In Agriculture, one calls “ inputs ” the various products brought to the Ground S and with the Culture S, this term includes/understands:

• the Manure
• the amendment S (elements improving the properties Physical S and chemical of the ground, such as the Sand, the Peat, the lime…)
• plant health Produced ,
• activators or retarders of growth.
• the seed S (and seedlings) can be regarded as the first input in agriculture. But the seeds are at the same time a production agricultural production and equipment. They are generally bought outside, but certain species (as corn) are often produced on the farm.

In an economic vision more that technique, the inputs indicate all the products necessary to the operation of the Farm that this one must buy on the external Marché. That includes, in addition to the products referred to above, the material and the equipment, the Carburant necessary to make them function, the feedingstuffs not produced in the farm, the Médicament S and veterinary services, etc

The control of the inputs on the level of a farm is initially a economic Enjeu. Their use must take account of their effectiveness, which decreases when one approaches the optimum until cancelling itself, to be reversed certain threshold beyond, as of their cost which cuts down the trading margin in a context by Concurrence on the markets. Technological advance helps the farmers to reduce the quantities of products used (better knowledge of the needs for the plants, better precision of the means of pulverization or of spreading, etc It is also a Enjeu Environnement Al, certain forms of agriculture, like the Organic farming, making control of the inputs a very strong constraint.