12,000 BC - Neolithic Revolution, the first agricultural revolution, begins in the ancient Near East

12,000 BC - Natufians in the Levant begin harvesting wild grasses.

9800 BC - Earliest evidence for domesticated wheat at PPNA sites in the Levant.

8500 BC - PPNB sites across the Fertile Crescent growing domestic wheat, barley, chickpeas, peas, beans, flax, and bitter vetch. Sheep and goats domesticated.

7000 BC - Agriculture had reached southern Europe with evidence of emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, sheep, goats, and pigs suggest that a food producing economy is adopted in Greece and the Aegean.

7000 BC - Cultivation of wheat, sesame, barley, and eggplant in Mehrgarh (India/Pakistan).

7000 BC - Domestication of cattle and chicken in Mehrgarh, Indian subcontinent.

6800 BC - Rice domesticated in southeast Asia.

6500 BC - Evidence of cattle domestication in Turkey. Some sources say this happened earlier in other parts of the world

6000 BC Archaeological evidence from various sites on the Iberian peninsula suggest the domestication of plants and animals.

6000 BC - Granary built in Mehrgarh for storage of excess food.

5500 BC Céide Fields in Ireland are the oldest known field systems in the world

5000 BC - Domestication of the horse in Ukraine

4000 BC - In Mehrgarh, the domestication of numerous crops, including peas, sesame seeds, dates, and cotton, as well as a wide range of domestic animals

4000 BC - Egyptians discover how to make bread using yeast

4000 BC - Evidence for rice domestication in the Korat plateau area of northwestern Thailand

4000 BC - First use of light wooden ploughs in Mesopotamia

3500 BC - Irrigation was being used in Mesopotamia

3500 BC - First agriculture in the Americas, around Central Amazonia or Ecuador

3000 BC - Turmeric, cardamom, pepper and mustard are harvested in the Indus Valley Civilization (India/Pakistan).

3000 BC - Fermentation of dough, grain, and fruit juices is in practice.

3000 BC - Sugar produced in India

2600 BC - Large scale commercial timbering of cedars in Phoenicia (Lebanon) for export to Egypt and Sumeria. 

1700 BC - Wind powered machine developed by Babylonians

1300 BC - Creation of canal linking the Nile delta to the Red Sea

691 BC - First aqueduct (approx. 50 miles long) constructed to bring water to Nineveh.

530 BC - First Greek aqueduct (underground)

500 BC - The moldboard iron plough is invented in China

500 BC - Row cultivation of crops using intensive hoeing to weed and conserve moisture practised in China

300 BC - Efficient trace harness for plowing invented in China

200 BC - Efficient collar harness for plowing invented in China

100 BC - Rotary winnowing fan invented in China

100 BC - The multi-tube seed drill is invented in China

AD 200 - The fishing reel invented in China

600 - The distillation of alcohol in China

607 - The Chinese begin constructing a massive canal system to connect the Yellow and Yangtze rivers

640 - Arab Agricultural Revolution begins in the rapidly-expanding Arab Empire

644 - Muslim inventors develop a windmill, used to pump water for irrigation

794 - Paper mill invented in Baghdad, Iraq

800 - Arabic chemists produce distilled water and purified water[3]

800 - Pure alcohol (ethanol) as a pure compound is distilled by Arabic chemists such as Geber and Alkindus[4]

850 - Use of coffee is known in Arabia

900 - Water turbine invented in the Arab Empire[2]

900 - First wind powered gristmills built in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

900 - Geared gristmills with trip hammers developed in the Arab Empire[6]

900 - First sugar refineries, driven by both water mills and windmills, invented in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran

1000 - Sherbet, the first juiced and carbonated soft drink, is developed by Arabic chemists.

1000 - Cash cropping[9] and the modern crop rotation system where land was cropped four or more times in a two-year period is introduced in the Arab Empire

1000 - Earliest factory milling installations built in Baghdad, Iraq

1000 - Milling dam (Pul-i-Bulaiti), used to provide additional power for milling, built at Karun, Iran[16]

1050 - Flywheel-driven saqiya chain pump and noria developed by Ibn Bassal (fl. 1038-1075) of Al-Andalus[17]

1100 - Bridge mill (water mill built as part of the superstructure of a bridge) developed in Cordoba, Al-Andalus

1100 - Spiral scoop-wheel, a device which raises large quantities of water to ground level with a high degree of efficiency, invented in Baghdad, Iraq[19]

1100 - Finery forge invented in Al-Andalus[5]

1100 - First European factory milling installations built in Al-Andalus[5]

1206 - Al-Jazari invents the crankshaft and connecting rod, and employs them in a crank-connecting rod mechanism

1250 - Crank-driven screw and screwpump developed in the Arab world using Al-Jazari's crankshaft[22]

1559 - Taqi al-Din invents a six-cylinder 'Monobloc' pump, a hydropowered water-raising machine incorporating valves, suction, and delivery pipes

1809 - French confectioner Nicolas François Appert invents canning

1837 - John Deere invents steel plough

1863 - International "Corn Show" in Paris with corn varieties from different countries

1866 - Gregor Mendel publishes his paper describing Mendelian inheritance

1871 - Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization

1895 - Refrigeration for domestic and commercial food preservation introduced in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively.

1930 - First use of aerial photos in Earth sciences and agriculture.

1944 - Green Revolution begins in Mexico

2000 - Genetically modified plants cultivated around the world.

2005 - Lasers used to replace stickers by writing on food to "track and trace" and identify individual pieces of fresh fruit. [1]