Agriculture 9.2 Notes

Invention of Agriculture

Agriculture originated when humans learned to domesticate plants and animals for their use. Agriculture is defined as the deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain. A crop is any plant cultivated by people. 

The origin of agriculture cannot be documented with certainty because it began before recorded history. 

Before the invention of agriculture, all humans probably obtained the food they needed for survival through hunting for animals, fishing or gathering plants. 

Hunters and gatherers were groups of people who traveled frequently. The direction and frequency of migration depended on the movement of game and the seasonal growth of plants at various locations. These groups collected food often, perhaps daily. Today a quarter million people still survive by hunting and gathering rather than by agriculture. 

The process that began when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering became known as the agricultural revolution. It’s believed to have happened around the year 8000 B.C.E. because the world’s population began to grow at a more rapid rate than it had in the past. But scientists do not know if the agricultural revolution originated primarily because of environmental factors or cultural factors. 

• Environmental factors: the first domestication of crops and animals coincided with the climate change that marked the end of the last ice age. 

• Cultural factors: a preference for living in a fixed place rather than as nomads may have led hunters and gatherers to build permanent settlements and to store surplus vegetation there.

Agricultural hearths: scientists agree that agriculture originated in multiple hearths around the world: Southwest Asia, East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. 

• Southwest Asia: the earliest crops were domesticated here around 10,000 years ago. Some of those would be barley, wheat, lentil, and olive. SA was also the hearth for domestication of the largest number of animals that would be important for agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs, sheep (between 8,000-9,000) years ago. Occurring 12,000 years ago was the domestication of the dog

• East Asia: 10,000 years ago Rice was domesticated here. 

• Central and South Asia: 4,000 years ago chickens diffused from South Asia. Also, the horse is thought to have been domesticated in Central Asia. 

• Sub-Saharan Africa: Sorghum was domesticated in central Africa around 8,000 years ago. Yams were domesticated earlier, millet and ray may have also been domesticated in sub-Saharan Africa. 

• Latin America: Mexico is considered a hearth for beans and cotton, and Peru for potato. 

Improved communications have encouraged the diffusion of some plants to varied locations around the world. The transfer of plants and animals, as well as people, culture, and technology, between the western hemisphere and Europe, as a result of European colonization and trade, is known as the Columbian Exchange.

Subsistence & Commercial Agriculture

The most fundamental differences in agricultural practices are between those in developing countries and those in developed countries. 

Subsistence agriculture, found in developing countries, is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family. 

Commercial agriculture found in developed countries, is the production of cash crops primarily for sale off the farm. 

Cash crop  a crop that is grown for sale, rather than the farmer’s own use.

The main features that distinguishes the two is the percentage of farmers in the labor force, the use of machinery, and farm size. 

In developed countries, a small number of commercial farmers can feed many people because they rely on machinery to perform work rather than on people or animals. Farm machinery was introduced in the late eighteenth century. 

This mechanization allows for larger fields to be cultivated, increasing productivity and efficiency in crop production. Additionally, commercial agriculture often involves advanced techniques such as precision farming and biotechnology, which further enhance crop yields and sustainability. In contrast, developing countries tend to have a higher percentage of farmers in the labor force, often relying more on manual labor and traditional farming methods, which can limit overall productivity.

Farm size depends on mechanization. As a result of the large size and the high level of mechanization, commercial agriculture is an expensive business.