The two terms are often confused. However, they cover different concepts:

• Agriculture is the set of activities that transform the environment for the production of animals and plants for human use. Agriculture concerns techniques, including the application of agronomic research.
• Agronomy is research and development related to studying and improving plant-based agriculture.

Agricultural sciences include research and development on:

• Production techniques (e.g., irrigation management, recommended nitrogen inputs)
• Improving agricultural productivity in terms of quantity and quality (e.g., selection of drought-resistant crops and animals, development of new pesticides, yield-sensing technologies, simulation models of crop growth, in-vitro cell culture techniques)
• Transformation of primary products into end-consumer products (e.g., production, preservation, and packaging of dairy products)
• Prevention and correction of adverse environmental effects (e.g., soil degradation, waste management, bioremediation)
• Theoretical production ecology, relating to crop production modeling
• traditional agricultural systems, sometime termed subsistence agriculture, which feed most of the poorest people in the world. These systems are of interest as they sometimes retain a level of integration with natural ecological greater than that of industrial agriculture, which in may be more sustainable than some modern agricultural systems
• Food production and demand on a global basis, with special attention paid to the major producers, such as China, India, Brazil and the USA.