LEAF VEGETABLES’ CROPS ALONG THE SENEGAL RIVER

How can we conquer the world on an empty stomach? The invention of agriculture changed the course of our history. It happened less than 10,000 years ago—it was our first great revolution. Agriculture gave us our first surpluses. We built our cities and civilizations. The memory of millennia spent gathering food in the wild faded. The grains that became the foundation of our lives—we multiplied their varieties, learning to adapt them to our lands and climates. Like every species on Earth, our first concern is finding enough to eat each day.
When the soil became less generous and water more scarce, we performed wonders to extract our sustenance from the land. Humanity has shaped its environment with the patience and perseverance that the Earth demands—a sacrifice repeated endlessly.
Agriculture remains the world’s first profession. Half of humanity still cultivates the land, and more than three-quarters do so by hand. Agriculture is a tradition passed down from generation to generation—through sweat, labor, and hardship—because, for humankind, it is the very condition of survival.

Excerpt from the film Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Co-written with Isabelle Delannoy and Tewfik Fares
With the kind permission of the GoodPlanet Foundation
© 2009 Europacorp - Elzevir Films