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