The Origins of Agriculture. Where Did Agriculture Originate?

Agriculture is the systematic cultivation of crops and rearing of livestock to produce food and fiber for sustenance or for economic gain. Most experts agree that the earliest experiments in food production took place approximately ten thousand years ago. Prior to the development of agriculture, most people survived by hunting and gathering. People living in hunting-and-gathering societies subsisted on the meat of wild animals and on berries, fruits, nuts, and roots. Many hunters and gatherers were nomadic. Migration coincided with the movements of wild animals or the ripening of plants at different locations.

Today, less than half a million people continue to live by hunting and gathering (Figure 7-1). Most surviving hunting-and-gathering societies are found in harsh or isolated environments, such as the Canadian Arctic occupied by the Inuit. Contemporary hunting-and-gathering societies are facing major acculturation problems resulting from continued contact with Western cultural institutions.

Figure 7-1 Hunting-and-Gathering Cultures of the World. Today, hunting and gathering cultures are restricted to isolated, unproductive environments. Less than half a million people still live by hunting and gathering, and they face continued pressure to adopt sedentary life-styles

During the twentieth century, agriculture has undergone a remarkable transformation. Especially in developed countries, agriculture has become highly capital- and technology-intensive. The efficiency of modern agriculture enables many farmers to produce large surpluses which are traded across great distances. The contemporary American consumer has ready access to produce from many parts of the world. Although labor-intensive agriculture as a way of life remains much more commonplace outside the developed world, recent changes in the global economy have also had profound effects on farming in less developed countries.

Where Did Agriculture Originate? No one knows for certain where agriculture first originated. Most experts believe it was invented independentlyat several locations. Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia,China, India, East Africa, and Central and South Americaall have been proposed as regions where various forms ofagriculture originated (Figure 7-2).

Figure 7-2 Agricultural Origins and Dispersals. Agriculture, as we know it today, originated at several independent locations and diffused outward along distinct paths. Southeast and Southwest Asia, East Africa and Central and South America are considered to be the dominant hearth areas

The prominent cultural geographer Carl Sauer provided valuable insights into the origins of agriculture. Sauer hypothesized the conditions under which hunting- and-gathering cultures would have most likely discovered the advantages of agriculture. Places where these advantages became apparent were most likely to have been centers of innovation.

It was Sauer's contention that agriculture would not have originated in an area where hunters and gatherers faced chronic shortages of food. Where food was plentiful, people would have had time to experiment with the domestication of plants and animals—a process requiring considerable time. An abundance of food also would have allowed people to remain settled in a single place instead of moving periodically in search of sustenance. The advantages of domestication. Sauer argued, would have become more and more evident over longer periods of time. He also rejected large river valleys or dry locations as origins of agriculture because hunters and gatherers did not have the skills or materials needed to compensate for floods or to irrigate fields.

Sauer believed that most early farmers practiced vegetative propagation, or the reproduction of plants by cloning directly from existing plants. Wild plants or their stems, roots, or other components could be gathered and replanted. He argued that vegetative propagation most likely originated independently in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and South America. Seed agriculture, or the reproduction of plants following the planting of seeds, may not have originated until somewhat later. Sauer believed that China, western India, and Ethiopia were likely areas in which seed agriculture originated.

Agriculture offered several important advantages to people who had previously subsisted through hunting and gathering. It enabled them to produce and accumulate surpluses of food. Crops could be stored and preserved for future use, while domestic animals could be slaughtered for meat as the need arose. Food storage freed people from the need to search continually for food. Also, surplus accumulation allowed for the division of labor. Not everyone had to be involved directly in the process of gathering food, and those not directly involved could work to produce other goods and services.

Farming also allowed people to remain in a single location indefinitely. Sedentary cultivation encouraged the growth of settled villages, towns, and cities. Division of labor, surplus accumulation, and the growth of settlements gave rise to trade and exchange, which further diversified the economies of preindustrial societies.