Food Anthropology Background
- When did agriculture begin? How did it change human civilizations?
- Agriculture begun around 1,000 years ago, bringing crops and animals to turn into food. This and hunting was the only thing available for people back then. Meat, vegetables, fruit, and wheat which is actually an ideal healthy meal. They did not suffer the risk of having a diet related disease. Agriculture changed human civilizations because it offered people surplus of food. They no longer had to travel nor work so hard in gathering when they could just harvest and “care” for animals that would turn into the meat they eat in one spot, making a lot of people stick to a piece of land. With this surplus, there was food for more population, thus allowing an increase in the population. In addition, since harvesting was grown in large bundles, they didn’t have to be working all the time leaving people a choice to pursue something else besides hunting.
- Between 1650 and 1850, something happened to the world’s population: what was it? What enabled this to happen, according to the article?
- Between these two time periods, the global population doubled, from 550 million to 1.2 billion. Farmers were able to increase crop production. Crops were able to spread around the world, through its growing network of shipping routes and railways, which ceased many famines. The transportation was able to be refrigerated which helped preserve the food even more. This boost in nutrition also managed decrease death rates since the nutrition managed to fight against diseases. Much of this food came from the US where both the climate and the fertility of the soil was the most efficient in growing crops.
- Briefly describe industrialization and mechanization in the U.S. agricultural system in the early 1900s.
- The new industrialization economy was growing but many Americans were still either farmers or were living out in the rural. To get these people into offices and factories, the government freed them from farm commitment and made the food cheaper. People realized that if certain people focused on specific tasks, they would be more efficient, only having to invest in that one production. That made work easier. So easy that they didn’t need human labor anymore. Mechanization was just as efficient. This made people depend more on chemicals and fossil fuels which later increased up to 5 times. And in animals, hormones and antibiotics were used to increase their growth rate. This surplus made food become more dependable. “These transitions were based on an assumption that cheap energy would always be available to fuel the system.”
- What did agricultural industry concentration (extent to which a small number of corporations control most) do to the industry?
- Since the rate at which the crops and animal meat can be grown has increased, they can now be sold in large stocks. These large quantities mean larger expenses and gains which benefits large companies. These companies would acquire smaller businesses and merge with others, expanding their original companies. An example is vertical integration which controls chains of a food, so only a few companies control a specific food. This means that there are less competitors which leads to less price drops (since they’ve got no competition!)