Agricultural, PBS and Bees

After reading "The Peasants: Advances in Agricultural Technology, 800-1000", I thought of a show I had seen quite a while back called, "Guns, Germs an Steel" on PBS. It discusses how developments in agriculture, the availability of resources, technology and geography have played huge roles in the ability of civilizations to thrive and survive.
If all your time was spent just trying to grow or raise animals for the food to survive, then you really have no time for technological advancements that will keep your civilization moving forward. I kind of think about is like a family who is living paycheck to paycheck, but never able to really do much. The years pass them by and they may not have too much to show for the time they have spent her on the big blueberry. We live in pretty comfortable conditions and can pretty much get away with that, if we so desire, but just imagine medieval Europe.
If you could grow enough food to not only feed your family, but maybe sell at market and put away a little money, you may just have the start of something. Otherwise, you are just breaking your back, maybe not on even on land that belongs to you.
I guess in some ways, things haven't changed all that much. People are still trying to get ahead at whatever they do.
Another thing that struck me was that most agriculture is still very much subject to the weather patterns and crops are still hampered or destroyed by late springs, early winters and other sudden shifts in climate. We are also dealing with the alleged effects of global warming and how that may effect things. Then there are insect problems, such as the honey bee population dying out, thus forcing farmers to transport them around on trucks to different agricultural centers for pollination of many crops.
It seems sometimes that we have traded old problems for new ones, but when you think of the dirt floors, thatched roofs and lack of simple technologies, (such as the horseshoe or horse collar) I still think I'd take the new ones.