What is Agribusiness?

Agribusiness is a fairly new term that is as it sounds. This term which signifies a “combination of agriculture and business” has increasingly replaced traditional agriculture and has a major presence in the world economy. Once considered to be separate entities, agribusiness entails all ends of food production from the cultivation of seeds and crops to the methods of preserving and packaging a branded product. The integration of core agricultural bodies such as farms, fertilizer production, animal husbandry, and crop plantations with finance, marketing, and even research and development is at the foundation of this major form of business.

The major corporations of Agribusiness have influence over the entirety of production and distribution chains that begin with the producer and end with the consumer. With the money that gets fed into the more traditional methods and sources of crop production, advanced research and development of the caliber historically found in medicine becomes possible. Many agribusinesses have revolutionized farming techniques and manufactured specialized seeds to drastically increase the average output of a lot of land. A new way of considering the means and methods of food production and distribution, Agribusinesses have tremendous power in the world economy.