While editing a Wikipedia page that talked about thyme, I was looking for definitions and methods how seeds are planted. After a couple of hours about dwelling in modern techniques and the history of irrigation and farming at the old civilization, I realized just how little I know about farming! The history and the way farming developed and spread along the continents is purely amazing. The earliest known irrigation system occurred in the year 6000 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt where they manipulated the river drainage and paths in order to water plants and they did that in fabulous ways. Later, this practice spread through the world. It was also very interesting to know the huge sector that involves farming equipments and machines! Farming nowadays in run by rather expensive and automated machines to produce enormous amounts of crops in order to feed the 7 billion humans in the world. This all relates to economy, workers, low-wages, human-trafficking and so much more. After surfing the internet for two hours, I realized that farming is multi-disciplinary in the sense that it connects all sort of fields because it involves money, humans, machines and food (the basic need for humans). It also relates to climate change and how that is affecting crops and thus human workers and thus the economy and thus decision-makers, so it creates a big domino effect in the real world. I learned so much information when I was just going to look for more information about cultivation of thyme. It is fascinating how much one can learn and explore interests with the help of the internet but it is also sad that I have not taken one course in my university years that involves this.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 