Being nomadic hunter/gatherers was so amazing, we invented subsistence agriculture just to get away from it.
David Graeber and David Wengrow (The Dawn of Everything) disagree. It was always very labor intensive with significant drawbacks (especially during seasons where crops won’t grow), to the point that many groups openly dismissed the idea of being farmers of any kind. It took ages to get “large scale” (plots larger than 1000m²) agriculture “right” enough for it to actually be worth the time spent.
The reason for the insistence on agriculture, despite all the hardships, among groups with all sorts of hierarchical organizations, is the real million dollar question.
David Graeber and David Wengrow (The Dawn of Everything) disagree. It was always very labor intensive with significant drawbacks (especially during seasons where crops won’t grow), to the point that many groups openly dismissed the idea of being farmers of any kind. It took ages to get “large scale” (plots larger than 1000m²) agriculture “right” enough for it to actually be worth the time spent.
The reason for the insistence on agriculture, despite all the hardships, among groups with all sorts of hierarchical organizations, is the real million dollar question.