Down on the Farm - Art Gallery of Alberta

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of Agriculture continuedIn Europe there is evidence of emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, sheep, goats and pigs thatsuggest a food producing economy in Greece and the Aegean by 7000 BC. Archaeologicalevidence for various sites on the Iberian Peninsula suggest the domestication of plants andanimals between 6000 and 4500 BC. The horse was domesticated in Ukraine around 4000 BC.By the Bronze Age (beginning between 3150 and 2900 BCE), wild food contributed anutritionally insignificant component to the usual diet.During the Middle Ages European agricultureunderwent a number of significant changes.Tools including the scythe and plow wereimproved from classical versions, a three fieldsystem of crop rotation was invented, and themoldboard plow and wheeled plow wereincreasingly used. Draft horses were bred andincreasingly used as a working animal whileoxen continued to be used for this purpose.In the late Middle Ages the use of manure asfertilizer increased, which in turn decreased thenecessity of regular fallowing of fields. Betweenthe 16th century and mid-19th century GreatBritain saw a massive increase in agriculturalproductivity and net output. New agriculturalpractices like enclosure, mechanization,four-field crop rotation and selective breedingenabled an unprecedented population growth,freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the IndustrialRevolution. By the early 19th centuryagricultural practices, particularly carefulselection of hardy strains and cultivars, hadso improved that yield per land unit was manytimes that seen in the Middle Ages. At this timethere were also experiments on planthybridization and advances in theunderstanding of plant genetics and,subsequently, the development of hybrid crops.Storage silos and grain elevators also appearedin the 19th century.October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Ducde Berry, 1413-1416The Limbourg BrothersMusée Condé, Chantilly, FranceThe history of agriculture in the Age of Discovery and Early modern era was closely tied to theprocesses of European exploration and colonization. After 1492 the world’s agricultural patternswere shuffled in the widespread exchange of plants and animals known as the ColumbianExchange. Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were nowtransplanted to the New and vice versa.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of Agriculture continuedUntil the 17th century, agriculture had been much the same across Europe until the BritishAgricultural Revolution. This period of development in Britain, from about the 17th century tothe end of the 19th century, saw an increase in agricultural productivity. For instance, Jethro Tullmade early advancements in agricultural technology with his seed drill in 1701, a mechanicalseeder which distributed seeds efficiently across a plot of land. This in turn supportedunprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, andthereby helped drive the Industrial Revolution which led to further advances in agriculturaltechnology. Since the 18th century, farming and farm machinery have continued to evolveallowing farmers to cultivate many more acres of land than the machines of the past. Examplesof these innovations include the plough, tractors and combine.With the rapid rise of mechanization in the late 19th century and 20th century, particularly inthe form of the tractor (United States, 1892), and the Combine harvester (United States, 1834),farming tasks could be done with a speed and on a scale previously impossible. Thedevelopment of rail and highway networks and the increasing use of container shipping andrefrigeration in developed nations have also been essential to the growth of mechanizedagriculture, allowing for the economical long distance shipping of produce. While chemicalfertilizer and pesticides have existed since the 19th century, their use grew significantly in theearly 20th century.Maxwell BatesEroded Land, n.d.Collection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaThough the intensive farming practicespioneered and extended in recent historygenerally led to increased outputs, they havealso led to the destruction of farmland, mostnotably in the dust bowl area of the UnitedStates following World War 1. As globalpopulation increases, agriculture continues toreplace natural ecosystems with monoculturecrops. Since the 1970s western farmers andconsumers have become increasingly aware of,and in some cases critical of, widely usedintensive agriculture practices. This growingawareness has led to increased interest in suchareas of agriculture as organic farming,permaculture, Heirloom plants and biodiversity,the growth of the Slow Food movement, and anongoing discussion surrounding the potential forsustainable agriculture.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
Page 2: The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Page 5 and 6: The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Page 78 and 79:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106:
show all

Down on the Farm - Art Gallery of Alberta

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?