Intro + Origin of Crops

What is a yield gap?

a yield gap is the difference between what a crop is currently producing and what a crop could produce under favorable conditions

What are the three great challenges of our era?

• Producing enough food

• Dealing with climate change

• Resources limits; Sustainability

How much will food production need to increase to meet future demand in 2050

30%

What are we dealing with when it comes to climate change?

• Rising atmospheric CO₂

• Global Warming

• Variable Weather

What resource/sustainability challenges are we facing?

• Pollution

• Water

• Soil productivity

  • Fertilizer usage

What is a staple food?

A food that is routinely consumed and provides a substantial fraction of energy in a population’s diet

How many crops do we rely on? what percentage of global food and feed are provided by these crops?

12, 75%

What are pros and cons of growing 12 crops?

(+) Ease of production

(+) Simplified trade

(-) High risk of disease causing major disruptions to food supply

(-) Limited adaptability to localized diets

What are field crops?

Crops grown on large acreage, low labor, and often dried for long term storage. Lower value/plant

What are horticultural crops?

Crops grown on a smaller scale, demand higher labor, are often harvested fresh, and have a very high value per plant

Why did people give up hunting and gathering for farming?

1. Religious: Plants domesticated for ritual, prestige, feasting, or spiritual purposes

2. Discovery: Humans recognized that discarded seeds grew into useful plants, leading them to intentionally experiment with managing them

3. Climate Change: as earth’s average temperature increased, glaciers moved northward, and rainfall decreased. This led to a loss of vegetation and an inability for human populations to be sustained on hunting/gathering, forcing them to live around rivers and domesticate plants and animals.

4. Modern View: Agriculture was a gradual process that formed over thousands of years due to ecological, demographic, cultural, and evolutionary factors.
   
   

Describe the impacts of agriculture on human societies.

• More food/area of land to support much larger populations and allow for permanent settlement thanks to storage

• Art, architecture science, and literature flourished

• Change in family life: family homes basic unit of production, distribution, and consumption. More resources into construction of permanent homes and nuclear families. Secrets easier to keep as people spent less time with larger community. Shift in gender roles post development of agriculture.

What are 3 impacts on culture and lifestyle after transitioning to agriculture?

• Decline in health: Sedentary societies, change in diet and lifestyle, decline in oral heath

• Spread of Infectious disease: Permanent settlements, rising populations, and close interactions promoted a circulation of infectious pathogens

• Decreased food variety: Early farming communities obtained food from a few starchy crops

• Formation of deep class divisions

• Environmental Impacts

How is domestication defined? What are the typical steps involved in domestication?

Domestication: A process of selecting and propagating genotypes that have attributes that are desirable to humans

Step 1: Identify a desired wild plant with preferred traits

Step 2: Sow seeds or propagate the plant

Step 3: Tend, amend, and grow the plants.

Step 4: Select the best plants (larger seeds, better fruits, desirable characteristics

Step 5: Save seeds or propagules from selected plants and grow them again for future seasons

Describe at least two criteria used by early farmers to domesticate ancestral crop plants.

• Fewer, larger stalks and ears

• Larger size of edible portion of the plant

• Thinner seed coats

• Non-shatterig seeds

• Free threshing grain

• Lower seed dormancy/Synchronous ripening

• Lower toxicity

• Higher Yield

What is non-shattering?

Non-shattering seeds remain attached to the central stalk even after they mature, making harvesting easier

Name at least three of the core centers for crop origin and agriculture.

• Central America + Mexico

• West Asia

• South Asia

• Central Asia

• East Asia

• Southeast Asia

• Pacific Region

• Australia

• Northeast Europe

• Southeast Europe

• Northwest Europe

• Southwest Europe

• South and East Mediterranean

• West Africa

• East Africa

• Central Africa

• Southern Africa

• Indian Ocean Islands

• Andes

• Tropical South America

• Temperate South America

• North America

What is Columbian exchange? How did it change agriculture and diet?

The Columbian exchange was the connection of trade between the new and old world. It brough about changes such as reshaped diets to include crops from both the new and old world in both regions (Tomato, potato, maize NW→OW, Sugar cane, etc OW→ NW), an increase in the intensity of the spice trade, and an ability to combine foods in dishes and food