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When complete, the list below will include all food plants native to the Americas (genera marked with a dagger † are endemic), regardless of when or where they were first used as a food source. For a list of food plants and other crops which were only introduced to Old World cultures as a result of the Columbian Exchange touched off by the ...
The food served at these gatherings included, alongside a variety of other plants and animals, several domesticated squash varieties, maize, and wild beans. [26] Food that needed to be processed, like cornmeal , would commonly be prepared at the feast site alongside non-food items that gave the feasts ritual or ceremonial importance.
Worldwide more human beings gain their livelihood from agriculture than any other endeavor; the majority are self-employed subsistence farmers living in the tropics [citation needed]. While growing food for local consumption is the core of tropical agriculture, cash crops (normally crops grown for export) are also included in the definition.
Food historian Lois Ellen Frank calls potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chili, cacao, and vanilla the "magic eight" ingredients that were found and used only in the Americas before 1492 and were taken via the Columbian Exchange back to the Old World, dramatically transforming the cuisine there. [17] [18] [19] According to Frank, [20]
Most of the cropland in the Southwest United States is used to grow hay. This is mainly because there are better places in the United States to grow soil-intensive crops, such as the Great Plains and much of California. In New Mexico, 1.55 million tons of hay were grown in 2007. [9] In Nevada, over 90 percent of the cropland is used to grow hay ...
Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, Ceiba pentandra , one of several trees known as kapok .
Plants with more than one significant human use may be listed in multiple categories. Plants are considered domesticated when their life cycle , behavior , or appearance has been significantly altered as a result of being under artificial selection by humans for multiple generations (see the main article on domestication for more information).
Climate-friendly gardeners may grow and eat plants such as sweet cicely which sweeten food, and so reduce the land area needed for sugar-beet. [50] They may also choose to grow perennial food plants to not only reduce their indirect greenhouse gas emissions from farmland, but also to increase carbon stores in their own gardens. [39] [50] [51] [52]