APR 13

23. APR 13: Unit 6: The Future of Food

Montgomery, David. Chapter 1: "Good Old Dirt" Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations(pp. 1-9); (9)
Diamond, Jarred. "Agriculture's Mixed Blessings" (180-191) (11)

At the start of agriculture 98% of food producers supported a small ruling elite that controlled food distribution. Now only 1% of the population work in agricultural food production.

David Montgomery wants to tell a history soil and of human use of soil. Historical failures, but also interested in sustainability.

Old "progressivist" view
Ants practice agriculture and something like animal husbandry [1]
Details about the spread of agriculture - not like other great ideas (hand ax designs). Spread slowly, failed alot.
Advantages of hunter gatherer lifestyle

Short work week, more leisure - as long as you have enough Mongongo nuts!
Better nutrition (in some comparisons)
No impact from crop failures
But, in recent research, not Diamond’s: hunter-gatherers’ lifestyle was very violent and competitive.

185: Paleopathology and medical anthropology: what you tell from feces, mummies, old bones and cookware Am. Indians who changed to ag.

Health evidence from early adoption of agriculture
Height (Ice age h-ger’s 5’10”, early ag-er’s 5’ 3”), nutrition, cavities, anemia, tb, syphillis, mortality (5% past 50 v 1%)
Mono-crop dependency a risk in early ag.
Population concentration promotes diseases and pathogen spread.
Low carb, varied nutrients
Class structures emerge after agriculture: diff outcomes dep. on class
Sexual inequality: agriculture requires labor, women do that, but also produce more humans for labor. They become part of the productivity of the farm. Pregnant every 2 years instead of 4 for h-ger’s.

Increased population density made hunt/gather politically vulnerable (10 malnourished farmers can still dominate 1 h-ger.
Hunt/gather requires lots of room
Agriculture created society that could produce sophisticated art (churches).
Grants that agriculture led to lots of great things, but also to large populations, which affects the equation about quality of life.