Editing Renewable resource (section)

===Historical role===
[[File:Japan Factory Ship Nisshin Maru Whaling Mother and Calf.jpg|left|thumb|An adult and sub-adult [[Minke whale]] are dragged aboard the [[Nisshin Maru]], a Japanese whaling vessel.]]
[[File:Hanfdaemmstoff CG.jpg|right|thumb|[[Hemp#Building material|Hemp]] insulation, a renewable resource used as [[Sustainable living#Sustainable building materials|building material]]]]

Historically, renewable resources like firewood, [[latex]], [[guano]], [[charcoal]], [[wood ash]], plant colors as [[indigo]], and whale products have been crucial for human needs but failed to supply demand in the beginning of the industrial era.<ref name=rad/> Early modern times faced large problems with overuse of renewable resources as in [[deforestation]], [[overgrazing]] or [[overfishing]].<ref name=rad/>

In addition to fresh meat and milk, which as food items are not the topic of this section, [[livestock]] farmers and artisans used further animal ingredients as [[tendon]]s, horn, bones, bladders. Complex technical constructions as the [[composite bow]] were based on combination of animal and plant based materials. The current distribution conflict between biofuel and food production is being described as [[Food vs. fuel]]. Conflicts between food needs and usage, as supposed by [[fief]] obligations were in so far common in historical times as well.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095848/http://www.wageningenacademic.com/_clientfiles/download/livestockhousing-e_01.pdf A short history of livestock production], J. Hartung, in Livestock housing, Modern management to ensure optimal health and welfare of farm animals, edited by: Andres Aland and Thomas Banhazi, © 2013 {{ISBN|978-90-8686-217-7}}</ref> However, a significant percentage of (middle European) farmers yields went into [[livestock]], which provides as well organic fertiliser.<ref>Gustav Comberg, Die deutsche Tierzucht im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Ulmer, 1984, {{ISBN|3-8001-3061-0}}, (History of livestock breeding in Germany)</ref> Oxen and horses were important for transportation purposes, drove engines as e.g. in [[treadmill]]s.

Other regions solved the transportation problem with [[Terrace (agriculture)|terracing]], [[urban agriculture|urban]] and garden agriculture.<ref name=rad>Nature and Power: A Global History of the Environment. By Joachim Radkau. Publications of the German Historical Institute Series. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008</ref> Further conflicts as between forestry and herding, or (sheep) herders and cattle farmers led to various solutions. Some confined wool production and sheep to large state and nobility domains or outsourced to professional shepherds with larger wandering herds.<ref>Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte. 2, Band 0, Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte, Reiner Prass, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1958, p. 58</ref>

The [[British Agricultural Revolution]] was mainly based on a new system of [[crop rotation]], the four-field rotation. [[United Kingdom|British]] agriculturist [[Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend|Charles Townshend]] recognised the invention in Dutch [[Waasland]] and popularised it in the 18th century UK, [[George Washington Carver]] in the USA. The system used [[wheat]], [[turnip]]s and [[barley]] and introduced as well [[clover]]. Clover is able to fix nitrogen from air, a practically non exhaustive renewable resource, into fertilizing compounds to the soil and allowed to increase yields by large. Farmers opened up a fodder crop and grazing crop. Thus [[livestock]] could to be bred year-round and winter [[culling]] was avoided. The amount of manure rose and allowed more crops but to refrain from [[wood pasture]].<ref name=rad/>

Early modern times and the 19th century saw the previous resource base partially replaced respectively supplemented by large scale chemical synthesis and by the use of fossil and mineral resources respectively.<ref name= DCH/> Besides the still central role of wood, there is a sort of renaissance of renewable products based on modern agriculture, genetic research and extraction technology. Besides fears about an upcoming [[peak oil|global shortage of fossil fuels]], local shortages due to boycotts, war and blockades or just transportation problems in remote regions have contributed to different methods of replacing or substituting fossil resources based on renewables.