ountries (Compton 95).Because each nation depends on agriculture not only for food but for national income and raw materials for industry as well, trade in agriculture is a continuing international concern. It is governed by international agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and by trading regions such as the European Community. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations directs attention to agricultural policies and trade. According to the FAO, world agricultural production, provoked by improving technology reached a record high in the mid-1990s. Furthermore, the agricultural output in developing nations increased 54 percent during the period from 1976 to 1996. On a per capita basis food production rose by 38 percent in developing nations (Early Civilization). Early farmers were, archaeologists agree, largely of Neolithic culture. The sites which were occupied by such people are located in Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Thailand, Europe, Macedonia, Thrice, and Thessaly (Compton 95). Early centers of agriculture have also been identified in the Huang He (Yellow River) are of China; the Indus River Valley of India and Pakistan; and the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico with each step of agriculture becomes a new obstacle.The transit from hunting and food gathering to dependence on food production was gradual, and in a few secluded parts of the world this transition had not yet been achieved. Crops and domestic meat supplies were upsurged by fish and wild animals and wild fowl. Each farmer would began by noting each of the wild plants that were edible or otherwise useful and they learned to save the seeds and replant them in clear land. Prolonged cultivation of the most prolific and stoutest plants yielded stable strains. Herds of sheep and goats were molded from captured young wild animals, and those with the most us...
