Agriculture arose independently at several locations across the world, beginning about 12,000 years ago. The first crops and livestock were domesticated in six rather diffuse areas including the Near East, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa in the Old World, and Mesoamerica, South America, and Northeastern North America in the New World.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1886/origins-of-world-agriculture/.