Reading 8.indd

The patterns of different cropping systems are highly variable—as diverse as are the crops themselves and the climates, habitats, levels of mechanization, and human customs under which crop production is undertaken. Depending on the part of the world, certain considerations will weigh more heavily than others. In one place primitive methods are appropriate, in another the system is highly mechanized; in some areas, growth factors are paramount, and in others economic realities are of greater concern. Before reviewing specifi c cropping systems, let us consider whether there are any general principles underlying the often complex ways in which crops are grown and harvested. Certainly cropping practices enjoy historical continuity; they must exhibit adaptations to ecological realities in order to remain viable. Primitive harvesting undoubtedly consisted of little more than casual collecting of wild seeds, fruits, and other plant products. The hunting of game supported nomadic tribesmen, but was incidental in increasingly sedentary societies on the highroad toward civilization. Sedentary tribes came to rely chiefl y upon the nearby abundance of food that domestication and cropping provided. Thus since the earliest days of agriculture 2 general “cropping systems” have been in operation: one centering on grazing and browsing animals (the animals harvest the vegetation, and people, secondarily, the milk and meat a system still basic in some parts of the world, such as East Africa where it is practiced by the Masai), and the direct harvest by people of the crops they sow and tend (though sharing some of their produce with livestock). The latter system forms the basis for most of today’s agriculture and horticulture.