<P> The history of agriculture records the domestication of plants and animals and the development and dissemination of techniques for raising them productively . Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa . At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin . </P> <P> Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 20,000 BC . From around 9,500 BC, the eight Neolithic founder crops--emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas, and flax--were cultivated in the Levant . Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans . Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 11,000 BC, followed by sheep between 11,000 and 9,000 BC . Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan around 8,500 BC . Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 7,000 BC . Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 5,000 BC . In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 8,000 and 5,000 BC, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs . Bananas were cultivated and hybridized in the same period in Papua New Guinea . In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was domesticated to maize by 4,000 BC . Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600 BC . Camels were domesticated late, perhaps around 3,000 BC . </P> <P> In the Middle Ages, both in the Islamic world and in Europe, agriculture was transformed with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees such as the orange to Europe by way of Al - Andalus . After 1492, the Columbian exchange brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and manioc to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips, and livestock including horses, cattle, sheep, and goats to the Americas . </P>

Where do scholars believe food production first began in the middle east