No one knows the origins of agriculture. Since the beginning of recorded history, agriculture has existed. Yet not all vegetation is native to its location today. They have been diffused through many different cultures over time and had expanded greatly due to the industrial revolution. In chapter 10 titled, “Agriculture” of the book Contemporary Human Geography, written by J. Rubenstein. Rubenstein describes the expansion of the production of food from just family consumption to mass production in four steps; expand agriculture, increase agricultural activity, identify new food sources, and expand exports. One of the biggest processes happens in the second step (increase agricultural activity) known as the green revolution. The green revolution refers to scientifically engineered seeds of grain, maize, and rice that have been created and grown to adapt to many different climates rather than just temperate ones(Rubenstein, 10.7).To explain present times J. Benson describes about the different techniques used for agriculture today in the article, “Drastic changes to US agriculture policy necessary for future of food, say scientists”. As Benson explains farmers today use organic farming, grass-fed animal raising, and biodiversity growing methods to sustain a long-term agricultural which creates nutrition rich food as well as nutrition rich soil(Benson, 2011). Nutrition rich food and Nutrition rich soil is well needed. Nutrition rich soil sustains agriculture conditions. Without it, crops don't have the proper conditions to grow, which decreases the crop and requires the need for international trade to make up what is lost.
In section 10.9 of Rubenstein's book Contemporary Human Geography. Rubenstein explains the sustainable a...
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...at was displayed in Europe promoting growing in drylands to preserve other soil for future generations.
The reason for growing in the drylands is because it the nutrition of the soil is better than the soil that has been planted on over the years that the nutrition has become drained out of. The next step that Benson explains would be to support smaller farms and produce vast different amounts of crops. In which can be seen today, that set in motion this process has begun.
Works Cited
Benson, J. (2011). Drastic changes to us agriculture policy necessary for future food say scientist. Retrieved from http://citationmachine.net/index2.php? reqstyleid=2&mode=form&reqsrcid=APAInternetJournalArticle&more=yes&nameCnt=1
Map retrieved from http://blog.biarnesa.com/en/
Rubenstein, J. (2010). Contemporary human geography. United States: Pearson Education Inc.
There are now many conservation programs and measures. “A lot of people in agriculture here recognize that the programs implemented as a result of the Dust Bowl are having a really important effect on holding the soil in place,” ("When the Dust Settled") People in agriculture have listened to programs implemented since the Dust Bowl. They have changed
...s. These lands were “usually in less desirable locations and discouraged any successful transition to agriculture”.24
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Settlers who first arrived at the Great Plains found the grasslands keeping the grain like soil intact. In result many settled down in the area and began building ranches and farms. At firs the there was mostly cattle ranching and some farming. However, a series of droughts and overgrazing of the grasslands let to the growth of land cultivation. Also recurrence of wet weather led to the belief that “previously” dry land is suitable...
Dry lands is a previous stage into what can develop the atrocity of desertification. These plains of ground lack moisture. These areas lose it either to evaporation or by transpiration of plants. Generally the land that is considered dry lands is still used by primitive technologies within herding and farming. This weak land is put on even l...
The rich dark soil of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado—an area also known as the Great Plains—formed from thousands of years of soil forming factors in action (Surviving the Dust Bowl). From the beginning of human populations living in the area, the soils, for the most part, remained untouched and unscathed by the plow. Thick prairie grasses covered the area and held the soils in the ground even during the periodic times of drought. This area of land was suitable for grazing practices and it was in this area that the large cattle ranches flourished. Little did the newly arrived farmers realize that this seemingly plentiful land followed a pattern of several years of rain followed by several years of drought and high winds.
that it 's in due to human activities.. First with the vertical farming, “crops can be produced all
The developed world’s love affair with local/organic farming (peasant farming as Collier describes it) has decreased food production worldwide because it does not use the land efficiently enough as with commercial agriculture companies. It also requires government subsidies that large commercial farming companies do not necessarily need. By increasing commercial farming, the world food supply will inevitably increase over a short period.
Corn has always been an essential to American agriculture. Yet the corn grown by our ancestors is unlike the corn we grow today; corn has changed in its quality, quantity, usage, and its inherent compromise. The age of industrialization provided new technology and techniques for farming. Agriculture became modernized in response to increased demand in the job and food markets. However, farming is no longer a way of life but a business. It has begun to attract those more interested in gain than in those actually interested in preserving the American heritage of agriculture.
The first people that started to depend on farming for food were in Israel and Jordan in about 80000 B.C.. Farming became popular because people no longer had to rely on just searching for food to get their food. In about 3000 B.C. Countries such as Egypt and Mesopotamia started to develop large scale irrigation systems and oxen drawn plows. In about 500 B.C. the Romans started to realize that the soil needed certain nutrients in order to bare plants. They also realized that if they left the soil for a year with no plants, these important nutrients would replenish. So they started to leave half of a field fallow (unplanted). They then discovered that they could use legumes, or pulses to restore these vital nutrients, such as nitrogen, to the soil and this started the process known as rotating crops. They would plant half the field one year with a legume...
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.
Farming has been an occupation since 8,500 B.C. On that year in the Fertile Crescent farming first began when people grew plants instead of picking them in the wild. Then nearly 5,000 years later oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs were domesticated. During the middle ages, the nobles divide their land into three fields. The reasoning for this was to plant two and leave one to recover. This was the start of crop rotation which is a big part of farming today. Burning down forest and then moving to another area is a farming technique used by the Mayans called Slash and burn. Mayan farmers also were able to drain swampy areas to farm them buy building canals. In 1701 Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and a horse drawn how that tilled the land. In Denmark they would plant turnips in the previously unplanted field. The turnips help restore the nutrients in the ground thus crop rotation is born. In England people began moving there fields closer to each other for a more efficient way of planting. Later in the 18th century selective breeding was introduce which made bigger, stronger, and more milk producing livestock. In the mid 1800’s a steam plough was invented. By the 1950 tractors, milking machines, and combines were used by almost farmers. The latest f...
The philosophy of agriculture to live harmony with nature is deeply rooted in ancient agriculture and still practiced in India, China and the Andes. Organic agriculture reflects this philosophy, but the recent history of concepts such as organic, bio dynamic, natural farming and other related concepts, can be traced back to early in the 20th century. Conventional agriculture differ from organic farming in terms of usage of chemical fertilizers which increase the nutrient of the soil, usage of genetically modified seeds for better crop production as well as the use of antibiotics and hormones in animal farming. In Malaysia, the major agriculture crop productions are rice, fruits and vegetables (including palm oil production). China is in the first ranking for agriculture sector followed by India and United States of America. Since organic farming is practiced by many countries, without further ado, let’s take a look on how it can affect the environment and its implementation.
Today agriculture is the livelihood of most poor underdeveloped nations. This communal life blood provides a majority of the population with a source of employment, nourishment and income. It is considered to be an invaluable skill, that is taught down from generation to generation along with a sense of respect for the environment. However as a nation begins to undergo development, so do their food production systems. The country's newfound development causes significant restructuring of their agricultural production practices. This restructuring leads to poor environmental practices, and adverse agriculture methods. Increased economic development/production negatively affects a country's environmental and agricultural health.