What is tech culture? Industrial crops

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Many people perceive almost everything that is grown on earth as food, but this is an erroneous opinion. Most of the world's agricultural land is devoted specifically to the cultivation of industrial crops. Every year more and more goods are made from them. And it's not just clothes. Soap, tires, medicines, cigarettes, building materials, and biofuels are just a few of the many uses of these plants. In the trade turnover of many countries, industrial crops are as important as oil, iron ore or gas.

Types of industrial crops

Technical culture is the raw material for industry. For convenience, these crops were classified according to the principle of obtaining finished raw materials from them.

• Starch-containing crops. They are grown, as the name implies, in order to obtain starch from them. As a rule, it is contained in tubers. Examples are potatoes, yams or sweet potatoes.
• Sugar crops. Plants grown to extract sucrose from them. The most famous in our countryrepresentatives of such crops are sugar beet and sugar cane. But there are also rarer plants, such as sugar maple, carob or chicory.
• Oil crops. This is a large group of industrial crops. Its typical representatives are: sunflower, soybeans, peanuts, oil trees, castor beans, rapeseed, sesame and others.
• Essential oil plants. Plants containing essential aromatic oils. The group is also huge. Crops such as rose or lavender are world famous raw materials for the global perfume and cosmetics industry.
• Fibrous, or spinning. This group also includes bast crops. These are flax, cotton, hemp, kenaf, sisal, ramie.
• Rubber plants. The most famous are hevea and guayule.
• Tonic. This group includes all plants from which tea, coffee, Coca-Cola, cocoa, tobacco are produced.
• Cork or cork. This includes cork oak and Amur velvet.
• Other groups: dyeing (sophora, saffron, indigo), tanning (bergenia, oak, spruce), gutta-percha (euonymus, payena), medicinal crops.

Cultivation of industrial crops

Industrial crops occupy a large area under crops in all countries. Before growing one or another of them, they take into account not only climatic conditions, but also the proximity of processing plants, the market demand for raw materials that are produced from a particular crop.

In Russia, industrial crops are not cultivated very actively, as natural conditions make their cultivationlabor intensive and require large investments. In Ukraine, whose geographical position is favorable for industrial crops, sugar beet, sunflower and flax are actively grown.

All cereals and industrial crops require the use of special harvesting machines and special tools. Usually this is also taken into account when preparing areas for certain crops.

In connection with the growing interest of people in a he althy, environmentally friendly lifestyle, the cultivation of many industrial crops brings additional profits to producers. An example is the lavender plantations in French Provence. People from all over the world come to admire the flowering of this amazingly beautiful and fragrant plant. Celebrations and festivals are arranged for them, which bring a hefty additional income.

Main industrial crops in Russia

First of all, such an industrial crop as sunflower is actively grown in Russia. In the production of sunflower seeds, our country ranks second in the world (Argentina is the leader). This culture came to Russia under Peter I along with potatoes. At first, sunflowers were grown for decorative purposes, but then they were able to appreciate the enormous benefits of this plant.

Once the British had a monopoly on the production of sugar, since all the sugarcane crops belonged to them. Already in the eighteenth century, other countries began to look for how to satisfy the needs of their market for sugar. As a result, in 1747, the German chemist Andreas Marggraf found sugar insugar beet. Now sugar beet is included in the main crops (technical) in many countries, and in Russia it occupies one percent of all sown land.

Russia has long been famous for the production of flax. Two thirds of the world's flax fiber are cultivated in Belarus and Russia. Russian cool and rainy summer is an ideal condition for growing flax. Although it is a fibrous crop, linseed oil has a high nutritional value and is used to make high quality paints. Linen fabrics are very durable, beautiful, they are used not only in light, but also in the aviation and automotive industries.

Industrial crops in the world

The world produces more than 20 million tons of cotton every year. This is the main technical culture in the world. One-fifth of the world is harvested by the United States and China, ten percent is cultivated by Pakistan and India, and a lot of cotton is grown in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Egypt and Syria. A ton of cotton is used to make 400 kg of fiber, from which three thousand meters of fabric are obtained.

India, China, Bangladesh and other Asian countries are famous for growing jute, sesal, supplying the whole world with burlap, ropes and coarse fabrics. In Southeast Asia, hevea grows, from which rubber products are made.

Essential oil and dyes are grown in many countries. For example, almost the entire share of the world's saffron harvest belongs to Iran. It is not only a dye, but also one of the most expensive seasonings in the world. In order to get a kilogram of saffron, you need to collect 200 thousand crocuses.

It happens that industrial crops become a symbol of the country. For example, a rose in Bulgaria. In this country, in the Kazanlak Valley, there is a world-famous rose museum. The rose oil produced by the country has brought Bulgaria worldwide fame.

In the world, industrial crops such as tobacco and hops are also popular. Cuban and Turkish tobacco are prized by smokers around the world, and Germany is famous for growing hops.

Genetically modified crops and their possibilities

Soya is currently the main industrial crop in the world. American scientists believe that this will be the main source of protein for humanity. The US produces three-quarters of the world's soybeans. Every tenth ton of all grains is soybeans. It is not only eaten, but also used for technical needs. Soybean oil can be used to make plastics, paints, biofuels.

Scientists are currently working on the widespread use of such an industrial crop as lupine. Its possibilities are even wider than those of soy. This industrial culture is surprisingly multifunctional: fibers give excellent quality fabrics, oil with antioxidant properties is obtained from the plant, coffee is made from the roots. The world leader in the production of promising crops is Australia.

Gasoline from industrial crops

Earth's oil reserves are running out, and scientists around the world are working to create optimal biofuels. The best technical culture for this purpose is being sought.

So far the leaders onthis field are soybean, rapeseed and cotton, but there are also lesser known plants. Among them are the South American jatropha, the Syrian milkwort, and the copaiba, which grows in the Amazon tropics. In China, they found the plant Sindora Clabra. Its juice catches fire like oil.

Cultivation of industrial crops has long gone beyond traditional agriculture and is turning into a modern high-tech industry with great prospects. Whoever understands this today will win a lot tomorrow.