Multi-cropping has been found by archaeologists, evidence for the early farming of the ancients. It shows that ancient agriculture developed in the direction of agricultural innovation.
Multi-cropping
Multi-cropping — the seasonally sequential production of multiple crops on the same land in the same year — is an agricultural technique aimed at diversifying and intensifying economic and subsistence-based food, fodder, and forage production.
Excavation evidence shows that this form of farming has existed since ancient times
Multi-cropping in Southwest Asia, in which grain, fodder, or forage could be reliably cultivated during dry summer months, only became possible with the translocation of summer grains, like millet, from Africa and East Asia.
Multi-cropping in Southwest Asia, in which grain, fodder, or forage could be reliably cultivated during dry summer months, only became possible with the translocation of summer grains, like millet, from Africa and East Asia.
The discovery of millet
The broomcorn millet is an amazingly robust, quick-growing and versatile summer crop that was first domesticated in East Asia.
It is impossible to detect broom millet because the environment is not suitable for it to grow.
“Until now, we thought that millet wasn’t grown in Iraq until the construction of later first millennium BCE imperial irrigation systems,” the researchers said.
“Millet generally requires summer precipitation to grow, but Southwest Asia has a wet-winter and dry-summer climate, and agricultural production is based almost entirely on crops grown during the winter, such as wheat and barley.”
Previous studies may have underestimated the capacity and resilience of ancient agriculture under ancient food systems in semi-arid ecosystems.
Agricultural innovation
New research shows that ancient agriculture developed in the direction of agricultural innovation.
“Although millet isn’t a common or preferred food in semi-arid Southwest Asia or the United States today, it is still common in other parts of Asia and Africa,” Dr. Laugier said.
“Millet is a hearty, fast-growing, low-water requiring and nutritious gluten-free grain that could hold a lot of potential for increasing the resilience capacities of our semi-arid food systems.”
“Today’s agricultural innovators should consider investing in more diverse and resilient food systems, just as people did in ancient Mesopotamia.”
