First Agricultural Revolution

The average american consumes 1500 pounds of corn per year or about 4 pounds a day. Most processed foods you eat contain some form of corn, it has worked it’s way into our everyday lives. Humans developed the ability to build off of each other's ideas creating the vast variety of corn products. Then humans started making settlements where they domesticated corn and artificially selected desired traits of it. The modern revolution dramatically changed corn from it’s genetics to how is it grown and there is still lots to be improved on to support the world’s population in the future. The events the led to corn can be traced back all the way to early humans, up until present time, and because corn is being used so often in our daily lives it
The neolithic revolution was a fundamental change in the way people lived, from hunting and gathering to agriculture where “people first domesticated plants about 10,000 years ago” in many different locations around the world this led to new civilizations and settlements. (HUNTER-GATHERERS TO FARMERS). Many things could have contributed to this change, but one of the most important theories is that the end of the cold period during the ice age “[created] new temperate regions in which plants are now growing in sufficient perfusion” (National Geographic Education ). It was during this threshold in which humans laid down the foundation of farming and plant domestication, soon to be followed by a variety of other crops including corn. Humans were now able to have permanent settlements and produce enough food to survive. When humans first began cultivating corn, they selected certain traits that some maize had and replanted them the following year to the point where “there is no wild plant that looks like maize, with soft, starchy kernels arranged along a cob” (The Evolution of Corn). As humans began creating civilizations, they no longer had to put all their focus on survival and could begin learning new things. Humans were now able to have the time to experiment with something such as corn. Humans artificially selected corn to the
Corn has many different uses, such as livestock feeding, fuel, and in food products, as a result the “United States grew nearly 14.2 billion bushels (360 million metric tons) of corn” in one year (U.S. Grains Council). In order to produce that much corn, “more than 90 million acres of land are planted to corn” (USDA ERS - Corn: Background). Corn is being produced in huge amounts and it is transformed into many different products. This new technology making it much easier to harvest and plant corn allows it to be produced on massive scales. One way that is being used to make corn more efficient is Genetically Modified Corn which has been “genetically engineered to be herbicide resistant (Roundup Ready) and to produce its own insecticide (Bt Toxin)” (Information on GMO Sweet Corn.). Another outcome of the modern revolution to help make corn grow healthier are fertilizers which “are needed to obtain high yields because they supply crops with the nutrients the soil lacks” (Why Use Fertilizers). The modern revolution has led to numerous technological advancements. Scientists can now change the genetic makeup of corn in order to be more efficient and continue to produce enough food for the population. Fertilizers and machines make corn more nutritious and more easily managed which could never be achieved before the modern