Post on 14-Apr-2017
transcript
Subsistence Patterns:Food Production
Uqa Farming, Terraced Fields, Isla del Sol, Bolivia
Food Production
• Subsistence based on domesticated plants and animals:– Neolithic Revolution
• Occurred around10,000 years ago– Domestication happened independently in
many regions at different times• Middle East, Near East, China, North/South
America, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa– Domestication enabled control of production,
a potentially more secure food base
Earliest Domesticates: Plants
Teosinte, leftMaize, right
• Neolithic Founder Crops– Fertile Crescent, Near East, 11,000-9,000 BC– Emmer wheat, Einkorn wheat, Barley, Lentil, Pea,
Chickpea, Bitter vetch, Flax
• More key crops– Rice, Asia, 8,000 BC– Potato, Beans, South America, 8,000 BC– Squash, Maize, Central America, 8,000-7,000 BC– Banana, South East Asia, 5,000 BC– Chili Peppers, South America, 4,000 BC– Olives, Near East, 4,000 BC– Millet, Africa, 2,500 BC– Sorghum, Africa, 2,000 BC
Earliest Domesticates: AnimalsSpecies Where WhenDog East-Central Asia 33,000 BP
Sheep South-West Asia 10,000 BC
Pig China, Near East, Germany 9,000 BC
Goat Iran 8,000 BC
Cow India, Middle East, North Africa 8,000 BC
Cat Middle East 8,000 BC
Chicken India, South-East Asia 6,000 BC
Guinea Pig Peru 5,000 BC
Horse Eurasia 4,000 BC
Llama Peru 3,500 BC
Yak Tibet 2,500 BC
Reindeer Siberia 1,000 BC
Turkey Mexico 500 BCMummified Cat, Egypt
Food Production
• General Trends/Consequences:– Increased sedentism (living in one place) and
population size– Increased labor demands, higher overall risk if
crops fail or animals die– Decreased variation in diet, decreased nutrition– Decreased health, increased disease (humans
actually become shorter due to domestication)– Rise of private property, surplus, specialization– Decline of social egalitarianism, increased
environmental degradation
Horticulture
• Horticulture: subsistence-level agriculture– Production for consumption, not for sale– Small-scale, low-yield– Simple technology, using human labor, no
irrigation or plows pulled by animals– Example: shifting agriculture, also called
swidden cycle– Still practiced in mainly tropical areas with low
population densities
Stages of the Swidden Cycle– Clear plot of land of brush and low
trees, then burn cleared materials, creating a nutrient-rich ash layer (“slash and burn”)
– Plant seeds by hand using simple tools, no irrigation; ash or mulch helps keep away ‘weeds’
– Harvest crops by hand; labor intensive
– Fallow: most important step, allow fields to regenerate naturally by abandoning them to nature for a lengthy period; move your plot to a new place, begin the process again
Planting maize, using digging stick, under mulch of previously harvested beans, Kekchi Maya, Honduras
Pastoralism
• Pastoralism: Animal husbandry– Arose where domesticated plants not easily
grown but animals can still feed– Based on animal products (often milk products
and wool as much as or more than meat)– Often trade with agriculturalists– Wide variation in practices based on different
needs of animals• Transhumance: seasonal movements between
winter and summer pastures/sources of water • Nomadic: moving animals frequently as needed
Intensive Agriculture
• Intensive Agriculture: – First intensive form of production
• Use of same plot of land over and over– Began c. 5,000 years ago, along with rise of
earliest cities (concentrated populations)– Increased use of technology:
• Plows, draft animals, fertilizers, irrigation– Surpluses produced
• Above subsistence needs, rest sold at market• Created new economic opportunities
Intensive Agriculture
Terraced Farming , Indonesia
Intensive Agriculture
• Intensive Agriculture: consequences– More labor needed– More capital (funds/resources) invested
• Permitted complex societies, “civilization”:– Labor specialization– Surplus production promotes market exchange– Cities can be supported– Social stratification emerges (inequality)– Peasant class (rural food producers)
Industrial Agriculture
• Industrial Agriculture: – Intensive techniques enhanced by industrial
revolution• Mechanization; more recently, biotechnology• Very high yields, export market exchange, often in
processed forms• Effects today:
– Monocropping agribusinesses replacing family farms; dependence on mobile, low wage laborers, increased energy; high costs to environment
Adaptation
• Reminder: Food Production is a form of Adaptation– Indigenous knowledge can lead to sustainable
environmental practice– But maladaptive practices have contributed to
the decline of several civilizations• Rapa Nui (Easter Island): rapid deforestation and
introduction of non-native species contributes to society’s decline
• Classic Period Maya: collapse of political system coincided with series of droughts, it is said that political power lost in part due to poor water management
Summary of Subsistence
• Food Collectors– Foragers
• Food Producers– Horticulturalists (subsistence agriculture)– Pastoralists (animal herders)– Intensive Agriculture (first intensive technique)– Industrial Agriculture (modern agribusiness)
• Extensive techniques (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism) require a lot of land, but land is treated well, techniques more sustainable
• Intensive techniques (intensive/industrial agriculture) use land over and over again, often depleting resources over time, often not sustainable