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After reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, I believe the most contributory element that guaranteed the rise and spread of domesticables enabling food production was location. One key component of location was the availability of consumable calories in a given area. Only a small amount of wild plants were edible to humans. Some reasons why Diamond argues that certain plants were useless to humans were that they were “indigestible, poisonous, low in nutritional value, tedious to prepare, or dangerous to hunt” (88). There had to be a worthwhile quantity of edible food to make food production a viable option. For example, it made no sense to engage in food production if one expended more calories gathering the food than the actual food provided. The more abundant availability of food allowed for former hunter-gathers to change their ways and turn towards food production. Only with a surplus of food could people begin to settle in permanent villages and start to specialize and improve their farming tactics. When plants that pollinate themselves, “selfers”, were available, food production became a more feasible option. “Selfers” also occasionally cross-pollinated and allowed even more varieties for the people to select from (Diamond, 138). Yet another advantage in location were the number of annual plants. Annual plants are plants that follow a cycle of growing and dying each year. These plants provide a large quantity of consumable calories. In fact Diamond argues, “they constitute 6 of the modern world’s 12 major crops” (136). Annuals were great because unlike trees and shrubs the majority of them were edible (Diamond, 136). The availability of consumable calories definitely was needed to engage in food production; however, the growing conditions also had an enormous impact on the rise and spread of food production.

Location determines whether there are suitable conditions for growing necessary crops.  For instance, the location determines the climate of the environment. In the areas where the climate had a broad climate range such as, The Mediterranean climate, the growing ability of plants was easier. With the high diversity of climate there developed a high diversity of plants. For example, Diamond proves this point when he states, “the diversity in Eurasia allowed for it to contain 32 of the world’s 56 prize wild grasses” (139). The location also determines the range of altitudes and topographies within a short distance. A great range of altitude and topography was beneficial in making food production worthwhile. With mountains, lowlands, rivers, flood plains, and deserts suitable for irrigation a variety of plants could be grown. Among this variety were the essential eight founder crops; they were called founder crops because they were the spark that inspired agriculture. These included cereals emmer wheat, einkon wheat, and barley; the pulses lentil, pea, chickpea, and bitter vetch; and the fiber crop flax. Jared explains that some of the eight founder crops could only grow in certain parts of the world. In fact two out of the eight founder crops could only have grown in the Fertile Crescent. Jared proves through these statistics that the right location made a large impact on agriculture and food production. Without the founder crops the hunter gatherers might never have learned the methods for starting food production (Diamond, 141). Location also determines the axis configuration. Continents that had an East-West axis had a simpler ease at spreading food production; An East-West axis allowed for similar climates; therefore, crops could easily be transported to nearby countries. Also Diamond argues, “the growing season- that is, the months with temperatures and day lengths suitable for plant growth – is shortest at high latitude and longest toward the equator.” In this statement Diamond proves that location had a large impact on whether or not food production was a viable option. Suitable growing conditions based on location were necessary to allow food production, but the number of domesticable animals also was a large factor.

Location seems to have determined the number of domesticable animals on certain continents. Domesticated animals, in turn, helped guarantee the rise and spread of food production. For example, Eurasia held 72 domesticatable animals and 13 of them were able to be domesticated; Eurasia held the largest percentage of candidates to actually be domesticated. The fact that Eurasia’s location enabled it to have a large landmass and a diverse environment represents a major reason why so many domesticatable animals were found in Eurasia. For an animal to become domesticated it must have all the needed qualities; Eurasia held the most candidates. The importance of location on animal domestication can also be seen in the number of animals that were able to survive traumatic environmental changes. Diamond states, “Part of the explanation for Eurasia’s having been the main site of big mammal domestication is that is was the continent with the most candidate species of wild mammals to start out with, and lost the least candidates to extinction in the last 40,000 years” (163). Domestic animals allowed farmers to remain sedentary and still consume a healthy amount of animal protein in their diet. Keeping domestic animals replaced the need to hunt for wild game and they were able to be used as a source of food throughout their whole lifespan. For example, certain animals could provide milk or eggs which were calories that could be consumed with little effort. Diamond argues, “Those mammals served several times more calories over their lifetime than if they were just slaughtered and consumed as meat” (88).  This sedentary life gave farmers the opportunity to have more children, thus creating a denser population. This dense population then allowed for specialized professions, especially specialization in food production (Diamond, 89). Another way domestic animals aided in the adoption of food production was that the animals provided manure which was and still is a major source of fertilizer. Diamond stated domestic animals supplied a labor force for tasks such as “pulling plows and thereby making it possible for people to till land that had previously been uneconomical for farming.” Location, location, location was a major factor that allowed food production to transpire.

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