Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Who Farms?
Who Farms?
Farming can mean any action that benefits present or future cropping or extraction of living or nutricous resources. It is clear that many animals and vegetables farm on this definition. Deciduous trees drop leaves, black ants herd blue butterfly grubs. Farming clearly can evolve because of the benefit to the species or individual, and may comprise various behaviours that may or may not be obvious as 'farming'.
Ponies will trample paths through dense bracken, even though there is nothing tasty to eat at that moment. Ultimately this behaviour will reduce the bracken, and let in more light, and increase the ponies' feeding area.
Goats will nibble fresh leaves on young birch saplings, and then ring bark it low down, thus killing the existing stem. However this is a form of coppicing as next year there will be a new low bush of fresh stems and leaves, probably providing more food than the previous single stem.
It is not obvious whether deer use either of these forms of farming, but maybe they do other things well.
Maybe man has some instinctive behaviours of farming, which we are not aware of. Would we recognise it? Killing ( and enjoying it) inedible predators? Blowing dandelion seeds? Swatting flower heads with a stick? Having sympathy with young orphaned animals? Who knows?
MartinW
Ponies will trample paths through dense bracken, even though there is nothing tasty to eat at that moment. Ultimately this behaviour will reduce the bracken, and let in more light, and increase the ponies' feeding area.
Goats will nibble fresh leaves on young birch saplings, and then ring bark it low down, thus killing the existing stem. However this is a form of coppicing as next year there will be a new low bush of fresh stems and leaves, probably providing more food than the previous single stem.
It is not obvious whether deer use either of these forms of farming, but maybe they do other things well.
Maybe man has some instinctive behaviours of farming, which we are not aware of. Would we recognise it? Killing ( and enjoying it) inedible predators? Blowing dandelion seeds? Swatting flower heads with a stick? Having sympathy with young orphaned animals? Who knows?
MartinW
