what made agriculture possible

What are the different hypotheses about the origin of Agriculture?

Technological innovations like irrigation (circa 6000 BCE) and the plow (circa 3000 BCE) brought enormous gains in productivity, but when used irresponsibly they degraded soil—the very foundation that makes agriculture possible. 19,20 By the beginning of the Common Era, Roman farmers had degraded their soil to the point where they could no longer grow enough food and …

How has agriculture changed the world?

 · Agriculture enabled people to produce surplus food. They could use this extra food when crops failed or trade it for other goods. Food surpluses allowed people to work at other tasks unrelated to farming. Agriculture kept formerly nomadic people near their fields and led to the development of permanent villages. These became linked through trade.

How did agriculture contribute to the growth of early civilizations?

Agriculture has often been conceptualized narrowly, in terms of specific combinations of activities and organisms—wet-rice production in Asia, wheat farming in Europe, cattle …

What is the importance of Agriculture in our life?

This was made possible with the development of basin irrigation. Their staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus . [62] …

What did agriculture made possible?

By actively managing their food supplies, agricultural societies were able to produce more food than hunter-foragers and support denser populations. Having a large population nearby made it worthwhile for farmers to grow more food than they needed for themselves, as they could trade this surplus for other goods.

What made agriculture revolution possible?

New Agricultural Practices. The Agricultural Revolution, the unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries, was linked to such new agricultural practices as crop rotation, selective breeding, and a more productive use of arable land.

How did agriculture make civilization possible?

Humans invented agriculture. Farming enabled people to grow all the food they needed in one place, with a much smaller group of people. This led to massive population growth, creating cities and trade.

What factors led to agriculture?

Environmental factors that influence the extent of crop agriculture are terrain, climate, soil properties, and soil water. It is the combination of these four factors that allow specific crops to be grown in certain areas.

Where did agriculture first develop?

the Fertile CrescentAgriculture originated in a few small hubs around the world, but probably first in the Fertile Crescent, a region of the Near East including parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

Where did agriculture develop independently?

Agriculture began independently in both North and South America ∼10,000 years before present (YBP), within a few thousand years of the arrival of humans in the Americas. This contrasts with the thousands of years that people were present in the old world before agriculture developed.

How did agriculture spread?

The Spread of Farming Modern genetic techniques suggest that agriculture was largely spread by the slow migration of farmers themselves. It also seems clear that in some times and places, such as in northern South Asia, it was spread by the passing on of agricultural techniques to hunter-gatherers.

When did the agriculture start?

Agriculture has no single, simple origin. A wide variety of plants and animals have been independently domesticated at different times and in numerous places. The first agriculture appears to have developed at the closing of the last Pleistocene glacial period, or Ice Age (about 11,700 years ago).

What invention made planting easier?

the seed drillJethro Tull invented the seed drill in 1701 as a way to plant more efficiently. Prior to his invention, sowing seeds was done by hand, by scattering them on the ground or placing them in the ground individually, such as with bean and pea seeds.

What caused the Agricultural Revolution quizlet?

The agricultural revolution was caused by the need to feed the quickly growing population. English aristocracy contributed land to be rented, which caused the peasants to revolt, because the land they used for farming and grazing was being rented out to other farmers.

What factors contributed to the agricultural and industrial revolutions?

Terms in this set (8)Agricultural revolution. enclosures lead to new methods (crop rotation) … abundant natural resources. water and coal for fuel. … political stability. no wars, no debt.factors of production. land, labor, capital.textile industry advances. … entrepreneurs. … building of factories. … railroad boom.

What is the impact of agriculture?

Agriculture contributes to a number larger of environmental issues that cause environmental degradation including: climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, dead zones, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste.

How long has agriculture been around?

It is thought to have been practiced sporadically for the past 13,000 years, 1 and widely established for only 7,000 years. 2 In the long view of human history, this is just a flash in the pan compared to the nearly 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 4 million to 7 billion since 10,000 BCE, and is still growing. 3

When did agriculture start?

From as early as 11,000 BCE, people began a gradual transition away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle toward cultivating crops and raising animals for food. The shift to agriculture is believed to have occurred independently in several parts of the world, including northern China, Central America, and the Fertile Crescent, a region in the Middle East that cradled some of the earliest civilizations. 1 By 6000 BCE, most of the farm animals we are familiar with today had been domesticated. 1 By 5000 BCE, agriculture was practiced in every major continent except Australia. 2

What animals have been pushed to extinction by overhunting?

Overhunting may have helped push woolly mammoths and other megafauna to extinction. 10

Why are plows important?

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.

What is the name of the wild food that nourished our hunter-gatherer ancestors?

Left to right: 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 scale—the carissa fruit tastes a little like cranberry …

How did small settlements grow into cities?

1. Agriculture produced enough food that people became free to pursue interests other than worrying about what they were going to eat that day. Those who didn’t need to be farmers took on roles as soldiers, priests, administrators, artists, and scholars.

What was the driving force behind the growth of civilizations?

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

How did agriculture help people?

Agriculture enabled people to produce surplus food. They could use this extra food when crops failed or trade it for other goods. Food surpluses allowed people to work at other tasks unrelated to farming. Agriculture kept formerly nomadic people near their fields and led to the development of permanent villages.

How did agriculture contribute to the rise of civilizations?

Start of Agriculture. Over centuries, the growth of agriculture contributed to the rise of civilizations. Before agriculture became widespread, people spent most of their lives searching for food—hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants.

Why are pesticides and fertilizers bad?

However, pesticides and fertilizers have come with another set of problems. The heavy reliance on chemicals has disturbed the environment , often destroying helpful species of animals along with harmful ones. Chemical use may also pose a health hazard to people, especially through contaminated water supplies. Agricultural scientists are looking for safer chemicals to use as fertilizers and pesticides. Some farmers use natural controls and rely less on chemicals.

What were the problems of the Green Revolution?

With the successes of the Green Revolution came problems. To produce high yields, the new strains required chemical fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation. In many developing countries, independent farmers cannot afford the new technology and big business has taken over agriculture. The new, high-production crops also put stress on native plants and animals.

What is the science of growing plants in nutrient solutions?

Agriculture includes such forms of cultivation as hydroponics and aquaculture. Both involve farming in water. Hydroponics is the science of growing plants in nutrient solutions. Just one acre of nutrient solution can yield more than 50 times the amount of lettuce grown on the same amount of soil.

What is the science of agriculture?

Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock. It includes the preparation of plant and animal products for people to use and their distribution to markets. Agriculture provides most of the world’s food and fabrics. Cotton, wool, and leather are all agricultural products.

What did the Islamic Golden Age do to agriculture?

This system preserved nutrients in the soil, increasing crop production. The leaders of the Islamic Golden Age (which reached its height around 1000) in North Africa and the Middle East made agriculture into a science. Islamic Golden Age farmers learned crop rotation.

What is the origin of agriculture?

origins of agriculture, the active production of useful plants or animals in ecosystems that have been created by people. Agriculture has often been conceptualized narrowly, in terms of specific combinations of activities and organisms—wet-rice production in Asia, wheat farming in Europe, cattle

Why is agriculture a cultural phenomenon?

Because it is a cultural phenomenon, agriculture has varied considerably across time and space. Domesticated plants and animals have been (and continue to be) raised at scales ranging from the household to massive commercial operations.

What is the process of domestication?

Domesticationis a biological process in which, under human selection, organisms develop characteristics that increase their utility, as when plants provide larger seeds, fruit, or tubers than their wild progenitors. Known as cultigens, domesticated plants come from a wide range of families (groups of closely related genera that share a common ancestor; seegenus). The grass(Poaceae), bean(Fabaceae), and nightshadeor potato(Solanaceae) families have produced a disproportionately large number of cultigens because they have characteristics that are particularly amenableto domestication.

Why are domesticated animals more docile than wild animals?

Domesticated animals tend to have developed from species that are social in the wild and that, like plants, could be bred to increase the traits that are advantageous for people. Most domesticated animals are more docile than their wild counterparts, and they often produce more meat, wool, or milk as well.

What are domesticated animals?

Domesticated animals tend to have developed from species that are social in the wild and that, like plants, could be bred to increase the traits that are advantageous for people. Most domesticated animals are more docilethan their wild counterparts, and they often produce more meat, wool, or milk as well. They have been used for traction, transport, pest control, assistance, and companionship and as a form of wealth. Species with abundant domesticated varieties, or breeds, include the dog(Canis lupus familiaris), cat(Felis catus), cattle(Bosspecies), sheep(Ovisspecies), goat(Capraspecies), swine (Susspecies), horse(Equus caballus), chicken(Gallus gallus), and duckand goose(family Anatidae).

Why do grasses have cultigens?

The grass ( Poaceae ), bean ( Fabaceae ), and nightshade or potato ( Solanaceae) families have produced a disproportionately large number of cultigens because they have characteristics that are particularly amenable to domestication.

What happens to plants and animals over time?

Over time, some plants and animals have become domesticated, or dependent on these and other human interventions for their long-term propagation or survival.

Where did agriculture originate?

By 8000 BC, farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. 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 domesticated from the wild grass teosinte in southern Mexico by 6700 BC.

What are the social issues that modern agriculture has raised?

Modern agriculture has raised social, political, and environmental issues including overpopulation, water pollution, biofuels, genetically modified organisms, tariffs and farm subsidies. In response, organic farming developed in the twentieth century as an alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides.

How did the Industrial Revolution affect agriculture?

Between the 17th century and the mid-19th century, Britain saw a large increase in agricultural productivity and net output. New agricultural practices like enclosure, mechanization, four-field crop rotation to maintain soil nutrients, and selective breeding enabled an unprecedented population growth to 5.7 million in 1750, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the Industrial Revolution. The productivity of wheat went up from 19 US bushels (670 l; 150 US dry gal; 150 imp gal) per acre in 1720 to around 30 US bushels (1,100 l; 240 US dry gal; 230 imp gal) by 1840, marking a major turning point in history.

How has agriculture changed since 1900?

Since 1900, agriculture in the developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as human labour has been replaced by mechanization, and assisted by synthe tic fertilizers, pesticides, and selective breeding.

What were the crops that were introduced in the Middle Ages?

In the Middle Ages, both in the Islamic world and in Europe, agriculture was transformed with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees such as the orange to Europe by way of Al-Andalus.

Why was clover important to agriculture?

The use of clover was especially important as the legume roots replenished soil nitrates. The mechanisation and rationalisation of agriculture was another important factor.

How long ago did agriculture start?

Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago.

Why did agriculture start?

Agriculture started most likely because hunter-gatherers who collected grains would have had to take them back to their camp in order to separate the grain from the chaff.

When was agriculture possible?

In the drier regions, agriculture was only possible with irrigation canal systems, which are attested from the mid-1st millennium BCE, including aqueducts. The Jerwan aqueduct, the oldest known aqueduct in the world, was constructed by king Sennacherib I of Assyria between 703 and 690 BCE. Jerwan Aqueduct.

What type of agriculture did Mesopotamia have?

Due to its varied geography, Mesopotamian agriculture was highly diverse in terms of food sources, regional crop yields, and annual rainfall or irrigation variation (agricultural production could be up to 100x higher in particularly good years). There were two types of agriculture: 1 Dry agriculture without irrigation, where people mostly cultivated cereals and relied on rainfall, which was primarily practiced in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. 2 Irrigation agriculture, which was centered in lower Mesopotamia.

How was irrigation first conducted?

Irrigation was at first conducted by siphoning water from the Tigris-Euphrates river system directly onto the fields using small canals and shadufs; crane-like water lifts that have existed in Mesopotamia since c. 3000 BCE. In the drier regions, agriculture was only possible with irrigation canal systems, which are attested from the mid-1st millennium BCE, including aqueducts. The Jerwan aqueduct, the oldest known aqueduct in the world, was constructed by king Sennacherib I of Assyria between 703 and 690 BCE.

What is the birthplace of agriculture?

The ancient Near East, and the historical regions of the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia in particular, are generally seen as the birthplace of agriculture. In the 4th millennium BCE, this area was more temperate than it is today, and it was blessed with fertile soil, two great rivers (the Euphrates and the Tigris), as well as hills and mountains to the north.

What were the crops that were grown in Mesopotamia?

The main types of grain that were used for agriculture were barley, wheat, millet, and emmer. Rye and oats were not yet known for agricultural use.

How was grain harvested?

Harvest required significant manpower, as there was immense time pressure on completing the harvest before winter set in. Grain was cut with a sickle, dried in shacks, and threshed by driving animals over it to “tread out” the grain. After threshing, the grain was separated from the chaff by winnowing, which was only possible in windy weather. The grain was then either stored in granaries or transported away along the waterways (sometimes even exported to other countries). In the granaries, cats and mongooses were used to protect the store from mice.

What were the benefits of farming?

One benefit of farming was it produced more food, less land than hunting, and people could build permanent homes, and farming villages

What did farmers do to help people?

Farmers found ways to build permanent shelter, created settlements, homes had kitchens and food storage areas, new types of clothing, specialization, people were able to work together to make decisions.

Why did farmers have more time to practice a skill?

Farmers were able to produce a surplus of food, so they had they had more time to practice a skill, and were able to stay in one place for longer periods of time