History of World Agriculture
The formation and development of agricultural production has gone through different processes around the world, and its basic feature is that it is composed of several centers of agricultural origin, through the introduction of seeds and the spread of farming methods, along different routes to spread to all parts of the world, and combined with the natural and socio-economic conditions of various places, gradually developing into its own distinctive agricultural production outlook and agricultural types. The history of world agricultural development, in terms of its main characteristics, can be roughly divided into three periods: primitive agriculture, traditional agriculture and modern agriculture, but the development of different regions is different due to different historical, geographical and other conditions. The characteristics of agriculture in each period are different, the level of productivity is different, and its internal structure and external links and its impact on the world economy are also very different. An overview of the historical process of world agricultural development and the exploration of clues to its evolution are of great significance for in-depth understanding of the current situation, characteristics and development trends of world agriculture.
Primitive agricultural period
In the long course of human history, the emergence and development of agriculture is roughly no more than 10,000 years. After a long period of gathering, fishing and hunting life, human beings gradually became familiar with the living habits of plants and animals, and began to domesticate and breed animals and grow grains in the late Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, that is, about 8000 BC, and human beings entered the primitive agricultural stage. It can be seen from the development process of primitive agriculture that the origin of agriculture is not limited to one time and one place. The emergence of ancient civilizations in West Asia, North Africa, China, India and Central America was initially directly related to the occurrence of agriculture. In the early stage of primitive agriculture, gathering and fishing and hunting activities still accounted for a large proportion, but with the advancement of labor tools and production technology, the proportion of gathering and fishing and hunting was decreasing, and the proportion of primitive planting and animal husbandry gradually increased.
As the world's population continued to grow, primitive agriculture slowly moved forward. According to rough estimates, the population of the Neolithic period was already about 50 million. In order to meet the food needs of the world's growing population and the shortage of feed due to the domestication of livestock, primitive agriculture has continued to expand geographically and production technology has also advanced. For example, in West Asia, there was already a simple irrigated agriculture in 6000-5000 BC, irrigated agriculture in the Nile River Basin in Egypt in 5000 BC, and rice and wheat were widely cultivated in India in 2500 BC.
Primitive agriculture went through two periods of slash-and-slash farming, which lasted for 6000 to 7000 years. Its outstanding achievement is the domestication of wildlife, and most of the major crops and livestock common today were basically domesticated 4,000 years ago.
Traditional agricultural period
Traditional agriculture is agriculture that uses iron and wood farming tools, uses human, animal, hydraulic, wind and natural fertilizers, and relies on fire to engage in production activities mainly based on direct experience. During this period, agriculture was mainly passed down and applied in the production process through the accumulation of experience and developed. The process of moving from primitive agriculture to traditional agriculture began in Greece and Rome under slavery in the West, and in China it began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period when they transitioned from slave society to feudal society.
As traditional agriculture began to use iron ploughs and cattle for farming, which facilitated deep ploughing and fine cultivation, agricultural production took a leap forward. In terms of land use patterns, European countries have implemented a two- and three-garden system for leisure and crop rotation, including grazing land, in order to facilitate the integration of agriculture and animal husbandry and the restoration of soil power; In China, after the abolition of the land system, it embarked on the road of land continuous cultivation system, implemented intensive farming, and further separated planting and livestock farming. Although there were these differences in ancient Eastern and Western agriculture, agriculture was the most important economic sector in the entire national economy. In the mid-18th century, with the rise of capitalism in the West, traditional agriculture began to transition to modern agriculture; The countries of the East, including Japan, began this transformation only later.
Modern agricultural period
Modern agriculture is agriculture with industrial technology and equipment, guided by experimental science, and mainly engaged in commodity production. Due to the difference in the level of technological development, it has experienced two periods in the West: modern and modern.
The modern period began after the Industrial Revolution and ended in the early 20th century, a transitional period from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture in the strict sense. At this time, in addition to the use of handmade agricultural tools, animal power agricultural tools and the application of organic fertilizers, some areas have begun to transition from the three-garden system to four-garden rotational agriculture.
The stage of modern agriculture in the strict sense began after the adoption of power machinery and synthetic fertilizers in the early 20th century, and by the middle of the 20th century, some industrially developed countries have completed this transformation. It relies heavily on technologies such as machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and water irrigation, and agriculture is provided by the industrial sector with large quantities of material and energy. Due to the increase in the labor productivity of modern agriculture, the agricultural population is decreasing year by year, but the energy invested in unit area is increasing year by year. In some countries, the amount of input is even greater than the energy contained in the food produced; At the same time, the pollution of the environment is also increasing, which has become one of the urgent problems facing modern agriculture.