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When people first began farming, they had to do so with their own two hands. This meant that they could only produce enough food to feed themselves and their families. As their population grew, so did the amount of land they needed to farm. This led to the invention of the plow which made it possible for people to farm large areas of land.
However, plows also required more manpower than hand-plowing which led to the rise of machines that could do the work for fewer people. This is how mechanization was able to help farmers tremendously by increasing efficiency. However, mechanization increased the productivity of farms but at the same time it also destroyed jobs in manufacturing industries.
Other jobs arose but were often lower paying and provided fewer benefits than those held by workers in manufacturing.