The Farmers of Yesterday And Today
If you were to try to pinpoint the first exact moment when mankind began to cultivate plants that were edible, you would be going back in time thousands and thousands of years. As far back as prehistoric man, there have been records left regarding man battling the elements to provide enough food for his family. The farmers then and for quite a long time after continuously struggled to provide enough for their family and have enough left over to sell at market. There was no grocery store down the road and it was not an easy life for anyone.
The farmers that work today on their crops have it much easier than their ancestors. New developments in the realm of food and agriculture have led to better harvesting techniques and better, more health conscious pesticides. Now farmers can produce enough to guarantee that their families have enough year round while still providing everyone else with the opportunity to have fresh produce and meat.
Rural development allowed farmers more access to larger tracts of land. They could farm on a much larger scale in order to produce high enough quantities of produce to help feed the rest of the world. Farmers now have more excess crops that are sold to huge processing plants. The processing plants then prepare the food for distribution to markets around the world. What may have started out as a small garden patch on the farm blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry. There are still risks for farmers such as pests or crop damage but at least farmers no longer have to worry about starving if they have a bad harvest. There is an inherent food security now for everyone involved. If a country has been hit by natural disasters, then they can receive aid from other countries during their hardship.
If there were one group to thank for the radical changes for the farmers it would be the USDA. The United States Department of Agriculture regularly checks to make sure that the food being grown on farms is safe for the public. Their research and development division has created great innovations for farmers to have more resources and techniques for their farms. Food and agriculture is a major factor in every person’s life so there are times when the USDA will help farmers out if there has been a natural disaster. This is definitely a change from cavemen digging in the dirt with no guarantee of success.