Food.
Hette Mollema presented an interesting talk on the origins of our food. Prior to people adopting farming some 12,000 years ago, hunter gatherers relied on the natural landscape to provide sustenance. It is thought that world population at this time was in the order of tens of millions. Their diet depended on the seasons and what was around in those seasons. Agriculture slowly developed in Eurasia, Northern Africa and to a small extent, the Americas.
Agriculture meant that people lived in groups, closely sharing space with animals that had been domesticated. The incidence of cross species disease increased such that it is thought that early farming populations didn’t experience old age as we know it now. Some grasses were developed into high yield crops such as wheat and rice. Domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and chicken became the major sources of protein for growing populations. Over time diets changed from what was seasonably available from the wild to what grew well. So diets changed from a diverse range of wild foods to a few food types. Most of what we consume today is very similar to what was being consumed 500 years ago. Australia didn’t have animals suitable for domestication nor the vegetation suitable for providing high yield crops.
As Europe explored the world, it found other foods on new continents, such as potatoes and maize from South America, which are now grown around the world. Good food types from anywhere are now grown everywhere.
Agriculture also provided surplus food which could be stored for later consumption and meant that surplus farming labour was available for other tasks such as making ceramics and the extraction of metals. These lead to the early arts and sciences, and then to civilisation.
Climate change will impinge on current world farming areas. As the world warms, farming will become less productive, placing stresses on world population which is expected to level out at about 10.4 billion (lots more than 12,000 years ago). The availability of fresh water is also expected to become an issue, further placing limits on population.
Tom Keating