Agriculture began in the Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago, where civilization also emerged due to mass human migration. The first staple crop was wheat, and other plants grown included peas, lentils, barley, flaxseed, and grapes. Agriculture expanded outside this zone 5,000 years ago, and today it is largely automated.
Agriculture began about 10,000 years ago in an area called the Fertile Crescent, in present-day Iraq, Syria and Jordan. At that time, there were only about five million people in the world. Humanity had substantial knowledge of hunter-gatherer techniques such as boat building, tool making, botany, and so on, but expected changes were taking place: the ice age was ending, so the ice was disappearing and regions how mountain ranges became passable, as ocean levels rose and inland seas dried up. The result was mass human migration.
As everyone moved, people naturally congregated in the borders between continents. The Fertile Crescent was such an area, located between Europe, Asia and Africa. This is where both civilization and agriculture began.
Agriculture likely began in areas filled with animal dung, because there were a variety of seeds and ample fertilizer to grow them. The original crops were not like the ones people know today. The plants used were often robust, fragile or otherwise difficult to digest or cultivate. Only through many generations of selective breeding have their nutritional qualities been optimized. Therefore, in a very important sense, all crops that we consider “natural” are actually genetically modified.
The first staple crop was wheat, which has two main forms that still exist today. The first variety is called spelled and still grows wild in the region. The second variety is not wild, but probably arose from crossing spelled with another wild herb. This is common wheat, which is still the most important crop on earth. Other plants grown during this period include peas, lentils, barley, flaxseed and grapes.
Only 5,000 years ago did agriculture expand outside this nuclear zone. Farmers in different areas have taken different crops. In the cold of Europe, oats flourished next to wheat. Cotton was born in India. In China, buckwheat was grown instead of wheat and barley.
Thousands of years ago, agriculture consumed most of humanity’s time. It is now largely automated and only a small percentage of farmers are needed to feed a developed nation.
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