Originally Posted by chris1234
"Gladwell looks at many ethnic groups - not just Rice Paddy farming - for examples - and it not ethnicity - but the culture that occupation brings."

True, but also Gladwell got very very specific about how very fussy rice farming is - the work ethic is one part of the equation but he was also talking about the very difficult task of getting the slope of the bed just right, maintaining the water level, spacing the plants, fertilizing, etc. It almost sounds like a bit of engineering, agriculture, chemistry, and biology rolled into one - maybe other areas of farming require these levels of precise manipulation, but he makes it sound pretty unusual. I have never been a farmer, so I wouldn't know for sure.

It depends on the culture around that farming community and the level of competition for resources and inputs. Death by famine is surely a motivator!! So is social pressure to have good looking fields and farms.

Borlaug changed how grain is farmed. Its hard for people to conceive of a time when the ground was plowed and drilled without thinking. Not that it ever was, but the level of thought that is used today is very high.

Here is a pretty typical article on what is required to get good wheat yields.

If you relabelled the graphs, you might be thinking about finance or physics.

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B1135.htm

Dr Kee has also done some work on Ryegrass.

www7.tamu-commerce.edu/agscience/ppt/tfgc-2.ppt

However, dryland farming - where you plant and then wait/worry, is not anywhere as intensive as manual tobacco or rice farming.