I've been ruminating (ha, new cow owner here) on this topic of annuals versus perennials today. Why DID humans move to annuals? Let's examine some

Team perennial like Mark Shepard and The Land Institute argue it was basically just a bad choice to move to annuals as tilling degrades soil and the land base civilizations need to thrive.

on the other hand says it seems implausible that so many civilizations would choose to rely on grains just because they're...making a stupid choice? There must be something else at play. He goes deep into plant characteristics and yields.

My go to author on these topics, Morris Berman, argues it's really the distinction between immediate return economies (hunter gatherers) and delayed return economies (which require storage) that explains this shift. "Quantity precipitates a shift in...

But why they made this shift is still unclear. Classic chicken and the egg...