Agriculture, spanning crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry, sustains the production of both food and non-food products. It stands as the cornerstone of human civilization, fostering sedentary settlements through the cultivation of domesticated species that yielded food surpluses, facilitating the growth of urban communities. The practice of cultivating grains commenced roughly 11,500 years ago, although human foraging of grains dates back at least 105,000 years. The domestication of key livestock, such as sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, traces its origins to approximately 10,000 years ago. This domestication unfolded independently in eleven distinct regions across the globe. In the twentieth century, industrial agriculture, characterized by large-scale monocultures, emerged as the predominant model of agricultural production.

Presently, small farms contribute to about a third of global food output, PM kisan status  although large farms predominantly dominate the landscape. Notably, the largest one percent of farms globally, exceeding 50 hectares, oversee more than 70 percent of the world's farmland.Additionally, nearly 40 percent of agricultural land is situated on farms surpassing 1,000 hectares in size.Contrastingly, the majority of farms worldwide, accounting for five out of six, encompass less than two hectares and occupy a mere 12 percent of the total agricultural land.Despite the dominance of large-scale operations, small farms remain crucial for ensuring agricultural diversity and local food security.