In What Period Did Man Begin To Farm And Engage In The Heading Of Animals?

History of Agriculture

Background

Agriculture, the cultivation of food and appurtenances through farming, produces the vast bulk of the world's nutrient supply. Information technology is idea to accept been practiced sporadically for the past 13,000 years,¹ and widely established for just 7,000 years.² In the long view of man history, this is just a flash in the pan compared to the almost 200,000 years our ancestors spent gathering, hunting, and scavenging in the wild. During its brief history, agriculture has radically transformed human societies and fueled a global population that has grown from iv million to seven billion since ten,000 BCE, and is still growing.³

The road to the present has not been shine. Resource degradation, rapid population growth, disease, changing climates, and other forces have periodically crippled food supplies, with the poor bearing the burden of famine. We yet face many of the same challenges as our ancestors, in addition to new and even greater threats. To successfully navigate an uncertain future, we can begin past learning from the past.

Dawn of agriculture

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Left to correct: Gingerbread plum (mobola), baobab seed, carissa fruit.

These wild foods, native to Africa, may resemble the fruits, nuts, and seeds that nourished our hunter-gatherer ancestors. There is growing interest in cultivating these "lost" crops on a larger calibration—the carissa fruit tastes a niggling similar cranberry and could anytime become but as popular.¹²

Photo credits, left to right: National Academies Press;¹² Ton Rulkens, Artistic Commons CC By-SA 2.0; Forest & Kim Starr, Creative Commons CC Past 3.0. All images cropped from originals.

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Fried insect pupae.

While the bequeathed hunt for wild animals is ofttimes depicted as an epic conflict against woolly mammoths, early on humans besides took to foraging for humble insects. Today, some traditional cultures get equally much as 20 percent of their calories from insects.^vii Edible insects have tremendous potential equally a healthy and more than sustainable culling to ruby-red meat and poultry.^thirteen,14

Photograph credit: Steven G. Johnson, 2009. Artistic Commons CC Past-SA 3.0.

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The San are amid the first people to have lived in southern Africa, and are one of the few societies that still follow a hunter-gatherer nutrition. To sustain their lifestyle, San typically spend 12 to 19 hours per calendar week gathering food from the wild—what many might consider a life of leisure. When one San person was asked why he hadn't adopted farming, he replied, "Why should we, when in that location are so many mongongo basics in the world?"^fifteen

Photograph credit: Dietmar Temps, 2010. Creative Eatables CC Past-NC-SA two.0.

Click images for captions

Paleoanthropologists accept estimated that the earliest fossil evidence of Homo sapiens—anatomically modern humans—is roughly 196,000 years quondam.⁴ For the vast bulk of the time since our species' arrival on the evolutionary scene, nosotros acquired food past gathering it from the wild.^i,five Wild institute-based foods and fungi were important staples in the paleolithic diet, including the wild ancestors of some species that are widely cultivated today.⁶ While the ancestral chase for wild animals is frequently depicted equally an ballsy conflict confronting woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant elk, and other prehistoric megafauna, early humans also took to foraging for humble insects⁷ and scavenging the remains of dead animals.^viii

From as early on as xi,000 BCE, people began a gradual transition abroad from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle toward cultivating crops and raising animals for food. The shift to agronomics is believed to have occurred independently in several parts of the globe, including northern Mainland china, Fundamental America, and the Fertile Crescent, a region in the Middle East that cradled some of the earliest civilizations.¹Past 6000 BCE, nigh of the farm animals nosotros are familiar with today had been domesticated.¹ By 5000 BCE, agriculture was practiced in every major continent except Australia.²

Why did people give up hunting and gathering for farming? At that place are many plausible reasons, all of which probable played some role at unlike times and across dissimilar parts of the world:

• Changes in climate may have made it likewise common cold or too dry to rely on wild food sources.¹
• Greater population density may accept demanded more food than could be harvested from the wild, and farming provided more nutrient per acre, fifty-fifty if it did crave more time and energy.^1,9
• Overhunting may take helped push woolly mammoths and other megafauna to extinction.¹⁰
• Changing applied science, such every bit domesticated seeds, would have made agronomics a more viable lifestyle.^v,eleven

Dawn of civilizations

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An ox-fatigued plow prepares a rice paddy field in Vietnam.

The plough and the various improvements upon its design were innovations that transformed human history, allowing farmers to cultivate land with a fraction of the labor they once used. Pulled by animals or tractors, plows are used to turn over the top layer of soil, helping destroy weeds, bury residues from previous crops, bring nutrients and moisture to the surface, and loosen soil before planting.

Photo credit: Thomas Schoch, 2005. Creative EatablesCC By-SA 2.v.

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Grave chamber of an Egyptian public official, circa 1250 BCE.

The plough is believed to take been used every bit early as 4,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Although it brought tremendous gains in brusk-term productivity, it has also been a major correspondent to soil erosion. The loss of fertile topsoil has played a role in the decline of numerous civilizations.¹⁷

Photo: public domain.

Click images for captions

For meliorate or for worse, agriculture was a driving force behind the growth of civilizations.

Farming probably involved more than work than hunting and gathering, but it is thought to have provided 10 to 100 times more calories per acre.⁵ More abundant food supplies could support denser populations, and farming tied people to their land. Small settlements grew into towns, and towns grew into cities.ⁱ

Agriculture produced plenty food that people became free to pursue interests other than worrying most what they were going to swallow that solar day. Those who didn't need to be farmers took on roles every bit soldiers, priests, administrators, artists, and scholars. As early on civilizations began to take shape, political and religious leaders rose up to rule them, creating classes of "haves" and "take-nots." Whereas hunter-gatherer societies generally viewed resources as belonging to anybody, agriculture led to a system of buying over land, food, and currency that was not (and is still non) equitably distributed amongst the people.^ane,16

Some have questioned whether moving abroad from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle was in humanity's all-time interests, pointing to problems of social inequality, malnutrition, and military conflict that followed the adoption of farming.^1,v 1 prominent scientist has fifty-fifty called agriculture the "worst mistake in the history of the homo race."¹⁵ That may be, only given the size and density of man populations today, returning to a paleolithic lifestyle is not a practical option. Hunting, gathering, and farming, however, can complement ane another in means that provide people with a more varied and abundant food supply. People all the same harvest aquatic plants and animals from the bounding main, for case, and even urban dwellers might find edible berries, greens, and mushrooms in their local park.

Limits to growth

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Depleted farmland and a changing climate set the phase for periodic famines throughout much of Europe from 1300 to 1850.²² This print, titled Dance of Death, conveys the fragility of life during this catamenia.

Prototype attributed to Michael Wolgemut, 1493. Public domain.

Click images for captions

In the history of civilization … the plowshare has been far more destructive than the sword.

– Daniel Hillel¹⁸

Agriculture may accept made civilizations possible, but it has never been a safeguard against their collapse. Throughout history, increases in agricultural productivity competed against population growth, resource degradation, droughts, changing climates, and other forces that periodically crippled food supplies, with the poor bearing the brunt of dearth.

Similar many of their modern counterparts, early on farmers often worked land in means that depleted its fertility. Technological innovations like irrigation (circa 6000 BCE) and the turn (circa 3000 BCE) brought enormous gains in productivity, but when used irresponsibly they degraded soil—the very foundation that makes agriculture possible.^19,twenty By the beginning of the Common Era, Roman farmers had degraded their soil to the indicate where they could no longer grow plenty food and had to rely on imports from distant Arab republic of egypt. Rome's eventual decline is one of many cautionary tales about the importance of sustainable agriculture.^ane

Past 1798, economist Thomas Malthus warned that unchecked population growth would outpace food production, setting the stage for widespread starvation.²¹ History is no stranger to this scenario—depleted farmland and changing climates set the stage for periodic famines throughout much of Europe from 1300 to 1850.^i,22 Malthus' critics, meanwhile, argued (and still argue) that scientific innovation would continue famine at bay by e'er finding means to increase food production. Although his predictions have not played out exactly equally he described, Malthus' work reminds us that the Earth has limited capacity to support human evolution.

The population boom

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Globe population, 10,000 BCE to 2000 CE.

In 1798, economist Thomas Malthus warned that unchecked population growth would outpace food product, setting the stage for widespread starvation.²¹ What has kept Malthus' scenario at bay? Synthetic fertilizers, first introduced in the early on 1900s, take been credited with feeding the lion's share of the global population as it grew from 1.6 billion to 6 billion over the 20th century.²⁷

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Application of anhydrous ammonia (synthetic nitrogen) fertilizer at planting time on an Iowa farm.

Synthetic fertilizers are manufactured using a technique that transforms nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be applied to crops (ammonia). These chemicals have dramatically increased short-term crop yields, though non without consequences. The heavy apply of constructed fertilizers has become a hallmark of industrial agriculture.

Photo credit: Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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Freight train conveying grain across Washington state.

Beyond constructed fertilizers, other innovations in food production and distribution helped food supplies keep pace with population growth. Expanded railways, shipping canals, and new mechanism for storing and moving grain made information technology easier to transport food to where it was virtually needed.²⁵ Improvements in refrigerated transport, meanwhile, immune farmers to ship perishable nutrient over greater distances.²⁶

Photo credit: David Gubler. Creative CommonsCC BY-SA 3.0.

Click images for captions

From 1900 to 2011, the global population grew from one.vi billion to 7 billion.²³ Despite such explosive growth, the world'due south farmers produced enough calories in 2012 to feed the entire population, plus an additional i.6 billion people.²⁴ Hunger remains a global crisis, largely because those calories are non evenly distributed across the population, and much of the globe's food supply is never eaten. Even so, the sheer volume of production dwarfs that of earlier generations. What has made such unprecedented abundance possible?

Innovations in food production and distribution have thus far helped food supplies continue step with population growth. Crops indigenous to the Americas, such as corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava, spread beyond the globe. The nutrients provided by these prolific crops helped foreclose malnutrition, supporting a widespread increase in population over the 18^thursday century.²⁰ Expanded railways, shipping canals, and new mechanism for storing and moving grain helped the U.South. become a major exporter of surplus wheat and corn, supplying much of Europe during times of scarcity overseas.²⁵ Improvements in refrigerated ship allowed farmers to send perishable food over greater distances.²⁶

Of all the innovations in agriculture, arguably none has been more influential than synthetic fertilizers—chemicals manufactured using a technique that transforms nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be applied to crops (ammonia). First introduced in the early 1900s, synthetic fertilizers dramatically increased ingather yields (though not without consequences), and take been credited with providing the panthera leo's share of the globe's food over the 20^th century.²⁷ The utilize of these and other chemicals has become a hallmark of industrial agriculture.

Resources

The post-obit listing of suggested resources is intended as a starting bespeak for further exploration, and is not in whatever style comprehensive. Some materials may not reflect the views of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

For teachers

• Industrialization of Agronomics (lesson plan). FoodSpan. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
• Introduction to the US Nutrient Arrangement: Public Health, Environment, and Equity (textbook). Neff RN (editor). Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. 2014.

Articles

• Foodies Unite: Insects Should Be More Nutrient Than Fad. Emma Bryce. The Guardian. 2014.
• Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity (open admission). Pontzer H, Raichlen DA, et al. PLOS I. 2012.
• Are Malthus's Predicted 1798 Food Shortages Coming Truthful? Jeffrey Sachs. Scientific American. 2008.
• The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. Jared Diamond. Discover Magazine. 1999.

Books

• Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America. Jonathan Rees. 2013.
• Fresh: A Perishable History. Susanne Freidberg. 2009.
• Clay: The Erosion of Civilizations. David Montgomery. 2008.
• The Globe's Greatest Fix: A History of Nitrogen and Agronomics. One thousand. J. Leigh. 2004.

References

<sub>i. Montgomery D. Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press; 2008.
2. Bulliet RW, Crossley PK, Headrick DR, Johnson LL, Hirsch SW. The Globe and Its Peoples: A Global History, Volume I. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin; 2008.
3. Kremer M. Population Growth and Technological Change: I Million B.C. to 1990. Q J Econ. 1993;108(3):681-716.
4. Trinkaus E. Early Modern Humans. Annu Rev Anthropol. 2005;34(1):207-230.
five. Diamond J. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Man Societies. New York, New York: W. W. Norton and Company; 1999.
6. Diamond J. Evolution, consequences and future of plant and fauna domestication. Nature. 2002;418(6898):700-707.
vii. Raubenheimer D, Rothman JM, Pontzer H, Simpson SJ. Macronutrient contributions of insects to the diets of hunter-gatherers: A geometric analysis. J Hum Evol. 2014;71:lxx-76.
8. Moleón Chiliad, Sánchez-Zapata JA, Margalida A, Carrete G, Owen-Smith Northward, Donázar JA. Humans and Scavengers: The Evolution of Interactions and Ecosystem Services. Bioscience. 2014.
9. Vasey D. An Ecological History of Agriculture: 10,000 B.C. - A.D. 10,000. Ames, Iowa: Iowa Country University Press; 1992.
10. Stuart AJ, Sulerzhitsky LD, Orlova LA, Kuzmin Y V., Lister AM. The latest woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) in Europe and Asia: A review of the current evidence. Quat Sci Rev. 2002;21(14-xv):1559-1569.
11. Dow 1000, Olewiler N, Reed C. The Transition to Agriculture: Climate Reversals, Population Density, and Technical Change. Simon Fraser Academy; 2005.
12. National Inquiry Council. Lost Crops of Africa. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press; 2008.
xiii. van Huis A. Potential of Insects as Food and Feed in Assuring Food Security. Annu Rev Entomol. 2011;58(1).
14. Premalatha M, Abbasi T, Abbasi T, Abbasi SA. Energy-efficient food production to reduce global warming and ecodegradation: The utilise of edible insects. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2011;15(9):4357-4360.
15. Diamond J. The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. Discov Magazine. 1987:64-66.
16. Price TD. Social Inequality at the Foundations of Agriculture. In: Cost TD, Feinman 1000, eds. Foundations of Social Inequality. New York: Platinum Press; 1995.
17. Pryor LF. The invention of the turn. Comp Stud Soc Hist. 1985;27(4).
18. Hillel D. Out of the Globe: Civilization and the Life of the Soil. Berkeley, CA: University of California Printing; 1991.
nineteen. Montgomery D. Clay: The Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Printing; 2008.
xx. Cohen JE. People control the growth of nonhuman populations. In: How Many People Can the Earth Support?. New York and London: Westward. W. Norton and Company; 1995.
21. Malthus TR. An Essay on the Principle of Population, Volume 1.; 1798.
22. Appleby AB. Epidemics and Famine in the Picayune Ice Age. J Interdiscip Hist. 2013;10(4).
23. Cohen JE. How Many People Can the Earth Support? New York and London: W. Due west. Norton and Company; 1995.
24. U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization. FAOSTAT. 2013. http://faostat3.fao.org/.
25. Fornari Hd. U.Due south. Grain Exports: A Bicentennial Overview. Agric Hist. 1976;50(1):137-150.
26. Rees J. Refrigeration Nation: A History of Water ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America. Johns Hopkins Academy Press; 2013.
27. Smil V. Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Product. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2001.</sub>

Source: https://www.foodsystemprimer.org/food-production/history-of-agriculture/

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