The version used is KJV
Agriculture
Reading the bible for the first time in 2017, I was amazed at how practical and earthy the book was. The promise of wealth, blessings all flowed from the land that Yah had blessed the nation of Israel. Even in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there were examples of livestocks and groves being the symbol of wealth, which directly came from the land. There are numerous parables that our Messiah Jesus uses agricultural concepts to convey practical, prophetical and spirtual lessons.
The true wealth as our ancients knew it was from the land. It was the produce that our Creator Yah blessed the land with - both livestock that lived off the land and grains, fruits, vegetables, herbs and such. [Deu8:8] talks of Yah bringing the sons of Israel to a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey.
Hence in times of them violating His laws, the land was also punished, [Hos4:3] and [Jer50:18], equating to the people being punished.
The law of Yah called for rest of the land during the 7th year, sabbatical year. This gave the natural replinshment of nutrients needed for the next cycle. The other principle in this is to trust Yah for abundance in year 6 for you to live thru year 7, when you are not harvesting and cultivating.
The cycle
The agriculture cycle derives from the Feasts of Yah, as commanded in Torah - the first five books of the Bible. The literal start of the new year is based on barley ears, as seen in the next section. The below diagram shows the pictorial representation of this. This is elaborated in the following wheat and barley section.
Wheat and Barley
Barley is H8184 sehore, with its modern latin name of Hordeum Vulgare. Its typically a cover crop and has a variety of edible uses. Although it was used as grain in the ancient diet for major source for caloric intake, these days, its used to ferment for beer and spirits.
Wheat is H2406 chittaw, with its modern latin name of Triticum Aestivum. Even today its a major source of our caloric intake.
Both wheat and barley in ancient Israel were planed past Feast of Tabernacles, with barley going in just before wheat. Both need a cold spell or freeze during the winter and barley is the first to harvest during spring. Typical sowing of these occurs 6-10 weeks before the soil freezes. Planting it too early will be smothered during spring and attacked by insects. On the other hand, planting it too late will cause them not to winter well and will have a poor crop.
In fact, the first month in the calednar of YHVH is called Abib (H24) which means fresh young barley ears. This is what was used in ancient times to announce the new year, following the new moon succeeding the sighting of abib. It also coincides with Passover and First Fruits on the subsequent shabbat, which is about 16 days from the beginning of new year. Barley is harvested first followed by wheat harvest in late spring/summer.
[Exo9:32] illustrates that during one of the plagues that strikes Egypt, where the flax and barley are affected but wheat is not. Also the wheat harvest is during Shavuot, Feast of Ingathering or Feast of Weeks [Exo34:22]. This is 7 shabbats (or 49 days) from the Feast of First Fruits following Passover, in the first month.
Barley appears 6 times in 6 verses in the book of Ruth. It appears 4 times n 2Kings. Barley loaves are what our Messiah divides to feed the multitude in [John6:9].
Wheat is also prominently featured through the scriptures. The most well known references are in [Matt13] where our Messiah tells the parable using wheat and tares as part of his prophetical teachings.
The rest of the year
So what happens following Feast of Weeks after the wheat harvest? Israel had figs,grapes, fruits, olives to harvest and make wine, oil and other food from them. During the other times, these were worked and harvested. This happened in summer, following wheat harvest through Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets)
Hence the entire year was marked by cycles of sowing, reaping/harvest, being thankful for the blessings and then taking stock of what to do for the next season and back to sowing again. Knowing the cycles of stars, moon and sun, is set by Yah and the rain which destroys or increases the yield of the crop, is also Yah's handiwork. Therefore any harvest is looked as a blessing by the Mighty Hand of YHVH. Yah, through His abundant grace saves the crops from insects and other destruction and by blessing enough rain and soil conditions for the crops to grow and be plentiful for us to eat and to trade/sell.