农业 (nóng yè) literally means 'farm work' or 'farming activity': 农 (nóng) means 'farmer' or 'agricultural', and 业 (yè) means 'profession', 'industry', or 'field of work'. Together, they form the standard term for 'agriculture' — the science, practice, and industry of cultivating land, growing crops, and raising livestock. It refers broadly to food production systems and rural economic activity in China and other Chinese-speaking regions.

This word is formal and commonly used in news, policy documents, textbooks, and discussions about rural development, sustainability, and food security. It’s more general than terms like 种地 (zhòng dì, 'to farm land') or 养殖 (yǎng zhí, 'aquaculture/animal husbandry'), and it often appears in compound terms such as 农业技术 (nóng yè jì shù, 'agricultural technology') or 农业部 (nóng yè bù, 'Ministry of Agriculture').