Agriculture by nature is an unsustainable system. Crops take more out of soil than it has the
ability to replenish under normal conditions. Being aware of this fact, throughout history man
has tried to supplement the difference by various means with different degrees of success. was no accident that the location of the first agriculture-based civilization was Mesopotamia,
meaning “land between two rivers.” The flood water every year brought new rich alluvial soils
down the river to enrich the farmland with nutrients. With increases in population, people
migrated from the optimal to the best land and climate they could find, and in time were forced
to settle for marginal soils and climates. However using ingenuity, mankind found ways supplement what soil was not able to offer and used the climate to the fullest. Man’s incessant
desire for more, while at the same time having more mouths to feed started to take toll the soil, the primary agricultural resource. Ancient scholars saw the development of this trend
and warned against tendencies that made agricultural systems unsustainable. The evidence such warnings is found in the literary archives of the Indus Valley, Chinese, and the Middle
Eastern civilizations. In modern times, detriment to soil and climate became endemic with
the large-scale use of chemicals and machineries in agriculture starting in the 1930s. Present
scholars, like their ancient predecessors, raised the alarmand the “dust bowling” by mechanical
agriculture created general awareness of the awaiting catastrophes from the overexploitation
of agricultural resources.