This page provides background into how agriculture came to be, what it is, and the issues that stand in its way today, with an emphasis on the importance of small-farming as opposed to commercial big business farming.
The Neolithic Revolution was the dawn of agricultural activity and began 10,000 years ago; before that, humans practiced hunting-gathering as their main subsistence strategy. In the beginning, it actually formed as an accident. The plants that humans were gathering gradually began domesticating themselves by gene selection based on the choices humans made when finding food. This evolution of living led to permanent settlements, the establishment of social classes, and rise of civilizations.
What began as a pretty big whoops, has now become the practice that feeds the world. Some could say that agricultural is partly, or wholly, responsible for the increase in global population. It stands to logic seeing as how agriculture allows food sources to be produced and manipulated, and therefore as more people show up, more food can be grown.
Just like other industries that we see growing and expanding today, so has agriculture. Today, and for some time now, we don’t just practice agriculture for the sake of food, but many other things as well. Clothes, fuel, medicine, and other products are also areas that we use agriculture for. When we wear cotton material, when we put gas in our car that contains ethanol additive, or when we take vitamins and plant based medicines, we prosume agriculture.
Agriculture is the cultivation of land for effective crop growth and raising of livestock. It consists of farming crops (soybeans, cotton, rice, milo, corn, wheat, fruits, vegetables), animals and livestock (dairy cows, cattle, pigs, fowl, fish), ranching, and now even some forms of energy. It is also insanely important to human survival. It has positive impacts on the environment- when done properly and sustainably. These include:
- Preservation of ecosystems such as rainforest ecosystems for the sake of industries like coffee and chocolate.
- Soil enrichment from planting of cover crops.
- Oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption from the basic photosynthesis process
- Water retention into natural underground aquifers and basins.
- Reuse of water resources.
- Soil retention and erosion prevention.
- Fighting climate change by decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
These positive impacts are all possible through agriculture, but not if the practice is abused. Small farming makes these possible because it consists of intensive care and attention paid to what is being grown and how it is being grown. Like in many other industries, agriculture has evolved into a business where big business companies want to manipulate the government, economy, and farmers into making them more money. 
The larger and more indentured the agriculture industry becomes to banks who give out land grants and seed loans, to companies who dictate what seeds are used, and the government which controls the market prices and therefore controls what farmers plant and produce, the harder it will be for farmers to do practice sustainable farming. Mainly because, with all the pressure from outside actors, in order to make a living, farmers have to play by these rules, and at times cut corners to do so.
With all the outside interference, issues have risen environmentally and internally for the agriculture industry because of urban development and commercial farming.
- Over 40 acres of U.S. farm and ranch land are lost every hour.
- 57% of farmers are 55 or older.
- 1.7 billion tons of topsoil are lost to erosion each year in America.
- 91% of fruits and 77% of vegetables are grown on urban-edge farms under threat from development.
Not only has agriculture become internally flawed, it is also a dying industry. When commercial farming takes place, it is solely for a profit with no regard to animal welfare, environmental sustainability or economic welfare of those who practice the industry. Animals on commercial farms are treated with no respect and live in horrible conditions just so farms can make as much profit as possible, and as efficiently as possible. Many people now have a problem with this, and rightly so.
To combat some of the negative impacts of commercial farming, people have begun a movement of buying free range meat, joining the organic movement, buying from local farms and farmers markets, and even beginning to grow and produce things of their own. These moves back toward small, intensive farming are beneficial to people, to animals, and to the environment, and they are even supported by major agricultural advocacy groups like American Farmland Trust.
Additionally, farming-whether it’s commercial or small-is a lifestyle, not an occupation. Farmers don’t get vacations when the animals have to be fed or the crops need to be tended. It’s not a 9-5 shift, sometimes farmers are up before the sun is and don’t get home until long after the sun sets. There is no company insurance option or pension, and farmers aren’t guaranteed a salary: it all depends on what nature decides to give. It demands that the industry and community get back to the roots of what agriculture started out to be:
A way to stay alive, and keep loved ones alive.
Future for Farming 