Ground-breaking moments in global agriculture

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Organized cultivation of food crops like wheat and barley began about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, what is now the Middle East.

Great strides in agriculture have been made since through innovation, technology and genetics to help feed the world's growing population. Despite this, however, more than 1 billion people went hungry in 2009, 100 million more than last year.

The increase is not a result of poor harvests, but due to high food prices, particularly in development nations, and lower incomes and lost jobs due to the economic downturn.

Here are some landmark moments in world agriculture:

* 1701 - Briton Jethro Tull invented the seed drill, an improved plough that was drawn by a horse.

* 1798 - Thomas Malthus predicts impending famine as population growth outstrips food production.

* 1831 - American Cyrus McCormick introduced his mechanical reaper, which was mass produced by 1847 in a Chicago factory.

* 1863 - The U.S. Agriculture Department, which forecasts crop production for major countries across the globe, publishes its first monthly crop report.

* 1866 - Austrian Gregor Mendel laid the foundation of modern genetics by showing traits pass from parents to offspring.