FNS 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Plough, Soil Fertility, Plant Genetics
3 Mar 2017
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When human populations were small, they would use slash and burn agriculture meaning farmers would cut down trees, plants crops and then move on when they died. Farmers learned to use rotation to improve soil fertility. Family farms needed substantial areas of feed crops to provide for livestock. Diverse farming system: multiple types of plants and animals were grown together. Native americans planted corn, squash, and beans in mixed patterns. Using slaves, southern farmers planted cotton to feed the waiting mills in england. Relied on horses for preparing and cultivating their land. Fertilizers and pesticides changed farming in the usa. New implements such as steel plow, mechanical seeders and steam powered threshers drove industrialization. Tractors covered more ground than house so farmers were able to buy more land, reduced labor for crop cultivation. Farmers with larger farms bought smaller farms and was referred to as technological treadmill; do(cid:374)"t a(cid:272)t fast e(cid:374)ough the(cid:374) you fall off the tread(cid:373)ill.
