AGRICULTURE

BACKGROUND

Agriculture is the science or practice of cultivating the soil producing crops and raising livestock, then eventually creating products. Humans used to get food from hunting and gathering, but developed into agriculture. Agriculture provides more food at one time.

NORTH AMERICA

BARBED WIRE

• For farmers barbed wire keeps wild animals away from crops.
• For ranchers barbed wire keeps livestock inside.
• Barbed wire is still used today for the same reasons and additional reasons.

SOUTH AMERICA

TERRACING

• The Incas invented the idea of terracing.
• Terracing is where flat land is carved into mountains, creating farm land.
• Terracing also helped keep rainwater from running off. This reduced erosion.
• Today, terracing is used in mountainous regions all over the world.

ASIA

PADDY FIELD

• A paddy field is a flooded Paracelsus of land used for growing rice.
• Rice is a very popular food around the world.
• The idea of paddy fields originated in China.
• Paddy fields have become the dominant form of growing rice.

EUROPE

WATER WHEEL

• The water wheel was invented by Greeks and Romans between the third and first century BC.
• The water wheel was used for power and irrigation.
• Irrigation moves water to where crops are.
• The water wheel helped People around the world with irrigation.

AFRICA

Ancient Egyptians used basin irrigation to control the the rise and fall of the Nile River to best suit their agricultural needs. Basin irrigation is a criss-cross network of walls that are formed in a field of crops and flooded by a river. When floods came, the water would be trapped by the walls and used for growing crops. This agricultural system has a lot in common with dams that are used very much today.

AUSTRALIA

FIRE-STICK FARMING

• Aborigines used fire-stick farming to control the growth of plants.
• Fire-stick farming is setting fire to forests or grass.
• This enriches the soil and enables new growth of desirable, edible plants.
• It helped aboriginal people of Australia gather plant food sources that are difficult to get in Australia.