ABSTRACT
Historically, innovation has occurred over long timescales; the individuals impacted by the change, and markets disrupted by innovation, have had an opportunity to adapt. However, the pace of change has increased dramatically. The first agricultural revolution, the transition from hunting and gathering to a crop-based system, occurred during the Neolithic (around 10,000 bce) and took thousands of years to spread; the Arab Agricultural Revolution (8th to 13th centuries) that led to the diffusion of key crops and techniques took about 500 years; the British Agricultural Revolution (mid-18th century to late 19th century) that led to the changes in productivity that drove and benefited from the Industrial Revolution cut that time by a third. The Green Revolution that led to increased production in the developing world began in the 1940s, and reached its peak impact by the late 1970s. Now we deal with genetic engineering and the new CRISPR/Cas9 technology to alter DNA.
