Farmers have a long history

Pictured above: Map of ancient Mesopotamia
and its physical characteristics.
The rich soil in-between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers provided ideal circumstances for ancient farmers.

Last week's blog post about GMO's  (genetically modified organisms) was written to inform people, with the example of golden rice, that there is no need to be concerned. GMO's pose many great health benefits. It is the idea of something modified that makes people uneasy. Modern day techniques in agriculture are much different than what the people of ancient Mesopotamia used. In fact research shows that people were farming 11,700 years ago.
GMO history is relevant to the argument of whether we should be eating "organic/all natural" food or genetically modified organisms. Believe it or not, as those farmers were domesticating plants and animals in ancient Mesopotamia, they were modifying the agriculture that helped them survive. 

Pictured above: Ancient art depicting herdsman and cattle
in northern Africa. 

Humans were gatherers before they were farmers. At some point, humans concentrated on specific traits of plants and animals they relied on for food. At that point, these traits were bred with other organisms with the same specific traits, tailoring to the needs of the ancient farmers and their families. In other words, even the "organic all natural food" has been changed dramatically from the organism it originally was. 

Pictured above: Modern John Deer combine
used for harvesting grain. Depending on when grain
is planted, it is harvested anywhere
 from May to September.

All human progression; whether it is agriculture, technology, or medicine has been relatively slow up until the last two centuries or so. In the 1900's  European plant scientists begin using Gregor Mendel's genetic theory to manipulate and improve plant species. This is called "classic selection." A plant of one variety is crossed with a related plant to produce desired characteristics. Progression of all types has accelerated from that time period, especially agriculture. 
Methods in modern agriculture have never been better. We can contribute much of the progression in agriculture to GMO's. It is not a new and untested thing, it is a science that is being perfected; and it started thousands of years ago.