A History of World Agriculture begins with the emergence of agriculture after thousands of years in which human societies had depended on hunting and gathering. It shows how agricultural techniques developed in the different regions of the world, and how this extraordinary wealth of knowledge, tradition, and natural variety is endangered today by global capitalism, as it forces the unequal agrarian heritages of the world to conform to the norms of profit. During the twentieth century, mechanization, motorization, and specialization have brought to a halt the pattern of cultural and environmental responses that characterized the global history of agriculture until then. Today, a small number of corporations have the capacity to impose on the planet the farming methods that they find most profitable. Mazoyer and Roudart propose an alternative global strategy that can safeguard the economies of the poor countries, reinvigorate the global economy, and create a livable future for all.
Introduction
Evolution, Agriculture, History
The Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
Systems of Slash-and-Burn Agriculture in Forest Environments: Deforestation and the Formation of Post-Forest Agrarian Systems
The Evolution of Hydraulic Agrarian Systems in the Nile Valley
The Inca Agrarian System: A Mountain Agrarian System
Agrarian Systems Based on Fallowing and Animal-Drawn Cultivation with the Ard in the Temperate Regions: The Agricultural Revolution in Antiquity
Agrarian Systems Based on Fallowing and Animal-Drawn Cultivation with the Plow in the Cold Temperate Regions: The Agricultural Revolution of the Middle Ages in Northwestern Europe
Agrarian Systems without Fallowing in the Temperate Regions: The First Agricultural Revolution of Modern Times
The Mechanization of Animal-Drawn Cultivation and the Transportation Revolution: The First World Crisis of Agricultural Overproduction
The Second Agricultural Revolution of Modern Times: Motorization, Mechanization, Synthetic Fertilizers, Seed Selection, and Specialization
Agrarian Crisis and General Crisis
Conclusion
Marcel Mazoyer is professor of comparative agriculture and agricultural development at the National Institute of Agronomy (INA) in Paris, where he succeeded Ren‚ Dumont. He is author of several books on the history of agriculture and has worked on agricultural policy in more than 20 countries. Laurence Roudart is an agricultural engineer and researcher at the INA and has consulted widely in Africa and Asia.