Lecture 1&2 Flashcards
Details of the last glacial age
22,000 years ago
Lowest sea level, formation of land bridges
Followed by rapid changes in climates and rainfall across Africa and the Middle East
Caused changes in animal migration routes, forcing humans you change their diet and lifestyle
Transition in human lifestyles
- Hunter-gatherer: low impact, travel light, few remains, highly mobile
- Nomadic: possess livestock, annual/seasonal routes, return to sites predictably
- Farmer-forager
Transition happened in less than 1000 generations
When did the nomadic lifestyle develop?
15,000 years ago
When did the farmer-forager lifestyle develop?
12,000-8,000 years ago
Where was the fertile crescent?
Modern day Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel
Direct archaeological evidence for farming
Charred seed
Seed deposits
Stones from fruit
Dried deposits in arid locations
Indirect archaeological evidence for farming
Impressions left in pottery
Images in hieroglyphs, mention in texts, language
Problems with some crops and archaeology
Soft fruit - only seeds/stones remain, and wild and cultivated versions have similar remains
Roots/tubers - often don’t store well so few deposits
Veg and herbs - disintegrate quickly, tee obvious remains, leaves difficult to classify, pollen difficult to identify
Ideal initial crop traits for farming
- Edible (not poisonous)
- Energy-rich seed (starch/protein/oil)
- Large enough seed to harvest
- Easy to store (dry seed)
- Annual crop (easy to relocate or move)
Current selected traits in agriculture
- Non-toxic
- No seed release
- Clean-threshing (easy to process)
- Self-pollinating so sets seed easily
- Bigger seed
- No extended dormancy (so all seeds germinate and grow)
When was rice first cultivated?
6-7 thousand years ago
Possibly taken into cultivation several times from wild relatives
When did rice reach Europe?
3000 years ago
What crops were first domesticated in Central/South America?
Potato - 8 kya Squash and beans - 8 kya Maize - 7 kya Cassava - 6 kya Quinoa - 6 kya
Why is a mixture of cereal, nuts and legumes needed for a healthy diet?
Nuts/seeds low in lysine
Cereals low in lysine
Maize low in lysine and tryptophan
Legumes low in methionine
What tree crops were domesticated early in the Mediterranean?
Digs Olives Dates Almonds Carob Grape 8-5 kya
Second phase of tree crop domestication
In China Apples Pears Cherries Plums Pomegranates Peaches Nectarines Citrus
What features does a farmland habitat create eg for a bird?
More open spaces
Often ploughed in spring - stubble/crop residues
Missed seed is a good resource
Management of natural predators
What features do annual crop weeds have?
Usually annuals, grow tall so they can compete
Prolific seed release, often with good dormancy
Difficult to eradicate
May co-harvest and co-thresh the seed
Some weeds become crops e.g. poppy, oats
1st-7th century UK
- Subsistence farming
- Small surplus for trade/taxes
- Diverse crops: oats, beans, barley, roots
- Productivity limites by labour
- Closed system (no soil nutrients lost)
10th-14th century UK
Middle Ages
- “Open field system”
- Manors, tenants
- Organised, semi-communal
What is an Open Field System?
Traditional Medieval farming system in which land was divided into strips and managed by an individual only during the growing season, but is available to the community for grazing animals during the rest of the year
Developments between 1st-7th century and 10th-14th century
- Oxen/heavy horse and metal ploughs so bigger acreage
- Ditches for drainage
- Limited bought-in labour
Benefits of Medieval farming system
- Varied habitat
- Few if any inputs (fuel or chemical)
- Sense of belonging
- Connection with land/food
- Little wasted
- Fully sustainable
Problems with Medieval farming system
- Hard work
- Only supported 2-6 million people
- Landlords variable
- Rents unmanaged
- Limited markets for surplus
- Limited opportunities for advancement
- Limited alternatives if crops failed
Purpose of fallow land
- Nitrogen management
- Wheat requires high nitrogen
- After growing a crop, leave the field unplanted for a year or two to recover nutrition
- Plants such as legumes, then oats/barley, then peas/beans fix nitrogen into the soil
- Add manures to grow wheat
Features of the early industrial revolution
- New opportunities for employment - rural depopulation
- Machinery in farming - more productivity but needs less labour
- Towns become major market for surplus
- More centralised taxation
- Better infrastructure
What is rough ploughing?
- Breaks up surface for sowing seed
- Uses oxen (so no fuel needed)
- Simple plough - small metal blade so barely any mechanical inputs
What changed when horses were used for ploughing?
- Better plough technology
- All metal, still one blade
- Turns soil more uniformly
- Furrows and drills allow weed management
Ploughing once steam power became available
- Dual engine
- Winched systems
- Suits bigger fields so hedgerows removed
- Uniform and complete - big impact on weeds
- Little soil compaction
Modern tractor for ploughing
- Highly mechanised - little labour
- High input (fuel, machinery, etc)
- Enormous fields
Transport from mid 1800s onwards
- Fast (due to trains)so can get fresh produce to markets faster
- Bulk transport (across oceans)
- Imports become viable for bulk dry goods
- Specialist plantations worldwide
- Grain produces cheaper in other countries causing competition with local farmers
- Population no longer constrained by local food production
Bulk dry goods
Tobacco Cotton Tea Sugar Coffee
The problem with easy transport?
Cheap imports -> collapse of local farming industry with land left unmanaged and skills lost -> complete reliance on imports -> vulnerable to crises
Corn Laws overview
- Government control of imports, exports and pricing
- Protecting the UK farming sector by stabilising food supply and prices
- Allowing the UK to maintain a degree of self-sufficiency
- However, gives the government a lot of control over the agricultural industry
- No import unless price exceeded threshold, to protect the local market and prevent excessive profiteering
When was the Corn Laws act passed?
1773
although control to some extent from mid-1600s
Repeal of Corn Laws
1846 After the Irish potato famine Removed to prevent unrest However, cheap imports meant reduced farm incomes UK wheat prices halved from 1825 to 1885 28% reduction in land used
Government policy resulted in…
- Big alterations in land use
- Shift away from commodity crops
- Focus towards high value rather than extensive crops: fruit, veg
- “Market gardens” around major cities
Wheat Act
1932
Some government intervention via payments to farmers to keep local wheat production viable
WWII impacts on British agriculture
- Not self-sufficient
- Urgent need for staple crops
- Ploughing of meadows
- Enforced drainage
- Promoted use of machinery
- Promoted use of pesticides (maximise yield)
- Promoted use of recognised varieties (reduced local varieties, depleted gene pool)
- Big impact on biodiversity
After WWII…
- Mindset of self-sufficiency continued
- Agriculture Act
Agriculture Act
1947
Price guarantees or “deficiency payments”
On cattle, sheep, milk, eggs, barley, wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, sugar beet, wool
Problem with GDP and farming
If income from GDP is so variable, how can there be:
-Government interest in fixing issues
-Outside investment
-Long-term planning
-Conservation-minded activity
Do we maximise outputs, or minimise inputs?
