History of agricultural development

History and Types of Agriculture Demand-based agriculture - production determined by economic demand and limited by classical economic supply and demand theory.. THE INVENTION OF AGRICU

History of Agricultural

Development

History and Types of

Agriculture

Demand-based agriculture - production

determined by economic demand and limited by classical economic supply and demand theory This approach became common during the

industrial revolution.

Resource-based agriculture - production

determined by resource availability; economic

demand usually exceeds production This

approach was the original type of farming 10,000 years ago Modern approaches are very high

tech and somewhat more expensive.

History of Agriculture

Agroecosystems differ from natural ecosystems in five major ways:

1 Farming attempts to stop ecological succession

2 Species diversity is low

a.farmers usually practice monoculture

b.monoculture tends to ⇓ soil fertility

3 Farmers plant species (crops) in an orderly fashion - this can make pest control more difficult

4 Food chains are far more simple in agroecosystems

5 Plowing is like no other natural disturbance

a.plowing can ⇑ erosion

b.cause more nutrient loss (which is replaced by fertilizer)

World Food Supply and the

ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

• Hunters and Gatherers

• Invention of Agriculture

HUNTERS AND GATHERERS

• Before the invention of agriculture, all humans

probably obtained the food they needed for

survival through hunting for animals, fishing, or gathering

• Hunters and gatherers lived in small groups

• The men hunted game or fished, and the women collected berries, nuts, and roots

Hunter & Gatherers

• 99% of mankind’s existence on Earth has

been as a HUNTER & GATHERER!

• Hunting/gathering behaviors exist back 2

million years to the dawn of man’s cultural evolution.

• Earth’s carrying capacity for

hunter-gatherers estimated at 20-30 million

• Do hunting/gathering societies still exist

today?

HUNTERS AND GATHERERS

• This division of labor sounds like a stereotype but is based on evidence from archaeology and anthropology

• The group traveled frequently, establishing new home bases or camps

• The direction and frequency of migration

depended on the movement of game and the seasonal growth of plants at various locations.

• Hunter-gatherers are people who obtain

food by collecting plants and by hunting wild animals or scavenging their remains.

• Hunter-gatherers affect their environment

in many ways:

1) Native American tribes hunted buffalo.

2) The tribes also set fires to burn prairies and

prevent the grow of trees This left the prairie

as an open grassland ideal for hunting bison.

• In North America, a combination of rapid

climate changes and overhunting by

hunter-gatherers may have led to the

disappearance of some large mammal species, including:

CONTEMPORARY HUNTING AND GATHERING

• Today perhaps a

quarter-million people, or less than

0.005 percent of the world’s

population, still survive by

hunting and gathering

• Contemporary hunting and

gathering societies are

isolated groups living on the

periphery of world

settlement, but they provide

insight into human customs

that prevailed in prehistoric

times, before the invention

of agriculture

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture

• Low birth rate attributed to lifestyle of hunter-gatherer –

not food scarcity Were children an asset??

• Not ignorance of plant growth, but lack of need to

practice agriculture prevented earlier development of agriculture

Man simultaneously developed agriculture worldwide 10,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age…suggests that climate changes contributed to the cultivation of plants.

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture

continued…

THE INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE

• Agriculture evolved into two types of

cultivation.

– Vegetative Planting

– Seed Agriculture

TWO TYPES OF CULTIVATION

• Over thousands of years, plant cultivation

apparently evolved from a combination of

accidental and deliberate experiment

• The earliest form of plant cultivation, according

to Carl Sauer, was vegetative planting, direct cloning from existing plants, such as cutting

stems and dividing roots

• Coming later, according to Sauer, was seed

agriculture Seed agriculture is practiced by

most farmers today.

VEGETATIVE PLANTING HEARTHS

• There were several main hearths, or centers of origin, for vegetative crops (roots and tubers, etc.), from which the crops diffused to other areas

LOCATION OF FIRST VEGETATIVE PLANTING

• Dr Sauer believes that vegetative planting probably

originated in Southeast Asia

• The region’s diversity of climate and topography

encouraged plants suitable for dividing

• The first plants domesticated in Southeast Asia

probably included roots such as the taro and yam, and tree crops such as the banana and palm

• The dog, pig, and chicken probably were domesticated first in Southeast Asia

• Other early hearths of vegetative planting also may have emerged independently in West Africa and northwestern South America

SEED AGRICULTURAL HEARTHS

• Seed agriculture also originated in several hearths and diffused from those elsewhere

2

Major Agricultural Hearths

Irrigated agriculture Collective effort Governments

Nile

(5,000 B.C.)

Mesopotamia (6,500 B.C.)

Indus (4,700 B.C.)

Ganges (4,700 B.C.)

Huang He (4,500 B.C.)

DIFFUSION OF SEED

AGRICULTURE

• Seed agriculture diffused from Southwest Asia across Europe and through North Africa

• Seed agriculture also diffused eastward from

Southwest Asia to northwestern India and the

Indus River plain

• Again, various domesticated plants and animals were brought from Southwest Asia, although

other plants, such as cotton and rice, arrived in India from different hearths

• Rice has an unknown hearth

• Sauer identified a third independent hearth in

Ethiopia, where millet and sorghum were

domesticated early

• However, he argued that agricultural advances in Ethiopia did not diffuse widely to other locations

Ancestral Wheat and Barley

DIFFUSION OF SEED AGRICULTURE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

• Two independent seed agriculture hearths

originated in the Western Hemisphere: southern Mexico and northern Peru

• Agricultural practices diffused to other parts of the Western Hemisphere

• This diversity derives from a unique legacy of wild plants, climatic conditions, and cultural preferences

in each region

• Improved communications in recent centuries have encouraged the diffusion of some plants to varied locations around the world

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMMERCIAL

AND SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

• The most fundamental differences in agricultural

practices are between those in less developed countries and those in more developed countries

• Subsistence agriculture is the production of food

primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family

• Commercial agriculture is the production of food

primarily for sale off the farm

– Five principal features distinguish commercial from subsistence agriculture:

LABOR FORCE IN AGRICULTURE

• A large proportion of workers in most LDCs are in agriculture, while only a small percentage of workers in MDCs are engaged in agriculture.

RELATIONSHIP OF FARMING TO

OTHER BUSINESSES

• Commercial farming is closely tied to other

businesses

• Commercial farming has been called

agribusiness, integrated into a large food

production industry

• Although farmers are less than 2 percent of the U.S labor force, more than 20 percent of U.S labor works in food production related to

agribusiness: food processing, packaging,

storing, distributing, and retailing.

• Transition from hunting/gathering to

agriculture started in some areas (Zagros, Nile) as far back as 10-12 thousand years ago

• Over time, it became more widespread;

arose in many different areas, possibly

independently

agriculture as we know it today.

• The industrialized agricultural system of today’s world has developed from – and largely displaced – older

agricultural practices, including subsistence agriculture and pastoralism

• Transformations in agriculture have had dramatic

impacts on the environment, including soil erosion,

desertification, deforestation, and soil and water

pollution, as well as the elimination of some plant and animal species

• Much of future food production growth will come from

higher productivity

• The expansion of farmland for food production will be

slower than in the past

• At a global level there is enough water available, but

some regions will face serious water shortages

• Modern biotechnology offers promises as a means to

improving food security

• Climate change could increase the dependency of some developing countries on food imports

Sustainable Agriculture Goals

• Environmental Health

• Economic Profitability

• Social and Economic Equity

• Sustainable farming based

on ecological principles:

– Diversity– Interdependence– Synergy

– Complex interactions

• Science to improve not

displace traditional farming

• Low energy, capital costs

The Agricultural Revolution

for food or for other products that are useful to

humans.

different parts of the world over 10,000 years ago.

human societies and their environment that it is often called the agricultural revolution.

The Agricultural Revolution

populations to grow at an unprecedented rate.

concentrate in smaller areas placing

increased pressure on the local

environments.

The Agricultural Revolution

eat.

descended from wild plants.

collected seeds from plants that exhibited the qualities they desired, such as large kernels.

again Overtime, the domesticated plants

became very different from their wild ancestors.

The Agricultural Revolution

grasslands, forests, and wetlands were replaced with farmland.

scale can cause soil loss, floods, and

water shortages.

The Agricultural Revolution

the earliest ways that land was converted

to farmland.

farmed and is no longer fertile.

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONS

• First Agricultural Revolution

– Dating back 10,000 years, this achieved plant

domestication and animal domestication

• Second Agricultural Revolution

– Witnessed improved methods of cultivation,

harvesting, and storage of farm produce

• Third Agricultural Revolution

– Currently in progress, its principal orientation is the development of Genetically Modified Organisms

FIRST AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• Believed that agriculture would only flourish

in a land of plenty

• Key area: Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent)

SECOND AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• Coincided with the Industrial Revolution

• Surpluses of food needed to feed those working

in factories

• New technologies developed to improve crop

yields

• Supported by governments of Europe

– Enclosure Act of Great Britain – enforced the increase

in the size of farms; created large scale farms

THIRD AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• Also known as the Green Revolution

• Dates back to the 1930s

• Manipulation of seed varieties to increase crop yields

• 1960s – focus of the Green Revolution turned to India

• Crops impacted: corn, wheat, rice

• Decreased famine in numerous areas

• “Hunger Areas” greatly impacted