Rice Farmers Versus Wheat Individualists

The Rice Hypothesis posits that cultures that engaged in wet rice farming, which requires coordinated irrigation and synchronized planting, tend to be collectivist, while wheat farming cultures evolved to be more individualistic. In rice-growing regions, farmers must share water, maintain canals, and time their planting together, so they rely heavily on their neighbors. Wheat farmers can usually work their fields alone with less need for complex shared systems.

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