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Running head: FARMERS IN EUROPE BEFORE 5000 YEARS AGO

FARMERS IN EUROPE BEFORE 5000 YEARS AGO

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The inhabitants of Europe lived in ancient times on fishing and hunting animals. In the Neolithic era, they raised animals and they worked in the agriculture field. Thus human appeared in Europe in the late Stone Age. They were hunters and collectors of food and tools. They left traces of 25,000 to 10,000 years old in about 200 caves around Europe, mostly in Spain and France. In the Neolithic period, Europe began to practice agriculture to replace it with hunting. During the sixth millennium BC, agriculture has spread widely in Europe and it becomes the main work or job of the people from that time until the modern era. In this paper, I will focus on people in Europe before 5000 BC. I will focus on how the people were in the past and how they managed to live in the circumstances of the great changes that took place during that period. How was their lifestyle at that time as farmers or people who lived nearby farms, and how that affects their lives?

In the past people who were in Europe survived the changes by adopting Agriculture, basically they started breeding of animals and cultivation of land plants, the reason as to why they opted to engage in agriculture is because they were interested in providing food for their own use, good sources of fiber, the were also interests in producing plants which they could use for medicinal purposes. Examples of plants which were used for medicinal purposes comprised of basil, chamomile and Echinacea. The other products which were produced were just meant to sustain as well as enhance life (Lohrberg, 2016).

Agriculture played a major role in the development which resulted to the rise of sedentary human civilization, this happened because production of domesticated species which were purposely meant to create food surpluses which mainly enabled people to live in various cities in Europe. In the era when people stopped hunting and started farming, they gathered wild grains began to plant them, before they became domesticated. After hunting came to en end people started rearing domestic animals which comprised of; sheep, cattle and Pigs, most of the crops originated from at least twelve regions of the world. In this era Industrial agriculture was mainly based on large-scale monoculture and it later dominated agricultural output, this still happens regardless of the fact the most people across the world still depend on subsistence agriculture (Lohrberg, 2016).

Adoption of agriculture played a major in the lives of the people of Europe. First it led to production of enough food which could be used by people who were living in the rural and urban areas. It took a short time and the farmers started producing food products in large quantities, this was very crucial as it helped in provision of food for most of the people in Europe. Agriculture became the main source of livelihood for most of the people in Europe. There are several reasons as to why people opted to go for agriculture, I will briefly describe the reasons as to why people had to stop hunting and opt for agriculture. Various researches show that approximately 80 % of the people who lived in that era directly relied on agriculture as a source of living. The reason as to why dependence on agriculture was so high was as a result of due to none development of non-agricultural activities which were capable of absorbing the population which had started to grow at very fast rate (Knudsen, 2012).

The second reason as to why people started producing agricultural products is because they were interested in producing fodder for their livestock, this was as result of conversion most of the land into production of crops hence making it hard to produce enough food stuffs for their animals. Agricultural activities helped in provision of fodder for domestic animals. The domestic animals which were reared for instance, Cows provided the farmers with milk and meat. Most of the livestock which were reared helped the farmers meet the food requirements. Another reason as to why people opted to go for agriculture is because the farmers were interested in production of raw materials, agriculture became the main source of main source of raw materials to most of the industries. For instance agriculture led to production of jute fabric and cotton which were raw material for most of the industries. Agricultural activities also led to production of sugar and tobacco which were raw material for some of the industries.

Agriculture also led to production of non-edible and edible oils also which were raw material for some industries. In addition, to this many more industries, for instance the processing of fruits and rice husking and vegetables rice relied on raw material mainly from agriculture. The last reason as to why people opted to go for agriculture and abandon hunting is because agriculture provided employment opportunities to most of the people as compared to hunting, people who had large tracts of land hired people to work on their farms, this helped in provision creation of employment to most of the people and that’s why people had to stop hunting and start farming (Neumeister, 2004).

After this change people realized that there was need to have food security, this was as a result of the fact that hunting was no longer practiced and it could not provide enough for the population. Having the need to ensure that there is food security, people had to adapt agriculture, a stable agricultural sector was very vital to ensure that the nation and enough food security. The main necessity of any nation is food security. Food security helps in prevention of malnourishment which is one of the main problems. Reliance on agricultural products is usually associated industries for their main source of income (Neumeister, 2004).

In that era, there was need to have an economic development hence people had change from hunting to agriculture. Bearing the fact that agriculture provides employment for many people it greatly contributes to development of the economy of a nation and that’s why Europe had to go for agriculture rather than hunting. There was need to have a national income level and the people’s standard of living improved, therefore there was need to adapt agriculture. The increased rate of development in the agricultural sector provided increased motivation for development and progressive outlook. Adaption of agriculture helped to create good atmosphere for the overall economic development of Europe.

There are several reasons as to why agriculture was successful in Europe, first availability of land played a major role in the success of agriculture in Europe. The second reason as to why agriculture was successful is because of availability of labor force, people were willing to work in the farms and hence it became easy to for agriculture to be carried out. The success of agriculture in Europe is also attributed to availability of tools and fertilizers and some chemicals which were used to control pests. The major agricultural products which were produced in Europe were grouped into various categories comprising of; fibers, foods and raw materials. The classes of foods produced comprised of fruits, vegetables, oils, fuels and fibers (Sanders, 2015).

There are several forms of agriculture which were practiced in Europe. The first form of agriculture which was practiced was mixed farming which mainly entailed agricultural production of crops and livestock in the same farm. This form of agriculture was mainly practiced in the areas which had fertile soils and areas which had rough terrain. Another form of farming which actually originated from Europe and was practiced in this era is dairy farming, this form of farming was successful due to temperate climate and close proximity to the market (Sanders, 2015).

Agriculture had a great impact on the people who lived near the farms. It led to improvement in the living standards of the people, this is because it led to creation of job opportunities, with employment people were able to get food and also cater for the other need and hence this led to an improvement of their living standards. Another impact of the people who lived near the farms is that they were able to get enough food to support their families and hence developing in financial as well the economic aspect.

References

Knudsen, I. H. (2012). New Lithuania in Old Hands: Effects and Outcomes of EUropeanization in Rural Lithuania. London: Anthem Press.

Lohrberg, F. (2016). Urban Agriculture Europe. Jovis.

Neumeister, L. (2004). Moving Towards Pesticide Reduction: ... Realising Best Agricultural Practice in Central and Eastern Europe. Pestizid-Aktions-Netzwerk e.V.

Sanders, I. (2015). Collectivization of Agriculture in Eastern Europe.