The Evolution of Agriculture
UNIT 1 THE EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURE Structure 1.1
Introduction Objectives
1.2
Agriculture in the Pre-Industrial Era Emergence of Agriculture Development of Agriculture up to the Middle Ages
1.3 1.4 1.5
1.6
Agriculture in the Post-Industrial Era Modern Agriculture Summary Terminal Questions
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture as we understand today is the science and art of growing food, fibre, forage and energy crops and fruit and ornamental trees, raising of livestock for milk (dairying) and meat and rearing of sheep, goats and pigs. It also includes fisheries and poultry. Modern agriculture also includes issues and policies relating to its marketing including exports and imports, which has become very important globally after the World Trade Agreement. Thus agricultural products have to be produced at an international competitive price. Modern agricultural practices are remarkably different from those of the preindustrial era. The significant changes in agriculture in the post-industrial era can best be appreciated if we understand the evolution of agriculture in the pre-industrial era. Therefore, in the first unit of the course, you will study about how agriculture emerged in human societies and how it developed through the ages. The Industrial Revolution in Europe marks a distinct phase in the evolution of agriculture. With the development of science, population growth and shrinking of available land and resources, agriculture in modern times has undergone revolutionary changes. In the final section of the unit, we look at some features of modern agriculture. In the next unit, we introduce the concept of Agro-Ecosystem so that a sound foundation is built for understanding the environment-agriculture relationship. Objectives After studying this unit, you should be able to: • • • • •
1.2
enunciate the hypotheses regarding the evolution of agriculture; describe developments in agriculture through various periods in human history, viz. Neolithic age, Chalcolithic age, middle ages and industrial era; discuss the post-Neolithic development of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent; describe the main features of the Agricultural Revolution in England and the developments in USA; and discuss the main facets of modern agriculture.
AGRICULTURE IN THE PRE-INDUSTRIAL ERA
Evolution and development of agriculture especially during the pre-Christian era and before the Industrial Revolution, was very slow. Domestication of animals and plants moved at a snail’s speed in the Neolithic (New Stone Age) and Chalcolithic (Bronze) ages. According to Sauer (1952), an American biographer, primitive agriculture began in forested uplands and not in the river valleys and the hearths of domestication are to be sought in marked diversity of plants and animals. A significant contribution to the present knowledge of the main centres of cultivated
7