People first started to grow crops about 12,000 years ago. They discovered that certain wild plants, which produced seeds that were ground for flour to make bread, could be made to grow in fields. Crop, or arable, farming had begun.

Today, huge swathes of land that were once natural grasslands or woodlands are under cultivation. Finding new land to farm is sometimes so important that tropical rainforest, desert and swamp are turned into farmland. Even land under the sea has been reclaimed to find more room for crops.

In rich countries, farmers use modern machines and methods to produce better crop yields – more grain from a certain size of field. In poorer countries, most of the population still work in the fields and depend on a small number of crops, together with a few animals, for their livelihood. They grow only enough food for themselves. This is known as subsistence farming.

THE WORLD’S CROPS

The most important crops are the cereals: wheat, rice, maize, barley, rye and millet. These provide many people with their basic source of food, their staple diet.

Rice is the main food for millions of Asians. Rice-fields, known as paddies, must be flooded, so in hilly country flat shelves of land, or terraces, are built so that the floodwaters do not flow away. The rice seedlings are planted in rows under water, often by hand. After harvesting, the crop is threshed, to separate out the grain, and then winnowed, to lose the husks and grit.

Other important staple crops include beans, peas and lentils. Fruit and vegetables add vitamins and carbohydrates to our diet.

Soya beans, groundnuts and palms are also useful for the oils in their seeds. A range of crops are grown as fodder (livestock feed). They include grasses, some root vegetables and alfalfa.

Picture Credit : Google