Agriculture
From Envirowiki
Agriculture is the act of producing resources for human use, such as food, fibre, or building materials. It generally refers to farming, and can be split up into various sub-fields, such as sylviculture (forests), aquaculture (water based farming), viticulture (wine).
Agriculture provides practically all food for humans, and a large percentage of fibre, ie. cotton, wool and hemp.
Traditional agriculture in many regions is relatively sustainable. With the advent of the industrial age in Europe and America especially, and the subsequent export of industrial technology, agriculture was transformed across much of the world into a system of mass production. This is termed the "Green Revolution".
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[edit] 1 History of Agriculture
The Middle East - The Cradle of Agriculture - (6266-4106 BC)
About 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Neolithic age), in the city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley in the middle east, the ancient Persians began farming[1]. Zarathustra (the prophet of the Ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism) encouraged his people to begin to till the earth and cultivate plants for food. This was the beginning of agriculture in the West (and thence into our history books through european colonialism). Almost simultaneously, a number of similar agricultural revolutions took place in north america, central america (Mayans), south america (Incas), and eastern Asia (China)[2]. Western history does not often include the civilisations as anything except "savages", especially those in the Americas, this is partly because by the time Europeans really started to invade these continents, vast swathes of the previous populations had been wiped out by introduces diseases, such as smallpox.
Zarathustra claimed that there existed a stark dichotomy of good and evil in our world. Ahura Mazda, the "Sun Spirit of Light" (the name of the Zoroastrians God) was opposed by Ahriman (the embodiment of evil)[3]. On Ahura Mazda's side of these two warring factions were the farmers, living in ordered and organised settlements. On the side of Ahriman existed the “untrustworthy” nomads who were destroying the harmony of animal husbandry and agriculture[4]. Therefore it was considered desirable to become a farmer. There is an old Persian legend that tells of Ahura Mazda and the way in which he convinced Yima (the first King of the Kingdom of Iran) to be the first tiller of the land. Yima later fell to the evil forces of Ahriman and convinced the people of Ancient Persia to eat meat[4].
Daniel Quinn argues that chapters 3 and 4 of the Book of Genesis in "the Bible" tells the Semites' version of the beginnings of agriculture in the fertile crescent. Genesis 4:2-5 says "2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell." Quinn argues that God's favour in this part of the shows that the story was written by herders, and there is some evidence that the story is non-Hebraic in origin, having already appeared in Gilgamesh[2]. He argues that the story is a rebuke for the descendants of Cain for their attempts to control the world (of which agriculture is the first manifestation)
[edit] 2 impact of agriculture
The advent of agriculture has arguably been the most significant factor affecting the development of western-style societies in history - the beginning of the current social structures of the vast majority of the world. In fact, many of the food strains of the Ancient Persians are unchanged today, and are still revered as some of the most important food sources of the modern world[1].
Because farming ensured a regular supply of food, humans started to settle into communities. The fact that farming could often produce more food than was necessary meant that humans suddenly had resources to trade. Villages grew into towns and towns grew into cities. Farming meant that people were able to exercise control over the natural world. This led them to change landscapes according to their desires (e.g. by clearing forests and draining swamp-land etc.).
It is no wonder that tensions began to rise between the nomadic tribes and the farmers, who had begun to erect fences to keep cattle in and separate the cultivated from the uncultivated. The conversion from a nomadic lifestyle to an agrarian lifestyle didn’t just create tensions—the concept of landownership had a profound and lasting impact on human’s relationship to nature and perception of the world around us.
Although, considering the environmental crisis that we are facing in our world today, it would seem ideal to return to a nomadic lifestyle and learn to “touch the earth lightly” once more, it would be almost impossible for humans to restore the hunting and gathering lifestyle and still be able to support the world’s current population. In fact, the agrarian lifestyle is able to support a population density that is up to 100 times greater than the hunting and gathering lifestyle[5].
Furthermore, the advent of agriculture has arguably allowed humans to think more about ideas beyond everyday survival and humans would simply be unwilling to trade away this opportunity. That is not to say, however, that we should not take some of the hunting and gathering ideas and incorporate them into agriculture. For example: the hunters and gatherers knew not to exhaust a particular area[5]. They would take a little bit and move on. By rotating crops, letting soil rest, composting, not using artificial fertilisers or pesticides/insecticides and giving back to the soil, humans can learn to “mimic” nature and the attitude of the nomadic peoples towards nature, to a certain extent[6]. The task for humans is really to find a system of food production that is neither inadequate to feed the whole world, nor too detrimental to the environment. It is unavoidable that agriculture exploits the land to some extent, but we must learn to minimise the exploitation as much as possible.
Although farming has become a profession that is done by the minority and provides for the masses, all humans nevertheless make a connection to agriculture every single day—most obviously through the food we eat. In addition to oxygen and water, food is the most beneficial necessity for human existence on our planet and without a doubt it is food (and our respiration process) that exists as the most significant aspect of the relationship between humans and plants.
[edit] 3 Types of Agriculture
There are many different kinds of agriculture including:
[edit] 4 See Also
[edit] 5 References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Crisp,P.(1993) The Farmer Throughout History. Thomson Learning. p.6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wright, Ronald (2005-03-10). A Short History of Progress. Da Capo Press, 224. ISBN 0786715472.
- ↑ Sri Swami Sivananda (1999) Zoroastrianism [online]. The divine life society. Available from: http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/religions/zoroastrianism.htm. [Accessed 30th August 2004]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cook, W.(2003) Foodwise. Sussex: Clairview books. p.24
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Serendip. (1994-2004) The Origins of Agriculture-rise of civilisation or defying evolution? [online]. 3rd edition. Available from: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web3/partner3.html. [Accessed 4 November 2004]
- ↑ Castelliz, K. (1980) Life to the Land. England: Lanthorn Press. P.14
