Humans make extensive use of land, water, energy, labor, and other resources in the production of crops and pastures. We do this because it is essential to our survival and well-being. As world population grows, so does demand for continuing success in agriculture. And as more land is used in agriculture, concerns for loss of natural ecosystems and biodiversity increase as well. The conflict between production and conservation can only be resolved with cropping systems that are highly productive, efficient, and sustainable.

Agricultural management involves plant communities and areas of land. It requires knowledge of individual plant behavior under crowded conditions and interactions of plant communities with aerial and soil environments. These organismal and higher levels of biological organization are the subjects of ecology at different spatial scales, but explanation of these behaviors depends upon integration of relevant knowledge spanning lower levels from molecules and cells to organs. Ecology can thus be characterized as an integration of other disciplines. In turn, however, it provides specialist disciplines with context and relevance and, further, explains that in isolation they rarely affect system outcome. Crop ecology has additional dimensions in agricultural technology that interface with engineering, information and social sciences, and perspectives provided through history.