The Agricultural Revolutions

Before the agricultural revolutions drastically changed the way we obtained food, essentially all people obtained their food through the process of hunting and gathering. Hunting and gathering is the process of hunting wild animals, fishing, and gathering wild plants for food. Agriculture can be defined as, activities centered on cultivating domesticated crops and livestock in order to produce food for human use and consumption. The three agricultural revolutions have completely transformed the world, by making the transition from hunting and gathering to farming. The growth of the human population from a couple hundred thousand to the seven billion would not have been possible without the sustained food production that results from agriculture.

Commonly referred to as the Neolithic revolution, the first agricultural revolution marks the beginning of agriculture as we know it today. The first agricultural revolution took place in the fertile crescent, an area of the Middle East, around 11,000 BC. This revolution brought upon the concepts of irrigation and deforestation. The idea of agriculture made settling in one area for an extended period of time possible. The domestication of plants and animals provided a sustainable food source and was consumed by those who produced it, know as subsistence farming. This sustainable food source also influenced the growth of populations.

The second agricultural revolution incorporated the use of technology with farming, by the use of machinery. Implementing machinery led farmers to; plant seeds more efficiently, expeditiously harvest their crops, and readily process their crops. This revolution also brought upon the four-course farming system. By cycling crops, the nutrients that have been depleted from the previous crop are replenished during the next growing season by a different crop. With the second agricultural revolution advancing during the same period as the industrial revolution, the wide spread railroad advancements allowed farmers to ship their produce in large amounts. Farmers gained the ability