Primary Materials

Primary materials are materials the first material stage of any good/item and are acquired directly from natural sources, without having been processed or modified. Primary Materials can be from:

• Living Sources like Animals, Fish, Plants, Trees, Fungi, Bacteria
• Non-Living sources like rocks, minerals, water, gas, crude oil, sand and clay.

Primary material acquisition (PMA) types

• Crop Farming: The cultivation of plants for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants, and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. It involves practices such as planting, tilling, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting.
• Livestock Farming: Raising animals for food, fiber, labor, or other products such as meat, milk, eggs, leather, and wool.It encompasses a wide range of animals including, but not limited to, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry, which are commonly raised on farms for their valuable products.
• Aquaculture: The breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, algae, and other aquatic organisms in controlled environments for food or commercial purposes.
• Forestry: The science and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values. This includes logging as a sub-activity, which is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs.
• Hunting: The practice of tracking and killing wild animals for food, recreation, or trade in their products.
• Mining: The extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, typically from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, or placer deposit.
• Drilling: The process of creating holes in the earth's surface in preparation for the extraction of oil or gas.
• Fishery: The enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life. Commercial fisheries include wild capture fisheries and aquaculture.
• Excavating: The process of moving earth, rock, or other materials with tools, equipment, or explosives to extract materials of interest, often used in mining and archaeological digs.
• Quarrying: The process of extracting stone, sand, gravel, or other minerals from the ground in order to use them to produce materials for construction or other uses.
• Gathering: The collection of plant materials, such as fruits, nuts, spices, or other botanical products, from wild sources for food, crafts, or medicinal purposes. This combines the practices of gathering and wildcrafting, which are similar in nature and purpose.

Primary Materials Acquisition Areas (PMAL)

Primary Materials Acquisition Areas are areas on land or at sea. For land areas polygons are used, while for fish/shelfish and crustaceans the FAO list of fish catch areas is used (which are also available as polygons).