Farming: Down on the Farm

Alex wants to create his own spaghetti sauce from scratch. Jen and Sam shuttle him back in time to the year 8000 B.C., where he learns that without farming, history would have never got going in the first place. He discovers that different crops were raised, different tools were invented, and a variety of animals was raised by people all over the world. Once irrigation was invented in Mesopotamia in 6000 B.C., more food meant more people, which eventually turned into the development of towns and cities. In 1841, the Irish potato famine led millions to immigrate to North America. The inventions of mechanized farm machinery meant farmers could plow, plant and harvest faster and more efficiently.