Caroline Dillard Class Reading 3: 4/17/23

 In chapter 6 of Humans in the Landscape Lee et al. discusses the rise of agriculture. Agriculture was one of the main reasons humans became so successful. Agriculture was invented several thousand years ago, moving humans away for the practice of hunting and gathering. The invention of agriculture increased the human carrying capacity to new heights. Humans began to alter the landscape by making the land suitable to grow crops. This included clearing land which changed ecosystem functions. Many different crops and animals were domesticated. The “farm ecosystem” was often subject to wind and soil erosion and fields were depleted of nutrients. The use of agriculture allowed more people to live in one place, but this was not sustainable. Diseases were spread, pests abounded, and soil became infertile due to overuse. Agriculture allowed people to establish permanent settlements because everything they were able to grow or manufacture whatever they needed to live through agriculture and other labor. I find agriculture a very interesting topic. I wrote a paper last semester on sustainable agriculture practices which is known as Conservation Agriculture. With an increasing global population that demands more food, it will be interesting to see what new agricultural innovations emerge to meet those needs. When I have a home, I want to have a garden in which I grow a variety of vegetables and herbs. There is something special about eating something that came from your backyard. 

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