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Importance on history of agriculture
Impact of agriculture
Importance on history of agriculture
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Agriculture is the practice of farming and it has widely affected the world today. There are some believers that it has ruined human race because of how it revolutionized the hunter- gatherer’s society. Jared Diamond, an author, wrote “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race,” which he explains how he believes that agriculture has ruined us today. He states many facts about the conversion of being a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society ruined the world. The transition had a negative effect on the human race, but the positivity that came out of it outweighed the bad and it has allowed the world to progress and advance every day.
Before farmers, there were hunter- gatherers. Hunter-gatherers hunted for their food and
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If it were not for agriculture, people would still have to hunt and gather for their own food. In Jared Diamond’s article, he states that “while farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers provides more protein and a better balance of other nutrients” (Diamond 2). Although the beginning stages of agriculture were mostly rice and potatoes, it has now transformed over time and farmers are able to grow any type of fruits and vegetables they want. Not having the right proportion of food or the right nutrients for the body is not a problem anymore because of how agriculture has advanced today. Agriculture today is able to give people a copious amount of food that is able to be stored for a long period of time and is available anywhere around the world. Shortage of nutrients was not the only problem people had during the transition; they also had a problem of catching infectious diseases. During the transition of being hunter-gatherers to farmers, “agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies, many of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led to the spread of parasites and infectious disease” (Diamond 4). This problem resulted in finding out the cure or different medications for diseases such as tuberculosis. If it were not for the many diseases that existed throughout the years, …show more content…
The agricultural revolution made what humans are today, humans have found new resources, made new inventions, and it has made the world more successful. During the revolution of agriculture, “since crops can be stored, and since it takes less time to pick food from a garden than to find it in the wild, agriculture gave [people] free time that hunter-gatherers never had” (Diamond 2). Having more free time allowed them to be creative, new tools and new inventions were being made as days passed. Since they stayed in one place where most of them clumped together, people were more susceptible to diseases. Even though many people contracted diseases, humans were able to find ways to treat them. The diseases that existed back then are mostly gone today because of vaccines and new medical technology. Humans have learned how to improve their lives today because of what they have learned from the
Hunting and gathering is probably a preferable lifestyle compared to a farmer, but it seems a bit over the top to blame absolutely every problem in our society on agriculture. It’s a common argument, but Jared Diamond's theory does seem to be quite an over-simplification. For example, he argues that inequality between sexes could be caused by agricultural because women were made beasts of burden and given greater pressure to work on the fields. However, the root cause of that isn’t agriculture, it’s sexism and stereotyping, because without an outdated sexist mindset no one would treat women differently in the agricultural department, and it is an oversimplification to ignore this. Furthermore, because of farming and globalization people now are given even more opportunity for a diverse diet. Although early farmers had access to only one or a few crops versus hunter-gatherers who had an entire forest of varied food, people nowadays have many more options than both hunter-gatherers and early farmers combined. A grocery store has ten times as many diverse and varying food items as a forest does, providing food from all corners of the world not just a single location or country, allowing people to create a perfectly balanced diet if they so choose. In conclusion, I agree with Jared Diamond's thesis on certain grounds, but I mostly disagree that the introduction of agriculture was the “worst mistake in human
First farming is a key aspect and so is domesticating plants and animals the line "hunter gatherers of the Chatham (only 5 people per square mile) and of New Zealand's South Island, and the farmers of the rest of New Zealand (28 people per square mile). In contrast, many islands with intensive agriculture attained population densities exceeding 120 per square mile Page 61" This line shows how farming can increase the density of people due to a surplus of food that was acquired by farming and nearly impossible by hunting and gathering. That surplus allows for many more things to occur such as advance in technology and political advances. This is seen in the line "In general, the larger the size and the higher the density, the more complex and specialized were the technology and Political organization page 62" In this line "In addition, the largest domestic mammals interacted with domestic plants to increase food production by pulling plows and thereby making it possible for people to till land that had previously been uneconomical for farming." it shows how animals that are domesticated are used not only for food and materials but also for plowing the field and allowing to expand the farms. But these animals bring along nasty germs. This lines helps explain it "The major killers of humanity throughout our recent history—smallpox, flu, tuberculosis, malaria, plague, measles, and cholera—are infectious diseases that
Life before the agricultural revolution was made out to be awful. It was a huge advancement that let us keep up with our population increase. What I did not think about is what agriculture is doing to other species. Agriculture is not our downfall; the extent to which man takes it is our downfall. It is stated that agriculture supports population growth, and that can damage diversity. The more our species expands, the more of a threat it poses to other species. Ishmael states that Takers and Leavers pass down different types of knowledge from generation to generation. Takers pass down knowledge of knowledge and how to grow crops where as the Leavers pass down ways to live a better life. In Takers culture we want to keep advancing so we discard old ideas and keep creating new ones to replace the old ones. In Leavers culture, each generation learns ways to live from the previous and so on. We are taught to believe that technology advancements are great successes and that before it life was not as great, when in fact they could be our downfall. I had a Pre-calculus teacher in high school that believes this as well, he believes technology is our greatest downfall and claims it is dumbing us down. He would always yell at our class and say that back in the day they did not have calculators and everyone was smarter back then because they all had to think for themselves.
Diamond states that the reason hunter-gatherer groups became agriculturists was simply because it was easier to create more food for your individual group if it was grown, this statement does have validity. Everyone would be responsible for themselves and would be expected to help out. There wouldn’t be the constant grumbling that there are so many people being lazy and living off of handouts like there are in the modern world today.
In an agricultural society people started to farm and there were less to no hunting which changed their diets dramatically. When people were hunting and gathering they were getting a healthy and a well-balanced diet. Before agriculture people ate many various wild plants and animals therefore, they had better nutrition. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen’s daily intake was “2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein” (Diamond 2). Also when Diamond is comparing the two societies, he talks about the balance of nutrients and diet, also he states that the “Kalahari Bushmen eat a variety of 75 or so different wild plants” and receive more calories than needed. As the people switched over to agriculture, the amount of food they had become more plentiful and predictable but unhealthy. Nowadays, more people are overweight especially in the western area of the world. This proves that people before agriculture were healthy and had a decent
According to google agriculture is the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products. Ag is so important, well at least where i come from, but i’m sure it is just as important where you come from as well. Agriculture is food and even your clothes. For thousands of years, agricultural development was
Agriculture—it’s something that not very many people know much about. However, it is important for us to survive. Almost everything in our everyday lives is agriculture-related, from the food you eat to the clothes you wear.
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Agriculture spurred population growth, provided the conditions for building civilizations, which consecutively lead to
The shift from the Neolithic Age to the Agriculture Revolution came with many changes as humans had to adjust to new jobs and tools. Market economies evolved and created a new order of living for most of humanity. The positive advancements included a new surplus of food, a higher standard of living, and a more diverse job market. These developments also resulted in negative impacts, which include an abundance of unskilled laborers, increased competition for income and power and a departure of nomadic traditions. The advancements in technology during the Neolithic Revolution resulted in significant changes in the way humans worked, lived, and spent their leisure time.
One of the foremost developments in the enhancement of human life and its subsequent societies was the emergence of agriculture. This practice includes the cultivation and domestication of animals and plants for the benefit of human societies in a way which significantly varied to that of the Palaeolithic era. The development of these human societies was also influenced by the farming of domesticated species which led to a goods increase, ultimately boosting their economies. The history of agriculture precedes thousands of years with the first emergence dating to approximately 9000BC, being driven by various forms of technology, cultures and climate factors. These factors have created a strong aspect of inequality in terms of power which has risen in many different human societies, especially in the Agrarian Era.
So overall, Agriculture is playing a very important role in changing the lifestyle of different people. Agriculture might have made everything easy for us but it still has its cons. We see the effects of agriculture and how it affects the lives of other species and the environment.
Agriculture is the refinement of animals, plants, fungi, and other life practices for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal and other harvests used to endure and develop human life. Agriculture was the crucial expansion in the growth of sedentary human refinement, whereby farming of domesticated species produced food overages that cultivated the enlargement of the advancement of civilization. Agriculture is also known as the study of agricultural science. The history of agriculture ages way back thousands of years ago, and its expansion has been driven and defined by prominently diverse environments, beliefs, and technologies. Nonetheless, all agricultural commonly depended on practices to enlarge and maintain the properties that are appropriate
How is the important of food production? That agriculture is one of the most essential means of producing food is realized easily when we think of the types of things that we eat. The rice or wheat that we eat comes from the land. Even potatoes and other roots or vegetables and even leaves such as tea, as well as the fruits that men eat are the products of the soil that covers the earth. In fact, everything that we eat, except meat, fish and other kinds of flesh comes from the land, and what grows on the land is part of agriculture. Even the sugar, oil, coffee and other beverages that we use are products of plants that grow on land. In the same way, many of the medicines that we use is made of plants that grow in various parts of the
Civilization began with agriculture, it allowed nomads to settle down, and form relationships, societies and eventually nations. But as our society developed, so did our means of farming. Whilst modern society greatly differs from our nomadic past, humanity still has fundamental dependence on agriculture.