Keywords
A
Absenteism
Free and obligatory teaching at last made it possible to provide education
for the paysants, but it did not occur without difficulty. Rural teachers
had to fight against absenteeism because of the practice of putting children
to work at an early age. By these means and others, rural teachers played
a major role in the evolution of the country.
Back to Index | Cf : From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices
Acquisition
tools
This terminology applies to tools from the
pre-agricultural period which were used in the collection of
« wild foods ». These tools included digging sticks, poles
for beating fruits from trees, rakes used to collect plants, harpoons,
fishing hooks, javelins, traps, and tools to kill animals during hunting
(cf : Leroi-Gourhan, 1973, ed. A.Michel).
Back to Index | Cf : Man
as a predator | Beginning of agriculture
| Agricultural and food techniques
Agrarian
villages
Generally, a village consists of a small number of farmer’s houses
(def.) gathered together. The agrarian village provides evidence of
a collective life (common houses « the commons », a common
well), a protective defense (fortifications= surrounding wall), solidarity
or interdependence and social interaction (festivities).
Neither village archeology nor grave archeology allow us to assert
the existence of social classes.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns...
Agricultural
complexes
The founder species of the Euro-Mediterranean
agriculture, include plants containing sugars (cereals), proteins (legumes),
and lipids (the ones containing fat). To these plants man in his diet added
animal products coming from husbandry (milk and meat) . Agriculture and
animal breeding, co-existed with gathering and hunting during a long period,
thus contributing to a great diversity of foods.
Back to Index | Cf : Founder
species
Agricultural
information
At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th, in several
European countries the government gave the impulse to create information
centers for farmers. In these centers, conferences, organization of demonstration
fields, informative papers and winter lectures, contributed to the spread
of « good techniques », as a result of proving the advantage
of using these techniques. Simultaneously, companies producing chemical
fertilizers (def.), phytosanitary and selection
(def.) products, agricultural mecanisms, etc. developed active publicity
promoting the use of their products.
Agricultural societies and « comices » encouraged better
yields and quality, especially in developing agricultural contests.
Back to Index | Cf : From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices
Agricultural
productivism
The increase in production during the 19th century was the result of artificial
selection
(def.), crossings (def.), and improvement
of animal and plant nutrition (def.), as well
as protection of species against deseases and pests, and more generally
speaking the result of scientific development.
The
enlargement of education and agricultural information contributed to
changing people’s minds and to the adoption of a more rational behaviour
among farmers. Thus, a new step forward was made in the cultural development
of man whereby for the first time in History, science played a major role.
The New agriculture (def.) bloomed
and beyond it the narrowing gap between science and applications will lead
to a cumulative process in the second half of the 20th century, resulting
in a highly productive agriculture.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences | From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices | Introduction
of new agricultural techniques
Agricultural
teaching
Gradually, a three level educational system (local, regional and national)
was created in most of the European countries at the end of the 19th or
at the beginning of the 20th century.
High level teaching (university) was reserved for agricultural managers
and big companies. In France, under the influence of the physiocrats, the
veterinary schools of Lyon and Alfort were created from the end of the
18th century, and during the 19th century, « the schools of agriculture
for higher education», at Grignon, Rennes and Montpellier were formed.
In 1876, the National Agricultural Institute was created and the University
system created the Agricultural Institute of Nancy (1901) and Toulouse
(1909).
Agricultural teaching for farmers would be more fully developed only
after World war II.
Back to Index | Cf : From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices
Agro-food
industries
The industrialization of the transformation of basic agricultural foods
was realized by means of new techniques (preservation, concentration (condensing)
and extraction, substitution,etc...) and of a double shift from agricultural
and domestic activities into agro-food industries.
In 1804, Nicolas Appert (1749-1841) invented a new way of preserving
food by sterilization ; the first preserve factory was built in France
in 1860. Pasteur gave a scientific basis to sterilization, and a new process
called « pasteurization » was applied to various fields. At
the end of the 19th century, Nestlé invented condensed milk, and
Liebig developed beef extracts and dry concentrated soups ; in 1869, Mege-Mouriès
mastered the process of producing margarine.
Little by little, agro-industrial products replaced agricultural products
(e.g., industrial butter replaced dairy butter), and, more recently, ready-made
food-products (def.) helped reduce domestic activities (fast-foods,
pre-cooked and ready-made meals). Agro-food industries were soon fully
expanded.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning and development of the Agro-food industry
Animal-powered
agriculture
The substantial progress made during the
agricultural period is linked to animal domestication and to the use
of animal energy to pull the carts and wagons, the swing ploughs and the
ploughs.
Egypt and Mesopotamia apparently did not use animals to work in the
fields before 4000 BP, and North-western Europe not before 2500 BP. The
first domesticated animals such as oxen, cows and donkeys, were first
used more frequently to carry, then later to pull the first cultivating
tools : swing ploughs then ploughs, as well as harrows.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Agricultural and
food techniques
Archeological
cultures
Prehistorical archeology is an important basis of knowledge for prehistoric
societies. Earthenware, easy to shape, offers numerous shapes and various
decorations. Because it remains well preserved for centuries, it allows
the classification of ancient cultural social groups. One can identify
different archeological cultures as well as particular cultural chronologies
by using the earthenware left behind by former cultures.
Back to Index | Cf : Pots
and containers
Automobile
At the end of the 19th century, short distance transportation was still
mostly done by animal powered vehicles. Bicycles and motorcycles started
the revolution of self-propelled vehicles. But the four wheeled car
with a gasoline engine was tremendously successful. After Henry Ford succeeded
in developing mass production, motorcars became a symbol of the mass consumption
society.
Back to Index | Cf : Revolution
in transportation
C
Capitalism
The new production system replacing feudalism (def.)
was called capitalism. Its characteristics are the relationships between
the owners of the means of production (landlords) and the workers (employees),
who are the task force. Industrial and liberal capitalism was born from
the double revolution in industry and in social organization that took
place in the 18th century.
Back to Index | Cf : Evolution
or Revolution?
Centers
for training and propagation of agriculture
The domestication (def.) of species occurred
in several areas, all over the world within the 10 000 years before the
Christian Era ; these areas included the Middle-East, Africa, Western China,
South-East Asia and Southern Pacific, Meso-America, and South America.
According to Harlan (cf : Man and the cultivated plants, 1987),
three areas played a major role in the spreading of cultivated plants :
the Middle-East, Meso-America, and Western China.
Retour Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | L'origine
géographique de l'agriculture | Early animal domestication centers | Founder
species
Cereals
Nearly everywhere, cereals are the sugar basis of the food complexes formed
in the Neolithic times (def.). Unknown in
a wild state in Europe, they were pre-domesticated in The
Middle-East (def.), where they became relatively numerous in some areas.
From The Middle-East they were transferred to the Euro-Mediterranean area.
The ancient cereals are wheat and oat.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Geographical areas for early agriculture | Founder
species
Chemical
fertilizers
The main use of fertilizer is to bring useful elements to plants. They
contribute, more or less rapidly, to plant nutrition by adding major nutrients
such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N, P and K), and secondary
elements such as calcium, sulphur, magnesium and sodium (Ca, S, Mg and
Na) and also oligo-elements.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences
City-states
City-states were formed in Mesopotamia around 3000 years BP. They represent
a place of power, of built-up wealth, of social inequity. Architecture
(royal palaces, churches, mansions, storage warehouses especially for cereals),
and urbanism (central, residencial and popular town areas) testify to separate
functions and of the inegalitarian structure of the city-states. The City-states
ruled over a more or less substancial area of countryside which produced
the necessary food for their inhabitants.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns,...
Colonization
European colonization was evident as early as the 15th century, after
the discovery of America. But it reached its greatest development at the
end of the 19th century. In January, 1877, Queen Victoria was the sacred
imperatrice of the Indies, underlining the triumph of the Britanic colonial
empire. France soon built the second largest colonial empire. French people
settled in Northern Africa, in black Africa and in Asia (Indochina). Around
1910 the world domination by Europeans was practically finished.
The result of colonization is not easy to measure, and opinions differ
on this matter. Undoubtedly it faciliated exchanges inside empires, and
it also had enormous consequences for agricultural and food economies.
It also contributed to the development of international partitioning of
agricultural work, plantation agriculture (def.),
and the concurrent availability of products from tropical and temperate
climates. It also facilitated population migrations
(def.) and tranfers of technology. Finally, colonization contributed
to food diversification.
Bact to Index | Cf : Toward
a worldwide economy
Containers
Man first used all the natural containers Nature could provide, for cooking
(def.) and for food preservation. An animal can be cooked in its own
skin, a mollusc in its shell, and a mix of different foods in tortoise-shells.
But, as a matter of fact, pottery provides the ideal container to ease
and develop cooking techniques.
Back to Index | Cf : Pots
and containers
Cooked
food
The first cooked food was probably roasted seeds (cereals, chestnuts,...)
or roots and tubers cooked under ashes, etc. Later came soups, porridges,
thick pancakes, and bread.
-
Soups are prepared by cooking vegetables, and sometimes pieces of
meat or fish, in boiling water. Such food which loses its soluble elements
in water, is eaten with the water itself (broth).
-
Porridge is a thick soup made mostly of cereals and leguminous plants,
which was for a long time the basic food of man. Its use was still in favour
among certain peasants in the XIXth century and even later. "Porridge
is our mother for all", says an old Russian proverb.
-
Thick pancakes are porridges cooked on hot stones of a hearth or
under hot ashes.
-
Bread is made of cereals containing gluten which, after adding yeast,
start a process of fermentation that liberates bubbles of Carbon dioxide
(C02). These bubbles make the dough rise. Wheat and rye are used to make
bread. But barley, oat, maïze(corn) and rice, which are used to make
« porridge » cannot be used to make bread that rises.
In pre-Roman times ( Antiquity ), the words bread and thick porridge
( galette ) were often misused. In ancient Egypt people knew bread, but
it was especially in ancient Greece that the making of bread developed.
In ancient Rome, the bakers were of Greek origin. Later, the use of bread
developed in France in the Middle-Ages.
Back to Index | Cf : Emergence
of cooked food
Cooking
There are several ways of cooking : over dry flames, on flaming charcoal,
under hot ashes, on heated stones, steamed, in water heated by introducing
hot stones into it, or else in a fireproof container. According to J.Barrau
: In this long range history of food techniques, an important step forward
was made when these men (...) invented moist cooking. It allowed a greater
diversity of diets and flavors, as well as a broader variety of mixed foods
in the same container.
Back to Index | Cf : Emergence
of cooked food
Crossing
Artificial selection (def.) is based on a thoughtful
choice from breeders in order to improve varieties and races according
to the economic goals of man.
Crossing between two genetically different parental lineages, allows
the creation of new varieties and new races of animals.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences
Cuisine
According to Lévi-Strauss, raw food is a « natural »
food while cooked food is a « cultural » food. To cook, particularly
in moist heat, is also to mix, to add seasonings, to add flavors and odors
; it allows the creation of colors, smells and flavors, that do not exist
in nature. Fine cooking is a fundamental cultural act.
Back to Index | Cf : Emergence
of cooked food
Cultural
development
Urban revolution shifts the center of the cultural development. It is in
trying to obtain sufficient food that man developed his cultural background
and shaped the first forms of social organization. Agriculture being now
well established, towns (def.) became the new place
for creation. The Sumerian civilization invented handwriting, and later
other inventions occurred. The time was then not far when dominated peasants
would be considered ignorant by a dominating society and by urban dwellers.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns,...
D
Dependency
of farmers
Very early, rich and powerful people understood that « to own land
» means « to own the peasants » as well. Peasants were
subject to three powers : public (through taxes and statutory labour= duty),
religious ( through tribute paid to church) and private ( through tribute
paid to landlords). Thus there appeared a dominating ownership which subjected
land and peasants, insuring at the same time its own food supplies by priviledge,
and its power and glory. Social hierarchy for a long time was founded on
a land hierarchy.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns,...
Domesticated
fire
A domesticated fire allows the conversion from raw food to cooked food,
and the gathering of a social group around the hearth
(def.). When did the home fire appear ? Approximately 1 500 000 years
ago in China according to Farb (1981) and 500 000 years ago in France according
to C. Perlès.
Back to Index | Voir : Avènement
de l'aliment cuit
Domestication
It is the main change from pre-agricultural
times to agricultural times. During
the long pre-agricultural period man learned how to recognize the food
species. According to their adaptation to domestication as well as to his
own « comparative advantages », man selected some species for
his objectives and started « a domestic economy ». The domesticated
species were integrated to the house (def.) which
became the reference frame for life and production in the basic social
unit.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Early animal domestication centers | Founder
species
E
« Economie-monde»
This French expression is due to F.Braudel. It includes a certain number
of countries linked together by interchanges ruled by dominating power
states. The « Economie-Monde » as the economy of big groups,
should not be confused with the world wide economy. The first big «
Economie-Monde » in Europe started under the pressure of Spain, after
the discovery of America. The need for hand-workers brought slavery and
the triangular trade (Europe, Africa, America, Europe). Holland, and then
England, took the place of Spain one after the other as a dominating power
state.
Back to Index | Cf : Plants
of the discovery
Experimentation
and demonstration
Creation of new varieties implies testing their advantages by the means
of rigorous experimentation. By demonstrating their superiority compared
to the usually cultivated varieties, and through the creation of demonstration
fields in rural communities, farmers could visualize the advantages and
decide to adopt the new varieties more easily.
Back to Index | Cf : From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices
F
Feudalism
This name is used here as a way of producing food, being characterized
by definite relations between nobles and serfs. These conditions which
were in favour in the Middle-Ages declined at the end of this period, with
the development of absolute Monarchies and centralized States, and serfdom
disappeared at the same time.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Evolution or Revolution
?
Food
complexes
To feed himself man has to eat food products that contain nutriments (feeding
elements). These nutriments are sugars (carbon hydrates), proteins ( nitrogen
components), and lipids (fats ), as well as micro-nutriments (minerals,
vitamins), and fibers.
The nutritional needs of man are quantified by nutritionists. Thus
in Europe, the average recommended diet consists of 2 500 calories and contains
55% sugars, 15% proteins and 30% lipids.
The combination of species that are collected, hunted, fished, or cultivated
and raised by animal breeders, to provide man with a nutritionally satisfying
and balanced diet, is called a «food complex».
Very early, man combined nourishing species to achieve this result.
Back to Index | Cf : Man
as a predator
Food
costs for the consumer
The easiest way to characterize food systems is to calculate the way a
consumer shares its expenses. At the level of a food production line, the
shares between agriculture and food-industries can be calculated.
In the West, the share of the food-industries is equal to or exceeds
that of the agriculture. Expenses along the food production line can also
be calculated. In France, when a consumer spends 100 F, agriculture receives
25 F, the food-industries 25 F, the distribution line 30 F, the «
linked industries » (producing production equipment for the food
sector) 20 F. Agriculture remains the irreplaceable part of the production
line, but on top of this basis was built an industrial and commercial superstructure,
with a heavily dominating economic weight.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agro-food industry
Food
field
Not all the existing foods in a given place are eaten by man, for several
reasons : because the identification of food species is not yet finished,
or else because man rejects certain food substances even though they are
good to eat. He rejects them either for religious reasons (Muslims don’t
eat pork), for social reasons ( taboos linked with social groups), or for
nutritional reasons (certain foods are reputed to produce harmful effects).
Thence the definition of food given by J.Tremolières : « a
nourishing substance that excites appetite, and is accepted by the social
group that eats it ».
Back to Index | Cf : Man
as a predator
Free
trade
Free trade was first a theory, according to which countries benefited from
opening their borders and making international trade easier.
Free trade also had a political basis, and was successful in Europe
under the impulse of England in the second half of the 19th century. Free
trade allowed international trade to develop. However, the big agricultural
depression that lasted from 1880 to 1900 brought some countries back to
protectionism.
Back to Index | Cf : Toward
a worldwide economy
H
Hearth
It is the location of the domestic fire (def.).
The hearth organization characterizes a « cultural » stage.
Hearth gives birth to new activities such as the organization of activities
centered around the fire, fire maintenance, wood collection, invention
of ovens and containers (def.), preparation of
food, and cooking (def.). Women who became the nourishing
persons of a social group were often in charge of these new activities.
La femme au foyer (housewife) is probably a very ancient term.
Back to Index | Cf : Emergence
of cooked food, | Birth of agrarian
villages, towns...
Household
equipment
At the stage of an agro-industrial society, even the household is
industrialized. Refrigerators, freezers, dish-washers, domestic robots,
microwave ovens, etc., are symbols of the industrialization of food production
lines, as well as societies of mass consumption
(def.).
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences
Houses
When agriculture and animal husbandry started, community life was organized
around the house (domus), which became the center of a production
unit (and acquisition unit) as well as a consuming unit, to which were
linked a production area and domesticated species. The house was also a
gathering place for people forming the basic socio-economic unit (family
with relatives and domestics), and often including animals. It was also
a place for storage of production tools, products and foods, as well as
a place for food and artifact activities.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns...
Human
time
It is the period starting from the first traces of man on earth and lasting until
the present. According to Y.Coppens (cf : The monkey, Africa and man,
ed. Fayard, 1983), this period is of about 3 million years.
It includes the three periods of food-history :
Back to Index | Cf : Introduction
| Pre-agricultural times | Agricultural
times | Agro-industrial times
| man as a predator
Hygiene
Hygiene is the part of human and animal medical sciences that studies the
proper means of staying in good health. More generally speaking, it concerns
the protection of live species. It includes the fight against enemies of
production i.e. diseases and pests.
The works of Pasteur (1822-1895) had numerous applications in the field
of microbial diseases (plague in oxen, anthrax in sheep, cholera in hens,
silk worm disease,etc.).
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agronomic sciences
K
King
cotton
The importation of cotton, a low cost textile easy to fashion, increased
the development of the textile industry which greatly benefited from mechanization.
In the middle of the XIXth century, American plantations based on slavery
produced 5/6 of the world ‘s total cotton production. Cotton material at
that time made up half of the English export. Within one century, the value
of cotton cloth, expressed in gold, was divided by one hundred.
Back to Index | Cf : Evolution
or Revolution ?
M
Manual
agriculture
This type of farming is based mostly on human energy and tools. Nevertheless,
man used fire to clear the ground, to allow the sowing of seeds or to help
animals enter the pastures.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Agricultural and
food techniques
Mass
consumption
A society of mass consumption is contrary to a society of mass poverty.
In a society of mass poverty, the average level of consumption is low,
and most of the people consume a small amount of goods. (see graphs in
the exhibition). In a society of mass consumption, the average level of
consumption is very high and most of the people consume a large amount
of goods.
The society of mass consumption is the result of a higher purchasing
power (def.), as well as of social struggles for a better share of
the production benefits. Mass consumption makes possible bigger markets
(super and hyper), but it is not an egalitarian society.
Back to Index | Cf : Evolution
or Revolution ? | Advent of mass
consumption
Mechanized
agriculture
Agriculture was animal-powered (def.) until
the end of the XIXth century, while animals were the main source of energy.
It was then gradually mechanized, as mechanization was applied in
pratically all farming processes whenever possible, thanks to technical
developments. Thus the sower, the reaper, the tedder, etc. began to be
used. At the end of the XIXth century, farmers used the steam engine, internal
combustion engine, and the first applications of electricity. These
auxiliary energies helped threshing and everyday farming activities (skimming,
churning). But it was only in the second half of the XXth century
that agricultural motorization became imperative.
Retour Index | Cf : Agricultural
and food techniques | Introduction of new agricultural techniques
Middle-East center
The Middle-East center is the starting point for Euro-mediterranean agriculture.
Wild species which already existed in this part of the world were pre-domesticated
over a large area centered on « the Fertile Crescent », between
the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, and were later established in Mediterranean
countries and Europe. The diffusion of plants into Europe can be
traced and dated from East to West : agriculture developed in Greece approximately
at the same time as in the Middle-East, it reached Mediterranean and Central
Europe respectively through the Mediterranean Sea or the Danube River,
between -5,200 and -4,000 years , and reached Western Europe between -4,000
and -2,800.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of agriculture | Geographical areas for early agriculture | Early animal domestication centers | Founder
species | Agricultural and food techniques
Migrations
During the 19th century Europe experienced the greatest population migration
flux known in History. From 1815 to 1915 approximately 46 million European
people migrated overseas, and about 20 million moved from 1920 to 1970
(cf : P.Bairoch). The « conquest » of young
countries (def.) and their colonization (def.),
as well as a taste for adventure and the quest for better living conditions,
explain the high rate of European population migrations.
Back to Index | Cf : Toward
a worldwide economy
Motivation
to produce
The development of sciences and their
practical application, education
and formation, and the obvious superiority of new
techniques contributed to an increase in agricultural production. But
this increase resulted also from a strong motivation to produce, linked
with the family operation of farms.
Actually, the New agriculture (def.)
substituted family-operated farms practicing polyculture and cattle breeding
for the old agro-pastoral system based on separation between agriculture
and breeding. Production was increased (abolition of fallowing lands, introduction
of fodder in the rotation of crops) and was more demanding in work. The
farming family counted neither time nor effort, and, according to
Marx, was self-exploited. Fortunately, mecanization
(def.) helped reduce manual work and its burden.
Back to Index | Cf : Introduction
of new agricultural techniques
N
Neolithic
times
In the Euro-mediterranean area, the pre-domestication of species started
in the Middle-East (def.). Later, changes
happening in this geographic zone gave birth to a new civilization called
« the Neolithic civilization ». It is characterized by the
use of polished stones, the domestication (def.)
of food species, the development of a domestic economy, the substitution
of production tools for acquisition tools
(def.), an increased use of earthenware, the adoption of a sedentary
life style, the building of houses and of agrarian villages, and later
the achievement of city-states and of kingdoms. The « Neolithization
» of Europe corresponds to the introduction and the development of
the Neolithic civilization in this area.
Back to Index | Cf : Emergence
of cooked food, Beginning of agriculture,
The millstone
New
Agriculture
The main goal of the agricultural revolution was to increase cereal production
which was the food basis of society, and to bring diversification in food
consumption. The latter goal was attained by introducing the rotation of
native plants with plants of the Discovery
: rotating crops of potato and American corn (maize).
For these new cultures more manure was needed, and therefore more animals
and fodder ; this could be accomplished by introducing them in the rotation
and by suppressing the practice of fallowing land. The New Agriculture
combines breeding and cultivation into a new system of production called
"polycultivation and breeding". This new system will replace the old agro-pastoral
system started at Neolithic times (def.)
and based on the separation of breeding and cultivation.
Back to Index | Cf : Evolution
or Revolution? | From agronomic sciences to agricultural practices | Advent of mass consumption society
Number
of inhabitants per active worker
This number indicates the change in labor productivity when the agro-food
commercial scale is balanced. In England, between 1850 and 1950, this number
increased from 4 to 25, and from 3 to 6 in France. But England had to import
a lot of food products when France balanced its agricultural- commercial
scale. In 1980, the number of inhabitants per active worker in France was
approximately 45, and since then this country has become the second largest
agricultural food exporter of the world.
Back to Index | Voir : Introduction of new agricultural techniques
Nutrition
Nutrition includes the whole process of assimilation that produces the
necessary vital energy within a live organism. Chlorophyllous plants have
special pigments called chorophylls, which are able to synthetize the organic
components they are made of, by absorption of Carbon dioxide. These plants
can grow and increase if they have light energy, Carbon dioxide, water
and mineral elements, in their environment.
Nutritional sciences started with chemistry, whose founder is Lavoisier
(1743-94). Agronomists developed and taught "agricultural chemistry". But
an understanding of plant nutrition and of new rules defining manuring,
started only after much work and the developement of experimentation. In
1840, Justus Liebig invented a sensational theory according to which plant
feeding relies only on mineral elements. This hypothesis was incorrect,
but played a major role in the production and use of chemical
fertilizers (def.).
Animals unable to synthetize organic material from Carbonic dioxide,
must find it in the environment. Systems based on the cultivation of fodder
aim to produce this organic material abundantly for domestic animals.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences
Nutritional
field
This is the whole set of nourishing food substances known by man at a given
place. The discovery and identification of food plants was done by primitive
populations in search of food.
Back to Index | Cf : Man
as a predator
P
Plantation
agriculture
In the frame of colonial empires a new speculative agriculture was developed,
called «plantation agriculture ». It was regulated at
an international scale by worldwide markets and the law of profits. Thus
appeared a mass agriculture based in particular on the
plants of the Discovery.
The main products of plantations were fiber plants (cotton, jute),
sugar plants (cane), oil plants (peanut, oil palm), tropical fruits (banana),
plants containing stimulants (tea, coffee, cocoa), rubber trees, etc...
Back to Index | Cf : Toward
a worldwide economy
Plants
of the Discovery
New plants were brought to Europe after the « Discovery » of
America by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This tranfer is only one particular
case of a permanent phenomena linked to general History. In Neolithic
times (def.), the transfer of pre-domesticated species from the Middle
East (def.) started the first big food revolution on a worldwide scale.
Roman conquerors and later the Arabs and barbarous invaders, carried their
own food species and brought their own habits of consumption. The Crusades
brought to Western Europe plants originated from the Middle-East ( rice,
mulberry and silk worms, sugar cane (from Cyprus) and cotton (from southern
Spain). But the second big food revolution in Europe came with the plants
of the Discovery.
Back to Index | Cf : The
plants of the Discovery
Plough
In Northern Europe the plough was used from the beginning of the present
era. A plough has a coulter that splits the soil, a ploughshare that cuts
it horizontally and a blade that turns it over. A plough can be put on
wheels and the depth of the furrow can be adjusted.
In the Middle ages, ploughing was done in a shorter time and with more
efficiency when horses replaced cows, and inventions such as the harness,
the horseshoe, hooks, double harnessing,etc. appeared.
Back to Index | Voir : Agricultural
and food techniques
Pottery
Pottery is a container made of baked clay. The first earthenware is dated
6500 years BP in the Middle-East. Earthenware can be used for cooking and
preparation of wild foods, but it seems that it is only after the development
of agriculture that earthenware production became important. Man used other
containers : glass was used to make bottles and later wood was used to
make barrels in Gaul. The agro-industrial period opens the way to all kind
of containers by using various materials.
Back to Index | Cf : Pots
and containers
Pre-history
This period corresponds to human time (def.)
for which there are no written documents. Our knowledge of these times
is mostly based on archeology. Information about this period comes from
the gathering of objects and traces of human life that allow one
to characterize ways of living and « cultural » stages of development.
Back to Index | Cf : Man as a predator | Emergence of cooked food | Pots and containers
Primary
school teaching
In 1810 in England, ¾ of the farming population did not know how
to read, and in France it was even worse. The physiocrats who wanted to
spread the New agriculture (def.)
beginning in 1764 presented a project to create teaching in the 30 000
rural parishes, but did not succeed. It is only at the end of the 19th
century that people in favour of a republican and democratic society succeeded
creating free and obligatory lay teaching (J.Ferry, 1881).
Back to Index | Cf : From
agronomic sciences to agricultural practices
Productivity
of land and work
A town (def.) characterized by the division of labour
cannot increase its development unless the productivity of land and of
agricultural work reach levels where this productivity is able to feed
both farmers and non farmers. For example, if an agricultural population
is 90% of the whole population and if active farm workers represent 50%
of the agricultural population, each active worker must provide for 100/45
= 2,2 persons. A town cannot increase its development without an increase
of the productivity of farming work.
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns,...
Purchasing
power
It depends on the balance between the average level of prices (P) and the
income of the consumer (i) so that : PP = i/P. If the average level of
prices increases, as is the case in an inflation process, with no increase
in income, the result is a loss of purchasing power. On the other
hand, if the average level of prices decreases because of production
benefits and of concurrency, the result is an increase in the purchasing
power of the consumer.
Back to Index | Cf : Advent
of mass consumption
R
Railways
At the beginning of the 19th century, transportation in Europe was mostly
done with animal power or water power on rivers. Slow and difficult to
drive, such transport is not proper for costly and perishable agricultural
produce such as food products. Substitution of mechanical energy (steam
machine) for natural animal power brought a complete change in transportation.
In 1830, the Manchester-Liverpool railway line was inaugurated, and
by 1850 Great Britain was already criss-crossed by 26 000 km of railway
tracks. By 1870 the French railway system was 17 500 km long, and
short distance railway lines started to open up the countryside.
Back to Index | Cf : Revolution
in transportation
Ready-made
food products
These are food products sold with storage, preservation, and consumption
facilities. These ready-made foods require less time for domestic work.
This is the result of objective conditions for consumption in our
modern society.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agro-food industry
Refrigerated
transport
The revolution in shipping with steamers was completed by a revolution
in cooling systems. In 1876, Frenchman
Charles Tellier carried in his boat Le Frigorifique (the refrigerator),
a meat shipment from Buenos Aires to Rouen. Shipment of meat
to Europe became very substantial, and fishing boats added refrigerators
to their equipment. The volume of transportation by sea increased from
one million tons in 1788 to five million in 1861, and reached twelve million
by 1913.
Back to Index | Cf : Revolution
in transportation
Rural
population drop
Mechanization (def.) of all agricultural processes
became necessary, as industrial development needed new employment and offered
new jobs to the farmers. Throughout Europe, farming population decreased
at different rates in each country. In Great Britain the decrease was rapid,
since it was the first industrialized country with rather more industry
than elsewhere, and therefore it was easier to mechanize. The reduction
in rural populations was slower in southern European countries, but these
countries could catch up later on.
Back to Index | Cf : Introduction
of new agricultural techniques
S
Selection
During the pre-agricultural period,
collected and hunted species evolved out of man’s control, although gathering
from natural environment might have affected the life cycles of neighbouring
species. During the pre-agricultural period, variations in the climate
occurred several times. Darwin (1809-1882), founder of the evolutionist
theory, explained that only the most adapted species could resist a change
in climate and the lack of food. Domestication
(def.) is based on the surviving species. In place of natural selection,
man substituted an artificial selection and subordinated species to his
own economic needs. The transfer of species was added to this artificial
selection and highly contributed to the evolution of the agriculture.
Initially, plant selection was done on a national basis, but later
became international. As early as 1850, English varieties invaded the Continent.
In France, the Vilmorin family created new varieties and distributed them
with great success.
As for animals, a standard was defined as the ideal expected for a
race on the basis of visible characteristics of the animal. Groups of breeders
emerged in England from the 18th century and in France from the 19th century,
in order to create and manage genealogical records.
This process of transformation of species started among the peasants
as soon as agriculture began, but in the 19th century this transformation
began to be based on scientific research. This formed the basis of an acceleration
in science and production development, in the 20th century.
The Neo-Darwinist theory also called "the synthetic theory of evolution",
upholds that the change of species is based on genetics, and that transmissible
mutations do occur. Molecular biology showed the role played by genetical
information localized in the DNA sequence. Genetical ingineering opens new
vistas. In the field of animal improvement, artificial insemination (crossing)
and in-vitro breeding of embryos, is the new pathway for progress.
Evolution in techniques brought serious problems. Among them is the
reduction of the number of remaining species to feed us. Only three plant
species provide 41% of the agricultural plant production and around nine
species provide 2/3 of the world production. The result is a loss in the
biological diversity.
Back to Index | Cf : Beginning
of the agronomic sciences
Steamships
Substitution of steamships for sailboats led to a reduction in the
cost of freight shipments. In 1860, shipping of one ton from Australia
to Liverpool cost 600 FF. By 1870, it cost only 56 FF (...). Since then,
long distance shipment of agricultural products has greatly expanded.
Back to Index | Cf : Revolution
in transportation
Swing
plough
This kind of plough was probably in use since the 3rd millennium in Europe
and was pulled by oxen. A swing-plough does not turn the soil over but
merely leaves between furrows an untouched crest which needs crossing ploughing.
It was the reason for square shaped fields.
The swing-plough was improved by using construction material which
were more efficient. At Sumer the swing-plough had a stone ploughshare.
The metal ploughshare began to be used in the late metal period.
The swing-plough was relatively well adapted to Mediterranean soils
where it was used until the end of the 20th century. But it was poorly
adapted to the heavy and humid soils of Northern Europe, however.
Back to Index | Cf : Agricultural
and food techniques, The swing plough
T
Towns
Towns are characterized by a working social hierarchy and generally by
a high number of people who are not productive farmers (administration,
trade, craft). The archeology of towns and graves shows clearly these are
places with social inequity
Back to Index | Cf : Birth
of agrarian villages, towns,...
U
Understanding
a tool
Agriculture substitutes the tools of production for the tools used for
food gathering. Some tools can be used for both. This is the case for the
digging stick which can be used to dig out wild plants as well as to plant
them into the soil for growth, and for the scythe used to harvest wild
cereals as well as planted ones. The spade (to turn over the soil),
the hoe, the knives to collect, are typical tools for manual
agriculture (def.). But diverse kinds of tools exist, reflecting the
available building materials, the types of agriculture and production and
the handlers of tools (men and women).The understanding of a tool must
take into account all the factors of diversification.
Back to Index | Cf : Agricultural
and food techniques
Use
of auxillary power
The introduction of animal powered agriculture
(def.) marks the beginning of auxillary power used by man and the development
of productive forces. The energetic power of man increased even more by
using natural energy : the wind to propel the boats and turn windmills,
and running water to move watermills. These natural energies helped grind
cereals, but also helped the development of the first forms of industry.
Back to Index | Cfr : Agricultural
and food techniques
Y
Young
countries
Countries such as the U.S.A., Canada, and Australia, that offered possibilities
of population migration (def.) and development,
were called « young » in the 19th century. These countries
underwent an extraordinay development in agricultural production : the
cultivated surface for wheat grew from 2 to 6 million hectares between
1880 and 1900 ; Australian sheep cattle production grew from 23 million
heads in 1861 to 106 million in 1891. These countries, with small populations,
exported the major part of their production to Europe.
Back to Index | Cf : Toward
a worldwide economy
Agropolis-Museum
| History of food
& agriculture