Agriculture: A Brief History

Abstract

There is no doubt that agricultural research and the application of new technology have increased food production in much of the world. Scientists have been able to combine science, technology, and their knowledge to create agriculture's productive success. Progress in soil erosion control, nutrient use efficiency, and integrated pest management has been remarkable. However, the success of industrial farming bears some responsibility for the polluted environment it has contributed to that it uses for production and profit and which may be hazardous to agriculture's future success. This chapter is a brief story of agriculture and a commentary on how it began and has progressed. It is not a prescription for the future. The only thing that can be predicted about the future is that it is going to be radically different than the past, but being aware of past successes and failures will provide guidance for the future. 1.1 The Blood, Sweat, and Tears Era Agriculture can be described as having three eras. The first is commonly and correctly characterized as the blood, sweat, and tears era. Famine and fatigue were common and inadequate food supply was frequent. Most people were farmers and most farms were small, subsistence, family operations. Life for most people was described by the British philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): 1 Wherein men live without other security, than their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them…In such conditions there is…no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters, no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.