Agriculture in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Agriculture in Europe - Essay Example Agriculture in Europe Since Europe consists of the world famous country sides, laden with rich and fertile soil as well as a history of popularity in the farming sector, a great portion of the revenue for people also depends on farming. As a continent, Europe is almost as big as the whole of the United States of America and thus the size of the land that they possess is almost the same; however the agricultural production carried out in Europe is much larger as compared to the whole of the United States of America. As compared to other countries in Europe, Spain has a very dry climate thus requiring a great amount of water facilities and irrigation in order to grow crops. Spain and Italy together produce almost half of Europe’s olive oil and wine. Pears are also grown there and exported to other countries. Almost 35% of the area of land in France has been set aside for agriculture depicting the country’s need for and dedication towards the sector. Most of France’s exports including grapes, wines and sunflower seeds go to the United States of America. Germany and Switzerland are countries that need to import their food items from other countries because they focus mainly on the industrial and not the agricultural sector. Thus, more of their workforce is involved in the tertiary sector. Switzerland however has engaged itself a great deal in poultry and dairy farming, being one of the largest producers and exporters of dairy products and rearing of animals like sheep for wool. Iceland undergoes an extreme climate; almost no heat reaches the country and thus it has engaged itself mainly in rearing fish; cod being the largest produce. It exports cod to almost all parts of the world. Countries like Czech Republic and Austria are self-sufficient in terms of producing and consumi ng agriculture due to the large amount of land devoted to farming. Poland on the other hand, produces a great deal of food crops however not enough to feed its own population due to the irregular sizes of farms and the lack of fertile land in a uniform manner. Only about 19% of the people in Poland are engaged in agriculture because the country lacks proper industrial equipment as well as facilities to increase the number in the primary sector. (Utah State University) If there is one country that has significantly reduced its agricultural production, or to rephrase, faced a decline in the amount of agricultural production due to external hazards, it is Belarus. The country suffered the Chernobyl disaster and thus the nuclear fumes spread toxic fumes and wastes to the soil making it thoroughly infertile in this part of Europe. Since the year 1986 when the disaster struck, the arable land in the country faced a decline of almost 10% also contaminating the soil as well as the water pre sent towards the southern part of the country. Yugoslavia is a self-sufficient country but at the same time, the country does not produce anything to be exported elsewhere. Furthermore, it is completely dependent on farming; i.e. its economy is almost fully based in the primary sector because most people are engaged in farming and they tend to produce and consume everything personally, from food to clothing. Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey are some of the largest producers and exporters of agriculture in Europe. Turkey has almost 46% of its workforce engaged in the agricultural sector followed by