What made some humans change from being food collectors to food producers?

Question

What made some humans change from being food collectors to food producers? What factors may have been responsible for the development of intensive agriculture?

Answer 1

tehabwa is quite correct. Beer!

By discovering/ inventing agriculture it became possible to have more food than competing groups still dependent on food collecting. More food led to more mouths to feed which demanded more agriculture...a sort of positive feedback loop. Grain was storable and as silly as it seems, fermented grain that was made into the first beer-like drink was less contaminated than the water used by early agricultural humans.

Once the population increased because of these activities there was no going back to food gathering.

Answer 2

We aren't entirely sure.

I had a professor that said some believe that it was for beer.

Really.

It's only when you have surplus (that you can have when you grow grain) that you can afford to use grain for alcohol.

But we don't really know, as the first records we have were after the start of agriculture.

Not all humans made that move at the same time, and there are still people that don't produce food, but gather it.

Answer 3

Because food 'collecting' has all but become

"Politically-Incorrect" in some eyes !!!

Answer 4

Although all of the other answers are partly true, the real reason for the change can be summed up in two words...

ICE AGE!

Answer 5

Too many people in one place so that simply gathering food was not possible and they were forced to grow or starve.

Mankind was forced to invent agriculture, government and just indulged themselves when they also invented religion.

People! We can't live with em and we can't live without em.

Answer 6

Hey, a good question!!!

Early humas were basically more of food hunters than just food collectors. Agriculture / food production must have started when the human population in a particular settlement became high to be supported by hunting of animals alone. The social nature of humans also must have aided in starting of agriculture. Also the invention of fire, tools, must have also been given a impetus to agriculture.