2013 LBA GBC- Track V- AGRICULTURE

The 2013 LBA GLOBAL BUSINESS CONFERENCE
September 25th through 26th
Westin Bonaventure Los Angeles

Track V- AGRICULTURE

“California Feeding the World”

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States, and particularly in California, both being net global exporters of food. As of the last census of agriculture in 2007, there were 2.2 million farms, covering an area of 922 million acres (3,730,000 km2), an average of 418 acres (1.69 km2) per farm.

The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures and technologies.

However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands that are suitable for raising domesticated species.

For plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dryland farming; pastoral herding on rangeland is still the most common means of raising livestock.

In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has become the dominant system of modern farming,

although there is growing support for sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture).

In developed countries primary industry becomes more technologically advanced, for instance the mechanization of farming as opposed to hand picking and planting. In more developed economies additional capital is invested in primary means of production.

As an example, in the United States corn belt, combine harvesters pick the corn,

and spray systems distribute large amounts of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, producing a higher yield than is possible using less capital-intensive techniques.

Agriculture is a major component of US global trade. Maintaining a healthy and vibrant agriculture industry will continue to reap increasing dividends in our economic picture in the years to come. The 2013 LBA Global Business Conference Track V. AGRICULTURE will focus upon the means by which this most vital US industry, particularly within the State of California with its vast amount of trade with Mexico, produces a significant amount of the world’s food supply, exploring its most salient issues and developments and how they pertain to our sustained ability to help feed the world.

Source: Wikipedia