Ecological Agriculture
People have been planting and harvesting food plants for approximately 10,000 years and this has been the primary occupation for most of humanity for nearly as long. In 1862 the Homestead Act granted 160 acres to any citizen in the US for agricultural use. America was a country built by the family farm.
Just over a hundred years ago as much as 41% of the US population was still directly involved in agricultural practices. Conversely, in the year 2000, only 2% of the US population derived its living from agricultural production (USDA).
In 1975 Wendell Berry wrote his prophetic book “The Unsettling of America,” which pinpointed the cause and effect relationship between the industrialization of agriculture and the growing global crisis. His words are even more prevalent today.