How do humans make a living, Part II: Agriculture February 25, 2005

How do humans make a living? Social Characteristics –Subsistence –Exchange Patterns –Ecological Relationships –Cultural Practices (religion, ritual) –Trade goods

Part I: How did this happen? Traditional View: Revolutionary innovation leading to a better life Foragers managed the land –Burning –Weeding Gradual, seasonal back and forth Adaptive strategy for managing risk.

Part I: How did this happen? Strategy: ForagingFarming Return:LowHigh Risk:LowHigh Delay:ShortLong

Part I: How did this happen? Foragers become farmers when: –Return on effort increases and –Risk and Delay decrease Diamond: –Degradation of environment and resources (game animals) –Climatic changes

Part II: When did this happen? Earliest evidence for domestication is 10,000 ybp (Fertile Crescent). Evolutionary “blink of an eye.”

Part III: Where did this happen? Middle East (Wheat, barley, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs – 10,000bp) South China (Rice, water buffalo, dogs, pigs – 8,500) North China (Millet, Dogs, pigs, chickens – 7,500) African Sahel (Sorghum, pearl millet, rice – 4,000)

Part III: Where did this happen? Mexico (Maize, beans, squash, dogs, turkeys – 4,700) Andes (Potato, quinoa, llama, alpaca, guinea pigs – 4,500) Eastern U.S. (Goosefoot, marsh elder, sunflower, squash – 4,500)

Part III: Where did this happen?

Part IV: Why did it happen there? Climate Species available for domestication Topography Latitude

Part IV: Why did it happen there?

Why the Middle East? Largest Mediterranean zone with most climatic variation (seasons) Greatest species diversity. Greatest topographic diversity Less competition from hunter gatherers

Part V:Adaptive Strategies in Farming Benefits – Costs = Net Benefit Extensive agriculture: –Low input, low cost, high net benefit Intensive agriculture –High costs, high net benefit In terms of the factors, neither is inherently better.

Extensive: Swidden Agriculture

Population Size Growth Cycles; rotating fields

Extensive: Swidden Agriculture

Intensive Agriculture Labor Intensive Land Intensive Capital Intensive Machinery Intensive

Labor Intensive

Land Intensive

Capital/Machinery Intensive

Part VI: What were the consequences? Population growth Intensifying food production “Flourescence” –Hopewell –Mississippian

Part VI: What were the consequences? Declining health Increased workload Social Changes

Declining Health

Increasing Workload

Social Changes Mississippian Flourescence –Increased population –Larger settlements –Social complexity –“Mound Builders”

Green Revolution Effort by USAID, agencies and governments to end hunger through technology Increase crop yields by focusing on “inputs” –Seed hybrids, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and machinery

Green Revolution Debt Environmental Degradation Land reallocation (former land owners became poor tenant farmers) Loss of control of farming methods Increase in production Increase in poverty

Green Revolution Food First estimates 786 million hungry people in the 1990s Governments tried to store grain that people couldn’t afford to buy.