Agribusiness is the business of agricultural production. The term was coined in 1957 by Goldberg and Davis. It includes agrochemicals, breeding, crop production (agriculture and contract farming), distribution, agricultural machinery, seed processing and supply, as well as marketing and retail sales. All the agents of the food and fiber value chain and the institutions that influence it are part of the agribusiness system.
Within the agriculture industry "agro-industry" is simply used as an acronym for agriculture and business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food production. There are academic degrees and departments of agribusiness, commercial associations of agribusiness, agribusiness publications, etc., all over the world.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) operates a section dedicated to the development of agribusiness that seeks to promote the growth of the food industry in developing nations. In the context of the management of agribusiness in the academy, each individual element of the production and distribution of agriculture can be described as agribusiness. However, the term "agribusiness" emphasizes more often the "interdependence" of these various sectors within the production chain.
Among the critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertically integrated food production, the term agribusiness is used negatively, synonymous with corporate agriculture. As such it is often contrasted with smaller family farms.