Subsistence and Economy

Part One:
There are two types of subsistence, Hunter gatherer and Agriculture societies.

Hunter gatherers, just as the name says, are people who hunt for and gather plants and wild animals for food.  One benefit of living like this is not having a need for money to purchase food. Since it is hunting, the food you can hunt and gather is the food you consume. This also allows for families to stay together; although they are working which some might see as a negative thing, they are together still and they get to spend time together. Another benefit could be that they have a good amount of food and it also comes in variety depending on what the person gathers.However, hunter gatherers have a disadvantage of relying on the environment. Since they do not plant the crops and they mainly rely on dogs, they might not have all the food they want which leads to nutrition deficiency. Their only source of food is what the environment allows. Another disadvantage is their  bodies might become weaker from the intensive labor that they carry out. It is almost impossible to not have an occupation in this type of subsistence. 


Agriculture societies are the societies that cultivate plants and food in order to attain their source of food and fuel and fibers. They also raise animals and fungi for their protein and meat source. One benefit from having this type of culture is the ability to grow the food that you want and limit the amount of unnecessary food. Another benefit from this type of culture is that farmers can sell their products in return for profit. This brings the tie between subsistence and economy. Another major benefit is the consumption of healthier food that is well taken care of and that farmers spend time on. However, the disadvantage of this would be the fact that food is purchased from the farmers. This means that the consumer who is unable to farm needs money in order to be able to be well fed. Another disadvantage is the long hours spent working in the fields and the hours spent on raising the livestock. Also, the limitation of having a vast area for crops could lead to limiting the variety of food produced which might have a negative impact on the health.


Choosing between these two subsistence patterns, I would say that agriculture patterns would lead to better health. Being able to drink milk and eat meat that is well taken care of is a major plus for the human health. Yes, there is less room for variety, but at least there are crops and food that have very good minerals and the fact that they are raised by farmers means that they are better than just hunted food. One may argue that it takes a while for the agriculture system to be well developed, and I would agree. However, it has developed in a way that leads to the decrease of use of antibiotics on the crops, which means that the food that is being consumed is much healthier. 


I believe that humans made this transition into agriculture because having the hunter gatherers system meant that everyone in the family was doing the same type of job. This was a good thing until it became apparent that the culture was limited on development. With agriculture, different people would have different jobs which leads to more room for development. Also, who wouldn't want healthier food? moving into agriculture allowed the people to have healthier food which is a legitimate reason to make the transition.

Part Two:
Trade is the act of exchanging goods for some type of profit or other goods. "There is a direct relationship between the availability of surplus and the ability to trade". This is true because in order to trade and exchange the surplus, it needs to be there. Also, the more there is of something, the more there will be for trading purposes and the less likelihood for the shortage of the surplus after trade. For example, if I was a farmer of tomatoes and cucumbers and I wanted to trade with someone in exchange for oranges and bananas, both of us need to have the crops available or else we would not have anything to exchange.


One benefit of trade is being able to attain products that are unavailable. This leads to specialization which is a major component of civilization. With trade, there is no need for one person or one country to be able to produce all the needed goods; instead, they can specialize in producing one type of good and then exchange it for either profit or the other goods that are unavailable to them. Another benefit of trade is the increase of efficiency. The specialization in the production of one product means that it is more efficient to produce it; it is faster and cheaper to have a focus on less products. With trade, the specialization leads to an increase in efficiency which is another major component in civilization.

However, trade is not only beneficial. One disadvantage of trade is the growth of dependence on one producer for the product. While this is a result of specialization, if this producer stops the production of the specialty product, then all the countries and people that need this product will have a shortage. For example, if the farmer who is growing apples for all the other farmer suddenly stops growing apples for whatever reasons, all the other farmers who traded with him or her will have shortage of apples and have to start producing apples themselves. Another negative aspect of trade is the spread of diseases. If one product is contaminated with the disease, then everyone who trades for that product will catch that disease which is almost like trading diseases. 


The development of agriculture has a direct effect on the development of trade. Agriculture started out very basic but eventually began to develop to the point where many farmers were able to produce more products than needed. However, with trade, the excess products did not go to waste. Instead, they were exchanged for other items. This is how specialization could have started and therefore it had a major effect on the development of trade.