Agriculture

 

Cultivation by humans includes farming crops and animals (bees too), forestry, aquaculture and growing anything else for food and materials (e.g. straw for thatching). Human societies need stable and reliable food supplies, while countryside economies and livelihoods often depend on farming. Cultivation has also shaped culture worldwide, influencing local cuisine, arts, music, and literature throughout history.

 

Nearly half of the world’s habitable land is farmed. Intensified farming can produce cheaper crops and meat but has often harmed local environments. Nevertheless, the adoption of sustainable cultivation systems can be a powerful force for good through restoring wildlife and combatting climate change. Early studies of how farmers could enrich nature at low cost were led in UK by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. This introduced new thinking on how farmers could join in clusters to deliver benefits for nature and people across whole landscapes, in cooperation with local communities. There is more on farming and conservation in the UK is on Naturalliance-UK.