Agribusinesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A field comprising companies involved in the cultivation, processing, and sale of agricultural goods
2. An industry that includes businesses focused on farming, food processing, and the supply chain of agricultural products
3. A sector that encompasses enterprises engaged in agriculture-related activities such as production, processing, and distribution of food and raw materials

Etymology: John Herbert Davis, an American academic and diplomat, is credited with coining this term, and the 1955 newspaper reprint of a Business Week article introducing it gives his full definition: the sum of all farming operations, plus the business that manufactures and distributes farm supplies, plus everything involved in handling, storing, processing and distributing farm commodities. The term was built either from "agri-" and "business" or as a blend of "agriculture" and "business", and its meaning was deliberately wide from the start, stretching well beyond the fields themselves. This word is the plural form of "agribusiness", so it refers to multiple enterprises operating within that sector. Its origin is the same as the singular: a 1950s coinage that packed farming and commerce into a single compound.

Synonyms: agricultural businesses, farming enterprises