Stone to Silicon

Timeline · 57 technologies

Food & agriculture

c. 23,000 years ago to November 2025. Each one is placed by when it first worked.

Open the living tree

  1. c. 23,000 years agoWild cereal harvestingForagers on the Sea of Galilee gathered and ground wild barley and wheat 23,000 years ago.
  2. c. 17,000 years agoDomestic dogWolves that scavenged human camps became the first domesticated animal, well before any crop.
  3. c. 9,500 BCEAgricultureIn the Fertile Crescent people began sowing what they once gathered, and settled life followed.
  4. c. 9,000 BCEDomesticated wheatEinkorn and emmer evolved non-shattering ears that waited for the harvester instead of scattering.
  5. c. 8,500 BCELivestock domesticationSheep and goats, then pigs, became herds that supplied meat, milk, wool and hides on demand.
  6. c. 8,000 BCECattleThe wild aurochs was tamed into cattle, later the engine of ploughing across Eurasia.
  7. c. 7,000 BCEDairyingMilk fats in Anatolian pots show herders drinking and processing milk 9,000 years ago.
  8. c. 7,000 BCEDomesticated maizeA scrubby Mexican grass called teosinte was bred into maize, the Americas' great grain.
  9. c. 7,000 BCEDomesticated riceAlong the Yangtze, wild rice became Asia's staple and eventually the food of half of humanity.
  10. c. 7,000 BCEFermented drinksJiahu villagers brewed a drink of rice, honey and fruit, the oldest chemically confirmed alcohol.
  11. c. 6,000 BCEDomesticated potatoAndean farmers bred bitter wild tubers into potatoes that thrive at 4,000 metres.
  12. c. 6,000 BCEIrrigationCanals led river water to fields, letting farming thrive where rain alone could not.
  13. c. 4,000 BCEArd ploughA pointed wooden stick pulled by oxen scratched furrows far faster than any hoe.
  14. c. 800 BCEQanatGently sloping tunnels tapped groundwater and carried it for kilometres without pumps.
  15. c. 350 CECrystalline sugarGupta-era Indians learned to boil cane juice into storable crystals called khanda.
  16. c. 480 CEHorse collarA padded collar let horses pull hard without choking, raising draft power several times.
  17. c. 600 CEHeavy mouldboard ploughAn iron share and mouldboard turned over heavy, wet soils that ards could only scratch.
  18. c. 800 CEArab Agricultural RevolutionCaliphate farmers spread citrus, cotton, rice and sugar across a Mediterranean-to-India network.
  19. c. 800 CEThree-field rotationRotating winter grain, spring crops and fallow raised the share of land in use from half to two-thirds.
  20. 1492Columbian exchangeMaize, potatoes and cassava crossed the Atlantic one way, wheat, cattle and horses the other.
  21. 1701Seed drillA horse-drawn drill planted seeds in even rows at the right depth instead of scattering them.
  22. c. 1730Norfolk four-course rotationWheat, turnips, barley and clover in rotation abolished the fallow year entirely.
  23. c. 1760Scientific livestock breedingRobert Bakewell bred sheep and cattle to plan, recording traits across generations.
  24. 1810CanningFood sealed and boiled in jars and tins stayed edible for years, won a prize from Napoleon.
  25. 1831Mechanical reaperA horse-drawn reaper cut grain as fast as five men with scythes.
  26. 1834Mechanical refrigerationJacob Perkins patented a machine that made ice by compressing and expanding a vapour.
  27. 1835Combine harvesterOne machine that reaped, threshed and cleaned grain in a single pass.
  28. 1837Steel ploughA polished steel blade sliced prairie sod that clogged cast-iron ploughs.
  29. 1840Agricultural chemistryJustus von Liebig showed plants feed on mineral nutrients, and yield is capped by the scarcest.
  30. c. 1840Guano fertilizerSeabird droppings dug from Peruvian islands became the world's most prized fertilizer.
  31. 1864PasteurizationGentle heating killed the microbes that spoil wine and milk without boiling the flavour away.
  32. 1882Refrigerated shippingThe SS Dunedin carried frozen mutton 98 days from New Zealand to London, still fresh.
  33. 1892Gasoline tractorJohn Froelich's petrol tractor started the replacement of draft animals on farms.
  34. 1910Haber-Bosch processNitrogen pulled from the air and made into ammonia, fertilizer that now feeds billions.
  35. 1925Quick-frozen foodClarence Birdseye flash-froze fish so fast that ice crystals stayed small and taste survived.
  36. 1926Hybrid cornCrossing inbred lines unlocked hybrid vigour, and US corn yields began a century-long climb.
  37. 1927Home refrigeratorGE's Monitor-Top put a sealed electric fridge in ordinary kitchens.
  38. 1929HydroponicsWilliam Gericke grew 7.5-metre tomato vines in nutrient water with no soil at all.
  39. 1935Norin 10 dwarf wheatA Japanese semi-dwarf wheat whose short, stiff stalks could carry heavy heads without falling over.
  40. 1939DDT insecticidePaul Muller found DDT killed insects on contact, protecting crops and fighting malaria.
  41. 1948Center-pivot irrigationA rotating sprinkler arm watered a whole circle of field, visible today as green discs from space.
  42. c. 1961Green RevolutionSemi-dwarf wheat plus fertilizer and irrigation doubled yields and averted forecast famines.
  43. 1965Drip irrigationPlastic tubes dripped water straight to each plant's roots, using far less than flooding.
  44. 1966IR8 miracle riceA semi-dwarf rice from IRRI that could yield up to ten tonnes a hectare.
  45. 1983First transgenic plantScientists used a bacterium to move an antibiotic-resistance gene into tobacco.
  46. 1994Flavr Savr tomatoThe first genetically engineered whole food on supermarket shelves, a slow-softening tomato.
  47. 1996Bt and herbicide-tolerant cropsCrops carrying a bacterial insecticide gene and herbicide tolerance reached large-scale planting.
  48. c. 1996Precision agricultureGPS yield maps and auto-steer let farmers treat every square metre of a field differently.
  49. 2000Golden riceRice engineered to make beta-carotene, aimed at vitamin A deficiency that blinds children.
  50. 2012Vertical farmingStacked, LED-lit hydroponic racks grow greens indoors in cities, year-round.
  51. 2013Lab-grown burgerMark Post served a beef burger grown from cow stem cells, at a cost of about 250,000 euros.
  52. 2016Heme plant-based meatThe Impossible Burger used yeast-made soy leghemoglobin to make plants bleed and taste like beef.
  53. 2020Cultivated meat approvedSingapore became the first country to approve meat grown from animal cells for sale.
  54. 2021CRISPR-edited foodJapan approved a CRISPR-edited tomato rich in GABA, the first such food sold to consumers.
  55. 2022Autonomous tractorA production tractor that tills a field on its own, watched from a smartphone.
  56. November 2025Cultivated meat in a grocery storeLab-grown pork goes on sale at a US supermarket.
  57. November 2025England's gene-edited crop pathwayGene-edited plants leave the GMO rulebook in England.

Projections 4

  1. around 2031Precision-fermented dairy at parityMicrobes brewed in tanks make milk and egg proteins as cheaply as cows and hens.
  2. around 2038Cultivated meat at price parityMeat grown from animal cells in bioreactors costs the same as meat from a farm.
  3. around 2040C4 photosynthesis in riceRice rewired to photosynthesise like maize, yielding far more grain per hectare.
  4. around 2042Nitrogen-fixing cerealsWheat, maize or rice that feed themselves nitrogen from the air like beans do.