GEPGRAPHY, PAPER-II
COMPULSORY QUESTION
8. Write only the correct answer in the Answer Book. Do not reproduce the questions.
(1) Agriculture, the deliberate tending of crops, dates back to approximate years:
(a) 8,000
(b) 10,000
(c) 12,000
(d) None of these
History
Main article: History of agriculture
Sumerian Harvester's sickle, 3000 BCE. Baked clay. Field Museum.
Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to 3200 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the "Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan, and is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia."[1]
Located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the present-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi, Mehrgarh was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh — in the northeast corner of the 495-acre site — was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE–5500 BCE.
[edit] Ancient origins
Further information: Neolithic Revolution
Ancient Egyptian farmer, copied from archaeologically preserved specimen by a modern artist guessing at original colors.
Source:
http://www.kingtutone.com
Developed independently by geographically distant populations, systematic agriculture first appeared in Southwest Asia in the Fertile Crescent, particularly in modern-day Iraq and Syria/Israel. Around 9500 BCE, proto-farmers began to select and cultivate food plants with desired characteristics. Though there is evidence of earlier sporadic use of wild cereals, it was not until after 9500 BCE that the eight so-called founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer and einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax.
By 7000 BCE, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7000 BCE the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan. By 6000 BCE, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate mung, soy, azuki and taro. To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom dwarfing all previous expansions, and is one that continues today.
By 5000 BCE, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, particularly along the waterway now known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and mouflon into cattle and sheep, respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of animals for food/fiber and as beasts of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer as an essential provider for sedentary and semi-nomadic societies.
Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as 5200 BCE. [3] The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, Canna, tobacco and several other plants were also developed in the New World, as was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America.
In later years, the Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians but made few fundamentally new advances. The Greeks and Macedonians struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become dominant societies for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade.
(2) The number of Agriculture Revolutions the world has experiences is:
(a) One
(b) Two
(c) Three
(d) None of these
actually asked (answer from agripedia)
Agricultural Revolution
An agricultural revolution is brought about whenever there are significant discoveries, technologies or inventions that change agricultural production.
Three types of agricultural revolutions that have occurred in farming are the mechanical revolution, the chemical revolution, and the biological revolution.
Mechanical Revolution
The mechanical revolution occurred as more farmers began to adapt to the the use of machines as opposed to animal power.
Chemical Revolution
The chemical revolution refers to the onset of the use of chemicals in agriculture. This use meant less labor costs in the overall production process.
Biological Revolution
The biological revolution refers to the innovations in the genetic development of seeds through recombinant DNA procedures.
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA is a hybrid DNA molecule that is created by combining the DNA components from different sources.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
Deoxyribonucleic acid is the double helix structure which contains all genetic information. It is considered the "blueprint of life". The structure is connected by organic molecules called bases. These bases are guanine, thymine, adenine and cytosine.
another perspective
A BRIEF EXCURSION INTO THREE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONS
by
Donald G. Baker
Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota
________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The word revolution used in the title indicates that three sudden and radical changes occurred to agriculture. I believe you will agree that the changes were radical but two of the three were far from sudden. So, obviously, use of the word revolution is applied with a certain license.
In each of the three so-called revolutions, technology and climate played major roles. The technology in the form of an implement, an instrument or a process creating the revolution is usually relatively easy to cite. However, the part climate played is more difficult to pinpoint. Climate is like civilization itself, we can look back upon it and recognize changes that have occurred, but definitive explanations as to causes and timing remain elusive.
With this proviso - - let us proceed.
________________________________________
(This document is still under construction. Figures will be added as we receive permission and as time is available. References to sources of most of the documents not locally produced are listed at the end if you wish to see them before we can make them available here.)
________________________________________
1. Pre-History
Previous to the domestication of plants, man was a hunter and a gatherer and most probably stored little food. As determined by anthropologists who tested their theories on wild plants in the mid-east, Fig. 1, where progenitors of our modern small grains still exist, a gatherer more or less unconsciously seeks plants that have larger seeds, more seeds per ear, and a compact inflorescence (Evans, 1980). The loose inflorescence of oats and the relative difficulty in gathering it may explain why oats was probably the last of the small grains to be domesticated, Fig. 2.
The main point I wish to make is that man was measuring yield, consciously or unconsciously, in terms of yield per human effort or yield per time involved. This then can be considered as the first yield expression.
________________________________________
2. The First Agricultural Revolution
The domestication of plants, possibly the greatest single milestone in man's history, Fig.3, is generally accepted as the point where plants retained their seed upon maturity. Thus, threshing is required as well as the intentional sowing of the grain, since the succeeding crop no longer occurs as a result of the natural shedding of the seed due to movement of the plant, for example, by the wind or passing animals. Over time, yields have been expressed in three different ways and a fourth may come into use in the near future. They are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Crop yield expressions and approximate period of use.
EXPRESSION PERIOD
Yield/human effort* Pre-Domestication of plants
Yield/seed sown 3-8,000 B.C. to 1000-1500 A.D.
Yield/land area 1000-1500 A.D. to present
Yield/critical factor future use?
The first agricultural revolution and the associated dawn of civilization apparently coincided with the warming of the earth centered around 5-6000 years ago, Fig. 4, following the end of the Pleistocene, the last "ice age". The ice age ended about 8-10,000 years ago. The climate change that occurred following this ice age was a definite improvement and undoubtedly played an important part in this first revolution. If for nothing else, it meant that attention could be devoted to more than keeping the "home" fires or perhaps the "cave" fires burning.
With plant domestication it was no longer possible to rely on naturally scattered grain for regeneration of the crop. Sowing became essential along with the necessary self-discipline required to hold some grain aside as seed for the next year. Along with this self-discipline came a greater awareness of the weather and its powerful influence on crop yields as noted, for example, in the famous Biblical story of Joseph and his plans for the 7 full years and the 7 years of famine (according to Biblical scholars occurring between 2000-1700 B.C.) . Sacrifices to the gods were no longer sufficient. In other words the domestication of plants also brought about a domestication of man, a civilizing influence, if you wish (Evans, 1980). Ever since agriculture and civilization have gone hand in hand.
With agriculture, a whole new set of conditions came into being, generally associated with the dawn of civilization, Table 2, and a new criterion of determining yield was established. That is, yield of grain compared to the amount sown. This is the measure mentioned in the Bible, also by Roman writers, and by the ancient Chinese. At the time of Christ wheat yields were about 3 or 4 to 1, but on good, fertile soils they could be considerably higher (Evans, 1980). By comparison, the average Minnesota wheat yield today is approximately 100 to 1. Although this comparison is not exactly fair, since the seed of modern wheat plants is also larger and may have other advantages as well. The return with commercial corn today is about 800-1000 to 1.
Agricultural implements initially may have been weapons which served a secondary purpose as a tool to scratch the surface. From these rudimentary beginnings there developed the hoe and the plow. The plow is considered to be the most important agricultural implement since the beginning of history. First there was a foot plow, shown at the top of Fig. 5, also called "digging sticks" and used as shown in Egyptian tomb paintings, Fig. 6, then the "ard plow", also termed a "traction plow," Fig. 7, which was at first human powered and required two to service it as illustrated, Fig. 8. (There is some discussion whether these instruments should be termed plows, since they lack two parts, the colter and the moldboard, often used to differentiate a plow from similar instruments.) A somewhat advanced "ard plow" is illustrated in a Chinese drawing, Fig. 9, dated about the sixth century A.D.
Table 2. Events of the first agricultural revolution.
CLIMATE POST-GLACIAL WARM PERIOD
WILD PLANTS DOMESTICATED PLANTS
HUNTERS AND GATHERERS GATHERERS AND HUNTERS
NOMADIC LIFE SEDENTARY LIFE
WILD ANIMALS DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
WEAPONS TOOLS
LOCATION TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVERS
OCCURRENCE 5 - 8,000 BC
YIELD EXPRESSION YIELD/HUMAN EFFORT
SEARCH FOR BETTER LANDS (?) YES, AS INDICATED BY SETTLEMENT LOCATIONS
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3. The Second Agricultural Revolution
The next method of yield measurement introduces us to the second great agricultural revolution and provides us with a fascinating story that few people even in agriculture are aware of. Like the first revolution, it rests upon a favorable climate and upon two special features - an improved plow and the horse. Together these three, climate, plow, and horse, created a revolution in agriculture that can be compared to the post-World War II agricultural revolution, though it extended over a much longer period. This second revolution took place beginning about 500 or 600 A.D. (Burke, 1978) and is centered upon the Medieval period. It is little known because of a peculiarity of many historians that is only belatedly being corrected. For too long historians wrote with a view limited to man's conflicts and his artistic and literary accomplishments. The fact that technology and those who contribute to it are seldom recognized is a phenomenon of long standing in the western world (Gimpel, 1976). This was noted by Plato, and even Leonardo da Vinci felt the scorn of the intellectuals of his day who considered him little better than a manual worker or technician. The existence of these two groups, that is, the literary or artistic individual and the scientist or technician existing side by side but with virtually no contact, was a frequent subject of the late English author C.P. Snow. He wrote of the gulf existing between the two groups, or "cultures" in his terminology, and noted that the distance between Greenwich Village in New York and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston is like an ocean. As a matter of fact members of Greenwich Village, New York, are much closer intellectually to Chelsea, London's home of the arts, while the M.I.T. staff in Boston are closer to South Kensington, London's science center, than they are to each other (Gimpel, 1976). In other words the literary or artistic types simply neither understand nor appreciate the scientist and technician.
a. The "Dark Ages"
The historian of the past seldom considered the technology or science of an age with more than a passing reference. For this reason we have the Medieval period dismissed until recently as the Dark Ages. In fact it was anything but that, except perhaps immediately after the breakup of the Roman Empire. (In this regard it is interesting to read what the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1945 printing, has to say about this period: "Dark Ages was a term formerly used to cover the whole period between the end of classical civilization, [that is, Greek and Roman period] and the revival of learning in the 15th century. Use of the term [Dark Ages] implied an exclusive respect for classical standards in literature and art and a corresponding disparagement of all that was achieved between the decline of ancient culture and the work of Renaissance scholars, writers, and artists."). In many respects the Medieval period has outshone even the Renaissance, which the conventional historian had convinced us was the real flowering of man's intellect. The foundations of our present technologically oriented society were not laid in the Italian Renaissance or the English Industrial Revolution but in the Medieval period.
Based on the generally accepted view of medieval man it is difficult to realize that he was surrounded by machines (Gimpel, 1976). Water power was developed as it had not been by the Greeks and Romans. The Domesday Book of William the Conqueror records a total of 5624 water mills in the England of 1086 A.D. There apparently were two reasons for the lack of mills in Rome and Greece. One was the dependence upon slaves. The second reason, and perhaps the more important of the two, is the Mediterranean climate which does not provide sufficient summer precipitation for a constant stream flow, as noted in Fig. 10, comparing monthly precipitation at Athens and Rome with that of the Twin Cities.
Water power in the Medieval period was not always limited to a static power source as, for example, a mill adjacent to a dam. Sometimes the mills were mounted on barges permitting their movement as either business or stream flow varied. Medieval man also made use of wind power. Windmills may have been introduced from the plateaus of ancient Persia (modern Iran and Afghanistan) (Gimpel, 1976). Wind was a power source well adapted to the level plains of northern Europe. Again this was a power source little used if at all in Greece or Rome. Finally and most surprisingly was the use of tidal power, an energy source currently under investigation by our Department of Energy, or at least it was during the energy emergency of the 1970's.
Medieval man was an artisan in the broadest sense, that is, an artist and a mechanic. Churches such as the great cathedrals of Europe having stained glass windows such as those of Sainte Chapelle, Paris, Fig. 11, or the south aisle of Winchester Cathedral, England, Fig. 12, which were built essentially within the period 1180 to 1250 A.D. (Clark, 1948). They show better than any words the skill and artistry of the craftsmen. The engineering and technical knowledge demonstrated by these structures is that of accomplished engineers and artisans, they cannot be the product of a "dark age," while the development of power sources demonstrates the mechanical ability of Medieval man. Modern historians are now having to revise history, and the term Dark Ages has been dropped in favor of the Medieval period, subdivided into Early, Middle, and Late.
b. The Climate
The conventional historian also overlooked a number of factors relative to man's agricultural progress in the period from about 600 or 800 to 1200 A.D. First, it was a period that was climatically advantageous for agriculture, Fig. 13. In fact, it is known as the "Medieval Climatic Optimum" because the climate was both warmer and drier than it had been for some time either before or afterwards. This warmer climate may also have reduced forest expansion or even caused it to retreat. Because of the higher temperatures, crops could be grown at greater elevations. For example, in northern England during the World War II food emergency plowing campaign of 1940-44 elevations were reached which had not been under the plow since the Medieval period (Gimpel, 1976).
c. The Implements
As already noted, the first agricultural tools were probably the hoe followed by the foot and "ard" plows. Then came the Mediterranean "scratch" or swing plow, Fig. 14. The scratch plow, essentially a sharpened stick with handles for guidance and a pole for attachment to an animal or a human, was adapted to light or coarse textured soils. It is shown in this delightful wooden model of oxen and plow found in an Egyptian tomb of about 2000 B.C., Fig. 15. It may even have been in use three to four thousand years before Christ. In order to prepare an adequate seedbed with this plow it was necessary to crisscross the field as shown in Fig. 16. As a result the field shape was usually square.
A statement attributed to Daniel Webster can be interjected at this point: "In tillage is the beginning of all art." Since the presence of art implies that there is a civilization, several important ideas can be gleaned from this statement. First, agriculture, as evidenced by tillage, not only requires skill but is an obvious manifestation of civilization. Today it is not as common as it once was to define an artist as "one versed in the practice of a fine manual occupation, as sewing." Nor was it common to restrict the definition of art to only the fine arts. We have only to consider the former names of some universities to remember that art and an artist can be broadly defined: Michigan State and Iowa State universities once carried the name Agricultural and Mechanic Arts, just as Texas A and M and Oklahoma A and M do today. And up to a few years ago a major high school in St. Paul was named Mechanic Arts High School. Even architecture was taught there.
Sometime in the sixth century A.D. a different plow appeared which carried two extremely important features: a knife called a "colter," which could cut through heavy roots, and a mold-board which lifted the cut soil to one side, Fig. 17. These two features serve to define a plow and separate it from other instruments. These features, the knife and the moldboard, wrought major changes in Medieval agriculture, especially in combination with the horse and the very essential horse collar which probably entered the scene a century or two later.
Wet fields could be plowed and the furrows running the full length of a field improved the drainage. With this plow deeper rooted vegetation could be removed and the heavier (finer textured) more inherently fertile soils of northern Europe could also be worked. The previously forested lands were now entered, and they became the "new lands" of the Medieval period. It is of interest that most European cities with "new" in their name, such as Neuchatel, Switzerland, and Neumunster, Germany, were formed at this time. Indeed, chronicles describing the removal of forests and the settling of people in northern Europe, have been compared to the stories of the opening of the American West (Burke, 1978). A word was even developed to describe what was taking place in France at that time. It was "essart", now spelled "assart," (which can be found in unabridged English dictionaries) which means the grubbing up of the trees.
This new plow, in addition to being heavier, was also longer as more than two animals were frequently used to pull the plow. This necessitated a major change. For more efficient use of the plow, the shape of fields was changed from square to rectangular, Fig. 18, since even with a front wheel, Fig. 19, and Fig. 20, shown in some Medieval illustrations (Burke, 1978), the plow was obviously more difficult to handle at turns than the "scratch" or swing plow. Another change wrought by this plow was the development of cooperatives (Burke, 1978). The plow, together with the animals to power it, represented major investments. Thus, in most cases the investment required could only be accomplished through the peasants banding together in cooperatives and sharing ownership.
Because the long and narrow fields could no longer be readily criss-crossed, the furrows made were not acceptable seedbeds so the harrow was soon developed. Examples of harrows include three: the first used brush held in place by stones, Fig. 21, the second consists of wooden spikes, Fig. 22, even though it was in use in early 19th century, and the last a roller which performed a task similar to the harrow, Fig. 23. I found this roller in southwestern France a few years ago. Upon close inspection, I discovered it consisted of a Roman column.
d. The Horse Collar
Probably of equal importance to the heavy wheeled plow was the development of the horse collar. A collar similar to one used on camels was introduced from the east, perhaps from Bactria (ancient Afghanistan), reaching Europe around 800 or 900 A.D. This device permitted the exploitation of the horse. It is hard to believe but neither the Greeks nor Romans (who represented the "Classic period" for historians) were able to fully exploit the horse because only a variation of the ox yoke was originally used on the horse. A yoke suitable for oxen is shown in Fig. 24 (from a Russian book). The yoke not only pressed on the jugular vein of the horse, but it succeeded in choking the horse if the load were more than about 1000 pounds. In fact the Theodosian code of 438 A.D., the Roman Law under Emperor Theodosius, decreed that a horse should not pull a load greater than 1000 pounds. It was not until 1910 that a French cavalry officer tested this weight limit and determined that a horse would indeed choke if forced to pull a load of that size using a yoke (Gimpel, 1976). Fig. 25 illustrates a modern horse collar. Lovers of Greek art celebrate the genius of Greek sculptures because the horse looks so "noble". Actually the "noble" horse, with its head held high, did so to prevent choking itself.
The Romans had also failed to harness horses so they could work in line. For example, Roman chariots were pulled by two, three, and occasionally four horses with the horses always abreast, never in line. It is interesting to know, too, that the Romans were apparently slow to develop a four-wheeled wagon in which the front axle could be swiveled. If true this probably explains the straight road system that they developed. It appears that the Romans either adopted or reinvented a wagon in which the front axle could be turned, Fig. 26, an invention of the first century B.C. attributed to the Celts (Williams, 1987). With the horse collar and new harness the number of horses in line, not abreast, could now be increased.
Another event that aided in the exploitation of the horse was the development of the lowly horse shoe and nails, Fig. 27. This obviously helped greatly and permitted field work to be done under a wider range of soil and weather conditions, since the shoe gave greater traction and helped prevent hoof rot.
With the introduction of the horse collar, horseshoe, and nails, a remarkable series of events occurred once the horse could be truly exploited, Table 3. The horse, in contrast to the ox, is 50% faster and has greater endurance, working two to three more hours per day (Gimpel, 1976). Thus, in a sense, the limiting factor became the amount of land that could be farmed. Therefore, the new way to express yields became yield per unit land area, bushels or pounds per acre, and so on.
Because more land could now be exploited, the 2-field Roman system of one field fallow and the other in crop was replaced by the 3-field system. With 3 fields only one-third of the land was now in fallow, thus releasing more land for crops. Another advantage of the 3-field system was that a greater variety of crops was possible with a marked dietary improvement. Thus, with two plantings and two harvests a better distribution of labor and a decreased susceptibility to weather and crop losses became a part of the new agriculture (Gimpel, 1976). A further change was the nearly universal growth of oats as a crop for the horses.
It was about the time of this new plow that the unit of land called an acre came into use. It was defined as the amount of land that one horse or two oxen could plow in one day.
The so-called "climatic optimum" which more or less coincided with and was in part responsible for the advances made during the Medieval period ended abruptly. The succeeding century was simply miserable. Not only did the climate become cold and wet in Europe but the 14th century ushered in a hideous famine (1315-1317), the Hundred Years' War (1338 - 1453), the Black Death (1347-1350), and a series of peasant revolts in England as well as the Continent.
Table 3. Events of the Second Agricultural Revolution (Medieval Period)
CLIMATIC WARM PERIOD (1700-1200 A.D.)
STICK PLOW
MOLDBOARD PLOW (6TH CENTURY)
WHEELED PLOW
HORSE COLLAR (9th CENTURY)
HORSE 1. 50% Faster
2. Greater Endurance
3. Horseshoe + nails
4. Hitch in line
YIELD -- Yield Per Unit Area
SOCIAL CHANGES 1. Cooperatives
2. Villages Formed
3. Population Increase
PHYSICAL CHANGES 1. Field Drainage
2. Harrow
3. Field Shape
4. 3-Field System a. Diet Improvement
b. Spread of Risk
c. More Land
5. Finer Texture Soils Can Be Worked
6. Deforestation
7. Oats a Universal Crop
________________________________________
4. The Third Agricultural Revolution
From today's vantage point it is hard to believe that there was little change in agriculture from the Medieval period until about the middle of this century. Sure, tractors were taking over from the horse, and the binder, reaper, and threshing machine were reducing the work required. Nevertheless, the U.S. horse population didn't reach its peak until 1914, and crop yields were not all that much better than they were in the Medieval period of about 700 years earlier. Nor had tillage methods changed much: as the "minute man's" plow of 1775 shows us, Fig. 28, and as shown in these 20th century scenes: Fig. 29, an "ard" plow still used in Italy, the scratch plow in Ecuador, Fig. 30, and two scenes from Korea in 1951, Fig. 31, and Fig. 32. The third scene from Korea, Fig. 33, illustrates a Korean horse of diminutive stature. The small size is due either to malnutrition or a purposeful breeding to obtain miniature horses for children of the imperial family some centuries ago.
This third revolution was the most abrupt of the three. The delay in the application of the accumulated technology was caused by World War II and then the Korean Conflict. But the effects of this revolution are immediately apparent when viewing yield data. Yields throughout the advanced countries, with England's wheat yields as an example, Fig. 34, show a similar post World War II major increase in yield.
It is my contention that a particular climatic anomaly is in part responsible for the recent economic problems faced by Midwestern agriculture in particular. The long term corn yield record of Minnesota, Fig. 35, will be used to demonstrate this. The first portion, 1866-1938 shows a yield averaging only about 30 bushels per acre, which is not much better than a very good yield in the Medieval period (if corn had been grown then). This was followed by a 42 bushel per acre average yield from 1939-1951 when some of the new technology such as commercial fertilizers and hybrid corn began to be applied. This was then followed by a yield trend, 1952-present, that has shown an increase equaling nearly 2 bushels per acre per year as technology became fully adopted. It can be assumed that the trend lines are due to technology (or lack of it) and that the variation about the three trend lines is due to weather. In a very real sense the yield of a crop, as illustrated here, represents an integration of the climate for a given season. In other words, yield can upon occasion serve as proxy evidence of climate.
In Fig. 36 is shown the variation of the annual yields about the trend line. The yield depressions in 1976 and 1988, both drought years, and the wet season of 1993, are very evident. But when viewed not in absolute terms as departures from the appropriate trend line, but as a percentage variation from the general trend lines, Fig. 37, it becomes evident that the yield depressions of 1934 and 1936 were relatively more serious for farmers of that time than the yield depressions of 1976 and 1988 were for today's farmers.
According to this long term yield record the usual state of affairs is seen to be one with large yield variations due to a "hostile" climate, while the "benign" climate from about the late 1940s to the early 1970s, with decreased yield variation, was the unusual feature, an anomaly. The heart of this "benign" climate period was about 1952-1964 as shown in Fig. 38, which is based on the variation of annual temperatures for 13-year periods. It shows just how rare this "benign" period was. It was truly an anomalous event. In other words, the modern farmer should plan for the expected climate, which is one of large yield variation from year to year.
It is my belief that this "benign" period helped bring about an enthusiasm, and indeed a general euphoria which became evident in the 1960s among Midwestern farmers in particular and in U.S. agricultural circles in general. This optimism and a willingness to take greater risks in terms of investment in land was increasing, especially among the younger farmers who had experienced no major adversity up to this point. They were too young to have experienced the 1930s. After all, the weather has been remarkably tranquil during much of their tenure, and yields increased almost every year as the application of technology increased. So unique was this "benign" period that some "experts" felt that technology had even overcome the effects of weather. As a result, the climate, the general economy, and even technology were setting agriculture up for a dizzying ride, first up and then down.
Unbeknownst to all but the keenest of observers was the fact that the "benign" climate had ended in the early 1970s and was returning to the more usual or "hostile" climate of former years. The first indication of this in Minnesota was the early frost of 1974, and three years of declining precipitation that culminated in the drought of 1976.
Soon to follow and a natural culmination of these events was the abrupt contraction of land values. And with a more "hostile" climate, that is, a more variable one, it meant that yields and, therefore, income were no longer reliable and the high land prices could no longer be supported. Thus, the agricultural depression of the 1980s was ushered in.
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5. A Fourth Agricultural Revolution?
The third revolution may run its course or it may receive a boost from biotechnology. But with or without the application of a new technology, a fourth method of yield measurement may be used in the near future. It is the ratio of yield to a critical factor other than land. As the critical factor in the past has gone from human effort, to the amount of seed sown, to the amount of land used, it may soon change, for example, to the nitrogen, the phosphorus, or the energy expended. Perhaps the best one would be an economic one, since it also requires a superior bookkeeping system. Thus, the next yield expression might become yield per dollar spent.
wikipedia viewpoint
• Neolithic Revolution (about 10,000 years ago), which formed the basis for human civilization to develop. It is commonly referred to as the 'First Agricultural Revolution'.
• Green Revolution (1945-), the use of industrial fertilizers and new crops greatly increases the world's agricultural output.
There are also several more local events related to agriculture and referred to as revolutions:
• Muslim Agricultural Revolution (10th century), which led to increased urbanization and major changes in agriculture and economy during the Islamic Golden Age.
• British Agricultural Revolution (18th century), which spurred urbanization and consequently helped launch the Industrial Revolution.
• Scottish Agricultural Revolution (18th century), which led to the "Lowland Clearances."
(3) Approximate latitude extent of Pakistan is:
(a) 21 - 38° N
(b) 24-37° S
(c) 28-40° N
(d) None of these
(4) The type of crop, the coffee is:
(a) Luxury
(b) Industrial
(c) Fibre
(d) None of these
Coffee is an important export commodity: in 2004, coffee was the top agricultural export for 12 countries;[5] and in 2005, it was the world's seventh largest legal agricultural export by value.[6] Many studies have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical conditions, but whether the effects of coffee are positive or negative is still disputed.[7]
(5) “Seven Sisters” is a group of:
(a) Summits
(b) Lakes
(c) Oil companies
(d) None of these
such questions are asked only when they appear in recent past news papers or events so that candidates could be able to recall, really tough one, see for yourself.
Seven Sisters
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Astronomy and mythology:
• Pleiades (mythology), seven sisters who are companions of Artemis in Greek mythology
• Pleiades (star cluster), a star cluster named for the mythological characters
• The Hesperides of Greek mythology
Churches:
• The Seven Sisters of American Protestantism, an informal grouping of seven traditional mainline and liberal Protestant denominations: the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptist Churches, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.
Colleges:
• Seven Sisters (colleges), a group of American women's colleges
Geographical locations:
• Seven Sisters, Baja California, Mexico, Seven epic point breaks in Baja California, Mexico
• Seven Sisters, British Columbia, a mountain range in British Columbia, Canada
• Seven Sisters, Donegal, a mountain chain in County Donegal, Ireland
• Seven Sister States, a region in northeastern India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura
• Seven Sisters, London, an area and road in England with a railway and underground station of that name
o Seven Sisters station, a rail station and underground (tube) station at Tottenham, London
o Seven Sisters Road, a road in North London
• Seven Sisters, Manitoba, a community in Manitoba, Canada
• Seven Sisters (Moscow), a group of seven Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia
• Seven Sisters, Norway, a mountain formation in Helgeland, Norway
• Seven Sisters, Queensland, a group of small mountains on the Atherton Tableland in Australia
• Seven Sisters, Sussex, a group of chalk cliffs in England
• Seven Sisters, Wales, a village in South Wales
• Seven Sisters, Western Massachusetts, a group of seven mountaintops in the Holyoke Range of Western Massachusetts.
• Seven Sisters, Mars, a group of seven high altitude caves on the planet Mars near Arsia Mons
Music:
• Seven Sisters (Meja), an album by the Swedish composer and singer Meja
Organizations:
• Seven sisters (studios), the seven original major movie studios
• Seven Sisters (oil companies), a group of oil companies
• Seven Sisters, a group of major law firms in Toronto
• The Baby Bells, a group of U.S. telephone companies, are sometimes called the Seven Sisters
Other: A Seven Sisters is also a type of pastry, with a custard-like bottom half.
Role playing games:
• The Seven Sisters (Forgotten Realms), fictional characters from the Forgotten Realms role-playing game
Sport:
• The Seven Sisters in Italian football previously referred to the seven most prominent clubs in Serie A during the 1990s, in the form of; Juventus, AC Milan, Internazionale, SS Lazio, Fiorentina, AC Parma and AS Roma.
Waterfalls:
• Seven Sisters Waterfall, Norway, a group of waterfalls in the Geirangerfjord
• Seven Sisters Waterfall, Grenada, a succession of seven waterfalls in Grenada also called St. Margaret Falls.
(6) “Nego” is the name of a:
(a) River
(b) Mountain
(c) Dam
(d) None of these
A dam on the Nego river which forms part of the irrigation system built by the project at Boku, near Ferdis, 22 kilometres from Harare. Note the gabions, stones lining the river bank and being kept together by a metallic net. This irrigation scheme will benefit farmers of cooperatives in the area.
(7) The number of sovereign states in the SAARC is:
(a) Four
(b) Five
(c) Six
(d) None of these
may be the definition of sovereign states carry some trick
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in Southern Asia. In terms of population, its sphere of influence is the largest of any regional organization: almost 1.5 billion people, the combined population of its member states. It was established on December 8, 1985 by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. In April 2007, at the Association's 14th summit, Afghanistan became its eighth member.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_A...al_Cooperation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states
(8) Rome, the capital of Italy, is located beside the river:
(a) Rhine
(b) Tiber
(c) Po
(d) None of these
famous tiber
(9) The Caucasoid have their skin colour:
(a) Black
(b) Yellow
(c) Brown
(d) None of these
the sample pics were close to yellow
In Caucasian skins the proportions of the two main melanin pigments, eumelanin and phaeomelanin, vary over a huge range.
Physical characteristics
18th century anthropologist Christoph Meiners, who first defined the term, characterized the "Caucasian" as having the characteristics of "lightness", "beauty" and being "handsome" with the "ancient Germans" having the "whitest, most blooming and most delicate skin" because they were the most racially pure Caucasians.[7] 18th century anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, the second person to define the term, considered Caucasians to be the top of "racial hierarchy" he organized where, "the white color holds the first place, such as it is that most Europeans. The redness of cheeks in this variety is almost peculiar to it: at all events it is but seldom seen in the rest." and described Caucasians as, "Color white, Cheeks rosy; hair brown or chestnut-colored; head subglobular; face oval, straight, its parts moderately defined, forehead smooth, nose narrow, slightly hooked, mouth small. The primary teeth placed perpendicularly to each jaw: the lips (especially the lower one) moderately open, the chin full and rounded."[7] In 2003, the term "Caucasoid race" is a term used in physical anthropology to refer to people of a certain range of anthropometric measurements [25]. The 2007 Encyclopedia Britannica characterizes the Caucasoid race as having light skin color, biochemical similarities and a variability in hair and eye colors.[26] University of College Cork chair of anatomy and physiology, M. A. MacConaill,[27] describes Caucasoids as being "native to Europe... [and having] light skin and eyes, narrow noses, and thin lips. Their hair is usually straight or wavy".[28]
(10) The Iberian Peninsula is a part of:
(a) Asia
(b) Europe
(c) Africa
(d) None of these
The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. It is the western and southernmost of the three southern European peninsulas (the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas). It is bordered on the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Pyrenees form the northeast edge of the peninsula, connecting it to the rest of Europe. In the south, it approaches the northern coast of Africa. It is the second largest peninsula in Europe, with an area of 582 860 km². The name "Iberia" was also used since the times of Ancient Greece and Rome for another territory at the opposite corner of Europe, Caucasian Iberia, in modern day Georgia.
(11) The Levant is located in:
(a) Africa
(b) Asia
(c) Europe
(d) None of these
check wikipedia for continental map
modern levant is close to african border but located in asia
The Levant (IPA: /lə'vænt/) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. The Levant does not include the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula.
(12) The “Orange” is the name of:
(a) River
(b) State
(c) Coastline
(d) None of these
confusing one as "oranje" is a state of a country and "orange" is a river.
The Orange River (Afrikaans/Dutch: Oranjerivier), Gariep River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Namibia as well as between South Africa and Lesotho, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Although the river does not pass through any major cities, it plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation, as well as hydroelectric power.
Republic of the Orange Free State (Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat) was an independent Boer state in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a province in South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a seat of a British Resident in Bloemfontein.
(13) Ibadan is located in:
(a) Africa
(b) Europe
(c) Asia
(d) None of these
Ibadan (Èbá-Ọdàn), the capital of Oyo State, is the second largest city in Nigeria by population, and the largest in geographical area. It is located in south-western Nigeria, 78 miles inland from Lagos and is a prominent transit point between the coastal region and the areas to the north. Its population is 2,550,593[1] according to 2006 census results, including 11 local government areas. The population of central Ibadan, including five LGA:s, is 1 338 659 according to census results for 2006, covering an area of 128 km². Ibadan had been the centre of administration of the old Western Region, Nigeria since the days of the British colonial rule, and parts of the city's ancient protective walls still stand to this day. The principal inhabitants of the city are the Yoruba people.
(14) The “Majors” are a group of:
(a) Oil companies
(b) MDC’s
(c) Islands
(d) None of these
I read it somewhere, term is used for economically developed countries.
(15) Esperanto is a type of:
(a) Cultivation
(b) Language
(c) Industry
(d) None of these
Esperanto (help•info) is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. [2] The name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book of Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. The word itself means 'one who hopes'. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy and flexible language as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding.
(16) The portion of the world permanently inhabited by Man is called:
(a) Ecosystem
(b) Ecumene
(c) MDC
(d) None of these
The ecumene (/iːˈkjuːməni/, also spelled œcumene or oikoumene) is, literally, the inhabited part of the earth. The term derives from the Greek οἰκουμένη (the feminine present middle participle of the verb οἰκέω "inhabit"), short for οἰκουμένη γή "inhabited world".[1]
(17) The change in a culture through interaction with another culture is termed as:
(a) Cultural Diffusion
(b) Acculturation
(c) Cultural hearth
(d) None of these
(18) The doubling time (in years) of a country’s population with 2.5 percent annual growth rate is:
(a) 30
(b) 23
(c) 28
(d) None of these
www.prb.org/pdf/Tennessee_Honduras.pdf
(19) Pakistan’s longest border is with: AFGHANISTAN
(a) India
(b) China
(c) Iran
(d) None of these
(20) The sixth largest city of Pakistan according to the 1998 census is:
(a) Rawalpindi
(b) Multan
(c) Gujranwala
(d) None of these
Multan (Urdu: ملتان) is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province. It has a population of over 3.8 million (according to 1998 census), making it the sixth largest city of Pakistan. It is built just east of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic center of the country and about 966 km from Karachi.