Since the beginning of agriculture with the domestication of plants around 10,000 years ago, wild species were collected and continually selected for better growth, higher yield and better quality of consumable products. Focusing solely on these quality traits was automatically associated with a reduction in the ability of crops to withstand pests and diseases. That led to the dawn of the crop protection era as people tried to reduce crop damage. Some records indicate that the Chinese used sulfur compounds in 2000 BC to keep crops healthy. In the European Charlemagne era (around 800 AD), crop rotation was recorded. Due to the network of knowledgeable monasteries, that continued to grow over'' Europe until around 1400 AD.
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