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Article: Agronomist
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- Plant Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Agronomist
Agronomy is the branch of agriculture and biology that explores the principles and concepts of plants and soils sciences. It also examines management practices designed to optimize production for the benefit of humankind while protecting nature's resources. Agronomy is derived from the Greek words
agros
(field) and
nomos
(to manage).
Agronomy has been recognized as a separate and distinct branch of agriculture since the early 1900s, when departments of agriculture at
land-grant universities
were split into animal science and agronomy units. In 1900 agronomy units included crop science, soil science, farm management (agricultural economics), and agricultural engineering. In ...