How is farming an auto-catalytic process?

Answer 1

Acording to the book 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' by Jared Diamond;

Farming is considered an auto-catalytic process because it creates a positive FEEDback cycle (no pun intended).

A gradual rise in the human population was already occurring during the late Pleistocene era. The rise in population required people to obtain more food to support that population. Once people began to produce their own food and become less nomadic, they could have children more frequently and thus the population rose even more. This is perhaps why farming communities were no better off than hunter-gatherer societies.

Even though farmers could manifest more calories per acre, the huge increase in the population meant that they actually worked more hours to produce more food to support all those extra people. This is why modern studies have found that hunter-gatherers enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle than farming societies.