Agriculture

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating crops, resulting in foodstuff and products utilized to sustain life.

Background
Agriculture is key to the growth of any society, with surpluses in food encouraging further development. Before the Great War, the United States Department of Agriculture oversaw several research projects such as the American Crop Protection Initiative, that through the Secretary and Senate Committee on Agriculture, reviewed the use of biological agents to eliminate crop pests. The scientists of Vault 22 underneath the Mojave Desert researched food production, seeing improvement in crop yields by way of splicing new cultivars with existing corn samples, producing hybrids that responded better to artificial light. Despite these attempts, a global hunger crisis persisted in the weeks before the Great War, leading to food riots.

Following the war, some species of plants survived, and despite mutations, could be harvested and consumed. These surviving plants allowed agriculture to begin once again, survivors reemerging to plant and harvest crops. Large scale farms such as the NCR sharecropper farms emerged, while others engaged in researching hydroponics.

New California
The town of Adytum is unique for being able to conduct hydroponic farming.

Projections by the Office of Science and Industry, as well as commentary from Hanlon, warn that current NCR agriculture may not be enough to feed the population within ten years, due to the draining of aquifers, as well as lack of proper environmental conditions.


 * Agricultural sites
 * Arroyo: The town produced broc flower, xander root, and other vegetables. Hakunin grows hallucinogenic plants.
 * Boneyard: The town of Adytum produces their own food with hydroponic farms.
 * Hofmann Farm: a family farm.
 * The Hub: The city refines and trades water, and farms line the perimeter, such as one owned by Irwin.
 * Klamath: The town produces and trades plants and vegetables.
 * Modoc: A dedicated farming town that produces crops, as well as fruits such as apples.
 * Shady Sands: Irrigates local soil to support crop production, producing primarily maize and cabbage.
 * Irwin's Farm: a family farm.
 * Ghost Farm: A small farm on the outskirts of Modoc.

Capital Wasteland
The Capital Wasteland lacks stable agriculture and reliable sources of clean water, as the Potomac is irradiated. A science lab led by Madison Li uses hydroponic farming to create herbs, potatoes, lima beans and carrots. Chief Botanist Janice Kaplinski hopes to eventually grow broccoli. The success of the lab allows Rivet City to export produce elsewhere in the region.

Nearby Point Lookout produces punga fruit, considered sacred by local tribals, that purges radiation and restores health. The tribal members at the Ark & Dove cathedral have cultivated the plants, producing an enhanced version known as refined punga fruit.


 * Agricultural sites
 * Chaste Acres Dairy Farm, a family farm.
 * Hilltop farm ruins, a small farming colony on a hill.
 * Point Lookout: The residents cultivate the naturally growing punga fruit. The local tribals have managed to refine the fruit, increasing their health effects.
 * Rivet City: The location of Dr. Li's hydroponics farm, the only instance of farming in the Capital Wasteland.

Mojave Wasteland
The lack of significant radiation from nuclear attacks, as had befallen other parts of the country, meant that agriculture in the Mojave Wasteland rebounded much more successfully than was possible elsewhere. Hoover Dam and Lake Mead provide ample fresh water for farms and ranches in the region, especially once the local infrastructure was repaired by the NCR following the First Battle of Hoover Dam in 2277.

The NCR Office of Science and Industry (OSI) took great interest in the region, hoping to learn new agricultural techniques to take back west to prevent potential food shortages. Responsible for overseeing farming efforts around New Vegas, the OSI branch set up their headquarters at Camp McCarran to oversee the NCR sharecropper farms and greenhouses. Part of these farming initiatives serves a political purpose alongside a humanitarian one, with Ambassador Dennis Crocker noting that the influx of crops will allow for additional sites to be established, resulting in more residents included to vote for New Vegas' annexation by the NCR.

Aside from large-scale efforts, small farms were likewise successfully established in the arid Mojave Desert. Even before the Great War, efforts were underway to solve the global hunger crisis, such as with the research undertaken at Vault 22, which was "a fertile laboratory for experimentation on staple crops to maximize their potential." Scientists and horticulturalists worked to innovate and expand their understanding of agriculture, subsequently developed an effective fertilizer that improved crop production while also increasing crops' resistance to insects, drought, and disease. Director Thomas Hildern of the OSI had an interest in the vault, seeking someone to recover any potential agricultural data.

In Westside, citizens developed a system of sustainable agriculture. The Followers of the Apocalypse have long assisted with educating farmers on agricultural best practices, such as how to rotate crops, and in the Mojave the group continues to do so. The group and engineer Tom Anderson assisted Westside citizens in establishing the Westside Co-op, a small scale business based on an irrigation system, allowing the settlement to reach a stable level of self-sufficiency.

Farms are located on the outskirts of the Mojave, including those in Goodsprings, Freeside, Wolfhorn ranch, Whittaker farmstead, Novac, Brooks tumbleweed ranch, Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm, Horowitz farmstead, the raided farmstead and the Southern Nevada Wind Farm. In addition, the Boomers at Nellis Air Force Base had devised a successful irrigation, solar and farming operation, ensuring their own sustainability by way of cultivating soy, legumes, vegetables and grain.


 * Agricultural sites

The Commonwealth
Agricultural production in the Commonwealth is unhindered by environmental concerns, with access to arable lands and usable water readily available similar to that before the Great War. Several pre-War tractors and tilling mechanisms are found in or around fields, alongside grain silos and combines.

Several settlements in the region are specifically dedicated to agriculture, such as Graygarden and Greentop Nursery, utilizing large greenhouses to grow crops. Several groups in the region cause concerns for the farmers, of being stolen from, intimidated or forced into handing over their crops to those who did not do the work, such as raiders or the Brotherhood of Steel.

Conversely, the Institute considers agricultural production a key priority and invests its resources in the Biosciences Division, led by Dr. Clayton Holdren, to engineering and producing viable food stock for their staff.


 * Agricultural sites
 * Abernathy farm: A family farm that produces a significant crop output.
 * Breakheart Banks: A family farm overrun by super mutants shortly before October of 2287.
 * County crossing: A small farm situated on the outskirts of Boston that grows mutfruit.
 * Diamond City: The town contains a large farm in the eastern section with brahmin and a large variety of crops. A greenhouse can also be found in the town.
 * Finch farm: A family-run farm near an overpass that grows mutfruit and corn.
 * Graygarden: Completed before the war and staffed solely by modified Mister Handy robots, Graygarden boasts a significant agricultural output unrivaled by much else in the entire Commonwealth.
 * Greentop Nursery: A small settlement centered around a greenhouse.
 * Oberland station: A small farm growing tato plants by a railroad.
 * Somerville Place: A farm on the edge of the Glowing Sea growing corn plants.
 * Tenpines Bluff: A small settlement that farms tatos in the northern reaches of the Commonwealth.
 * The Slog: Run by ghouls and made from an old swimming pool to cultivate tarberries.
 * Vault 81: The Vault contains a hydroponics room run by Priscilla Penske, a biologist working to grow radiation-free food from mutated plants.
 * Warwick homestead: Built atop an old waste treatment plan that provided fertile soil to grow crops.

Appalachia
Many farms exist in the region, dotting the landscape that are situated between mountainous regions. The farms were small, family operations before the Great War. A pre-War shop providing supplies to Appalachian farmers, Lewis & Sons Farming Supply, which has since become a farmstead for Carol Putnam's family, is located in the Forest. Before the war, the Dyer Chemical Plant produced animal feed and other phosphates used for nearby farms. Arktos Pharma created Pharmabot-JD7E, a unique robot designed to deploy an experimental chemical to improve crop yields at the Silva homestead.

Several bunkers in the region contain research on agriculture and sustainability completed by the former occupants. Irrigation systems can be seen installed between the rows of crops across the street from the Halloween horror hamlet. In Flatwoods, survivors began to develop crops and farming routines once again after the war, following the lead of the Responders and Delbert Winters. They planted drops, set up brahmin pastures, provided lessons and knowledge about agriculture to those they could, and commented on the changing creatures and flora they observed in the region.

The Vault-Tec Agricultural Research Center is a facility that houses an Agricultural Center Mainframe, established to experiment with automated high-tech farming. The fleet of Mr. Farmhands would automatically take care of crops, fertilizing them, planting seeds, and collecting the harvest with barely any need for human oversight. While the Great War put the facility offline, it was reactivated and restored to partial operation by MacFadden in a bid to aid starving survivors. The Enclave also researched agricultural techniques via their research facilities, and several other family farms are found throughout Appalachia.


 * Agricultural sites