Human Tech Tree

Life

Agriculture & Food

40 points from the earliest roots to the research frontier: 29 researched, 4 current research, 4 unsolved and 3 that become possible once they are solved. State of knowledge: October 2026.

Open the interactive tree →

Prehistorybefore 3000 BC

  • Farming (Neolithic Revolution)~9500 BCResearchedAround 11,700 years ago people in the Fertile Crescent began sowing and harvesting cereals and pulses instead of only gathering wild plants.
  • Granaries & Grain Storage~9300 BCResearchedEarly farmers at Dhra' in Jordan build raised stores for grain, the oldest known granaries, about 9300 BC.
  • Animal domestication~9000 BCResearchedSheep, goats, cattle and pigs were bred for meat, milk, wool and labour, building on the dog, domesticated over 15,000 years ago.
  • Fermented food and drink~7000 BCResearchedEarly farmers learned to ferment grain, grapes and milk into beer, wine and cheese, preserving food with invisible microbes.
  • Irrigation~6000 BCResearchedCanals and ditches carried river water to fields, making harvests possible in dry regions like Mesopotamia and Egypt.
  • The plough~3500 BCResearchedThe ox-drawn ard broke open the soil and let one farmer work far more land than with a hoe or digging stick.

Antiquity3000 BC – 500 AD

  • Shaduf, Qanat & Water Lifting~2000 BCResearchedThe shaduf lever lifts water to fields in Mesopotamia by about 2000 BC; qanats in Persia and the Archimedes screw follow.

Middle Ages & Renaissance500 – 1700

  • Three-field rotation~800ResearchedRotating winter grain, spring grain and fallow over three fields raised yields and spread the workload across the year in medieval Europe.
  • New World crops cross the ocean1492ResearchedAfter 1492 potatoes, maize, tomatoes and cassava spread across the world, while wheat, cattle and sugar crossed to America.

Industrial Age1700 – 1900

  • Seed Drill1701ResearchedJethro Tull's horse-drawn seed drill (1701) sows seed in rows at an even depth instead of scattering it by hand.
  • Crop rotation (Norfolk system)~1730ResearchedAlternating cereals with clover and turnips fed livestock and restored soil fertility, ending the fallow year in 18th-century England.
  • Canning (Appert, 1809)1809ResearchedHeat-sealing food in airtight containers (Appert, 1809) let food travel and keep.
  • Mechanical Refrigeration1834ResearchedJacob Perkins patents the vapour-compression machine in 1834; refrigerated stores, ships and railcars follow.
  • Mechanical reaper1834ResearchedThe horse-drawn reaper (Hussey 1833, McCormick 1834) cut grain far faster than hand scythes and mechanized the harvest.
  • Combine Harvester1836ResearchedHiram Moore's combine (patent 1836) cuts, threshes and cleans grain in one pass; Massey-Harris's self-propelled No. 20 (1938) makes it routine.
  • Mineral fertilizer1840ResearchedJustus von Liebig's mineral theory argued that plants live on mineral nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium, leading to the first factory-made…
  • Grain Elevator1842ResearchedJoseph Dart's steam-powered grain elevator in Buffalo (1842) lifts and stores bulk grain by machine instead of sacks.
  • Pasteurization1864ResearchedLouis Pasteur shows in 1864 that gentle heating kills spoilage microbes in wine; the method soon makes milk and beer safe.
  • Genetics and plant breeding1866ResearchedHybrid maize (Shull, 1908-09) and systematic selection, built on Mendel's rediscovered laws (1900), turned plant and animal breeding from craft into…
  • Soil science1883ResearchedSoils became a science: Dokuchaev showed in 1883 that soil forms from rock, climate, organisms, relief and time, and can be mapped and classified.

Machine Age1900 – 1945

  • Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis1909ResearchedFritz Haber (1909) and Carl Bosch (1913) turned nitrogen from air into ammonia at industrial scale, making artificial fertilizer practically…
  • The tractor1917ResearchedThe petrol-engine tractor replaced draught animals and raised the area one farmer could work by orders of magnitude.
  • Quick-Frozen Food1924ResearchedClarence Birdseye's quick-freezing process (1924) keeps fish and vegetables fresh in taste and texture, starting the frozen-food trade.
  • Field trials and randomization1925ResearchedAt Rothamsted, R.A. Fisher developed randomized field experiments and analysis of variance (1925) to test fertilizers and crop varieties.
  • Synthetic pesticides1939ResearchedPaul Müller found DDT's insecticidal power in 1939; synthetic insecticides and herbicides cut crop losses but harmed ecosystems.

Atomic & Space Age1945 – 1990

  • Center-Pivot & Drip Irrigation1948-1965ResearchedFrank Zybach's rotating sprinkler (1948) and Simcha Blass's drip system (Netafim, 1965) bring water to crops with far less waste.
  • Green Revolution1960sResearchedShort-strawed, fertilizer-responsive wheat and rice varieties, plus fertilizer and irrigation, roughly doubled grain output in Asia and Latin America.

Digital Age1990 – 2015

  • Genetically modified crops1996ResearchedCrops with inserted genes for insect resistance or herbicide tolerance were first sold in 1994-1996 and now cover more than a tenth of the world's…

Present2015 – Oct 2026

  • Cultivated meat2020Current researchMeat grown from animal cells in bioreactors has been approved for sale in a handful of countries since 2020, but volumes remain tiny.
  • Precision agriculture2020sCurrent researchGPS-steered machines, drones and image-recognition sprayers apply seed, fertilizer and herbicide only where the field needs it.
  • Precision fermentation2020Current researchEngineered microbes brew specific proteins such as rennet, whey or egg and milk proteins that replace ingredients once taken from animals.
  • Aquaculture overtakes wild catch2022ResearchedIn 2022 aquaculture supplied 94.4 million tonnes of aquatic animals, 51 percent of the total and for the first time more than wild catch (FAO).
  • Gene-edited crops, EU NGT law2026Current researchIn the EU, gene-edited plants with changes that could also arise by breeding will be treated like conventional crops under a regulation adopted in…

Research Frontier · Todayunsolved as of Oct 2026

  • C4 rice / better photosynthesisopenUnsolvedMost crops use an older, wasteful photosynthesis (C3); rebuilding rice or wheat to work like maize (C4) could raise yields by up to half.
  • Feeding 10 billion peopleopenUnsolvedFood production must feed up to about 10 billion people while heat, drought and water limits push yields down.
  • Nitrogen-fixing cerealsopenUnsolvedLegumes feed themselves with nitrogen from the air via root bacteria; getting wheat, rice or maize to do the same would remove the need for much…
  • Stopping soil lossopenUnsolvedErosion, compaction, salt build-up and lost organic matter destroy farmland soil far faster than nature rebuilds it.

If Solvedbecomes possible

  • Self-fertilizing crops2040s?If solvedCereals that make their own nitrogen would cut fertilizer cost, pollution and emissions, especially for farmers who cannot afford fertilizer.
  • Yield jump from C4 crops2040s?If solvedRice and wheat with C4-like photosynthesis could give a step change in yield per hectare using less water and nitrogen.
  • Secure global food supplyopenIf solvedResilient crops, healthy soils and low-fertilizer farming together could feed the peak population without more land.