This document discusses the importance of understanding agriculture's past to help feed the future world. It highlights several key points: 1. Studying the past is key to understanding the future of agriculture. Early farmers began selectively breeding crops like rice in China over 6,000 years ago. 2. The science of agricultural origins was pioneered by Nikolai Vavilov in the early 20th century who identified centers of origin for crops. New techniques like radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis are unlocking more information. 3. Agricultural diversity is important for the future as genes from crop wild relatives and landraces can be transferred to crops to provide benefits like flood tolerance. Understanding patterns of genetic diversity is crucial.