The Agricultural Revolution And The Agricultural Revolution

The Neolithic Agrarian Revolution was the world’s first historically confirmable revolution in agriculture. It was the progression of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, which was supported with a big increasing population. This agriculture involved the domestication of plants and animals, which developed around 9,500 B.C. During this age various types of plants and animals derived in different locations all over the world. It converted the small groups of hunters and gatherers into more intelligent agricultural people.

Animals were used to pull the ploughs through the fields dropping the seeds and tilling the land for easier planting. Animals usually pulled the seed plow to help make the process go faster and efficient. (N.p., n.d. 2013). The seed plow was also an important invention because, the livelihood of many people relied on safety and quantity of their food. The greater the quantity and quality of food gave them a sense of security for their families.

This led the population to grow even more and humans began to settle in villages. Three main things: climate change, increased knowledge of plants and animals, and the need for more efficient ways to feed a growing population caused the worldwide agricultural revolution. Domestication was the main proponent that helps make it possible. It revolutionized human life in ways that still affect us today. The introduction of domestication changed human economic, social, and political thinking.

These landowners improved the farming methods they were used to which soon led to an agricultural revolution. After buying up most of the land of the village farmers, their increase of landholdings enabled them to cultivate more crops on larger fields. Enclosures were inside of these larger fields. Enclosures were the areas that landowners could experiment with more productive harvesting methods and seeding in order to determine if these experiments boosted crop yield. The Enclosure movement had two important results.

Indeed, according to the Domar thesis, the plague increased the land-to labour ratio because after the plague reduced population but the acres of land remained the same. Therefore, real wages increased since there was now competition between landowners for labour. Higher real wages could buy more non-necessities. Thus, the population consumed more meat and dairy products. To answer that demand, farmers shifted their land from grain production to animal grazing.

This also led to a stable agricultural economy. As time passes, farmers had more knowledge in agriculture, so they improved plants throughout the careful selection of the best seeds. Indians farmers spent less time hunting and gathering in order to have more time for planting and harvesting. The Tehuacan people practiced slash-and-burn, which was known as milpa or swidden agriculture. The Maya people in Guatemala, Belize and Honduras developed the agriculture in the rain forest by 1200BC.

They also came up with new techniques in farming. These inventions and changes had a huge impact on Medieval Europe. It lead to more jobs and also more produce which eventually lead to more income. The older ploughs known as the ards or the scratch ploughs age back possibly to agriculture itself. An ard is an instrument that tends to tear up the soil more than turning it over.

I believe it was better for many reasons, including food production, more advanced tools and weapons, and the immense population increase, although people who believe that foraging was better did prove some valid points. Farming or agriculture was a major improvement over foraging. One noticeable difference in this time period was humans began using more complex tools to do more advanced techniques of farming. They also began domesticating plants and animals, this was one of the leading factors of the beginning of agriculture. This was a huge turning point for humans everywhere.

How Does the Increase in Animal Agriculture Affect Economics? The growth of the world’s population has led to a growth in animal agriculture, because as population grows, the need for food does as well. Animal agriculture is the use of animal farms to produce animal products that are then consumed by the general public. As agribusiness expands, issues such as the need for farm insurance and animal rights have received more awareness. Modern day industrialism is being applied to animal agriculture in developed nations such as the United States and Canada.

These implications lead to a massive debate ranging from health issues to who owns seeds that are produced by GM plants. Included in this debate as well is the question of how much power should be given to large multinational companies who have developed the new technology. Farming and agricultural methods have become far more complex, as they have evolved throughout time. Ancient methods allowed for the taming of plants and animals to provide for a transition from nomadic lifestyles of constantly moving in search of food and water, to the agricultural lifestyle of self-sufficiency at a permanent residence. Evolution in the complexity of agricultural methods and techniques has occurred in part due to a search for maximum efficiency by an advancing society.