Everett Griner talks about how farming had advanced in the past one-hundred years and where it may go in the future in today’s Agri View.
Advancement of Farming
Did you hear that feature I did a couple weeks ago about that tractor that follows voice command? Well it’s perhaps ten years in the future but, how many of you know when the first tractor was used on a farm? Tractors were becoming popular in the 1930’s and 40’s but the first tractor to be used extensively in about 1915. So it took one hundred years to go from that ancient relic to today’s multi-functional machine that do the work of thirty men. See, it took two mules, a man and forty hours to produce one hundred pounds of cotton. And that had to be hand-picked. You know of course that with today’s technology it would be more like forty acres and thirty three hundred bales of cotton in that same span of time. What is most astounding of all is, where we will be in the next one hundred years? Even our most knowledgeable scholars can’t even image that far ahead. It doesn’t really matter does it?
That’s Agri View for today, I’m Everett Griner.
From: Animal Smart
Comparing agriculture of the past with today
If you ask your grandparents how they got their food, they might have a different answer than you think. Why is this? It’s because agriculture has changed throughout history.
There are over seven billion people in the world and that number is expected to grow to nine billion by the year 2050 (Simmons, 2011). That’s a lot of people to feed! How will we be able to provide safe, nutritious food to all these people? The answer: through changes and advances in the agricultural system.
Over 200 years ago, 90 percent of the U.S. population lived on farms and produced their own food to eat. But today, only two percent of the population produces the food, including fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy, that everyone eats (Prax, 2010). That’s a large change in the amount of people associated with producing food and making sure that everyone has enough to eat.