Roman agriculture 

describes the farming practices of ancient Rome, during a period of over 1000
years. From humble beginnings, the Roman Republic (509 BC to 27 BC) and the Roman Empire (27
BC to 476 AD) expanded to rule much of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East and thus
comprised many agricultural environments of which the Mediterranean climate of dry, hot summers
and cool, rainy winter was the most common. Within the Mediterranean area, a triad of crops were
most important: grains, olives, and grapes.
The great majority of the people ruled by Rome were engaged in agriculture. From the beginning of
small, largely self-sufficient landowners, rural society became dominated by latifundium, large
estates owned by the wealthy and utilizing mostly slave labor. The growth in the urban population,
especially of the city of Rome, required the development of commercial markets and long-distance
trade in agricultural products, especially grain, to supply the people in the cities with food.

Background[edit]
The main texts of the Greco-Roman agricultural tradition are mostly from the
Roman agronomists: Cato the Elder's De agri cultura, Columella's De re rustica, Marcus Terentius
Varro and Palladius. Attributed to Mago the Carthaginian, the agricultural treatise Rusticatio,
originally written in Punic and later translated into Greek and Latin, is now lost. Scholars speculate
whether this text may have been an early source for agricultural traditions in the Near East and
Classical world.[1]

The "delightful" life[edit]

Agriculture in ancient Rome was not only a necessity, but was idealized among the social elite as a
way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties,
he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture,
none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man." When one of his
clients was derided in court for preferring a rural lifestyle, Cicero defended country life as "the teacher
of economy, of industry, and of justice" (parsimonia, diligentia, iustitia).
[2]
 Cato, Columella, Varro and Palladius wrote handbooks on farming practice.
In his treatise De agricultura ("On Farming", 2nd century BC), Cato wrote that the best farms
contained a vineyard, followed by an irrigated garden, willow plantation, olive orchard, meadow, grain
land, forest trees, vineyard trained on trees, and lastly acorn woodlands.[3] Though Rome relied on
resources from its many provinces acquired through conquest and warfare, wealthy Romans
developed the land in Italy to produce a variety of crops. "The people living in the city of Rome
constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms."[4]
Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person,
and the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often
rewarded with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free
men and citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves and ensure that the farms ran smoothly.[4]

Crops[edit]

Grains[edit]
Staple crops in early Rome were millet, and emmer and spelt which are species of wheat. According
to the Roman scholar Varro, common wheat and durum wheat were introduced to Italy as crops
about 450 BC.[5][6] Durum (hard) wheat became the preferred grain of urban Romans, because it could
be baked into leavened bread and was easier to grow in the Mediterranean region than common
(soft) wheat.[7][8] Grains, especially baked into bread, were the staple of the Roman diet, providing 70
to 80 percent of the calories in an average diet.[9] Barley was also grown extensively, dominating
grain production in Greece and on poorer soils where it was more productive than wheat. Wheat was
the preferred grain, but barley was widely eaten and also important as animal feed.[10]
In De re rustica Columella wrote that emmer was more resistant to moisture than wheat. According to
Columella four types of emmer were cultivated, including one variety that he calls Clusian (named for
the town Clusium).[11] Cato wrote that if sowing grain in humid or dewy soils was unavoidable, they
should be sown alongside turnips, panic grass, millet and rape.[12]
Despite listing panicum and millet among the legumes Columella says they should be considered
grain crops "for in many countries the peasants subsist on food made from them".[13]

Legumes