Agriculture Reading Answers

Jul 30, 2024

Agriculture Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Agriculture Reading Answers have a total of 7 IELTS questions in total. In the questions, you have to choose the correct heading from the given options.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as Agriculture Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Agriculture

Agriculture is the exercise of cultivating plants and livestock, Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. The history of agriculture began thousands of years ago. After gathering wild grains beginning at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers began to plant them around 11,500 years ago. Pigs, sheep, and cattle were domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture in the twentieth century came to dominate agricultural output. Modern agronomy, plant breeding, agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological developments have sharply increased crop yields.
The use of these pesticides and fertilizers has created widespread ecological and modern breeding and practices in animal environmental damage. Selective husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat but have raised concerns about animal welfare and environmental damage. Environmental issues include contributions to global warming, depletion of aquifers, deforestation, antibiotic resistance, and growth hormones in industrial meat production. Agriculture is both a cause of and sensitive to environmental degradation, such as biodiversity loss, desertification, soil degradation and global warming, all of which can cause decreases in crop yield. Genetically modified organisms are widely used, although some are banned in certain countries. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibres, fuels, and raw materials (such as rubber).
Food classes include cereals (grains), vegetables, fruits, oils, meat, milk, fungi, and eggs. Over one-third of the world's workers are employed in agriculture, second only to the service sector, although in recent decades, the global trend of a decreasing number of agricultural workers continues, especially in developing countries where smallholding is being overtaken by industrial agriculture and mechanization. The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by hunting and gathering. Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa, in at least 11 separate centres of origin. Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5,700 BC, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans.
Sheep were tamed in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. Cattle were kept as pet from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago. Pig production emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia, and Southwest Asia, where wild boar was first domesticated about 10,500 years ago. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago and was independently domesticated in Eurasia. In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was bred into maize by 6,000 years ago.
Scholars have offered multiple hypotheses to explain the historical origins of agriculture. Studies of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate an initial period of intensification and increasing sedentism; examples are the Natufian culture in the Levant, and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Then, wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted, and gradually came to be domesticated.
Agriculture, specifically farming, remains a hazardous industry, and farmers worldwide remain at high risk of work-related injuries, lung disease, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, as well as certain cancers related to chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. On industrialized farms, injuries frequently involve the use of agricultural machinery, and a common cause of fatal agricultural injuries in developed countries is tractor rollovers.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 21-26

Choose the correct heading for the given sections from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number in the answer sheet.
LIST OF HEADINGS

Pigs and sheep were easy to domesticate than other animals
Few practices responsible for surge in agrarian produce.
Findings of the changeover from foragers to farming cultures suggest an early phase of intensification.
The worldwide movement of a dwindling number of agrarian laborers persists.
Farming industry proving to be unsafe for human wellbeing.
Even Now a huge percentage of people reliant on the cultivation for their survival.
Domestication of livestock in different societies.
Agriculture leading to ecological harm.
Role of tractors in farming.

Paragraph A

Answer: II
Supporting statement:“........Modern agronomy, plant breeding, agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological developments have sharply increased crop yield...........”
Keywords: produce, increase
Keyword Location: para A, Line 7
Explanation:The paragraph discusses various practices like modern agronomy, plant breeding, and the use of agrochemicals which have significantly increased agricultural output, fitting the heading about practices responsible for the surge in agrarian produce.

Paragraph B

Answer: VIII
Supporting statement:“.........The use of these pesticides and fertilizers has created widespread ecological and environmental damage..........”
Keywords: harm, environmental
Keyword Location: para B, Line 1
Explanation:This paragraph focuses on the negative environmental impacts of agriculture, including ecological harm caused by pesticides and fertilizers.

Paragraph C

Answer: IV
Supporting statement:“..........Over one-third of the world's workers are employed in agriculture, second only to the service sector, although in recent decades, the global trend of a decreasing number of agricultural workers
continues.........”
Keywords: dwindling, agricultural
Keyword Location:: para C, Line 2
Explanation:The paragraph mentions the decreasing trend in the number of agricultural workers globally, which fits the heading about the worldwide movement of dwindling agrarian laborers.

Paragraph D

Answer: VII
Supporting statement:“.........Sheep were tamed in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. Cattle were kept as pets from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years
ago..........”
Keywords: domestication, livestock
Keyword Location:: para D, Lines 1-3
Explanation:This paragraph details the domestication of various livestock like sheep, cattle, and pigs in different regions, fitting the heading about the domestication of livestock in different societies.

Paragraph E

Answer: III
Supporting statement:“..........Studies of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate an initial period of intensification and increasing sedentism..........”
Keywords: transition, intensification
Keyword Location:: para E, Line 1
Explanation:The paragraph discusses the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural ones, suggesting an early phase of intensification, matching the heading about findings of this changeover.

Paragraph F

Answer: V
Supporting statement:“.........Agriculture, specifically farming, remains a hazardous industry, and farmers worldwide remain at high risk of work-related injuries..........”
Keywords: unsafe, human
Keyword Location:: para F, Line 1
Explanation:This paragraph outlines the various risks and hazards associated with farming, indicating that it is an unsafe industry for human wellbeing. Hence V is the correct answer.