The Impact of John Deere Today, more and more people don't know where their food comes from. Humanity now lives in an age where technology is the focus and the rural lifestyle is becoming a thing of the past. The ability to produce food is so efficient and effective that some people don't even realize how their food gets to their plate. But this was not the case in the 19th century. In 1837, a man named John Deere changed agriculture forever. At the heart of human existence, civilizations have made agriculture their main source of food. For as long as agriculture has existed, agricultural tools have been used to cultivate the land. Scientists believe that the first plows used date back to 4,000 BC. These plows were simple pointed sticks, but they were nevertheless the pioneers of modern plows. Around 3,000 BC, the Egyptians invented a plow with a wider triangular share that turned more soil into a wider furrow. As the population grew over time, more and more people settled in Europe. The soil contained much more moisture and required a lot of power to pull plows through it. The Dutch then invented an iron-covered mouldboard that cut the earth much better and significantly reduced the power needed (Drache 2-3). When European settlers began to settle America, they quickly realized that if they wanted to survive, they needed to farm and produce crops. In 1648, the colony of Virginia had approximately 150 plows. Plows were very expensive and required a lot of power to pull them. In 1780, an Englishman named Robert Ransome patented a cast iron plow share. The cast iron share was much better because as it moved through the ground the share became sharpened. This greatly improved efficiency...... middle of paper ......50 There were approximately 5.9 million acres cultivated in Iowa and Illinois. By 1870 it reached 28.7 million acres (Deere). Thanks to technological advances, pioneered by John Deere, equipment efficiency has made it possible to farm more acres and in much less time. Malthus was therefore wrong in asserting that the human population would exceed man's capacity to produce food. But in his defense, I'm sure he never imagined that an acre of land could be plowed with a 560 hp John Deere tractor in about 3 minutes. Never before has an acre of land been able to be exploited in such a short time. Agriculture has changed dramatically over the past century and will surely continue to improve. Precision farming is the way of the future and efficiency is key. John Deere truly impacted agriculture and changed the lives of every human being on earth..