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 People began to develop their knowledge of growing grain and root crops around 11,500 years ago, and they eventually adapted to a life based on farming.

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 A large portion of Earth's population was reliant on agriculture by 2,000 years ago. Although researchers are unsure of the exact cause, climate change may have played a role.

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  Mesopotamian farmers created primitive irrigation systems around 5500 BCE.

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 People banded together and organised themselves to create and maintain better irrigation systems in Mesopotamia, and later in Egypt and China.

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In the US, numerous machines were created. Eli Whitney created the cotton gin in 1794, which shortened the time required to separate cotton fibre from seed.

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 Cyrus McCormick's motorised reaper contributed to the modernization of the grain-cutting process in the 1830s. About at the same time, .

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 An average American farmer in the early 1900s produced enough food to sustain a family of five. Many farmers today are capable of feeding that family and 100 additional people.

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How did this significant increase in output occur? It occurred in great part as a result of technological advancements and the creation of new power sources.

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 Early in the 20th century, farms in Germany and Japan started using electricity as a power source. In the United States and other affluent nations, the majority of farms had electricity by 1960.