Read the text to find out the main areas and issues agronomy deals with and complete the diagram

Agronomy is the science and technology of using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology, chemistry, ecology, earth science and genetics. Agronomists today are involved with many issues including producing food, creating healthier food, managing environmental impact of agriculture, and creating energy from plants. Agronomists often specialize in areas such as crop rotation, irrigation and drainage, plant breeding, plant physiology, soil classification, soil fertility, weed control, insect and pest control.

Plant breedingis an area of agronomy which involves selective breeding of plants to produce the best crops under various conditions. Plant breeding has increased crop yields and has improved the nutritional value of numerous crops, including corn, soybeans and wheat. It also has led to the development of new types of plants. Agronomy has also been instrumental in fruit and vegetable production research.

Agronomists study sustainable ways to make soils more productive and profitable. They classify soils and reproduce them to determine whether they contain substances vital to plant growth such as compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If a certain soil is deficient in these substances, fertilizers may provide them. Soil science also involves investigation of the movement of nutrients through the soil, the amount of nutrients absorbed by a plant's roots and the development of roots and their relation to the soil.

In addition, agronomists develop methods to preserve the soil and to decrease the effects of erosion by wind and water. For example, a technique called contour plowing may be used to prevent soil erosion and conserve rainfall. Researchers in agronomy also seek ways to use the soil more effectively in solving other problems such as the disposal of human and animal wastes, water pollution.

(http://en.wikipedia.org)

Practice 1. Summarise the text by listing:

- the issues agronomists are involved with today;

- areas of agronomy;

- soil science in agronomy.

Practice 2. Re-read the text to find out which of its paragraph deals with:

1) sustainable ways to make soils more productive and profitable;

2) related sciences;

3) methods to preserve the soil and to decrease the effects of erosion;

4) plant breeding.