morawa and Narrogin.
Each Campus has modern facilities on commercial sized farms and offers Year 10, 11 and 12 programs for male and female students. The students study a range of School Curriculum and Standards Authority subjects leading to Secondary Graduation and the Western Australian Certificate of Education and also complete vocational qualifications from Industry Training Packages. The major focus is on the study of agriculture but the program may also include horticulture, viticulture, equine, aquaculture, forestry, building construction, metals and engineering and automotive. Each Campus offers some specialist programs that can lead to tertiary study and apprenticeships and careers in a range of agriculture related vocations.
Tertiary studies located in Perth are available at Curtin University, Murdoch University and Muresk Institute offering degrees in Agriculture including Agricultural Business Management and Agricultural Science.
Western Australian is in a precarious position and faces several challenges, fact that agriculture in Australia is affected by an ongoing shortage of labour and of skills. Labour supply is being adversely affected by an ageing workforce, retirements by baby boomers, seasonal nature of the lower skilled workforce and an inability to attract sufficient young people to work in the industry.

10x15 Long Range Goal for Agricultural Education in America

"By 2015 there will be in operation 10,000 quality agricultural science education programs serving students through an integrated model of classroom/laboratory instruction, experiential learning, and leadership and personal skill development. Further, all students will be members of the FFA and have a supervised agricultural experience that supports classroom and laboratory instruction.' .-Team Ag Ed

The Case for Growth and Quality in Agricultural Education

Of the critical issues facing the nation, few are more compelling than improving the academic performance of public schools and ensuring a stable, safe and affordable food supply. Today agricultural education is positioned to contribute substantially in these arenas through a major national initiative. Under the direction of The National Council for Agricultural Education, the "10x15 Long Range Goal for Agricultural Education" employs a comprehensive strategy engaging eight high-priority initiatives. The focus of the unprecedented effort is twofold: create new programs in communities not yet served by agricultural education and FFA, and ensure the quality and high performance of current programs providing personal, academic and career education in agriculture. While the goal of "10x15" is to grow the number of agricultural education programs from 7,200 to 10,000 by the year 2015, the clear emphasis is on quality.

Several factors make this effort timely and essential. First, the public's expectations for higher student achievement are leading to dramatic increases in accountability, standards, rigor and relevance throughout education. Especially critical is the need to raise math and science proficiency. Second, the industry of agriculture, already concerned about meeting growing domestic and global demands for food and fiber, is eager to identify the future managers, leaders and workers who will ensure the future security and productivity of agriculture. A forecasted shortage of well-educated workers is adding urgency to the issue. Also, concerns about food safety, security and independence are registering at the highest levels of agribusiness and government. Lastly, local communities are intent on cultivating leadership and securing effective participation from their citizens. Through the intra-curricular programs of agricultural education and the FFA, a half-million students are developi ng skills in leadership, communication, team building and civic engagement. They will be prepared to provide for the social, economic and cultural well-being of small communities and large urban centers alike.

The work of "10x15" is concentrated in eight national task forces operating over the next several years. Their scope of work includes national program and content standards; teacher recruitment and preparation; alternative program design; data reporting; public advocacy; brand communication strategy; and program funding. Driving the work of "10x15" are more than a hundred top leaders drawn from today's Team Ag Ed, including teachers, students, university educators, state education leaders, the National FFA Organization, alumni, business and industry, and key stakeholders

Agricultural educators

• Otto F Hunziker, Purdue University
• Raymond A. Pearson, Cornell University
• HAS University of Applied Sciences
• Kasetsart University
• Wageningen University, the Netherlands

Agrarian Society - Agricultural Society Definition

An agrarian society (or agricultural society) is any society whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland. Another way to define an agrarian society is by seeing how much of a nation's total production is in agriculture. In an agrarian society cultivating the land is the primary source of wealth. Such a society may acknowledge other means of livelihood and work habits but stresses the importance of agriculture and farming. Agrarian societies have existed in various parts of the world as far back as 10,000 years ago and continue to exist today. They have been the most common form of socio-economic organization for most of recorded human history.

History

Agrarian societies were preceded by hunter and gatherer societies and horticultural societies and transition into industrial societies. The transition to agriculture, called the Neolithic Revolution, has taken place independently multiple times. Horticulture and agriculture as types of subsistence developed among humans somewhere between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East. The reasons for the development of agriculture are debated but may have included climate change and the accumulation of food surplus for competitive gift-giving. Most certainly there was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy period when some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were gathered from the wild. In addition to the emergence of farming in the Fertile Crescent, agriculture appeared in: by at least 6,800 B.C.E. in East Asia (rice) and, later, in Central and South America (maize and squash). Small-scale agri culture also likely arose independently in early Neolithic contexts in India (rice) and Southeast Asia (taro). However, full dependency on domestic crops and animals, when wild resources contributed a nutritionally insignificant component to the diet, did not occur until the Bronze Age.

Agriculture allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting and gathering and allows for the accumulation of excess product to keep for winter use or to sell for profit. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities have nothing to do with material production was the crucial factor in the rise of surplus, specialization, advanced technology, hierarchical social structures, inequality, and standing armies. Agrarian societies thus support the emergence of a more complex social structure.

In agrarian societies, some of the simple correlations between social complexity and environment begin to disappear. One view is that humans with this technology have moved a large step toward controlling their environments, are less dependent on them, and hence show fewer correlations between environment and technology-related traits. A rather different view is that as societies become larger and the movement of goods and people cheaper, they incorporate an increasing range of environmental variation within their borders and trade system. But environmental factors may still play a strong role as variables that affect the internal structure and history of a society in complex ways. For example, the average size of agrarian states will depend on the ease of transportation, major cities will tend to be located at trade nodes, and the demographic history of a society may depend on disease episodes.

Until recent decades, the transition to farming was seen as an inherently progressive one: people learnt that planting seeds caused crops to grow, and this new improved food source led to larger populations, sedentary farm and town life, more leisure time and so to specialization, writing, technological advances and civilization. It is now clear that agriculture was adopted despite certain disadvantages of that lifestyle. Archeological studies show that health deteriorated in populations that adopted cereal agriculture, returning to pre-agricultural levels only in modem times. This is in part attributable to the spread of infection in crowded cities, but is largely due to a decline in dietary quality that accompanied intensive cereal farming. People in many parts of the world remained hunter-gatherers until quite recently; though they were quite aware of the existence and methods of agriculture, they declined to undertake it. Many explanations have been offered, usually centered a round a particular factor that forced the adoption of agriculture, such as environmental or population pressure.

In the Modern World

Agrarian societies transition into industrial societies when less than half of their population is directly engaged in agricultural production. Such societies started appearing because of the Commercial and Industrial Revolution which can be seen beginning in the Mediterranean city-states of 1000-1500 C.E. As European societies developed during the Middle Ages, classical knowledge was reacquired from scattered sources, especially the Arabs, and a new series of maritime commercial societies developed again in Europe. The initial developments were centered in Northern Italy, in the city-states of Venice, Florence, Milan, and Genoa. By about 1500 a few of these city-states probably met the requirements of having half of their populations engaged in non-agricultural pursuits and became commercial societies. These small states were highly urbanized, imported much food, and were centers of trade and manufacture to a degree quite unlike typical agrarian societies.

The culminating development, still in progress, was the development of industrial technology, the application of mechanical sources of energy to an ever increasing number of production problems. By about 1800, the agricultural population of Britain had sunk to about 1/3 of the total. By mid-19th Century, all the countries of Western Europe, plus the United States of America had more than half their populations in non-farm occupations. Even today, the Industrial Revolution is far from completely replacing agrarianism with industrialism. Only a minority of the world's people today live in industrialized societies although most predominantly agrarian societies have a significant industrial sector.

The use of crop breeding, better management of soil nutrients, and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At the same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labor input. The developing world generally produces lower yields, having less of the latest science, capital, and technology base. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economic activity than in any other, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's GDP. The rapid rise of mechanization in the 20th century, especially in the form of the tractor, reduced the necessity of humans performing the demanding tasks of sowing, harvesting, and threshing. With mechanization, these tasks could be performed with a speed and on a scale barely imaginable before. These advances have resulted in a substantial increase in the yield of agricultural techniques that have also translated into a decline in the percentage of populations in developed countries that are required to work in agriculture to feed the rest of the population.

Demographics

The main demographic consequences of agrarian technology were simply a continuation of the trend toward higher population densities and larger settlements. The latter is probably a more secure consequence of agrarian technology than the former. In principle livestock compete with humans for food and in some environments, advanced horticultural techniques can probably support more people per square kilometer than agrarian techniques.

Aside from average density, agrarian technology permitted urbanization of population to a greater extent than was possible under horticulture for two reasons. First, settlement sizes grew with agrarian technology because more productive farmers freed more people for urban specialty occupations. Second, land and maritime transportation improvements made it possible to supply great cities of 1,000,000, plus inhabitants such as Rome, Baghdad, and the Chinese capital cities. Rome, for example, could draw grain and other bulk raw materials from Sicily, North Africa, Egypt, and Southern France to sustain large populations, even by modern standards, using maritime transport on the Mediterranean. It is productivity per unit of labor and transport efficiency improvements of agrarian technology that had the widest impact on the more peripheral culture core features of agrarian societies.

The populations of agrarian societies also have historically fluctuated substantially around the slowly rising trend line, due to famines, disease epidemics and political disruption. At least at the high points, population densities often seem to have exceeded the level at which everyone could be productively employed at current levels of technology. Malthusian deterioration, under-employment and a decline in rural and lower-class urban standards of living, ensued.

Social Organization

Agrarian societies are especially noted for their extremes of social classes and rigid social mobility. As land is the major source of wealth, social hierarchy develops based on landownership and not labor. The system of stratification is characterized by three coinciding contrasts: governing class versus the masses, urban minority versus peasant majority, and literate minority versus illiterate majority. This results in two distinct subcultures the urban elite versus the peasant masses. Moreover, this means that cultural differences within agrarian societies greater the differences between them.

The landowning strata typically combine government, religious, and military institutions to justify and enforce their ownership, and support elaborate patterns of consumption, slavery, serfdom, or peonage is commonly the lot of the primary producer. Rulers of agrarian societies do not manage their empire for the common good or in the name of the public interest, but as a piece of property they own and can do with as they please. Caste systems, as found in India, are much more typical of agrarian societies where lifelong agricultural routines depend upon a rigid sense of duty and discipline. The emphasis in the modern West on personal liberties and freedoms was in large part a reaction to the steep and rigid stratification of agrarian societies.

Energy

Within Agrarian societies the primary source of energy is plant biomass. This means that like hunter-gatherer societies, agrarian societies are dependent on natural solar energy flows. Thus agrarian societies are characterized by their dependence on outside energy flows, low energy density, and the limited possibilities of converting one energy form into another. Energy radiating from the sun is primarily caught and chemically fixed by plant photosynthesis. Then it is secondarily converted by animals and, finally, processed for human use. However, unlike hunter-gatherers, agrarianism's basic strategy is to control these flows. For this purpose, agrarians system mainly uses living organism which serve as food, tools, building material. Mechanical devices making use of wind or running water also can be used to convert natural energy flows. The amount of energy an agrarian society can use is restricted due to the low energy density of solar radiation and the low efficiency of technol ogy.

In order to increase production an agrarian society must either increase the intensity of production or obtain more land to expand into. Expansion may take place either by claiming territories occupied by other communities, but expansion also may take place by claiming new ecological niches from other living species. However, societies are still limited by a diminishing margin of utility in that the best lands for farming are usually already under cultivation, forcing people to move into less and less arable lands.

Agrarianism

Agrarianism most often refers to a social philosophy which values agrarian society as superior to industrial society and stress the superiority of a simpler rural life as opposed to the complexity and chaos of urbanized, industrialized life. In this view the farmer is idealized as a self-sufficient and thus independent as opposed to the paid laborer who is vulnerable and alienated in modern society. Moreover, Agrarianism usually links working the land with morality and spiritualty and links urban life, capitalism, and technology with a loss of independence and dignity while fostering vice and weakness. The agricultural community, with its fellowship of labor and cooperation, is thus the model society.

Agrarianism is similar but not identical with back-to-the-land movements. Agrarianism concentrates on the fundamental goods of the earth, communities of more limited economic and political scale than in modern society, and on simple livingâ€"even when this shift involves questioning the "progressive" character of some recent social and economic developments. Thus agrarianism is not industrial farming, with its specialization on products and industrial scale.

Nanjing Agricultural University - Nanjing Agricultural University

Nanjing Agricultural University, NAU, (Chinese: 南京农业大学; pinyin: Nánjīng nóngyè dàxué) is a public university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China. It offers courses in agriculture and sciences.

Introduction

NAU is one of China’s oldest universities of agricultural sciences under the administration of the Ministry of Education. The roots of the university can be traced back to the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural History of Sanjiang Normal School in 1902. Sanjiang Normal School later became Nanjing Higher Normal School, National Southeastern University, National Central University and Nanjing University, and reestablished agricultural faculty in 1917. The agricultural faculty became an agricultural college in 1927, and founded the first departments of Agronomy and Horticulture in Chinese universities.

Another main source of NAU is the agricultural faculty of University of Nanking established in 1914 and became agricultural college in 1930, and it established the first faculty of Forestry and department of Agronomics, and was the forerunner of four-year bachelor program in higher agricultural education in China. The two agricultural colleges were merged to form NAU in 1952.

Undergraduate students participate in SRT (Scientific Research Training) program to upgrade their research skills. The Graduate School was established in 2000, which makes NAU one of the 56 universities with graduate schools among more than 1000 universities and colleges in China.

Cooperation since the 1980s with Cornell University, United States, in the field of crop production incubated the State Key Laboratory of Plant Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement at the university and the National Center of Soybean Improvement. The university maintains close relationships with 30 universities in 10 countries.

In the summer of 2007, NAU hosted a group of 15 students and two professors from the University of Wisconsinâ€"Madison, USA. The Wisconsin students were welcomed with class room activities and extracurricular functions put on by NAU students. Relationships were fostered between students from both schools and NAU will continue to host UW students every summer.

NAU staff is involved in the application of research projects funded by governmental and non-governmental sources, such as the sino-foreign governmental framework programs, Asian Link, Asian Facility, Framework Program of the EU and McKnight Foundation in the USA.

References

External links

• 南京农业大学 http://www.njau.edu.cn Official website (Chinese)
• Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) official website (English)

Ancient Egyptian Agriculture - Egyptian Agriculture

The civilization of Ancient Egypt was indebted to the Nile River and its dependable seasonal flooding. The river’s predictability and the fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire on the basis of great agricultural wealth. Egyptians are credited as being one of the first groups of people to practice agriculture on a large scale. This was possible because of the ingenuity of the Egyptians as they developed basin irrigation. Their farming practices allowed them to grow staple food crops, especially grains such as wheat and barley, and industrial crops, such as flax and papyrus.

Farming systems

The Nile and field planting

The civilization of ancient Egypt developed in the arid climate of northern Africa. This region is distinguished by the Arabian and Libyan deserts, and the River Nile. The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world, flowing northward from Lake Victoria and eventually emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile has two main tributaries: the Blue Nile which originates in Ethiopia, and the White Nile that flows from Rwanda. While the White Nile is considered to be longer and easier to traverse, the Blue Nile actually carries about two thirds of the water volume of the river. The names of the tributaries derive from the color of the water that they carry. The tributaries come together in Khartoum and branches again when it reaches Egypt, forming the Nile delta.

The Egyptians took advantage of the natural cyclical flooding pattern of the Nile. Because this flooding happened fairly predictably, the Egyptians were able to develop their agricultural practices around it. The water levels of the river would rise in August and September, leaving the floodplain and delta submerged by 1.5 meters of water at the peak of flooding. This yearly flooding of the river is known as inundation. As the floodwaters receded in October, farmers were left with well watered and fertile soil in which to plant their crops. The soil left behind by the flooding is known as silt and was brought from Ethiopian Highlands by the Nile. Planting took place in October once the flooding was over, and crops were left to grow with minimal care until they ripened between the months of March and May. While the flooding of the Nile was much more predictable and calm than other rivers, such as the Tigris and Euphrates, it was not always perfect. High floodwaters were destructive and could destroy canals that were made for irrigation. Lack of flooding created a potentially greater issue because it left Egyptians suffering from famine.

Irrigation systems

To make best use of the waters of the Nile river, the Egyptians developed systems of irrigation. Irrigation allowed the Egyptians to use the Nile's waters for a variety of purposes. Notably, irrigation granted them greater control over their agricultural practices. Flood waters were diverted away from certain areas, such as cities and gardens, to keep them from flooding. Irrigation was also used to provide drinking water to Egyptians. Despite the fact that irrigation was crucial to their agricultural success, there were no statewide regulations on water control. Rather, irrigation was the responsibility of local farmers. However, the earliest and most famous reference to irrigation in Egyptian archaeology has been found on the mace head of the Scorpion King, which has been roughly dated to about 3100 BC. The mace head depicts the king cutting into a ditch that is part of a grid of basin irrigation. The association of the high ranking king with irrigation highlights the importance of irrigation and agriculture to their society.

Basin irrigation

Egyptians developed and utilized a form of water management known as basin irrigation. This practice allowed them to control the rise and fall of the river to best suit their agricultural needs. A crisscross network of earthen walls was formed in a field of crops that would be flooded by the river. When the floods came, the water would be trapped in the basins formed by the walls. This grid would hold water longer than it would have naturally stayed, allowing the earth to become fully saturated for later planting. Once the soil was fully watered, the floodwater that remained in the basin would simply be drained to another basin that was in need of more water.

Horticulture

Orchards and gardens were also developed in addition to field planting in the floodplains. This horticulture generally took place further from the floodplain of the Nile, and as a result they required much more work. The perennial irrigation required by gardens forced growers to manually carry water from either a well or the Nile to water their garden crops. Additionally, while the Nile brought silt which naturally fertilized the valley, gardens had to be fertilized by pigeon manure. These gardens and orchards were generally used to grow vegetables, vines and fruit trees.

Crops grown

Food crops

The Egyptians grew a variety of crops for consumption, including grains, vegetables and fruits. However, their diets revolved around several staple crops, especially cereals and barley. Barley was grown with the intent of later being fermented to make beer. Other major grains grown included einkorn wheat and emmer wheat, grown to make bread. Other staples for the majority of the population included beans, lentils, and later chickpeas and fava beans. Root crops, such as onions, garlic and radishes were grown, along with salad crops, such as lettuce and parsley.

Fruits were a common motif of Egyptian artwork, suggesting that their growth was also a major focus of agricultural efforts as the civilization’s agricultural technology developed. Unlike cereals and pulses, fruit required more demanding and complex agricultural techniques, including the use of irrigation systems, cloning, propagation and training. While the first fruits cultivated by the Egyptians were likely indigenous, such as the palm date and sorghum, more fruits were introduced as other cultural influences were introduced. Grapes and watermelon were found throughout predynastic Egyptian sites, as were the sycamore fig, dom palm and christ's thorn. The carob, olive, apple and pomegranate were introduced to Egyptians during the New Kingdom. Later, during the Greco-Roman period peaches and pears were also introduced.

Industrial and fiber crops

Egyptians relied on agriculture for more than just the production of food. They were creative in their use of plants, using them for medicine, as part of their religious practices, and in the production of clothing. Herbs perhaps had the most varied purposes; they were used in cooking, medicine, as cosmetics and in the process of embalming. Over 2000 different species of flowering or aromatic plants have been found in tombs. Papyrus was an extremely versatile crop that grew wild and was also cultivated. The roots of the plant were eaten as food, but it was primarily used as an industrial crop. The stem of plant was used to make boats, mats and paper. Flax was another important industrial crop what has several uses. Its primary use was in the production of rope, and for linen which was the Egyptians' principal material for making their clothing. Henna was grown for the production of dye.

Religion and agriculture

During the times of ancient Egypt religion was a highly important aspect of daily life. Many of their religious observances were centered on their observations of the environment, the Nile and agriculture. They used religion as a way to explain natural phenomena, such as the cyclical flooding of the Nile and agricultural yields.

Although the Nile was directly responsible for either good or bad fortune experienced by the Egyptians, they did not worship the Nile itself. Rather, they thanked specific gods for any good fortune. They did not have a name for the river and simply referred to it as "River". The term "Nile" is not of Egyptian origin.

Gods

The Egyptians personified the inundation with the creation of the god called Hapi. Despite the fact that inundation was crucial to their survival, Hapi was not considered to be a major god. He was depicted as an overweight figure who ironically made offerings of water and other products of abundance to pharaohs. A temple was never built specifically for Hapi, but he was worshipped as inundation began by making sacrifices and the singing of hymns.

The god Osiris was also closely associated with the Nile and the fertility of the land. During inundation festivals mud figures of Osiris were planted with barley.

Notes and references

Bibliography

• Jared Diamond, Guns, germs and steel. A short history of everybody for the last 13'000 years, 1997.

Indiana Department Of Environmental Management - Indiana Department Of Agriculture

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is the agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with protecting the environment and human health. There are many offices within IDEM and each has a specific role in environmental protection. According to the department's website, their mission is "to implement federal and state regulations to protect human health and the environment while allowing the environmentally sound operations of industrial, agricultural, commercial and government activities vital to a prosperous economy"

History

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management was created an act passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Robert D. Orr in 1986. This act moved pollution control efforts (Indiana Air Pollution Control Board, Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board and the Indiana Environmental Management Board) from the Indiana State Department of Health to the new agency on July 1, 1986.

Organization

At the top of the organization is the Commissioner (presently Carol S. Comer), who reports directly to the Governor of Indiana. In addition to overseeing the department, the director also serves on an autonomous board known as the Environmental Rules Board, consisting of both government officials and citizen members, which meets monthly to address issues pertaining to environmental rules development as prescribed by state statute.

Beneath the Commissioner, there are four Assistant Commissioners and Chief of Staff and General Counsel, each of whom is responsible for a team under which many of the department's offices are organized. Those teams and their divisions are as follows:

• Chief of Staff

• Government and Community Affairs

• Human Resources

• Office of Air Quality

• Air Monitoring

• Compliance and Enforcement

• Operations

• Permits

• Programs

• Office of Land Quality

• Compliance and Response

• Operations

• Permits

• Remediation

• Science Services

• Underground Storage Tanks

• Office of Legal Counsel

• Contracts, Ethics and Personnel

• Public Records

• Rules Development

• Office of Program Support

• Communications

• Finance

• Information Services

• Programs and Compliance

• Regional Offices

• Office of Water Quality

• Compliance

• Drinking Water

• Permitting

• Surface Water, Operations, and Enforcement

• Watershed Planning and Assessment

References

External links

• Official Website