Food Science and SocietyPerhaps the greatest impact of food science on society has come in the area of agriculture. The earliest development of agriculture changed nomadic societies to settled ones, because farming is more readily done on cultivated land or land that already has been used as a farm. Ones the idea of farming the same piece of land was conceived, permanent shelter became more practical and the forerunners of modern-day houses were built.
The protection of farms was important enough to cause farmers to group together and to establish boundaries, and tiny hamlets, the forerunners of modern day towns and cities were formed. But even as the art of agriculture improved in efficiency so that increasingly less farmers were able to produce enough food to
feed the population, farming efficiency as late as 1862 was only about 4.5 – that is took 2 farmers to produce the food requirements for 9 people.Within hundred years, the U.S Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with land-grant colleges, farmers, and state extension agencies, increased the farming efficiency dramatically to 26 – that is, it took only 1 farmer to produce the food requirement of 26 people.
This accomplishment release a large portion of the population to engage in other efforts such as manufacturing , construction, transportation, education, research, research, and medical services. Because of the added manpower that the United States was able to direct in other fields, it became transformed from a fledgling nation to the largest food producing one, the leading industrial one, the world’s strongest political and military power.
Food Science and Society
