Ap Human Geography: A Very Brief History Of Agriculture

Jack Maxwell
Mrs. Mason
Ap Human Geography
February 25, 2023
History of Agriculture The earliest forms of agriculture can be traced back to approximately 10,000 years ago. Back then, there was no technology used in agriculture, everything was muscle powered, whether it be by man or animals like horses and cattle. The first agricultural revolution introduced the idea of planting and growing your own crops instead of hunting and gathering. The second agricultural revolution happened around the 1850’s, coinciding with the industrial revolution. Because of the sudden increase in food, many people gained access to better diets, longer lifespans, and more jobs for middle and lower class people. The second agricultural revolution also included the

New technologies started popping up in the early 1900’s, although most of them where still powered by horses. Many farmers used wagons pulled by horses to hold more crops than ever before, and drastically improved the harvesting season. Some farmers even had horse drawn plowes. Crops were preserved using a variety of methods, including storing them in hot water to increase shelf life. Around the mid 1900’s, scientists and farmers started using and developing fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides in order to increase crop yield and production. Farmers even started to cross breed crops in order to gain more desirable traits. One good example of this is corn, in the early 1900’s corn looked like a small stem with a few kernels, and today the entire corn husk is covered in kernels. Genetic engineering also made food healthier and more

Some examples are commercial farming, shifting cultivation, and pastoral nomadism. Each of these types of farming vary vastly from each other, and are spread out across regions of the world. Commercial farming is found mainly in the US, and it mainly used for sale. It is so popular in the US because of all of the large markets and grocery stores. Shifting cultivation is popular in the tropical regions of Latin America, Sub-Saharan africa, and Southeast Asia. It is the practice of growing crops and raising animals on one piece of land for a few seasons, trying to get as much out of it as possible, and then leaving it and moving to a new piece of land. Pastoral nomadism is the practice of moving between a cycle of a few areas, moving with the seasons. Typically, pastoral farming is used for raising livestock, but can also be used to grow a variety of