Farming is an incredibly important part of human life. Without agriculture and wide scale farming, humans would never have been able to create such large societies filled with the conveniences that we have today. The cotton in your clothes, the food on your table, and soon the fuel in your car will come from farms all over the world. In this article I'll go over the brief history of farming, so you can better appreciate how far we've come.
At first humans didn't know what farming was. They had to chase, or find, their food. If they were lucky, they would find a grove of fruit bearing trees. They would eat the fruit and move on. Humans in the early days were nomadic, chasing the packs of animals that they were dependent on for their food. At this state, humans existed in very small numbers, about one or two hundred to a group, and these groups were scattered in only a few places in the world.
Then a major breakthrough occurred. People discovered that if they took these small seeds which were inside the things they were eating, they could grow more of them. In fact, they could grow many different plants and support their whole tribe. Consistent food from the same place meant that they didn't have to chase after their food any more. But this also meant that their crops were in danger of being stolen. This need for security gave rise to the first cities, governments, and laws.
As farms grew, so did the need for animals to help do the labor. Larger and larger fields became more and more difficult to plough by hand, so animals, such as horses and oxen were used to help. However, this became a problem, as the horses themselves needed food. Farmers soon found that they needed twice as much land. Half of their land was spent farming, and the other half was used for grazing for their animals. This became fairly inefficient.
This wasn't a problem until people started running out of land to farm on. Luckily, this was about the time that the gasoline engine was invented. This allowed farmers to use machines to do all the heavy lifting. This virtually doubled their output overnight, which dropped prices significantly. This meant that people all over the world could suddenly afford to eat things that were previously too expensive.
Nowadays, the forefront of technology is pushing forward in genetic engineering. Genetic engineering promises to create even more food per acre, as well as create food products that are much more nutritionally valuable. Who knows what advances farming will discover in the next generation.
At first humans didn't know what farming was. They had to chase, or find, their food. If they were lucky, they would find a grove of fruit bearing trees. They would eat the fruit and move on. Humans in the early days were nomadic, chasing the packs of animals that they were dependent on for their food. At this state, humans existed in very small numbers, about one or two hundred to a group, and these groups were scattered in only a few places in the world.
Then a major breakthrough occurred. People discovered that if they took these small seeds which were inside the things they were eating, they could grow more of them. In fact, they could grow many different plants and support their whole tribe. Consistent food from the same place meant that they didn't have to chase after their food any more. But this also meant that their crops were in danger of being stolen. This need for security gave rise to the first cities, governments, and laws.
As farms grew, so did the need for animals to help do the labor. Larger and larger fields became more and more difficult to plough by hand, so animals, such as horses and oxen were used to help. However, this became a problem, as the horses themselves needed food. Farmers soon found that they needed twice as much land. Half of their land was spent farming, and the other half was used for grazing for their animals. This became fairly inefficient.
This wasn't a problem until people started running out of land to farm on. Luckily, this was about the time that the gasoline engine was invented. This allowed farmers to use machines to do all the heavy lifting. This virtually doubled their output overnight, which dropped prices significantly. This meant that people all over the world could suddenly afford to eat things that were previously too expensive.
Nowadays, the forefront of technology is pushing forward in genetic engineering. Genetic engineering promises to create even more food per acre, as well as create food products that are much more nutritionally valuable. Who knows what advances farming will discover in the next generation.
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