History of Agriculture
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The history of agriculture is essential to give to the future agronomist a full awareness of his role in the socio-economic context. Indeed the role of agriculture is increasingly crucial in order to guarantee food and a variety of goods (clothes, wood, etc.) essential for a humanity that has crossed the threshold the 7 billion inhabitants of which over 50% lives in urban areas. Agriculture is one of the oldest human activities and has always benefited from the many innovations implemented by our ingenious ancestors. It follows that the today agriculture can be seen not only as the product of a long sequence of technological revolutions but also as the history of the agronomic thought and as the history of the fight of the communities against the food shortage. The course focuses on 13 general topics and 4 thematic analysis.
Expected learning outcomes
The course aims to provide a key useful to place in an evolutionary historical context the skills acquired in relation to crops and livestock productions.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
1. FROM HUNTER-GATHERERS TO FARMERS
- Temporal evolution of Planet Earth (Ages, glaciations, etc.)
- Genesis, displacements and genetic heritage of Homo sapiens
- Stages of the birth of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent (Kebarian culture and Natufian culture)
- The reasons for the prevalence of agriculture
2. PLANT DOMESTICATION
- Plant Domestication: unfavorable characteristics of wild plants
- Centres of origin of the major crops
- The domestication of animals
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: DOMESTICATION OF WHEAT IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT
3. PLANT DOMESTICATION IN THE OTHER DOMESTICATION CENTRES
- China: rice
- Mesoamerica: the three sisters (corn, pumpkin and beans)
- South America (Andes): potato and tomato
- Others: pulses, grapevine, orchards
4. AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN HISTORICAL TIMES
- Middle East and surroundings (Mesopotamian civilization, Israel, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Celts, Etruscans)
5. ROMAN AGRICULTURE
6. OTHER AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS (South East Asia, Northern China, Africa, Americas)
7. GLOBALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE: FROM THE ARAB AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION TO THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
- The Arab Agricultural Revolution: A Controversial Issue
- Agriculture in the Middle Ages
- Discovery of America and "Columbian exchange"
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
8. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE: 1800-2000 AD
- Output, Prices and Trade
- The Inputs: Land, Capital and Labor
- Agricultural Institutions and Policies
9. TRENDS IN FOOD CONSUMPTION
- The evolution of food consumption in Italy after the Unification
- The evolution of world food consumption since 1960: between malnutrition and the food crisis
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: THE HISTORY OF FAMINE
10. TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND MAIN INNOVATIONS
11. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH: RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTIONS
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: HISTORY OF GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
12. THE INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY
- Productivity In Land and Labor
- Total Factor Productivity (TFP)
13. FUTURE PROSPECTS
- Temporal evolution of Planet Earth (Ages, glaciations, etc.)
- Genesis, displacements and genetic heritage of Homo sapiens
- Stages of the birth of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent (Kebarian culture and Natufian culture)
- The reasons for the prevalence of agriculture
2. PLANT DOMESTICATION
- Plant Domestication: unfavorable characteristics of wild plants
- Centres of origin of the major crops
- The domestication of animals
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: DOMESTICATION OF WHEAT IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT
3. PLANT DOMESTICATION IN THE OTHER DOMESTICATION CENTRES
- China: rice
- Mesoamerica: the three sisters (corn, pumpkin and beans)
- South America (Andes): potato and tomato
- Others: pulses, grapevine, orchards
4. AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN HISTORICAL TIMES
- Middle East and surroundings (Mesopotamian civilization, Israel, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Celts, Etruscans)
5. ROMAN AGRICULTURE
6. OTHER AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS (South East Asia, Northern China, Africa, Americas)
7. GLOBALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE: FROM THE ARAB AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION TO THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
- The Arab Agricultural Revolution: A Controversial Issue
- Agriculture in the Middle Ages
- Discovery of America and "Columbian exchange"
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
8. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE: 1800-2000 AD
- Output, Prices and Trade
- The Inputs: Land, Capital and Labor
- Agricultural Institutions and Policies
9. TRENDS IN FOOD CONSUMPTION
- The evolution of food consumption in Italy after the Unification
- The evolution of world food consumption since 1960: between malnutrition and the food crisis
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: THE HISTORY OF FAMINE
10. TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND MAIN INNOVATIONS
11. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH: RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTIONS
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: HISTORY OF GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
12. THE INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY
- Productivity In Land and Labor
- Total Factor Productivity (TFP)
13. FUTURE PROSPECTS
Prerequisites for admission
No special prerequisites are necessary.
Teaching methods
Lectures
Teaching Resources
Slides by teacher available through ARIEL
Suggested readings:
Jared DIAMOND (1997) - Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, W. W. Norton & Company
David B. GRIGG (1974) - The Agricultural Systems of the World: An Evolutionary Approach, Cambridge Geographical Studies
Giovanni FEDERICO (2010) - Feeding the World. An Economic History of Agriculture 1800-2000, Princeton University Press
Denis J. MURPHY (2007) - People, Plants, and Genes, Oxford University Press
Suggested readings:
Jared DIAMOND (1997) - Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, W. W. Norton & Company
David B. GRIGG (1974) - The Agricultural Systems of the World: An Evolutionary Approach, Cambridge Geographical Studies
Giovanni FEDERICO (2010) - Feeding the World. An Economic History of Agriculture 1800-2000, Princeton University Press
Denis J. MURPHY (2007) - People, Plants, and Genes, Oxford University Press
Assessment methods and Criteria
The final exam will consist in an oral discussion about the teaching and in a final oral presentation (PowerPoint) of a case study. Evaluation criteria: ability to organize discursively knowledge; critical reasoning ability on the study carried out;, quality of exposure: effectiveness, linearity. language mastery.
Test score in thirties.
Students with SLD or disability certifications are kindly requested to contact the teacher at least 15 days before the date of the exam session to agree on individual exam requirements. In the email please make sure to add in cc the competent offices: [email protected] (for students with SLD) o [email protected] (for students with disability).
Test score in thirties.
Students with SLD or disability certifications are kindly requested to contact the teacher at least 15 days before the date of the exam session to agree on individual exam requirements. In the email please make sure to add in cc the competent offices: [email protected] (for students with SLD) o [email protected] (for students with disability).
AGR/01 - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL APPRAISAL - University credits: 4
Lessons: 32 hours
Professor:
Frisio Dario Gianfranco
Shifts:
Turno
Professor:
Frisio Dario GianfrancoProfessor(s)