Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, timber and foliage. A more holistic description would include the use of natural resources to produce food, industrial raw materials and energy sources. However agriculture is more than merely production – it includes the inputs into production, the social and environmental setting of farms and people, and the downstream transport and processing of commodities to prepare them for consumption as food, clothing, building materials and energy.
Traditional agricultural practices have included cropping, the management of pasture for livestock, and market gardening. These practices are evolving to embrace new technologies, operational innovation, different crops and new purposes such as energy and carbon sequestration.
The following definition of agriculture has been adopted by QFF:
Agriculture – Any activity connected with the growing of food, fibre, timber and foliage including, but not limited to, cropping*, intensive horticulture*, animal husbandry*, intensive animal industry*, animal keeping*, aquaculture*, permanent plantation* wholesale nursery*, production nursery, roadside stall*, winery* and rural industry*; and also including ancillary activities concerned with accommodation of farm workers, visitors and tourists; the storage of water; irrigation and drainage works; the storage of equipment for the production and transport of agricultural products; and the on-farm processing, packaging, storage and sale of agricultural products.
The uses marked with an asterisk in this definition are drawn from definitions in the Queensland Planning Provisions.
For more information on see the Rural Planning page.