Agricultural Intensification

There are a variety of definitions of agricultural intensification, but they all essentially refer to a process whereby inputs of capital and/or labor are increased to raise the productivity or yield (output) of a fixed land area. The academic interest in agricultural intensification has been concerned with the technical, social, and ecological details of local intensification processes as well as more broadly with agricultural intensification as key in the rise of complex societies and development in general. Agricultural intensification is a process that involves both societal (social, political, and economic) and environmental processes of change, and it has been an important research topic in geography, particularly during the second half of the 20th century. The challenge of meeting future global food demands, as well as ...