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Agribusiness
In agriculture, '''agribusiness''' is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, including farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, agricultural machinery|farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processed food|processing, marketing, and retail sales. The term has two distinctly different connotations depending on context.
Within the agriculture industry, agribusiness is widely used simply as a convenient portmanteau of agriculture and business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food production. There are academic degrees in and departments of agribusiness, agribusiness trade associations, agribusiness publications, and so forth, worldwide. Here, the term is only descriptive, and is synonymous in the broadest sense with food industry.
Among critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertical integration|vertically integrated food production, the term ''agribusiness'' is used as a negative, synonymous with '''corporate farming'''. As such, it is often contrasted with family farm. Some negative connotation is also derived from the negative associations of "business" and "corporation" from critics of capitalism or corporate excess.
An example of an agribusiness was the Old North State Winegrowers Cooperative in North Carolina. Wine grape farmers came together to not only sell their grapes but to share a winery, winemaker and marketing brand together. The cooperative failed in 2006, three years after opening its winery. [Great Times in North Carolina » Blog Archive » North Carolina’s Winegrower’s Cooperative Folds] [Avenue Vine: Co-op Closing, Grape Growers Losing Investments]
Many progressive agribusinesses are now operating online businesses. Rising fuel costs are increasingly adding financial burdens on the day to day running of agricultural companies. An example of an online agribusiness is FarmingPages.comhttp://www.farmingpages.com.
See also
- Agrarian law
- Agrarian reform
- Biofuel
- Energy crop
- Factory farming
- List of environment topics
- Lundberg Family Farms
Notes and references
External links
- SA Farmers - The Informed Choice (SA Farmer Community Trade Forum) http://www.safarmers.co.za
- Cornell Food and Brand Lab http://www.foodpsychology.cornell.edu
- USDA Bets the Farm on Animal ID Program
Category:Agricultural economics
Category:Industrial agriculture
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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
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