IP Blog

I just sat down from standing in front of my refrigerator.  I stood there for awhile and I thought to myself, “That is a lot of food.  I wonder how it got here…” Ok, so I know that my mom had to of went grocery shopping, but the question is, where did it come from after it was delivered to the store? 

There are so many different types of food in the market today, it is unfathomable to think that our ancestors or the first hunter-gatherers once had to go find their food and learn how to make it work.  In Guns, Germs and Steel, a novel written Jared Diamond, he discusses all of the different factors it takes to produce one simple thing; proper climate, resource availability, and applicable soil.  Common sense to the hunter-gatherer knows that good soil, lots of resources and long growing seasons results in a successful crop.  Poor soil, no resources, no water, and a short growing season tell them that they better travel somewhere else.

However, the hunter-gatherer could not produce the quality of products he wants without his domestic animals.  Keeping in mind the suitable climate, it also has to be just right for animals to live and do quality work.  Not only were certain animals good for their meat and hide (Diamond, 90), but also their labor.  “…the largest domestic mammals interacted with domestic plants to increase food production by pulling plows and thereby making it possible for people to till land that had previously been uneconomical for farming.” (Diamond, 88).

Diamond focuses on the area known as the Fertile Crescent; “One advantage of the Fertile Crescent is that it lies within a zone of...a climate characterized by mild, wet winters and long, hot, dry summers.  That climate selects for plant species able to survive the long, dry season and to resume growth rapidly upon the return of the rains.” (Diamond, 136) Diamond shows the reader that this really is the ultimate and perfect climate for a successful growing season.  With high quality food being produced, it created calories to sustain life in the Fertile Crescent. 
Using the Fertile Crescent as an example, other countries with the same requirements can also become successful and grow; “All those other areas became food producing as a result of the spread of crops, livestock, and knowledge of how to grow them and, in some cases, as a result of migrations of farmers and herders themselves” (177).  These countries, “The peoples of areas with a head start on food production, thereby gained a head start on the path leading toward guns, germs, and steel” (103), are resulting in today’s more “successful countries”. 

If developing countries today, adapt the things that worked then, possibly everyone can one day be on the same page; on the road to success and prosper.