Agriculture: Point by
Point
As demonstrated by Phil Ort, Emily
Hollenberg, and Nikki Wagner
Agriculture- What Is It?

Agriculture is the norms, procedures, uses,
practices, ideas of and fruits pertaining to the land,
the soil, and all its content and derivative works.

Furthermore, agriculture must have a feasible
impact, be interactive, have norms and ideas
relating it to society, and most importantly relate to
the land and its uses.
The Two Fold Strategy: Induction

Thesis: Induction is stating a general thesis and then
going point by point explaining the thesis with
evidence. We’ve all done it- it’s writing a topical
essay! Induction relies heavily on logos; pathos and
ethos are very secondary in this argumentation
strategy.
Evidence for Induction

A life example of induction is the five paragraph
essay. In the introduction, the topic is introduced
along with the thesis. The body paragraphs are
bulleted points of evidence that support the thesis.
The evidence, even in separate points and
paragraphs, is all linked back to the thesis
statement. Once the evidence is provided in the
body paragraphs, the thesis is restated with links
back to the evidence.
Conclusion and Restatement

Having given an example in the form of a topical
essay as a topical essay, the nature of induction is
shown at its base form. The thesis is introduced, the
evidence, as on the previous slide, is given as
support, and then the thesis is restated from a
strong position supported by the aforementioned
evidence.
The Two Fold Strategy: Deduction
What is deduction?
 To see deduction in action, we must look at one of
the greatest deductive artists of all time, Sherlock
Holmes.
 Sorry if you were expecting someone from CSI.

“Holmes” on Holmes- The Story
This begins with the story of the five orange pips.
 One evening our hero, Sherlock Holmes, had a
young man come to his door with a pressing
situation.
 The young man was being pursued by the KKK
because he had a list of their members, which
roused their ire.

The Sheer Evidence
The young man to Holmes for advice on what he
should do. Holmes gave him this advice: give back
the names. He was then unceremoniously thrown
from Holmes’s place of residence.
 Later that night, the young man died.
 When Holmes heard, he became distraught.
 Holmes had only very basic evidence at his disposal
to find the killers.

The Sheer Evidence… Continued
Holmes’s Evidence: five orange pips, a weathered
seawater stained envelope, American ink, and a
knowledge of tattoos. (Of course, Holmes was very
well oriented with the tattoos of his day.)
 Holmes understood that the five orange pips were a
death sentence. He’d also deduced from the
envelope that it had come from an American vessel
and was dated to where he could trace the ship.

The Sheer Evidence… Still Continued
After having deduced the origins of the ship, he
traced the American ink to a specific brand used by
certain passengers on the ship. He also used his
knowledge of tattoos to find a sailor who had
connections.
 In short… he caught the killers.

The Thesis: Deduction
Sherlock Holmes had looked closely at the evidence
and thought carefully on it. Thus, he formed a thesis,
showing his baffling powers of deduction.
 So, our thesis for deduction, after providing
evidence in our example is:
 Being the opposite of induction, which by its nature
presents a thesis and then supports it, deduction
must therefore involve looking at the evidence first
to obtain a thesis.

If You Were Confused… or Sleeping…
In other words, deduction is using the power of
evidence to create a thesis statement, NOT using a
thesis statement to begin with. The evidence is laid
out in a step by step logical manner, and then a
thesis is created from the evidence.
 In this manner, Sherlock Holmes serves a one of the
greatest examples of deduction.

In Summation: Induction and
Deduction
Induction is starting with a thesis and explaining it
with evidence.
 Deduction is starting with the evidence and
concluding with a thesis.


Now… finally… on to agriculture!
Agriculture Inductively
Agriculture is the norms, procedures, uses,
practices, ideas of and fruits pertaining to the land,
the soil, and all its content and derivative works.
 What is agriculture? This question implies a few
things; firstly, “what” implies that agriculture has no
single encompassing definition. Secondly, “is”
implies that agriculture has tangible impact and that
we were able to physically interact with it.

Inductively… Continued
Finally, the word “agriculture” is composed of two
ideas. “Agri” refers to the land and the soil, and it
encompasses the entirety of its fruits/uses. “Culture”
is substance, or practices, the norms and ideas of
society, as it relates to the subject.
 Therefore, we can conclude that agriculture must
have a feasible impact, be interactive, relate to the
ideas and norms of society, and pertain to the land
and its uses.

Agriculture Deductively
What is agriculture?
 Well… we’ve answered this a few times already. But
for completeness, here it is again.
 The question implies that agriculture has no single
encompassing definition and that it has to be
tangible and that we are able to physically interact
with it.

Deductively… Continued
Broken down the word agriculture has two main
ideas. “Culture” refers to the substance or practices
of society as it relates to something and the ideas
about it. “Agri” refers to the earth and the soil and its
various components and uses.
 So! Our thesis statement, judging by our evidence, is
that agriculture is the norms, procedures, uses,
practices, ideas of and fruits pertaining to the land,
the soil, and all its content and derivative works.

A Taste of the Good Earth
Earlier we said that agriculture must have feasible
impact and be interactive, relate to some ideas of
society and explore the usefulness of land. The
perfect example of this is Full Belly Farm.
 The farm relates to society as a counter-norm,
choosing green methods where others choose mass
production.

A Taste of the Good Earth… Continued
Full Belly Farm also explores an interactive nature,
which can be achieved by using the land to its
fullest. As the sheep graze, they fertilize and till the
soil, showing a connectivity in the farm life.
 Lastly, Full Belly Farm is feasibly able to produce
enough food for its workers and beyond while
remaining environmentally friendly, making it a
prime example of agriculture in and of itself.

The Whole Sha-Bang Conclusion
Having explored with vigorous consistency
the definition of agriculture and the
argumentation methods which we used to
define it, we have created a wide-ranging
definition which also supports specificity.
 We inductively defined induction and we
deductively defined deduction.
 We did the same to agriculture.
 Let’s see what the pros have to say.

Other Professional Definitions of
Agriculture

Webster says that agriculture is: the art or science of
cultivating the ground, and raising, and harvesting
crops, often including also feeding, breeding, and
management of livestock; tillage; husbandry;
farming; in a broader sense the science and art of
the production of plants and animals useful to man,
including to a variable extent the preparation of
these products for a man’s use, and their disposal by
marketing or otherwise. In this broad use it includes
farming, horticulture, forestry, sugar making, etc.
Why Simple is Better
Did you understand that? Although Webster is
insidiously thorough, it is very verbose.
 Our definition in comparison covers all of these
details yet takes up a lot less ink, saves some trees,
and leaves you with less of a headache after reading.
It also gives a sense of broadness with that air of
specificity, and allows that sense of tangibility and
interactivity.
 This is why our definition is sound and reliable. Our
thesis and evidence back it up.

Works Cited



Lappé, Anna. Diet for a Hot Planet: the Climate Crisis at the
End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It. New York:
Bloomsbury USA, 2010. Print.
Greenberg, Martin Harry., and Carol-Lynn Rössel. Waugh. The
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Original Stories. New
York: Carroll & Graf, 1987. Print.
Webster, Noah, William Allan Neilson, Thomas A. Knott, and
Paul W. Carhart. Webster's New International Dictionary of the
English Language: Second Edition, Unabridged, Utilizing All the
Experience and Resources of More than One Hundred Years of
Merriam-Webster Dictionaries,. Springfield, MA: Merriam,
1955. Print.