Dictionary

agribusiness en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /-nɪs/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈæɡɹɪˌbɪznəs/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (UK) audio

Etymology

From agri- + business, or a blend of agriculture + business, coined by American academic and diplomat John Herbert Davis (1904–1988).

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Business (especially big business) connected to agriculture, either owning or operating large-scale farms, or catering to those who do.
   • "Agribusiness," he [John H. Davis] says, "can be used as a starting point in the attack on the problem of farm surpluses and dipping farm incomes." [...] Davis arrives at his estimate that the agribusiness component of the total U.S. economy now accounts for no less than 40 per cent of the total work force and about 40 per cent of the gross national product. 1955 October 23, “Agribusiness: A new term from Boston: Reprinted from Business Week”, in Des Moines Sunday Register (Sports), volume 107, number 125, Des Moines, Iowa: Des Moines Register & Tribune Co., →OCLC, page 12-S, column 6:
   • Plans are underway to open a chain of huge, agri-business farm centers that could be a far greater threat to rural America than anything the big chains or the federal government have caused in the last 50 years. [...] Financial backing for the building of these 40-acre, agri-business, all-engulfing raids on rural America was announced by Litton Industries, now involved in an antitrust suit. 1969 June, Ed Wimmer, “Agri-business centers—big new threat”, in Independent Banker, Sauk Centre, Minn.: Independent Bankers Association of America, →ISSN, →OCLC; quoted in Role of Giant Corporations: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Monopoly of the Select Committee on Small Business, United States Senate, Ninety-first Congress, First Session on the Role of Giant Corporations in the American and World Economies: Part 1A—Appendixes: Automobile Industry—1969: […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969, →OCLC, page 1012:
   • As in the Spanish and American periods, public lands were made available for favoured private interests in agri-business, including foreign interests (using leasing arrangements to avoid the constitutional prohibition on foreign acquisition of land). 1988, Mahar Mangahas, “Distributive Justice in the Philippines: Ideology, Policy and Surveillance”, in Lim Teck Ghee, editor, Reflections on Development in Southeast Asia, Singapore: ASEAN Economic Research Unit, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, →ISBN, page 95:
   • Near-synonym: agroindustry
   • Primary agribusiness includes three categories (agriculture; livestock; forestry), whereas manufacturing agribusiness includes ten categories to reflect the variety of traded products (canned; cereals; drinks; leather; meat; oils; paper; tobacco; wood; other). In addition, there are service agribusinesses, notably supermarkets. [...] Agribusiness now includes all businesses whose raw materials are primarily products of the land and the sea. 2019, Julian Roche, “The Need for Agribusiness”, in Agribusiness: An International Perspective, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:
   • The assault on the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink by land-grabbers, agribusiness, miners and loggers is accelerating. In the year until 30 July 2019, 9,762 sq kms were lost, an increase of 29.5% over the previous 12 months, the Brazilian space agency INPE said. 2019 November 18, Jonathan Watts, “Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade'”, in The Guardian:
   • These county reports were distributed to farmers, assessors, credit agencies, county planning groups, agri-business personnel, Extension agents, vocational agriculture teachers, administrators and individuals with an interest in the land market. 1970 April, “Agricultural Economics”, in Discovery and Growth: Survey of Agricultural Research in Maryland: Eightieth Annual Report: 1966–1967 (Bulletin A; 159), College Park, Md.: University of Maryland Agricultural Research Station, →OCLC, page 9, column 2:
2. (countable) A business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture, particularly if using modern farming techniques in the process.
   • The poultry industry is characterized by a vertical integration in which an agribusiness firm, either through direct ownership or contract, controls the entire production process. Such firms own processing plants, feed mills, and hatcheries, and contract with farmers to raise the chickens. 2007, J. Dennis Lord, “Poultry”, in John T. Edge, editor, Foodways (The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; 7), Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 93:
   • The notable difference between the performance of the government's agricultural firms and private agribusinesses is that the private firms use formal production contracts. These contracts add a measure of market security to both the processing factory and the grower which is the cornerstone of an economic atmosphere conducive to rapid agricultural development. 1983 September 21, Steven R. Tabor, Larry C. Morgan, “Agricultural Production Contracting in Pakistan: A Case Study in Agribusiness Innovation”, in Pakistan’s Edible Oilseeds Industry: […], Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for International Development, published March 1984, →OCLC, part VII (Marketing and Pricing Policies), section VI (Conclusion), paragraph 6.2, page 605:
   • Farms are often owned by large companies and are run as agri-businesses which specialise for contract farming. 1998, Peter Webber, “Economic Activity”, in The UK (Places and Cases), Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Stanley Thornes (Publishers), →ISBN, page 50:
   • The following broad categories of machinery users can be identified: / ― Estates, plantations, and large agri-businesses that purchase their machinery outright or with credit from commercial banks, and have their own maintenance and repair facilities; [...] 1990, “Introduction and Background”, in Agricultural Engineering in Development: Guidelines for Mechanization Systems and Machinery Rehabilitation Programmes (FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin; 85), Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, →ISBN, page 1:
   • Empowerment is not a moment of epiphany. It sometimes involves a simple direction of helping people help themselves. In Punjab, for example, when we started contract farming for our agri-business, we deliberately involved the women folk in the villages to work in the fields. 2006, Sunil Bharti Mittal, “The Corporate Sector Must Turn Around Agriculture”, in India Empowered: Change Agents Speak on an Idea whose Time has Come, New Delhi: Viking, →ISBN, page 273:

Forms

Deriveds

agribusinessman · agribusinesswoman · agribusinessperson

Relateds

agroeconomy · agridollars · agripower · agrobusiness · agri-politics · Big Ag · agrobusiness · agribiz

Synonyms

agroindustry

Translations (27)

es agronegocio (big business connected to agriculture) · sv lantbruksnäring (big business connected to agriculture) · ja アグリビジネス (big business connected to agriculture) · id agribisnis (business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture) · id agribisnis (big business connected to agriculture) · pl agrobiznes (business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture) · fr agro-industrie (big business connected to agriculture) · de Agrobusiness (big business connected to agriculture) · ru агроби́знес (big business connected to agriculture) · fi maatalousbisnes (big business connected to agriculture) · lt agroverslas (big business connected to agriculture) · cmn 農業綜合企業 /农业综合企业 (big business connected to agriculture) · su agribisnis (big business connected to agriculture) · cmn 農企業 /农企业 (big business connected to agriculture) · sh agrobiznis (big business connected to agriculture) · it agribusiness (big business connected to agriculture) · sv jordbruksnäring (big business connected to agriculture) · es agronegocio (business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture) · fi maatalousliiketoiminta (big business connected to agriculture) · uz agrobiznes (big business connected to agriculture) · pl agrobiznes (big business connected to agriculture) · ms agribisnis (big business connected to agriculture) · tg агробизнес (big business connected to agriculture) · pt agronegócio (big business connected to agriculture) · de Agribusiness (big business connected to agriculture) · sh agrobiznis (business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture) · ms perniagaan tani (business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture)