Here you read our FREE Ultimate Guide on ASB 301 Module 3 Discussion: Farming Revolutions and see its solution.
Instructions of ASB 301 Module 3 Discussion
Discussion Prompt
1. What implications do you think the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture has for current global health issues? Why?
2. What implications do you think the agricultural yield revolution has for current global health issues? Why?
Directions and Grading Criteria
Post #1 (10 points): In response to the prompt, students will make one Discussion Post (approximately 50–150 words).
This post should be in its own thread.
To earn full points, posts must (1) adhere to the word limits, and (2) be relevant to the discussion topic.
Posts #2 and #3 (10 points total): Students must post a response to two other classmates’ initial posts that are no more than 50–100 words and engage in critical or substantive ways with the initial post (e.g., exemplar, critique, question).
These responses are graded on a pass/fail basis.
To pass and earn full points responses must (1) adhere to the word limit and (2) engage critically or substantively with the initial post to which it is responding.
This How-To ASB 301 guide is a piece that will help meaningfully address the important human history transition—the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and the revolution in agricultural yields—and how it relates to current global health issues. With dissected historical transitions, you will examine how these game-changing moments shaped modern health landscapes and equip you to consider the broader ramifications of the historical and contemporary health challenges.
What implications do you think the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture has for current global health issues? Why?
Transition from Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture
To start the ASB 301 Module 3 Discussion: Farming Revolutions, we will discuss the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture.
- Review how people transitioned from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Instead, it is important to focus on the reasons for this transition and the areas where it first began.
- Consider the potential changes to one’s diet, the pattern of disease, and the population density over this shift.
- Think about how prolonged sedentary lifestyles and diets of agriculture have affected modern health problems with overweight, diabetes and heart disease.
- Explain how agricultural introduction to humans may have given rise to and spread infectious diseases due to increased human and animal domestication.
Example
The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, dubbed the Neolithic Revolution, altered things at a fundamental level and set the stage for many current global wellbeing issues. Around 10,000 years ago this pivotal change arrived when humans started to domesticate plants and animals and build permanent communities.
The transition in diet itself carries one huge health implication. When agricultural societies cultivated grains such as wheat or barley, they ate a carbohydrate rich diet whilst hunter gatherer societies ate a protein rich diet. The long term implications of this dietary shift are that societies with high carbohydrate diets are on the rise are becoming greatly affected with modern health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
What implications do you think the agricultural yield revolution has for global health issues? Why?
Implications of the Agricultural Yield Revolution
We then discuss the implications of the agricultural yield revolution.
- Look at the key features of the Green Revolution, also called the agricultural yield revolution. Part of this revolution was the early introduction of high-yielding crop varieties, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.
- Analyse what the ever increasing agricultural productivity means for global food security and their contribution (or lack thereof) towards reducing or increasing malnutrition and its related health issues.
- The environmental and health consequences of intensive farming, such as pesticide exposure and land degradation, and their relation to modern concerns.
Additionally, human populations became denser in agricultural societies as people lived in a particular area to farm. The increased population density allowed the spread of infectious diseases. The domestication of animals also helped to provide new ways in which diseases could jump from animals to humans, a process known as zoonosis, of which there continue to be significant concerns in global health.
These trends intensified in the mid-20th century with the Agricultural Yield Revolution, the infamous Green Revolution. It was a time of the introduction of high-yield crop varieties and the massive utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase food production and feed a growing world population. This revolution greatly increased food security and decreased famines but had unexpected health and environmental costs.
Farmers now work with many chemicals, leaving them exposed to a variety of pesticides—and the statistics on health dangers related to pesticides are way out of line. Land degradation because of overuse and depleting natural resources leads to malnutrition, which, over time, reduces land productivity.
The initial shift to agriculture and the agricultural yield revolution has greatly shaped our modern global health issues. They emphasise the interplay between agricultural practices and health and the requirement for sustainable practices that meet human health and the environment.
Students must post responses to two classmates’ initial posts that are no more than 50-100 words and engage in critical or substantive ways with the initial post (e.g., exemplar, critique, question).
Peer Response
Responding to peers is vital to the ASB 301 Module 3 Discussion: Farming Revolutions. You will need at least two peer responses. I will give you one example post. Things to remember while writing your peer responses are below.
- Make sure your responses are concise (50 to 100 words) about the topic and answer, giving substantial content that introduces brand new insights or angles.
- Try to pose the probing questions, point out the critiques, or compare it to another historical event.
- Thoroughly read classmates’ posts to get an idea of their views.
- Introduce new perspectives into the discussion, for example, responding to posts that invoke your findings or that vary considerably between your findings.
Example
Response 01
Hey Alex, great post. You have fully analyzed the Green Revolution’s role in global food security. Your increased production is linked, at least in potential, to possible adverse health effects because of chemical use. You have made some sensible points about how a transition to agriculture brought with it health implications with higher rise (relative to the scale of humans’ carbohydrate intake) carbohydrate consumption leading to obesity and diabetes. Another thing to mention is that a regular farm supply of food may have resulted in an increase in life expectancy and well being generally in this time.
Response 02
You are suppose to write two peer responses. I have responded to the given instructions in one go. These instructions will help you write your peer responses to Module 3 Discussion without putting in too much effort.
Closing
Successfully engaging with the ASB 301 Module 3 Discussion: Farming Revolutions explores how human behavior and technology changes have led to modern global health. In analyzing the agricultural yield revolution and the transition to agriculture, you will find some insights into the messiness of the relationship between history and health and how historical context is essential to understanding contemporary health issues. This Owlisdom guide will aid you in approaching your analysis critically and meaningfully interacting with your peers to enrich the collective learning experience.
