1. Origin of Domesticated Plants
Wheat

2. Most domesticated food plants have been selected for:
large plant parts
soft edible tissue
thick flesh with intense color
fruits attached to tough stems

3. How much domestication?
About 5000 species have been grown for human food – less than 1% of all plant species thought to exist
Today about 150 species are commercially grown for food (not including spices)
About 50 very productive species supply almost all of our caloric needs

4. Benefits of Domestication
10,000 years ago, before agriculture began, the world’s total human population was about 5 million. There was one person for every 25 square kilometers. Today we have more than 7 billion people, with a density of just over 25 people per square kilometer

5. As agriculture developed humans selected for:
1. Plants that provide enough calories to meet our basic energy needs. This usually comes from cereal grain or root carbohydrates.
2. We also selected for a balanced nutritional intake - this tends to develop in any system where the cultivator eats and depends upon on what he/she grows.

6. Dog Domesticated circa 20,000 YA – shown in Egyptian painting – 4500 BCE

7. Neolithic European Thatch Houses

8. Vavilov centers – centers of plant diversity and areas of origin for agriculture

9. Plants from Near East – Fertile Crescent
Barley - Hordeum vulgare
Wheat - Triticum spp.
Lentils - Lens culinaris
Peas - Pisum sativum
chickpeas or garbanzos - Cicer arietinum
Olives - Olea europaea
Dates - Phoenix dactylifera
Grapes - Vitis vinifera - Wine began to be made from the grapes and beer from the grains
Flax - Linum usitatissimum – food and fiber

10. Barley

11. Lentils

12. Chickpeas

13. Date Palm

14. Flax

15. Malus sieversii – wild apple from Kazakhstan

16. Malus sieversii - Flowers

17. Malus sieversii - Fruits

18. Plants from China, Far East
Millet grains - several species
Rice - Oryza sativa
Soybeans - Glycine max
Mango - Mangifera indica
Various kinds of citrus fruits - Citrus sp.
Taro - Colocasia esculenta
Bananas - Musa x paradisiaca

19. Rice

20. Mango

21. Taro

22. Plants from Africa Sorghum - Sorghum sp.
Millet grains - several species (these developed independently of China)
Okra - Hibiscus esculentus
Yams - Dioscrorea sp.
Cotton - Gossypium sp.
Coffee - Coffea arabica

23. Sorghum and Millet

24. Okra

25. Yams

26. Coffee

27. Plants from Mexico Corn (Maize) - Zea mays
kidney beans - Phaseolus vulgaris
lima beans - P. lunatus
Peanuts - Arachis hypogaea
cotton (developed independently from Africa)
chili peppers - Capiscum sp.
Tomatoes - Lycopersicon sp.
Tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum
Cacao - Theobroma cacao
Pineapple - Ananas comosus
Pumpkins, squashes - Cucurbita sp.
Avocados - Persea americana

28. Kidney Beans

29. Peanut

30. Chili Peppers – Capiscum sp.

31. Pumpkins and Squashes

32. Plants from Peru Potato -Solanum tuberosum and many related species
Quinoa - Chenopodium quinoa
Amaranth – Amaranthus (3 species)
tomatoes and peanuts may have really originated in Peru and then been taken to Mexico

33. Potato

34. Quinoa

35. First ethnobotanical rule of food production
In indigenous agriculture where the crops are consumed and not sold, there evolves and is maintained a reasonable level of nutritional adequacy

36. Second ethnobotanical rule of food production
In indigenous agriculture where the crops are grown mainly or only for sale, there develops an expanding surplus of food. The overall objective of such agricultural systems is to replace a pre-existing (natural) plant community with a cultivator-made community

37. It then follows that:
If the potentially unstable increase in food production and human population is to be maintained, it must be consistent with three aims:
1. To operate at a maximum profit (labor/yield).
2. To minimize year-to-year instability in production.
3. To operate so as to prevent long-term degradation of the production capacity of the agricultural system.

38. Mexican Corn Growing

39. Mexican Corn Varieties

40. Squanto and Pilgrims

41. North Eastern Native American Groups

42. Three Sisters Mound System

43. Three Sisters Mound System

44. Three Sisters Planting Scheme

45. Benefits of Three Sisters Mounds
In the Northeast where ground was frequently cold and damp in early spring, mounds allowed the soil to warm up and drain more quickly
Mounds allowed an increase in soil organic matter by repeatedly incorporating dead plant material with soil in mounds
Decomposition of dead plant material increased soil nutrients; also growing beans which are N-fixers increased soil N for all plants in the mound
Mounds minimized soil compaction (people did not walk on mounds, but around them) and reduced soil erosion as fields were not constantly plowed or dug up
Mound system allowed easy regulation of plant spacing and plant populations

46. Darwin on Artificial Selection
“Although man did not cause variability and cannot even prevent it, he can select, preserve, and accumulate the variations given to him by the hand of nature almost in any way which he chooses; and thus can certainly produce a great result… Selection by man may be followed either methodically and intentionally, or unconsciously and unintentionally… We can further understand how it is that domestic races of plants often exhibit an abnormal character, as compared to natural species, for they have been modified not for their own benefit, but for that of man.”

47. The Green Revolution
The Green Revolution refers to the transformation of agriculture that began in 1945, largely due to the life work of Norman Borlaug. One significant factor in this revolution was the Mexican government's request to establish an agricultural research station to develop more varieties of wheat that could be used to feed the rapidly growing population of the country.

48. Norman Borlaug

49. Green Revolution Advances
The main technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of novel wheat cultivars. Agronomists bred cultivars of maize, wheat, and rice that are generally referred to as HYVs or “high-yielding varieties”. HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties. Since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing genes were bred into their genomes. A Japanese dwarf wheat cultivar (Norin 10) wheat was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars. IR8, the first widely implemented HYV rice to be developed by IRRI, was also a dwarf variety.

50. Progression of Wheat Dwarfism

51. Development of Rice Dwarfism

54. Increase in global corn production

55. Increase in Big 3 Grains

56. US Corn Production and Climate

57. Criticisms of Green Revolution
High yields lead to unsustainable increases in human population – like Ireland and potato
HYV grains require high fertilizer inputs and mechanized agriculture – benefits large farmers, agribusiness but not small farmers
Change in diet quality – Green Revolution favors cereal grain monocultures; traditional agriculture is polyculture with many species and high nutrient diversity

58. Spread of Southern Corn Leaf Blight

59. Southern Corn Leaf Blight

60. Close up of Southern Corn Leaf Blight

61. Southern Corn Leaf Blight – damage to ear

62. Seed Savers, Decorah, Iowa

63. Seed Savers, Decorah, Iowa

64. Stowe, England – Apple Festival

65. Stowe, England – Apple Festival

66. Stowe, England – Apple Festival