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Primary sector of industry
 
 
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The primary sector of the economy involves changing natural resources
Natural Resources

Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"....
 into primary products. Most products from this sector are considered raw materials for other industries. Major businesses in this sector include agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, agribusiness
Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, agricultural machinery, wholesale and distribution, processed food, marketing, and retail sales....
, fishing
Fishing

Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include Fish net, Fish trap, Spearfishing, angling and Gathering seafood by hand. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine invertebrates....
, forestry
Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
 and all mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 and quarrying industries
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
.

The manufacturing industries that aggregate, pack, package, purify or process the raw materials close to the primary producers are normally considered part of this sector, especially if the raw material is unsuitable for sale or difficult to transport long distances.

Primary industry is a larger sector in developing countries
Developing country

A developing country is a country that has often low standards of democracy, industrialisation, Social work, and Human rights for its citizens....
; for instance, animal husbandry
Animal husbandry

Animal husbandry, also called animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agriculture practice of animal breeding and raising livestock....
 is more common in Africa than in Japan.






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The primary sector of the economy involves changing natural resources
Natural Resources

Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"....
 into primary products. Most products from this sector are considered raw materials for other industries. Major businesses in this sector include agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, agribusiness
Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, agricultural machinery, wholesale and distribution, processed food, marketing, and retail sales....
, fishing
Fishing

Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include Fish net, Fish trap, Spearfishing, angling and Gathering seafood by hand. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine invertebrates....
, forestry
Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
 and all mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 and quarrying industries
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
.

The manufacturing industries that aggregate, pack, package, purify or process the raw materials close to the primary producers are normally considered part of this sector, especially if the raw material is unsuitable for sale or difficult to transport long distances.

Primary industry is a larger sector in developing countries
Developing country

A developing country is a country that has often low standards of democracy, industrialisation, Social work, and Human rights for its citizens....
; for instance, animal husbandry
Animal husbandry

Animal husbandry, also called animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agriculture practice of animal breeding and raising livestock....
 is more common in Africa than in Japan. Mining in 19th century South Wales
South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west....
 is a case study of how an economy can come to rely on one form of business.

Agriculture


In developed countries
Developed country

The term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this....
 primary industry becomes more developed and more high-tech, for instance the mechanization of arable farming opposed to hand picking and planting. In the United States corn belt, combine harvester
Combine harvester

The combine harvester, or simply combine, also known as a thresher is a machine that combines the tasks of harvesting, threshing, and cleaning cereal crops....
s pick the corn, and spray systems distribute large amounts of insecticide
Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects in all developmental forms. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the Egg and larvae of insects respectively....
s, herbicide
Herbicide

A herbicide is used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant hormones....
s and fungicide
Fungicide

Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungus or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of Crop yield, quality and profit....
s thus proving that the more developed an economy, the higher the capital that is invested. These technological advances and investment allow the primary sector to require less workforce and, this way, developed countries tend to have a smaller percentage of their workforce involved in primary activities, instead having a higher percentage involved in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

Developed countries are allowed to maintain and develop their primary industries even further due to the excess wealth. For instance, EU subsidies in Europe provide buffers for the fluctuating inflation rates and prices of agricultural produce. This allows developed countries to be able to export their agricultural products at extraordinarily low prices, making them extremely competitive against those of poor or underdeveloped countries that maintain free market policies and low or inexistent tariffs to counter them.

See also

  • Three-sector hypothesis
    Three-sector hypothesis

    File:2005gdpIndustrial.pngFile:2005gdpServices.pngThe three-sector hypothesis is an economics theory which divides economies into three sectors of activity: extraction of raw materials , manufacturing , and services ....
  • Resource curse
    Resource curse

    The resource curse refers to the paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of natural resources, specifically point-source non-renewable resources like minerals and fuels, tend to have less economic growth and worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources....
  • List of countries by GDP sector composition
    List of countries by GDP sector composition

    File:2005gdpIndustrial.pngFile:2005gdpServices.pngThis is a list of countries by GDP sector composition based on nominal GDP estimates and sector composition ratios provided by the at market or government official exchange rates with figures in millions of United States dollars....


Further reading

  • Dwight H. Perkins: Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 31, No. 1, China's Developmental Experience (Mar., 1973)
  • Cameron: General Economic and Social History
  • Historia Económica y Social General, by Maria Inés Barbero, Rubén L. Berenblum, Fernando R. García Molina, Jorge Saborido