What are the pros and cons of farming in early civilization

What are the pros and cons of humans switching from hunting-gathering to agriculture?

5 Answers



Gordon Couger, Embedded Programmer, Farmer, Rancher, Teacher, Problem Solver

Answered January 31, 2019 · Author has 1.1K answers and 919.1K answer views

The human abilities to communicate, invent and make long term plans appear to made us the climax mammal life form on Earth early on. Agriculture can be viewed as the next step up from hunter gatherer so the land could support a lager population or agriculture freed up people to advance civilization.

I doubt ether one is exactingly right. I suspect some nomadic hunter gatherer noticed the grass seeds they ate spouted and grew in new locations and started planting extra seeds near camps that didn't have them. Then some enterprising person started trying seeds from other plants and found some thing like squash, okra or green leaved crops that they make into short term gardens and it grew from there.

As far as pros and cons go without agriculture we don’t Penelope any civilization much higher than extended families, small triable units able to care for some of their elderly much like the Inuit of 1850 and small time bandits living by robbing hunter gatherers of their meager food supplies, Then they could only live by stealing from the most successful hunter gathers who would probably out number them and kill them off.

the answer to your question is,

old stone age.

-mabel < 3