Editing Farmer (section)

==History==
Farming dates back as far as the [[Neolithic]], being one of the defining characteristics of that era. By the [[Bronze Age]], the [[Sumer]]ians had an agriculture [[Division of labour|specialized labor force]] by 5000–4000 BCE, and heavily depended on irrigation to grow crops. They relied on three-person teams when harvesting in the spring.<ref>By the sweat of thy brow: Work in the Western world, Melvin Kranzberg, Joseph Gies, Putnam, 1975</ref> The [[Ancient Egyptian|Ancient Egypt]] farmers farmed and relied and irrigated their water from the [[Nile]].<ref>Nicholson (2000) p. 514</ref>

[[Animal husbandry]], the practice of rearing animals specifically for farming purposes, has existed for thousands of years. [[Dog]]s were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. [[Goat]]s and [[sheep]] were domesticated around 8000 BCE in [[Asia]]. [[Domestic pig|Swine or pigs]] were domesticated by 7000 BCE in the [[Middle East]] and [[China]]. The earliest evidence of [[horse]] domestication dates to around 4000 BCE.<ref name=BoL>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/ |title=Breeds of Livestock - Oklahoma State University |publisher=Ansi.okstate.edu |access-date=2011-12-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224132431/http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/ |archive-date=2011-12-24 }}</ref>

===Advancements in technology===
[[File:FFA greenhouse training 120813-A-PO167-151.jpg|thumb|Afghani farmers learning about [[greenhouse]]s]]
In the [[United States|US]] of the 1930s, one farmer could produce only enough food to feed three other consumers. A modern farmer produces enough food to feed well over a hundred people. However, some authors consider this estimate to be flawed, as it does not take into account that farming requires energy and many other resources which have to be provided by additional workers, so that the ratio of people fed to farmers is actually smaller than 100 to 1.<ref name="Kirschenmann 2000">{{Harvnb|Kirschenmann|2000}}.</ref>