Agriculture is one of the most fundamental components of the global supply chain. After all, it is the process that is responsible for the majority of the world’s food supply, from Asia to the Western world. The history of agriculture is one rich with stories and incredible innovation. In this article, you will learn about the past of agriculture and how different it has become in the modern day.
Agriculture Sparked Cultural Developments
If you look at history, it’s obvious just how much of an impact agriculture has had on economic and cultural prosperity. Food is the cornerstone of wellness and of wealth in any society dating back to ancient history. Agriculture simply came along and advanced humanity’s ability to grow food that feeds entire populations.
Key points of history shown in 1950 census records and similar eras show just how big of a role agriculture has had to play throughout the decades. The invention of key farming tools such as tractors dramatically increased the amount of corn, wheat, and other commodities that a single farmer could produce. In the modern world, agriculture continues to spark innovation and fuel cultures into the future.
Technology Is Increasing Farmers’ Options
Technology has always been driving the agricultural industry forward, it’s just more prominent now than it was in the past. New technology benefits from what is known as exponential growth. This means that innovation tends to compound itself, leading to faster and faster improvement in any given domain. This is especially true when examining the current state of agriculture.
On the farming side of things, you can look at smart device innovation and see plenty of machines driving ioT in Agriculture. When it comes to predicting weather patterns, advanced data collection services are making it easier to see troubling trends in advance. Technology continues to empower farmers as they grow more food and play an instrumental role in the global food supply.
Data Drives Change in Modern Agriculture
Smart technology is impacting all industries, and agriculture is seeing major changes thanks to new technology. The preponderance of accurate agricultural data, for example, can help farmers predict their yields with greater precision. Measuring potential yields give farmers the accuracy they need when managing their crops and their land.
In the past, data was instrumental in the growth of agriculture as well. Much of the data of the past, however, was written on paper and kept in the personal memories of the farmers. These farmers were unknowingly advancing the landscape of the food supply. In today’s world, fancy tools are technological innovations that perform the same role when compiling agricultural data.
The Weather Has Always Mattered
As with any type of organic process, key factors such as temperature, sunlight, and seasonal shifts are vital in determining accurate results in agriculture. This applied in the past as farmers were often beholden to external conditions when planning their crops for the year. Now the weather is easier to predict, but it can still impact yield in the same ways.
Indoor farming has made it much easier to simulate natural environments without any of the randomness associated with unpredictable weather patterns. More and more farmers are moving to a hybrid model where they grow some crops outdoors in a field and move others indoors. With proper lighting and smart technology, many farmers have found that they can produce similar results without having to worry about the weather disturbing their crops.
Crop Protection Is Evolving
Protecting crops has long been an issue in the realm of agriculture. From migrating pests to hungry animals and rough weather, there is no shortage of potential threats for farmers trying to harvest their crops. In the past, agricultural thinkers had to employ clever mechanisms to guard their crops and ensure a proper yield.
Fast forward to the modern era, and crop protection continues to evolve alongside technology. Hardware such as drones is making it easier for farms to safeguard crops as well. This has several positive effects on the overall food supply. With a drone setup, farmers can now monitor their fields for potential threats.
Some agriculture centers are even using AI to automate coverage of their fields on days with excess rain or sunlight. These types of innovations will impact agriculture around the world as more people learn how to preserve crops. In the past these crops would have been compromised due to unfavorable weather and pests.
Supply Chain Problems Still Impact Agriculture
In the past, most of the problems with food supply came from transportation hiccups. While the world is now more mobile than ever before, this still holds true when looking at agriculture. Slowdowns in the supply chain make it hard for suppliers to get their food where it needs to go.
With many foods having to abide by strict inspection standards and expiration dates, food loss is becoming more of an issue. In the past, trains that went off the tracks could cause a whole city to go hungry for a week. In today’s world, the harmful impacts of supply chain issues are often more global in scale. This leads to economic shifts that have lasting effects on entire nations.
Education Drives Greater Agricultural Developments
In any domain, having access to accurate information is critical for growth and development. In agriculture, knowledge about animal behavior, seed production, and water supply has led to incredible advances. Past generations had to rely on intuition and hearsay in many cases. Those working in agriculture today simply need to reference a text to gather precise information about their crops.
As more information becomes available, farmers can adapt to make their processes more efficient than ever. The internet has led to an increased rate of knowledge transfer, making some previous methods of analysis obsolete.
Environmental Concerns Weigh Heavy
Agriculture began at a time in human history when the population was much smaller than it is today. This meant that food could be consumed and transported with fewer problems. As more people populate Earth, these kinds of challenges are magnified. Those working in the agricultural realm are tasked with combating them.
On top of this, the environment itself is constantly undergoing changes. Many of which are unfavorable for the growth and production of food around the world. Problems with climate change are even threatening the agricultural output of certain regions. Many of them submerging under water or receiving record temperature alterations. These factors are all part of the soup that makes up the complexity of agriculture looking ahead to the future.
Food Waste Is a Growing Problem
Agriculture must also deal with food waste, which is becoming a larger problem by the day. Farmers now have to contend with the fact that their crops may go to waste due to transportation issues or simple bureaucratic oversight. With food waste on the radar of many farmers and food scientists, this issue will likely become more crucial as agriculture evolves.
In the modern world, agriculture has changed the way people conduct business and exchange goods. The history of this field of study provides a fertile landscape for inspection and lessons that still serve the world’s major cultural centers to this day. Remember the impacts of agriculture the next time you’re learning about food growth and crop yields.
