Editing Agriculture (section)

===Revolution===
[[File:Crescenzi calendar.jpg|thumb|Agricultural calendar, {{Circa|1470}}, from a manuscript of [[Pietro de Crescenzi]]]]
In the [[Middle Ages]], compared to the [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Roman period]], agriculture in Western Europe became more focused on [[Self-sustainability|self-sufficiency]]. The agricultural population under feudalism was typically organized into [[Manorialism|manors]] consisting of several hundred or more acres of land presided over by a [[lord of the manor]] with a [[Roman Catholic]] church and priest.<ref name="NatGeographic2015">{{cite book |author=National Geographic |title=Food Journeys of a Lifetime |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2Q5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |year=2015 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |isbn=978-1-4262-1609-1 |page=126 |access-date=10 February 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035806/https://books.google.com/books?id=h2Q5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Thanks to the exchange with the [[Al-Andalus]] where the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]] was underway, European agriculture transformed, with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees (such as the orange).<ref name="Watson">{{cite journal |first=Andrew M. |last=Watson |date=1974 |title=The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700–1100 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=8–35 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700079602 |s2cid=154359726}}</ref>

After 1492, the [[Columbian exchange]] brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, [[sweet potato]]es, and [[manioc]] to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and [[turnip]]s, and livestock (including horses, cattle, sheep and goats) to the Americas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-indians/essays/columbian-exchange |title=The Columbian Exchange |publisher=The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |author=Crosby, Alfred |date=December 2011 |access-date=11 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703092537/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/american-indians/essays/columbian-exchange |archive-date=3 July 2013}}</ref>

[[Irrigation]], [[crop rotation]], and [[fertilizers]] advanced from the 17th century with the [[British Agricultural Revolution]], allowing global population to rise significantly. Since 1900, agriculture in developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as [[Mechanized farming|mechanization]] replaces human labor, and assisted by [[synthetic fertilizer]]s, pesticides, and [[selective breeding]]. The [[Haber-Bosch]] method allowed the synthesis of [[ammonium nitrate]] fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing [[crop yields]] and sustaining a further increase in global population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/hort_306/text/lec32.pdf |title=Agricultural Scientific Revolution: Mechanical |author=Janick, Jules |publisher=Purdue University |access-date=24 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525074054/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Hort_306/text/lec32.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/52548/52645.aspx |title=The Impact of Mechanization on Agriculture |journal=The Bridge on Agriculture and Information Technology |date=2011 |volume=41 |number=3 |author=Reid, John F. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105033809/http://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/52548/52645.aspx |archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

Modern agriculture has raised or encountered ecological, political, and economic issues including [[water pollution]], [[biofuel]]s, [[genetically modified organism]]s, [[tariff]]s and [[Agricultural subsidy|farm subsidies]], leading to alternative approaches such as the [[organic movement]].<ref name="motherjones1">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/04/history-nitrogen-fertilizer-ammonium-nitrate |last=Philpott |first=Tom |title=A Brief History of Our Deadly Addiction to Nitrogen Fertilizer |date=19 April 2013 |access-date=7 May 2013 |magazine=Mother Jones |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505115125/https://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/04/history-nitrogen-fertilizer-ammonium-nitrate |archive-date=5 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="smh.com.au">{{cite journal |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/ten-worst-famines-of-the-20th-century-20110815-1iu2w.html |title=Ten worst famines of the 20th century |journal=Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703063152/http://www.smh.com.au/world/ten-worst-famines-of-the-20th-century-20110815-1iu2w.html |archive-date=3 July 2014}}</ref> Unsustainable farming practices in North America led to the [[Dust Bowl]] of the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hobbs |first1=Peter R |last2=Sayre |first2=Ken |last3=Gupta |first3=Raj |title=The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=12 February 2008 |volume=363 |issue=1491 |pages=543–555 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2007.2169 |pmid=17720669 |pmc=2610169}}</ref>