Farming, or agriculture, is the science or art of cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and the raising of animals. Beginning some 10,000 years ago, people in various places around the world began to grow plants and domesticate animals. Slowly and over time, farming made living in one place possible, encouraged innovations in tools, and allowed a dramatic increase in population. All civilizations, from the earliest we know about down to our own, have evolved from this ability intentionally to grow plants and raise animals for larger groups of people.

This farmer in Sri Lanka uses two oxen to plow through a muddy rice paddy. Many farmers around the world still utilize ancient farming and cultivation methods.

Ancient stories and the oldest oral traditions speak of the origins of plants and animals. In the classic mythologies of all world cultures, agriculture came as a divine gift. In most...