In 1923, V. Gordon Childe coined the term Neolithic Revolution. The term revolution refers to the widespread change in this area. The term neolithic refers to the later years in the Stone Age. 

The Oasis Theory, Feasting Model and Evolutionary Theory are real concepts that explain why populations shifted to agriculture. The Green Theory is not. The Oasis Theory explains that as climates got drier, settlements flocked to areas with small amounts of water where they were put into contact with animals and seeds for planting. The Feasting Model explains that agriculture was driven by the settlements' eagerness to give feasts to show wealth and power. The final theory, Evolutionary Theory, explains that this move to agriculture was a natural adaption as humans embraced plants. 

The Second Agricultural Revolution, also known as the British Agricultural Revolution, took place first in England in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. From there it spread to Europe, North America, and around the world. It  involved the introduction of new crop rotation techniques and selective breeding of livestock, and led to a marked increase in agricultural production. It was a necessary prerequisite to the Industrial Revolution and the massive population growth of the last few centuries.

The mechanized reaper was invented in the 1830s by Cyrus McCormick. It quickly spread around the United States and was instrumental the growth of commercial farming in the plains of the central United States. To provide clarification, a “reaper” is a tool used by farmers to cut and gather crops.

The Second Agricultural Revolution's increased agricultural yields allowed a shift away from subsistence farming, leading to a decrease in subsistence farming rather than an increase.

During the Green Revolution, cereal grain production (and total caloric production for that matter) doubled, resulting in a 100% increase, one of the largest increases in food production in human history.

While the process of synthesizing nitrogen fertilizers on an industrial scale had been around since the early twentieth century (e.g. the Haber-Bosch nitrogen fixation process, which was developed in 1909), this technology and infrastructure did not expand and become established in the developed world until the 1960s. This resulted in an increase of cheap and abundant cereal grains in famine-stricken countries.

The agricultural expansion and increases in food production achieved during the Green Revolution were the result of fertilizers synthesized on an industrial scale using fossil fuels. Traditional farming methods (e.g. organic methods that emphasized the use of natural fertilizers) were largely replaced across the world with commercial agriculture that relies heavily on industrial fertilizers derived from petroleum.

Fortunately, our current food system has the capability to feed the entire human population, thanks in large part to chemical fertilizers. In addition, with improved transportation and commercialization of food, local crop failure and natural disasters pose less of a threat of famine then before industrialized agriculture. Currently, the leading cause of malnourishment worldwide is a result of war and government instability. A modern example of this is the displacement of subsistence farmers in the Darfur region of Sudan, who were capable of growing their own food for generations before their government waged war on their communities, resulting in their dependence on foreign aid.

Some of the issues with the industrialization of agriculture include a high investment of fossil fuel energy to produce food, as well as the resulting pollution from fertilizer runoff and the widespread development of monocultures; however, increased use of pesticides and improvements in global food security have largely abated the threat of crop failures.