Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Agriculture's Evolution, in Brief
was to expand the total area being cultivated.
However, in the late 19th and early 20th centu-
ries, population growth in many regions made it
difficult to keep up with demand for food, even
with trade between people within the region. As
a result, people began to seek higher produc-
tivity levels from the available farmland by
adopting 'industrial' production methods. This
involved applying many man-made inputs. This
began the second type of agriculture, which was
viewed as an improvement upon traditional pro-
duction systems. (Hence, the vertical arrow in
Fig. 12.1 indicates an upward movement in the
development of agriculture, as producers shifted
from 'traditional' to 'industrial' methods - as
shown on the bottom of Fig. 12.1.) Industrial
agriculture has included mechanical, chemical,
biological and managerial revolutions that con-
tinue, in varying degrees, to this day. The rate of
industrialization in US agriculture increased
rapidly during and immediately after the Second
World War when, first, large numbers of men
were pulled off farms for the war effort and,
next, large amounts of capital flowed into
farming. The third type of agriculture to evolve,
'organic', has been slowly transitioning into
favour as concerns over industrial agriculture's
effects on the environment and 'quality of life'
have increased in recent decades. Whereas
industrial production systems in agriculture
have much higher levels of productivity than
did earlier systems, they use many inputs
that may be harmful and are certainly not sustain-
able. Organic production systems reduce the
use of some harmful inputs, but many of the
A quick summary of the evolution of agriculture
helps identify some of the key problems needing
to be addressed to achieve a sustainable future. In
general, Fig. 12.1 illustrates that over the history
of mankind there have been three general types
of agriculture, with a sustainable agriculture
being the next type to evolve. In the beginning,
man was a hunter-gatherer. Agriculture followed
as a more-stable system for meeting the food
needs of people and, as it became established,
agriculture enabled people to develop villages
and become less migratory. Traditional agricul-
ture, the first type to develop, was 'sustainable' in
that people could use only what natural resources
were available within a short distance and that
system did not harm the environment over time.
In essence, it was a system of raising plants and
animals in a convenient place. The only real
improvements in this first type of production sys-
tem compared with what was naturally occur-
ring in the area was the human input that
assured water availability and, gradually, the
elimination of competing plants from the area
being cultivated (although 'slash and burn' sys-
tems prove not to be sustainable). Thus, produc-
tivity levels for traditional agriculture were only
slightly higher than the yields offered by nature.
Eventually, the current total output capacity of
an area would become insufficient to meet the
demands of the expanding population, thus forc-
ing a change in the production system in use.
For most of mankind's history the only real
change needed to meet higher levels of demand
Agriculture
type
Concerns forcing
change
Description
Sustainable
An evolving goal
Organic
Reduces some harmful inputs
Non-
resources, lower
yields
renewable
Industrial
Higher productivity, inputs not
sustainable (renewable)
Ecology, 'quality of
life'
Traditional
'Sustainable', low productivity
Total capacity within
trade regions
Fig. 12.1.
The evolution of agriculture.
