CHAPTER 10: AGRICULTURE The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography
Pg 308 How much of the population in less developed countries are farmers? Where are 97% of the world s farmers located? What percent of the people in the United States are farmers? Farming-depends on local diversity of environmental and cultural conditions in each place
KEY ISSUE 1 - WHERE DID AGRICULTURE ORIGINATE? Origins of agriculture pg 308-309 Agriculture = deliberate modification of Earth s surface through the cultivation of plants and/or rearing of animals Cultivate = to care for Crop = any plant cultivated by people
KEY ISSUE 1 - WHERE DID AGRICULTURE ORIGINATE? Origins of agriculture pg 308-309 Hunters and Gatherers What size were the hunter gathering groups? Why? There are perhaps 250,000 hunter gathering groups remaining today; living in the periphery of settlements Invention of Agriculture pg 309 When it began? = unclear Diffused from many hearths Where was an early centers of crop domestication? How long ago were the first crops thought to have been domesticated? (Barley, wheat, rice)
KEY ISSUE 1 - WHERE DID AGRICULTURE ORIGINATE? What two important crop domestication hearths were in Latin America? What about animal domestication? Where? How long ago? What types of animals? Which region may have been the first to integrate cultivation of crops with domestication of herd animals?
CROP HEARTHS Figure 10-2
ANIMAL HEARTHS Figure 10-3
KEY ISSUE 1 - WHERE DID AGRICULTURE ORIGINATE? Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture (pg 310) Subsistence agriculture = produced mainly for the farm family s survival Most common in LDCs Commercial agriculture = produced mainly for sale off the farm Most common in MDCs The most widely used map of world agriculture regions is based upon whose work? How many regions are identified on the map? How are these regions divided?
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE Figure 10-4
KEY ISSUE 1 - WHERE DID AGRICULTURE ORIGINATE? Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture (pg 310) Five characteristics distinguish commercial from subsistence agriculture Purpose of farming - Percentage of farmers in the labor force What caused the decline in the number of farmers in the United States? Use of machinery - Farm size - Prime agricultural land -??? what is causing it to be lost in the United States? Relationship of farming to other businesses Agribusiness -?? (pg 313) What is included in agribusiness? (Review Figure 10-4 study the practices of subsistence and commercial farmingpg 312-313)
AGRICULTURAL WORKERS Figure 10-5
AREA OF FARMLAND PER TRACTOR Figure 10-6
KEY ISSUE 2 - WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN LDCS? Shifting cultivation (pg 314) Most prevalent in low-latitude, A-type climates Occupies about ¼ of the world s land area Two features: Land is cleared by slashing and burning debris Slash-and-burn agriculture Swidden - is one of the five names for land cleared by shifting cultivation Land is tended for only a few years at a time Types of crops grown vary regionally They are not always arranged in rectangular fields and rows. How do Brazil s Kayapo people arrange their fields? Traditionally, land is not owned individually
KEY ISSUE 2 - WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN LDCS? Pastoral nomadism (herding domesticated animals) (pg 318) Found primarily in arid and semiarid B-type climates Are territorial in their movement Animals are seldom eaten The size of the herd indicates power and prestige Type of animal depends on the region For example, camels are favored in North Africa and Southwest Asia Transhumance (?) practiced by some pastoral nomads
KEY ISSUE 2 - WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN LDCS? Intensive Subsistence Agriculture (?) (pg 319): Found in areas with high population and agricultural densities Done by hand or with animals no machines Especially in East, South, and Southeast Asia Abundant labor force To maximize production, little to no land is wasted Intensive with wet rice dominant (pg 319 320) Which countries produce more that half the world s rice? Intensive with Wet Rice Not Dominant The most important crop in these areas?
RICE PRODUCTION Figure 10-12
KEY ISSUE 2: WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN LDCS? Plantation Farming (pg 321) Found in Latin America, Africa, and Asia Products are grown in LDCs but typically are sold to MDCs Plantations (?): specialize in one or two cash crops Important crops = coffee, sugarcane, cotton, rubber, and tobacco A large labor force is usually needed in sparsely settled regions
KEY ISSUE 3 - WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN MDCS? Mixed crop and livestock farming (pg. 322) Most common form of agriculture in the U.S. west of the Appalachians, and in much of Europe, from France to Russia Most land = devoted to crops Most profits = derive from the livestock What are the most frequently planted crops in the mixed crop and livestock region in the U.S.? Crop Rotation Why rotate crops? Typically involved in mixed crop and livestock farming Cereal grain? (pg 323) Dairy farming Regional distribution: the milkshed Most important commercial agriculture practiced on farms near large urban areas of the Northeast United States What happens to milk production when the dairy farm is far from the urban center? Two primary challenges (pg 325) Labor-intensive Expense of winter feed
CORN (MAIZE) PRODUCTION Figure 10-15
MILK PRODUCTION Figure 10-17
KEY ISSUE 3 - WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN MDCS? (PG 322) Grain farming (pg 325) Grain -?? What is the most important grain crop grown? The largest commercial producer of grain = the United States Livestock ranching (pg 326) Practiced in marginal environments Declined in importance due to its competition with farming, which has a higher income per area and ranching. Mediterranean agriculture (pg 328) Have similar climatic conditions due to location bordering the ocean/sea Based on horticulture (?) Commercial gardening and fruit farming (pg328) A.k.a. - Truck farms Where is it being done in the U.S.?
WHEAT PRODUCTION Figure 10-19
MEAT PRODUCTION Figure 10-21
KEY ISSUE 4 - WHY DO FARMERS FACE ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES? (PG 329) Challenges for commercial farmers Access to markets is important The von Thünen model (1826) The choice of crop to grow is related to the proximity to the market How perishable is the product? Figure 10-24
KEY ISSUE 4 - WHY DO FARMERS FACE ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES? Challenges for commercial farmers (pg 329) Importance of Access to Markets Von Thunen model Overproduction in Commercial Farming (pg 330) Agricultural efficiencies have resulted in overproduction Demand has remained relatively constant As a consequence, incomes for farmers are low U.S. government policies to address excess productive capacity? Sustainable agriculture pg. 331 What is the the most popular form of sustainable agriculture? Sensitive land management Integrated crop and livestock
KEY ISSUE 4 - WHY DO FARMERS FACE ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES? Challenges for subsistence farmers Population growth International trade Drug crops
DRUG TRADE Figure 10-27
KEY ISSUE 4 - WHY DO FARMERS FACE ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES? Strategies to increase food supply Expanding agricultural land Desertification Increasing productivity The green revolution (a.k.a. Third Agricultural Revolution - what does this imply?) Identifying new food sources Cultivating oceans, developing higher-protein cereals, and improving palatability of foods Increasing trade
AGRICULTURAL LAND AND POPULATION Figure 10-28
GRAIN IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Figure 10-32
THE END. Up next: Industry