Origins of agriculture

Introduction
Research techniques
How agriculture and domestication began
- Earliest beginnings
- Early development
  - Southwest Asia
  - The Americas
  - East Asia
  - Europe
Early agricultural societies
- Sumer
- The Nile valley
- Mesoamerica
- South America
- North America
Agriculture in ancient Asia
- China
  - Early history
  - The classical-imperial era
  - Tools and techniques
  - Land use
- Korea
- Japan
- The Indian subcontinent
  - Early historic period
  - The Mughal century (c. 1600 ce)
- Southeast Asia
Improvements in agriculture in the West: 200 bce to 1600 ce
- The Roman epoch: 200 bce to 600 ce
  - The farm
  - Farm implements
  - Cropping systems
  - Harvesting and processing
  - Livestock
- The medieval period: 600 to 1600 ce
  - Agricultural advances
    - Open-field system
    - Plows and plowing
    - Hand tools
    - New lands and crops
  - Agricultural recession
    - The Netherlands
    - England
    - Spain
    - Italy
    - France
    - Germany
Scientific agriculture: the 20th century
- Developments in power: the internal-combustion engine
  - The tractor
  - Unit machinery
    - Grain combine
    - Mechanized equipment for corn
    - Mechanized equipment for cotton
    - Tomato-harvesting equipment
  - Automobiles, trucks, and airplanes
- New crops and techniques
  - New crops
    - The soybean
    - Sorghum
    - The sugar beet
  - New techniques
    - Terracing
    - Irrigation
    - Dry farming
    - Vertical Farming and the Future
- New strains: genetics
  - Early work in genetics
  - Maize, or corn
  - Wheat
  - Rice
  - The Green Revolution
  - Genetic engineering
- Animal breeding
  - Hogs
  - Sheep
  - Beef cattle
  - Artificial breeding
- Electricity in agriculture
  - Electrical cooperatives
  - Modern applications
- Pest and disease control in crops
  - Beginnings of pest control
  - Pesticides as a panacea: 1942–62
  - Integrated control
- Economics, politics, and agriculture

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Farm in Saskatchewan

A young adult wearing overalls and a baseball hat in nature. A paper cutout with images of berries, nuts, and

Painting of herdsmen and cattle

Close-up of ripening barley plants with long, slender seed heads and awns in a dense field.

Young girl in a blue shirt sits on grass next to a medium-sized dog with a leash, gently petting the dog's head in a wooded outdoor setting.

A hand scatters wheat grains onto dark soil, illustrating the sowing process in farming.

Map showing the ancient Fertile Crescent, highlighting the regions of Babylonia and Assyria around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The green-shaded area traces the arc of early civilization from the Persian Gulf through Mesopotamia and up to the eastern Mediterranean, including notable ancient cities such as Babylon, Ur, Nineveh, and Assur. An inset map outlines the modern countries that now occupy this region, including Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and surrounding nations.

Iran: Zagros Mountains

Peruvian terraced fields

Origins of agriculture: Media

Videos

A young adult wearing overalls and a baseball hat in nature. A paper cutout with images of berries, nuts, and

What We Can Learn (and Eat) Urban Foraging

Is the message behind urban foraging: “Don't eat that”?

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Know about the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme in Australia and how it changed the country's cultural landscape

Know about the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme in Australia and how it changed the country's cultural landscape

Learn about the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme in southeastern New South Wales,...

Video: © Behind the News (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

The growing trend of vertical farming

The growing trend of vertical farming

Learn about vertical farming.

Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

How is biodiversity good for the economy?

How is biodiversity good for the economy?

Learn how biodiversity is good for the economy.

Video: © MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Women farmers in New Zealand

Women farmers in New Zealand

Overview of farming on New Zealand's South Island, including the growing number of...

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Joe Tabb/Dreamstime.com

Examine Central America's reliance on plantation cultivation of warm-weather crops like coffee and sugarcane

Examine Central America's reliance on plantation cultivation of warm-weather crops like coffee and sugarcane

Harvesting grain in Central America, where most large-scale agriculture is based...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

High-tech urban farming: A new hope for Japan?

High-tech urban farming: A new hope for Japan?

Learn about urban farming in Japan, which relies on LED lighting and hydroponics.

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz

How the McCormick reaper changed farming forever

How the McCormick reaper changed farming forever

Learn more about Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The importance of nitrogen and phosphorus in ecosystems

The importance of nitrogen and phosphorus in ecosystems

An overview of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in the biosphere.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Uncover the findings of researchers at the International Rice Research Institute in Manila to create high yielding and flood resilient rice variety

Uncover the findings of researchers at the International Rice Research Institute in Manila to create high yielding and flood resilient rice variety

Follow the efforts of researchers in Manila to create more resilient varieties of...

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz

The challenging life of Swiss mountain farmers

The challenging life of Swiss mountain farmers

Learn about mountain farming in the Swiss Alps.

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Stefano Ember/Dreamstime.com

Learn how a farm in Upper Bavaria uses tractors equipped with the GPS navigation system for farming

Learn how a farm in Upper Bavaria uses tractors equipped with the GPS navigation system for farming

Learn how tractors equipped with GPS navigation systems are being used in farming....

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Rudmer Zwerver/Dreamstime.com

Know about the use of drones in agriculture for monitoring the environment of the field and enhance the quantity and quality crop

Know about the use of drones in agriculture for monitoring the environment of the field and enhance the quantity and quality crop

Learn how drones are used in agriculture to monitor the environmental condition of...

Video: © University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Images

Farm in Saskatchewan

Farm in Saskatchewan

Harvesting wheat on a farm in the grain belt near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada....

George Hunter

Painting of herdsmen and cattle

Painting of herdsmen and cattle

Painting of herdsmen and cattle, Tassili-n-Ajjer, Algeria.

Jean-Dominique Lajoux

Close-up of ripening barley plants with long, slender seed heads and awns in a dense field.

Barley

An early domesticated grain, barley is still eaten today.

© Hurry/Dreamstime.com

Young girl in a blue shirt sits on grass next to a medium-sized dog with a leash, gently petting the dog's head in a wooded outdoor setting.

Best friends

Dogs were the earliest species to be domesticated and likely aided their human companions...

© vvvita/stock.adobe.com

A hand scatters wheat grains onto dark soil, illustrating the sowing process in farming.

Sowing grains

Humans began cultivating wild grains about 10,000 years ago.

© Chepko— iStock/Getty Images

Map showing the ancient Fertile Crescent, highlighting the regions of Babylonia and Assyria around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The green-shaded area traces the arc of early civilization from the Persian Gulf through Mesopotamia and up to the eastern Mediterranean, including notable ancient cities such as Babylon, Ur, Nineveh, and Assur. An inset map outlines the modern countries that now occupy this region, including Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and surrounding nations.

Babylonia and Assyria

The earliest cities for which there exist records appeared around the mouths of the...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Iran: Zagros Mountains

Iran: Zagros Mountains

The Zagros Mountains rise above orchards and pasturelands, southwestern Iran.

© Matyas Rehak/Dreamstime.com

Peruvian terraced fields

Peruvian terraced fields

Terraced fields near Arequipa in the southern Sierra region of Peru.

Chip and Rosa Maria de la Cueva Peterson

Three sisters

Three sisters

Corn, squash, and beans planted together in a traditional Indigenous agricultural...

© Feria de Productores

Terraced rice paddy

Terraced rice paddy

A farmer using a water buffalo to plow a terraced rice paddy in Yunnan Province,...

© Svetlana Nikolaeva/Fotolia

Moving west

Moving west

Sheep husbandry was likely introduced to Europe from the Middle East.

www.cotswolds.com

Neolithic Europe

Neolithic Europe

A vessel of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture featuring designs characteristic...

© Einsamer Schütze

Linearbandkeramik vessels

Linearbandkeramik vessels

Three pots from the European Neolithic LBK culture.

Photograph by Musée Unterlinden, Colmar/Christian Kempf

Ea

A cylinder seal depicting the water god Ea with steams flowing from his body and...

Werner Forman Archive/Shutterstock.com

Horemheb

Horemheb

Relief of Horemheb plowing land, tomb of Horemheb, Ṣaqqārah, Egypt.

© Sailko (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Ox-pulled plow

Ox-pulled plow

A model depicting a man plowing a field with the help of two oxen, c. 1981–1885

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Gift of Valdemar Hammer Jr., in memory of his father, 1936 (36.5), www.metmuseum.org

Xochimilco: floating gardens

Xochimilco: floating gardens

The floating gardens (chinampas) of Xochimilco, near Mexico City, formerly...

Peter M. Wilson/Alamy

Terracotta incense burner depicting Chicomecoatl, the Aztec corn goddess, with elaborate headdress and decorative elements, displayed in the National Museum of Anthropology.

Chicomecaotl

An Aztec corn goddess and patron of agriculture, painted terra-cotta incense burner;...

© Fabio Imhoff/Shutterstock.com

Field of red and yellow quinoa plants in the Andean highlands near Cusco, Peru, with rolling hills and mountains in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

Quinoa field

Field of red and yellow quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) in the Andean highlands...

© Martin Schneiter/Dreamstime.com

An ancient staple crop

An ancient staple crop

Aymara women tending their quinoa in the Bolivian Andes.

© Aizar Raldes—AFP/Getty Images

Hohokam petroglyphs etched on large sunlit rocks, with saguaro cacti and Signal Hill visible in the Sonoran Desert landscape of Saguaro National Park, Arizona.

Writing on the rocks

Petroglyphs created by the prehistoric Hohokam people, who lived from about 200 to...

© Dndavis/Dreamstime.com

A large field of blooming sunflowers stretches toward the horizon under an orange sunset sky in Kansas, with a single tree silhouetted on the right.

Sunflowers

Indigenous peoples of eastern North America domesticated the sunflower for its edible...

© Tommy Brison/stock.adobe.com

Rows of young corn plants growing in a large, open field in Illinois, with green foliage stretching toward the horizon and a few distant trees and farm buildings.

Corn agriculture

Domesticated millennia ago in Mesoamerica, corn remains an important crop in much...

© Marcia Straub—Moment/Getty Images

Goat herding

Goat herding

Herding goats along the ancient Silk Road, northern Takla Makan Desert, China.

Bob Thomason/Tony Stone Worldwide

Two women wearing colorful clothing and headscarves harvest tea leaves by hand in a lush green tea plantation in Sylhet district, Bangladesh.

Growing tea

A woman harvests tea in Bangladesh.

© Dana Ward/Dreamstime.com

Rice agriculture

Rice agriculture

People harvesting rice in a field in Szechwan province, China.

Peter Carmichael/Aspect Picture Library, London

China: terrace farming

China: terrace farming

Rice terraces, Guilin, China.

Anna Frodesiak

Close-up of green rice grains (Oryza sativa) growing on stalks in a field, with long, narrow leaves in the background.

Rice

Ripening heads of rice (Oryza sativa).

© apisitwilaijit29/stock.adobe.com

Close-up of several peanut pods (Arachis hypogaea) growing on the plant, with roots and green leaves visible in the background.

Peanut growing

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea)

G. Tomsich/Photo Researchers

Shizuoka

Shizuoka

Reconstruction of a Yayoi period dwelling at Toro in Shizuoka, Shizuoka prefecture,...

Frank Gualtieri

Brahman bull

Brahman bull

© Dr. P. Pienaar, Bar Circle Brahmans, and the Brahman Breeders' Society of South Africa

Harappan statuette

Harappan statuette

A votive sculpture or toy of an individual being pulled by two cattle.

© Miya.m

The Ganges, Rishikesh

The Ganges, Rishikesh

The pilgrimage city of Rishikesh is on the banks of the Ganges River.

© Ken Wieland

Tall, dense stalks of sugarcane grow on both sides of a narrow path, with green leaves arching overhead and sunlight illuminating the plants.

Sugarcane

Lines of sugarcane before harvest.

© Hywit Dimyadi/Shutterstock.com

sweet-potato farming in Papua New Guinea

sweet-potato farming in Papua New Guinea

Sweet-potato farming, Southern Highlands province, Papua New Guinea.

Bob and Ira Spring

From the farm

From the farm

Roman statesman Cincinnatus accepting dictatorship of Rome from the Senate, 458...

© North Wind Picture Archives

Close-up of ripe black olives growing on a branch with green leaves in an olive grove in Italy, set against a blurred blue sky.

Olive tree

Growing olives was and is an important economic activity in the Mediterranean region.

© complize— M.Martins/stock.adobe.com

Baking in Pompeii

Baking in Pompeii

Bakery with brick oven and mill among the ruins at Pompeii, Italy.

© Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Medieval agriculture

Medieval agriculture

Two serfs and four oxen operating one medieval agricultural plow, 14th-century illuminated...

The British Library

A farmer in traditional clothing guides two white oxen pulling a wooden plow through a freshly tilled field in rural Maharashtra, India.

Plow

Oxen pulling a plow in Maharashtra, India.

© EPhotocorp/Dreamstime.com

Sheep grazing on a green hillside with patchwork fields, trees, and a village in the background in Naunton, Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England.

Sheep husbandry

Sheep grazing in a field in England.

©Peter Raymond Llewellyn/Shutterstock.com

A man drives a 1920s iron-wheeled Fordson tractor with an attached plow across a freshly tilled field, with trees lining the background.

Automobile plow

Henry Ford's iron-wheeled “Fordson” was unveiled in 1907 and powered by an internal-combustion...

© Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com

Combine harvester

Combine harvester

A grain harvest using a combine harvester.

Bryan Wittal

Rice farming: terraces

Rice farming: terraces

Rice terraces in Sa Pa, Vietnam.

© Lisa Lubin - www.llworldtour.com (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Several wind turbines stand in a golden wheat field with a few scattered trees, generating electricity in rural Poland.

Wind power

Wind turbines used for electricity production in wheat field in Poland.

© Rafal Olechowski/Shutterstock.com

Large group of cattle crowded together in a fenced feedlot in West Texas, with more cattle and open land visible in the background.

Concentrated animal feeding operation

A large cattle feedlot in west Texas.

174479340—E+/Getty Images

cultivator

cultivator

Row crop cultivator.

Courtesy of Deere & Company

steam harvester

steam harvester

Steam harvester on a California farm, 1903.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Plant Hardiness Zone Map

The 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

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