The development of agriculture

The Farming Revolution

Taking root around 12,000 years ago, agriculture triggered such a change in society and the
way in which people lived that its development has been dubbed the “Neolithic Revolution.”
Traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles, followed by humans since their evolution, were swept
aside in favor of permanent settlements and a reliable food supply. Out of agriculture, cities
and civilizations grew, and because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet
demand, the global population rocketed—from some five million people 10,000 years ago,
to more than seven billion today.

There was no single factor, or combination of factors, that led people to take up farming in
different parts of the world. In the Near East, for example, it’s thought that climatic changes
at the end of the last ice age brought seasonal conditions that favored annual plants like
wild cereals. Elsewhere, such as in East Asia, increased pressure on natural food resources
may have forced people to find homegrown solutions. But whatever the reasons for its
independent origins, farming sowed the seeds for the modern age.

Plant Domestication

The wild progenitors of crops including wheat, barley, and peas are traced to the Near East
region. Cereals were grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago, while figs were cultivated
even earlier; prehistoric seedless fruits discovered in the Jordan Valley suggest fig trees
were being planted some 11,300 years ago. Though the transition from wild harvesting was
gradual, the switch from a nomadic to a settled way of life is marked by the appearance of
early Neolithic villages with homes equipped with grinding stones for processing grain.

The origins of rice and millet farming date to the same Neolithic period in China. The world’s
oldest known rice paddy fields, discovered in eastern China in 2007, reveal evidence of
ancient cultivation techniques such as flood and fire control.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began around 10,000 years ago, but corn (maize) had to wait
for natural genetic mutations to be selected for in its wild ancestor, teosinte. While maize-
like plants derived from teosinte appear to have been cultivated at least 9,000 years ago,
the first directly dated corn cob dates only to around 5,500 years ago.

Corn later reached North America, where cultivated sunflowers also started to bloom some
5,000 years ago. This is also when potato growing in the Andes region of South America
began.

Farmed Animals

Cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs all have their origins as farmed animals in the so-called
Fertile Crescent, a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq, and southwestern Iran. This region
kick-started the Neolithic Revolution. Dates for the domestication of these animals range
from between 13,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Genetic studies show that goats and other livestock accompanied the westward spread of
agriculture into Europe, helping to revolutionize Stone Age society. While the extent to
which farmers themselves migrated west remains a subject of debate, the dramatic impact
of dairy farming on Europeans is clearly stamped in their DNA. Prior to the arrival of
domestic cattle in Europe, prehistoric populations weren’t able to stomach raw cow milk. But
at some point during the spread of farming into southeastern Europe, a mutation occurred
for lactose tolerance that increased in frequency through natural selection thanks to the
nourishing benefits of milk. Judging from the prevalence of the milk-drinking gene in
Europeans today—as high as 90 percent in populations of northern countries such as
Sweden—the vast majority are descended from cow herders.

The history of agriculture is the story of humankind's development and cultivation of

processes for producing food, feed, fiber, fuel, and other goods by the systematic
raising of plants and animals. Prior to the development of plant cultivation, human
beings were hunters and gatherers. The knowledge and skill of learning to care for
the soil and growth of plants advanced the development of human society, allowing
clans and tribes to stay in one location generation after
generation. Archaeological evidence indicates that such developments occurred 10,000
or more years ago.

Contents
[hide]
 1 Origins of agriculture
 2 Ancient agriculture
o 2.1 Sumerian agriculture
o 2.2 Aztec and Maya agriculture
o 2.3 Roman agriculture
o 2.4 Chinese agriculture
o 2.5 Indian agriculture
 3 Agriculture in the Middle Ages
 4 Renaissance to Industrial Revolution
 5 Contemporary issues
o 5.1 Animals
o 5.2 Crops
 6 Responses to agricultural problems
 7 Notes
 8 References
 9 External Links
 10 Credits

Because of agriculture, cities as well as trade relations between different regions and
groups of people developed, further enabling the advancement of human societies
and cultures. Agriculture has been an important aspect of economics throughout the
centuries prior to and after the Industrial Revolution. Sustainable development of world
food supplies impact the long-term survival of the species, so care must be taken to
ensure that agricultural methods remain in harmony with the environment.

Origins of agriculture
Agriculture is believed to have been developed at multiple times in multiple areas, the
earliest of which seems to have been in Southwest Asia. Pinpointing the absolute
beginnings of agriculture is problematic because the transition away from purely hunter-
gatherer societies, in some areas, began many thousands of years before the invention
of writing. Nonetheless, archaeobotanists/paleoethnobotanists have traced the selection
and cultivation of specific food plant characteristics, such as a semi-tough rachis and
larger seeds, to just after the Younger Dryas (about 9,500 B.C.E.) in the
early Holocene in the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent. There is much earlier
evidence for use of wild cereals: anthropological and archaeological evidence from sites
across Southwest Asia and North Africa indicate use of wild grain (such as from the ca.
20,000 B.C.E. site of Ohalo II in Israel, many Natufian sites in the Levant and from sites
along the Nile in the 10th millennium B.C.E.). There is even early evidence for planned
cultivation and trait selection: grains of rye with domestic traits have been recovered
from Epi-Palaeolithic (10,000+ B.C.E.) contexts at Abu Hureyra in Syria, but this
appears to be a localized phenomenon resulting from cultivation of stands of wild rye,
rather than a definitive step towards domestication. It isn't until after 9,500 B.C.E. that the
eight so-called founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer and einkorn wheat, then
hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas, and flax. These eight crops occur
more or less simultaneously on Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in the Levant, although the
consensus is that wheatwas the first to be sown and harvested on a significant scale.
By 7000 B.C.E., sowing and harvesting reached Mesopotamia and there, in the super
fertile soil just north of the Persian Gulf, Sumerianingenuity systematized it and scaled it
up. By 6000 B.C.E. farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile River. About this
time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, probably in China, with
rice rather than wheat as the primary crop. Maize was first domesticated, probably from
teosinte, in the Americas around 3000-2700 B.C.E., though there is some archaeological
evidence of a much older development. The potato, the tomato, the pepper, squash,
several varieties of bean, and several other plants were also developed in the New
World, as was quite extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South
America. Agriculture was also independently developed on the island of New Guinea.
The reasons for the development of farming may have included climate change, but
possibly there were also social reasons (such as accumulation of food surplus for
competitive gift-giving as in the Pacific Northwest potlatch culture). Most certainly, there
was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy
period during which some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were
gathered in the wild. Although localized climate change is the favored explanation for
the origins of agriculture in the Levant, the fact that farming was 'invented' at least three
times elsewhere, and possibly more, suggests that social reasons may have been
instrumental.
Full dependency on domestic crops and animals did not occur until the Bronze Age, by
which time wild resources contributed a nutritionally insignificant component to the usual
diet. If the operative definition of agriculture includes large scale intensive cultivation of
land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and use of a specialized labor force, the title
"inventors of agriculture" would fall to the Sumerians, starting ca. 5,500 B.C.E. Intensive
farming allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting
and gathering, and allows for the accumulation of excess product for off-season use, or
to sell/barter. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities
have nothing to do with material production was the crucial factor in the rise of standing
armies. Sumerian agriculture supported a substantial territorial expansion, together with
much internecine conflict between cities, making them the first empire builders. Not long
after, the Egyptians, powered by farming in the fertile Nile valley, achieved a population
density from which enough warriors could be drawn for a territorial expansion more than
tripling the Sumerian empire in area.[1]

Ancient agriculture
Sumerian agriculture

The "Fertile Crescent" of the Middle East.

In Sumer, barley was the main crop, but wheat, flax, dates, apples, plums,
and grapes were grown as well. While Mesopotamia was blessed with flooding from the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers that helped cultivate plant life, the salt deposits under the
soil, made it hard to farm. The earliest known sheep and goats were domesticated in
Sumer and were in a much larger quantity than cattle. Sheep were mainly kept for meat
and milk, and butter and cheese were made from the latter. Ur, a large town that
covered about 50 acres (20 hectares), had 10,000 animals kept in sheepfolds and
stables and 3,000 slaughtered every year. The city's population of 6,000 included a
labor force of 2,500 cultivating 3,000 acres of land. The labor force contained
storehouse recorders, work foremen, overseers, and harvest supervisors to supplement
laborers. Agricultural produce was given to temple personnel, important people in the
community, and small farmers.[2]
Sumerian Harvester's sickle, 3000 B.C.E. Baked clay. Field Museum.
The land was plowed by teams of oxen pulling light unwheeled plows and grain was
harvested with sickles. Wagons had solid wheels covered by leather tires kept in
position by copper nails and were drawn by oxen and the Syrian onager (now extinct).
Animals were harnessed by collars, yokes, and head stalls. They were controlled by
reins, and a ring through the nose or upper lip and a strap under the jaw. As many as
four animals could pull a wagon at one time.[2] Though some hypothesize that
domestication of the horse occurred as early as 4000 B.C.E. in the Ukraine, the horse
was definitely in use by the Sumerians around 2000 B.C.E.

Aztec and Maya agriculture

Intihuatana ruins with agricultural terraces below at Písac, Peru

Agriculture in Mesoamerica dates to the Archaic period of Mesoamerican chronology
(8000-2000 B.C.E.). During this period, many of the hunter gatherer micro-bands in the
region began to cultivate wild plants. The cultivation of these plants probably started out
as creating known areas of fall back, or starvation foods, near seasonal camps, that the
band could rely on when hunting was bad, or when there was a drought. By creating
these known areas of plant food, it would have been easier for the band to be in the
right place, at the right time, to collect them. Eventually, a subsistence pattern, based on
plant cultivation, supplemented with small game hunting, became much more reliable,
efficient, and generated a larger yield. As cultivation became more focused, many
plant species became domesticated. These plants were no longer able to reproduce on
their own, and many of their physical traits were being modified by human farmers. The
most famous of these, and the most important to Mesoamerican agriculture, is maize.
Maize is storable for long periods of time, it can be ground into flour, and it easily turns
into surplus for future use. Maize became vital to the survival of the people of
Mesoamerica, and that is reflected in their origin, myths, artwork, and rituals.
The second most important crop in Mesoamerican agriculture is the squash. Cultivated
and domesticated before maize, dated to 8000 B.C.E. in Oaxaca, the people of
Mesoamerica utilized several different types of squash. The most important may be
the pumpkin, and its relatives. The seeds of the pumpkin are full of protein, and are
easily transportable. Another important member of the squash family is the bottle gourd.
This fruit may not have been very important as a food source, but the gourd itself would
have been useful as a water container. Another major food source in Mesoamerica
are beans. These may have been used as early as squash and maize, but the exact
date of domestication is not known. These three crops formed the center of
Mesoamerican agriculture. Maize, beans, and squash form a triad of products,
commonly referred to as the "Three Sisters," that provided the people of Mesoamerica a
complementing nutrient triangle. Each contributes some part of the essential vitamin mix
that human beings need to survive. An additional benefit to these three crops is that
planting them together helps to retain nutrients in the soil.
Many other plants were first cultivated in Mesoamerica; tomatoes, avocados, guavas,
chilli peppers, manioc, agave, and prickly pear were all cultivated as additional food
resources, while rubber trees and cotton plants were useful for making cultural products
like latex balls and clothing. Another culturally important plant was the cacao. Cacao
beans were used as money, and later, the beans were used for making another
valuable product, chocolate.
The Aztecs were some of the most innovative farmers of the ancient world, and farming
provided the entire basis of their economy. The land around Lake Texcoco was fertile
but not large enough to produce the amount of food needed for the population of their
expanding empire. The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides,
and fertilized their soil. However, their greatest agricultural technique was
the chinampa or artificial islands also known as "floating gardens." These were used to
make the swampy areas around the lake suitable for farming. To make chinampas,
canals were dug through the marshy islands and shores, then mud was heaped on
huge mats made of woven reeds. The mats were anchored by tying them to posts
driven into the lake bed and then planting trees at their corners that took root and
secured the artificial islands permanently. The Aztecs grew corn, squash, vegetables,
and flowers on chinampas.[3]

Roman agriculture
A gallic-roman harvester from a Wall in Buzenol, Belgium
Roman agriculture was highly regarded in Roman culture, built on techniques
pioneered by the Sumerians, with a specific emphasis on the cultivation of crops for
trade and export. Romans laid the groundwork for the manorial economic system
involving serfdom, which flourished in the Middle Ages. By the fifth century Greece had
started using crop rotation methods and had large estates while farms in Rome were
small and family owned. Rome’s contact with Carthage, Greece, and the Hellenistic
East in the third and second centuries improved Rome’s agricultural methods. Roman
agriculture reached its height of productivity and efficiency during the late republic and
early empire.[4]
There was a massive amount of commerce between the provinces of the empire; all the
regions of the empire became interdependent with one another, some provinces
specialized in the production of grain, others in wine and others in olive oil, depending
on the soil type. The Po Valley (northern Italy) became a haven for cereal production,
the province of [Etruria] had heavy soil good for wheat, and the volcanic soil in
Campania made it well-suited for wine production. In addition to knowledge of different
soil categories, the Romans also took interest in what type of manure was best for the
soil. The best was poultry manure, and cow manure one of the worst. Sheep and goat
manure were also good. Donkey manure was best for immediate use, while horse
manure was not good for grain crops, but according to Marcus Terentius Varro, it was
very good for meadows because "it promotes a heavy growth of grass." [4] Some crops
grown on Roman farms include wheat, barley, millet, kidney bean, pea, broad
bean, lentil, flax, sesame, chickpea, hemp, turnip, olive, pear, apple, fig, and plum.
The Romans also used animals extensively. Cows provided milk while oxen and mules
did the heavy work on the farm. Sheep and goats were cheese producers, but were
prized even more for their hides. Horses were not important to Roman farmers; most
were raised by the rich for racing or war. Sugar production centered on beekeeping.
Some Romans raised snails as luxury items.
Roman law placed high priorities on agriculture since it was the livelihood of the people
in early Rome. A Roman farmer had a legal right to protect his property from
unauthorized entry and could even use force to do so. The Twelve Tables lists
destroying someone else's crop as punishable by death. Burning a heap of corn was
also a capital offense.[5] The vast majority of Romans were not wealthy farmers with vast
estates farmed for a profit. Since the average farm family size was 3.2 persons,
ownership of animals and size of land determined production quantities, and often there
was little surplus of crops.

Chinese agriculture
The unique tradition of Chinese agriculture has been traced to the pre-
historic Yangshao culture (c. 5000 B.C.E.-3000 B.C.E.) and Longshan culture (c.
3000 B.C.E.-2000 B.C.E.). Chinese historical and governmental records of the Warring
States (481 B.C.E.-221 B.C.E.), Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.E.-207 B.C.E.), and Han
Dynasty (202 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) eras allude to the use of complex agricultural practices,
such as a nationwide granary system and widespread use of sericulture. However, the
oldest extant Chinese book on agriculture is the Chimin Yaoshu of 535 C.E., written by
Jia Sixia.[6]

Terraced rice fields in Yunnan province

For agricultural purposes, the Chinese had innovated the hydraulic-powered trip
hammer by the first century B.C.E.[6] Although it found other purposes, its main function
was to pound, decorticate, and polish grain, tasks that otherwise would have been done
manually. The Chinese also innovated the square-pallet chain pump by the first
century C.E., powered by a waterwheel or an oxen pulling a system of mechanical
wheels.[6]Although the chain pump found use in public works of providing water for urban
and palatial pipe systems, it was used largely to lift water from a lower to higher
elevation in filling irrigation canals and channels for farmland.[6]
During the Eastern Jin (317-420) and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589),
the Silk Roadand other international trade further spread farming technology throughout
China. Political stability and a growing labor force led to economic growth, and people
opened up large areas of wasteland and built irrigation works for expanded agricultural
use. As land-use became more intensive and efficient, rice was grown twice a year and
cattle began to be used for plowing and fertilization. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907),
China had become a unified feudal agricultural society. Improvements in farming
machinery during this era included the moldboard plow and watermill. Later during
the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), cotton planting and weaving technology were
extensively adopted and improved.

Indian agriculture
Paddy field in South India
Evidence of the presence of wheat and some legumes in the sixth
millennium B.C.E. have been found in the Indus Valley. Oranges were cultivated in the
same millennium. The crops grown in the valley around 4000 B.C.E. were typically
wheat, peas, sesame seed, barley, dates, and mangoes. By 3500 B.C.E. cotton growing
and cotton textiles were quite advanced in the valley. By 3000 B.C.E.farming of rice had
started. Another monsoon crop of importance at that time was cane sugar. By
2500 B.C.E., rice was an important component of the staple diet in Mohenjodaro near
the Arabian Sea.
The Indus Plain had rich alluvial deposits which came down the Indus River in annual
floods. This helped sustain farming that formed basis of the Indus Valley Civilization at
Harappa. The people built dams and drainage systems for the crops.
By 2000 B.C.E. tea, bananas, and apples were being cultivated in India. There
was coconut trade with East Africa in 200 B.C.E. By 500 C.E., eggplants were being
cultivated.[7]

Agriculture in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages owe much of its development to advances made in Islamic areas,
which flourished culturally and materially while Europe and
other Roman and Byzantine administered lands entered an extended period of social
and economic stagnation. This was in great part due to the fact that Serfdom became
widespread in eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.
As early as the ninth century, an essentially modern agricultural system became central
to economic life and organization in the Arabcaliphates, replacing the largely export
driven Roman model.[8] The great cities of the Near East, North Africa and Moorish
Spain were supported by elaborate agricultural systems which included extensive
irrigation based on knowledge of hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, some of which
were continued from Roman times. In later centuries, Persian Muslims began to
function as a conduit, transmitting cultural elements, including advanced agricultural
techniques, into Turkic lands and western India. The Muslims introduced what was to
become an agricultural revolution based on four key factors:
 Development of a sophisticated system of irrigation using machines such as
norias (newly invented water raising machines), dams and reservoirs. With such
technology they managed to greatly expand the exploitable land area.[8]
 The adoption of a scientific approach to farming enabled them to improve farming
techniques derived from the collection and collation of relevant information
throughout the whole of the known world.[8] Farming manuals were produced in
every corner of the Muslim world detailing where, when and how to plant and grow
various crops. Advanced scientific techniques allowed leaders like Ibn al-Baytar to
introduce new crops and breeds and strains of livestock into areas where they
were previously unknown.
 Incentives based on a new approach to land ownership and laborers' rights,
combining the recognition of private ownership and the rewarding of cultivators
with a harvest share commensurate with their efforts. Their counterparts in Europe
struggled under a feudal system in which they were almost slaves (serfs) with little
hope of improving their lot by hard work.
 The introduction of new crops transformed private farming into a new global
industry exported everywhere including Europe, where farming was mostly
restricted to wheat strains obtained much earlier via central Asia. Spain received
what she in turn transmitted to the rest of Europe; many agricultural and fruit-
growing processes, together with many new plants, fruit and vegetables. These
new crops included sugar cane, rice, citrus
fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines, and saffron. Others, previously
known, were further developed. Muslims also brought to that
country almonds, figs, and sub-tropical crops such as bananas. Several were later
exported from Spanish coastal areas to the Spanish colonies in the New World.
Also transmitted via Muslim influence, a silkindustry flourished, flax was cultivated
and linen exported, and esparto grass, which grew wild in the more arid parts, was
collected and turned into various articles.[8]

Renaissance to Industrial Revolution

The invention of a three-field system of crop rotation during the Middle Ages, and the
importation of the Chinese-invented moldboard plow, vastly improved agricultural
efficiency. After 1492 the world's agricultural patterns were shuffled in the widespread
exchange of plants and animals known as the Columbian Exchange. [9] Crops and
animals that were previously only known in the Old World were now transplanted to the
New World and vice versa. Perhaps most notably, the tomato became a favorite in
European cuisine, and maize and potatoes were widely adopted. Other transplanted
crops include pineapple, cocoa, and tobacco. In the other direction,
several wheatstrains quickly took to western hemisphere soils and became a dietary
staple even for native North, Central, and South Americans.[10]
Agriculture was a key element in the Atlantic slave trade, Triangular trade, and the
expansion by European powers into the Americas. In the expanding Plantation
economy, large plantations produced crops including sugar, cotton, and indigo, that
were heavily dependent upon slave labor.
Storage silo
By the early 1800s, agricultural practices, particularly careful selection of hardy strains
and cultivators, had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in
the Middle Ages and before, especially in the largely virgin soils of North and South
America. The eighteenth and nineteenth century also saw the development of glass
houses or greenhouses, initially for the protection and cultivation of exotic plants
imported to Europe and North America from the tropics. Experiments on Plant
Hybridization in the late 1800s yielded advances in the understanding of plant genetics,
and subsequently, the development of hybrid crops. Storage silos and grain elevators
appeared in the nineteenth century. However, increasing dependence upon
monoculture crops lead to famines and food shortages, most notably the Irish Potato
Famine (1845–1849).

Threshing machine from 1881

The birth of industrial agriculture more or less coincides with that of the Industrial
Revolution. With the rapid rise of mechanization in the late nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, particularly in the form of the tractor, farming tasks could be done with a
speed and on a scale previously impossible. These advances, joined to science-driven
innovations in methods and resources, have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern
farms in the United States, Argentina, Israel, Germany and a few other nations to output
volumes of high quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit. The
development of rail and highway networks and the increasing use of container shipping
and refrigeration in developed nations have also been essential to the growth of
mechanized agriculture, allowing for the economical long distance shipping of produce.
The identification of nitrogen and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the
manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making possible more intensive types of agriculture.
The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition in the first two decades of the
twentieth century, led to vitamin supplements, which in the 1920s allowed certain
livestock to be raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse natural elements. The
discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by
reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to
synthetic pesticides. Other applications of scientific research since 1950 in agriculture
include gene manipulation, and Hydroponics.

A tractor ploughing an alfalfa field

Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975. It
doubled between 1820 and 1920; between 1920 and 1950; between 1950 and 1965;
and again between 1965 and 1975, so as to feed a global population of one billion
human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002.[9] During the same period, the number of
people involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. In the
1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture compared to 1.5
percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11 consumers, whereas in 2002,
each worker supplied 90 consumers.[9] The number of farms has also decreased, and
their ownership is more concentrated. In the U.S., four companies kill 81 percent of
cows, 73 percent of sheep, 57 percent of pigs, and produce 50 percent of chickens,
cited as an example of "vertical integration" by the president of the U.S. National
Farmers' Union.[11] In 1967, there were one million pig farms in America; as of 2002,
there were 114,000,[12] [13] with 80 million pigs (out of 95 million) killed each year on
factory farms, according to the U.S. National Pork Producers Council.[9]According to the
Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry, 43 percent of beef, and 68
percent of eggs are produced this way.[9]

Contemporary issues
Industrial agriculture is a modern form of farming that refers to the industrialized
production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are
technoscientific, economic, and political. They include innovation in agricultural
machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving
economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, the
application of patent protection to genetic information, and global trade. These methods
are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of the
meat, dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced using
these methods of industrial agriculture.
While industrial agriculture strives to lower costs and increase productivity, the methods
of industrial agriculture also have unintended consequences. The degree and
significance of these unintended consequences is subject to debate, as is the question
of the best way to deal with these consequences.[14]

Animals

Interior of a typical Hog Confinement Barn

"Confined animal feeding operations" or "intensive livestock operations" or "factory
farms," can hold large numbers (some up to hundreds of thousands) of animals, often
indoors. These animals are typically cows, hogs, turkeys, or chickens. The distinctive
characteristics of such farms is the concentration of livestock in a given space. The aim
of the operation is to produce as much meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost.
Food and water is supplied in place, and artificial methods are often employed to
maintain animal health and improve production, such as therapeutic use of anti-
microbial agents, vitaminsupplements, and growth hormones. Growth hormones are not
used in chicken meat production nor are they used in the European Union for any
animal. In meat production, methods are also sometimes employed to control
undesirable behaviors often related to stresses of being confined in restricted areas with
other animals. More docile breeds are sought (with natural dominant behaviors bred
out, for example), physical restraints to stop interaction, such as individual cages for
chickens, or animals physically modified, such as the de-beaking of chickens to reduce
the harm of fighting. Weight gain is encouraged by the provision of plentiful supplies of
food to the animals.
The large concentration of animals, animal waste, and dead animals in a small space
poses ethical issues. Animal rights and animal welfare activists have charged that
intensive animal rearing is cruel to animals. As they become more common, so do
concerns about air pollution and ground water contamination, and the effects on human
health of the pollution and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones.
One particular problem with farms on which animals are intensively reared is the growth
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Because large numbers of animals are confined in a
small space, any disease would spread quickly, and so antibiotics are used
preventively. A small percentage of bacteria are not killed by the drugs, which may
infect human beings if becoming airborne.

Holstein calves in individual cages. Revivim, Israel

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), farms on
which animals are intensively reared can cause adverse health reactions in farm
workers. Workers may develop acute and chronic lung disease, musculoskeletal
injuries, and may catch infections that transmit from animals to human beings.
The CDC writes that chemical, bacterial, and viral compounds from animal waste may
travel in the soil and water. Residents near such farms report nuisances such as
unpleasant smells and flies, as well as adverse health effects.
The CDC has identified a number of pollutants associated with the discharge of animal
waste into rivers and lakes, and into the air. The use of antibiotics may create antibiotic-
resistant pathogens; parasites, bacteria, and viruses may be
spread; ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus can reduce oxygen in surface waters and
contaminate drinking water; pesticides and hormones may cause hormone-related
changes in fish; animal feed and feathers may stunt the growth of desirable plants in
surface waters and provide nutrients to disease-causing micro-organisms; trace
elements such as arsenic and copper, which are harmful to human health, may
contaminate surface waters.

Crops
The Green Revolution, the worldwide transformation of agriculture that led to significant
increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s, occurred as the
result of programs of agricultural research, extension, and infrastructural development,
instigated and largely funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Ford
Foundation, and other major agencies.[15] The Green Revolution in agriculture helped
food production to keep pace with worldwide population growth. The projects within the
Green Revolution spread technologies that had already existed, but had not been
widely used outside of industrialized nations. These technologies included
pesticides, irrigation projects, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.
The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of
what some referred to as “miracle seeds.” Scientists created strains of maize, wheat,
and rice that are generally referred to as “high yielding varieties” (HYVs). HYVs have an
increased nitrogen-absorbing potential compared to other varieties. Since cereals that
absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing
genes were bred into their genomes. Norin 10 wheat, a variety developed by Orville
Vogel from Japanese dwarf wheat varieties, was instrumental in developing Green
Revolution wheat cultivators. IR8, the first widely implemented HYV rice to be
developed by IRRI, was created through a cross between an Indonesian variety named
“Peta” and a Chinese variety named “Dee Geo Woo Gen."[16]
HYVs significantly outperform traditional varieties in the presence of adequate irrigation,
pesticides, and fertilizers. In the absence of these inputs, traditional varieties may
outperform HYVs. One criticism of HYVs is that they were developed as F1 hybrids,
meaning they need to be purchased by a farmer every season rather than saved from
previous seasons, thus increasing a farmer’s cost of production.

Responses to agricultural problems

The idea and practice of sustainable agriculture has arisen in response to the problems
of industrial agriculture. Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals:
environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities.
These goals have been defined by a variety of disciplines and may be looked at from
the vantage point of the farmer or the consumer.

Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables on an organic farm in Capay, California

Another method to deal with agricultural issues has become the use of Organic farming
methods, which combine scientific knowledge and modern technology with traditional
farming practices; accepting some of the methods of industrial agriculture while
rejecting others. organic methods rely on naturally occurring biological processes, which
often take place over extended periods of time, and a holistic approach; while chemical-
based farming focuses on immediate, isolated effects, and reductionist strategies.
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is an example of this holistic approach.
IMTA is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to
become inputs (fertilizers, food) for another. Fed aquaculture (fish, shrimp) is combined
with inorganic extractive (seaweed) and organic extractive (shellfish) aquaculture to
create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic
stability (product diversification and risk reduction), and social acceptability (better
management practices).[17]

Notes
1. ↑ Tore Kjeilen, "Ancient Egypt: Economy" Lexiorient. (2007). Retrieved August
13, 2007
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eric Rymer, "Farming in Mesopotamia" (2007). Retrieved August 13, 2007
3. ↑ "Empires Past: Aztecs: Farming and Agriculture" ThinkQuest. (1998). Retrieved
August 13, 2007
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 M.C. Howatson, The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. (Oxford
University Press, 1989).
5. ↑ Lewis and Reinhold, Roman Civilization Volume I (Columbia University Press,
1990. ISBN 0231071310).
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China: Volume 6,
Biology and Biological Technology (Caves Books Ltd., 1984)
7. ↑ "Agriculture in the Indus Valley Civilization" This is My India (2006). Retrieved
on August 13, 2007.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Andrew J. Watson, "The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion,
700-1100," The Journal of Economic History34(1) (March, 1974):8-35.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Matthew Scully, Dominion (St. Martin's Press, 2003, ISBN
0312261470).
10. ↑ Stephen J. Crouthamel, "Columbian Exchange". (2003). Retrieved August 13,
2007
11. ↑ Leland Swenson, Testimony by president of the U.S. National Farmers' Union,
before the House Judiciary Committee.(September 12, 2000).
12. ↑ Fern Shen, "Md. Hog Farm Causing Quite a Stink," The Washington Post,
(May 23, 1999).
13. ↑ Ronald L. Plain, "Trends in U.S. Swine Industry," (September 24, 1997).
14. ↑ Market Wire, "Global Agricultural Issues Take Center Stage at World
Agricultural Forum's 2003 World Congress"FindArticles.com. (2003). Retrieved
August 13, 2007
15. ↑ Defining the Green Revolution Retrieved August 30, 2007.
16. ↑ Nepal Agricultural research Council, "Rice Varieties: IRRI Knowledge
Bank" (2006). Retrieved August 13, 2007
17. ↑ A. H. Buschmann, T. Chopin, C. Halling, M. Troell, N. Kautsky, A. Neori, G.P.
Kraemer, J.A. Zertuche-Gonzalez, C. Yarish and C. Neefus, "Integrating
seaweeds into marine aquaculture systems: a key toward sustainability," Journal
of Phycology 37, (2001): 975-986.

References
 Howatson, M.C. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University
Press, 1989. ISBN 0198661215
 Lewis and Reinhold. Roman Civilization Volume I. Columbia University Press,
1990. ISBN 0231071310
 Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China: Volume 6, Biology and
Biological Technology. Caves Books Ltd, 1984. ISBN 0521250765
 Scully, Matthew. Dominion. St. Martin's Press, 2003. ISBN 0312261470