Agribusiness

Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, including farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, 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, 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. [ [http://www.greatncwines.com/?p=283 Great Times in North Carolina » Blog Archive » North Carolina’s Winegrower’s Cooperative Folds ] ] [ [http://www.avenuevine.com/archives/001560.html 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.com [http://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]
* [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071231/pentland_gumpert USDA Bets the Farm on Animal ID Program]


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  • agribusiness — ag‧ri‧busi‧ness [ˈægrɪˌbɪzns] noun [uncountable] FARMING farming using modern methods and equipment, considered as a business: • The influence of agribusiness is felt throughout the Third World. * * * agribusiness UK US /ˈægriˌbɪznɪs/ noun… …   Financial and business terms

  • Agribusiness — es un término que se refiere a las actividades económicas asociadas con: Producción agrícola. Procesos sin transformación del producto en: centros de acopio, almacenes, frigoríficos y plantas de selección, clasificación y empaque. Diferentes… …   Wikipedia Español

  • agribusiness — (n.) 1955, compound formed from AGRICULTURE (Cf. agriculture) + BUSINESS (Cf. business) …   Etymology dictionary

  • agribusiness — ☆ agribusiness [ag′rə biz΄nis ] n. [ AGRI(CULTURE) + BUSINESS] farming and the businesses associated with farming, as the processing of farm products or the manufacturing of farm equipment …   English World dictionary

  • Agribusiness — Das System des Agribusiness Agribusiness oder auch Agrobusiness bezeichnet als Anglizismus (aus dem englischen „agriculture“ und „business“) neben der Landwirtschaft auch die ihr vor und nachgelagerten wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten. Gemeinsam… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • agribusiness — /ag reuh biz nis/, n. the businesses collectively associated with the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products. Also, agrobusiness. [1950 55; Amer.; AGRI + BUSINESS] * * * Agriculture operated by business; specifically,… …   Universalium

  • agribusiness — [[t]æ̱gribɪznɪs[/t]] agribusinesses N UNCOUNT: also N in pl, oft N n Agribusiness is the various businesses that produce, sell, and distribute farm products, especially on a large scale. Many of the old agricultural collectives are now being… …   English dictionary

  • agribusiness — UK [ˈæɡrɪˌbɪznəs] / US noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms agribusiness : singular agribusiness plural agribusinesses 1) the business of operating a large farm to produce as much food and profit as possible, or one of the farms that operates… …   English dictionary

  • Agribusiness — Agri|busi|ness* [...biznis] das; <aus gleichbed. engl. agribusiness zu lat. ager, Gen. agri »Acker« u. ↑Business> svw. ↑Agrobusiness …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • agribusiness — A large scale capitalist farming and food processing organization and enterprise (producing fertilizers, pesticides, or machinery) which shares many characteristics of other advanced industries. These include, for example, the use of advanced… …   Dictionary of sociology

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